sion!-and his people are now wandering as sheep without a shepherd.

Chap. xxi, ver. 13.-Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep, and to break mine heart? For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

When Luther was summoned to attend the diet at Worms, his friends, notwithstanding the safe conduct granted to him by the emperor, Charles V, apprehending danger to his person, would have dissuaded him from going thither. Luther replied, "I am determined to enter the city in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, though as many devils should oppose me as there are tiles upon all the houses at Worms.” He was accompanied from Wittemberg by some divines, and one hundred horse; but he took only eight horsemen into Worms. When he stept out of the carriage, he said, in presence of a great number of persons, "God shall be on my side."

Chap. xxi, ver. 28.-And further, brought Greeks also into the temple, and have polluted this holy place.

When Sir Christopher Wren was building St. Paul's Cathedral, he caused the following notice to be affixed to several parts of the structure. "Whereas among laborers and others, that ungodly custom of swearing is so frequently heard, to the dishonor of God and contempt of authority; and to the end, that such impiety may be utterly banished from these works, which are intended for the service of God, and the honor of religion, it is ordered that profane swearing shall be a sufficient crime to dismiss any laborer that comes to the call; and the clerk of the works, upon a sufficient proof, shall dismiss them accordingly and that if any masters working by task, shall not, upon admonition, reform the profanation among his apprentices, servants, and laborers, it shall

be construed his fault, and he shall be liable to be censured by the commissioners."

Chap. xxii, ver. 23.-They cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air.

A great similarity appears between the conduct of the Jews, when the chief captain of the Roman garrison at Jerusalem presented himself in the temple, and the behavior of the Persian peasants, when they go to court to complain of the governors under whom they live, upon their oppressions becoming intolerable. Sir John Chardin tells us respecting them, that they carry their complaint against their governors by companies, consisting of several hundreds, and sometimes of a thousand; they repair to that gate of the palace near to which their prince is most likely to be, where they begin making the most horrid cries, tearing their garments, and throwing dust into the air, at the same time demanding justice. The king, upon hearing these cries, sends to know the occasion of them. The people deliver their complaint in writing, upon which he lets them know that he will commit the cognizance of the affair to some one, by whom justice is usually done them.

Chap. xxiii, ver. 2, 3.-And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?

Mr. Joseph Sherwood, one of the non-conformist ministers of England, having preached on that text, "I will avenge the quarrel of my covenant," was carried to a petty session of justices, where one Mr. Robinson sat as chairman, who greatly reviled Mr. Sherwood, and called him a rebel, &c, which he bore

patiently, only making this reply, "That as he was a minister of the Gospel, and at the church where there was so great an assembly, he could not but have compassion on the multitude, and give them a word of exhortation." Mr. Robinson said, “But did ever man preach from such a rebellious text?" "Sir," replied Mr. Sherwood, "I know man is a rebel against his Creator, but I never knew that the Creator could be a rebel against his creature." On which Robinson cried cut, "Write his mittimus for Launceston jail." And then turning to Mr. Sherwood, said, "I say sir, it was a rebellious text." Mr. Sherwood looked him full in the face, and addressed him in these words: "Sir, if you die the common death of all men, God never spake by me." He was then sent to prison, where he found favor with the keepers, and had liberty to walk about the castle and town. Robinson returned home; and a few days after, walking in the fields, a bull that had been very tame, came up to a gate where he stood, and his maid-servant before him, who had been milking, when the creature turned her aside with his horns, ran directly upon Robinson, and tore out his bowels! He was carried home in this miserable state, and soon afterwards died.

Chap. xxiii, ver. 15.-Now therefore ye, with the council, signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you to-morrow, as though ye would enquire something more perfectly concerning him; and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him.

Mr. Thoroughgood, a minister of the 17th century, having reproved the sin of swearing, one of his hearers, sensible of his guilt, and thinking he was the person particularly intended, resolved to kill him; and in order to do it, he hid himself behind a hedge, which he knew Mr. Thoroughgood would ride by when he went to preach his weekly lecture. When Mr. T. came to the place, he prepared to shoot him, but his

piece failed, and only flashed in the pan. The next week he lay in the same place, with the same design. When Mr. T. came up, the wretch offered to fire again; but the piece would not go off. Upon this, his conscience accusing him for such wickedness, he went after him, and, falling down on his knees, with tears in his eyes, related the whole to him, and begged his pardon. This providence was the means of his conversion, and he became, from that time, a serious Christian.

Chap. xxiv, ver. 16.---And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.

Two monks having come one day to William Rufus, king of England, to buy an Abbot's place, who outreached each other in the sums they offered; the king said to a third monk, who stood by," What wilt thou give for the place?" "Not a penny," answered the monk, "for it is against my conscience." "Then," replied the king, "thou of the three best deservest it;" and instantly gave it to him.

Chap. xxiv, ver. 26.-He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might lose him; wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and communed with him.

A cause was tried before a young Cadi of Smyrna, the merits of which were as follow: a poor man claimed a house, which a rich man usurped. The former held his deeds and documents to prove his right; but the latter had provided a number of witnesses to invalidate his title. In order to support their evidence effectually, he presented the Cadi with a long bag containing 500 ducats. When the day arrived for hearing the cause, the poor man told his story, and produced his writings, but could not support his case by witnesses; the other rested his whole case on his witnesses, and on his adversary's defect in law, who could produce none; he urged the Cadi

therefore to give sentence in his favor. After the most pressing solicitations, the judge calmly drew out from under his sofa the bag of ducats which the rich man had given him as a bribe, saying to him very gravely," You have been much mistaken in the suit, for if the poor man can produce no witnesses in confirmation of his right, I myself can produce at least five hundred." He then threw away the bag with reproach and indignation, and decreed the house to the poor plaintiff. Such was the noble decision of a Turkish judge, whose disinterested conduct was the reverse of that of the unjust, time-serving Felix.

Chap. xxv, ver.7.--And when he was come, the Jews which came down from Jerusalem stood round about, and laid many and griev ous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove.

When the first missionaries from America reached the Sandwich Islands, in the spring of 1820, an effort was made by some of the foreigners, to have their landing and establishment at the islands forbidden by the government. With this view, their motives were misrepresented by them to the king and chiefs. It was asserted, that while the ostensible object of the mission was good, the secret and ultimate design was the subjugation of the islands, and the enslavement of the people and by way of corroboration, the treatment of the Mexicans, and aborigines of South America and the West Indies, by the Spaniards, and the possession of Hindostan by the British, were gravely related. It was in consequence of this misrepresentation, that a delay of eight days occurred before the missionaries could secure permission to disembark. In answer to these allegations, the more intelligent of the chiefs remarked;" The missionaries speak well; they say they have come from America only to do us good: if they intend to seize our islands, why are they so few in number? where are their guns? and why have they brought their wives?"