wings, holding in its claws the globe of the sun, or elevated in the firmament as a type of that luminary in the meridian. Figures of other deities are often seen praying to it when in this character. It was also an emblem of Phtha, or the creative power; it was, moreover, a symbol of the world; and it is frequently figured as an astronomical sign, and in connection with funeral rites. In some one or other of the various acceptations in which it was honoured, its figure was engraved on seals, was cut in stone as a separate object, and was used in all kinds of ornaments, particularly rings and necklaces. Some of the largest of these carved figures frequently had a prayer or legend connected with the dead engraved on them; and a winged beetle was generally placed upon the bodies that were embalmed according to the most expensive process. The beetle was not only venerated when alive, but was embalmed after death, and some have been found

in that state at Thebes. Considerable ingenuity has been exer. cised in order to discover the real sacred beetle of Egypt, and to ascertain to what extent other species may have partaken of the honours paid to that one. These questions do not require discussion here. It may suffice to observe that the species usually represented appears to be the Scarabæus sacer of Linnæus, which is still very common in every part of Egypt. It is about the size of the common beetle, and its general colour is also black; but it is distinguished by a broad white band upon the anterior margin of its oval corslet. Perhaps the most remarkable, and certainly the most gigantic, of the ancient Egyptian representations of the sacred beetle is that in the British Museum, carved out of a block of greenish-coloured granite.

The exhibition of these venerated vermin as their tormentors -invading them in their most private retreats, and covering the

public ways, swarming in such loathsome profusion that “the land was corrupted” by their immense numbers—must have been painful and humiliating to the Egyptians, who had no choice but to crush under foot, to sweep away from their houses and streets, and to regard with loathing, in the aggregate, creatures that, separately, they adored. -"Daily Bible Illustrations,” by J. Kitto, D.D., F.S.A.

Exodus xii. 15.—“Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first

day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses : for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel." Leaven to be put away at the Passover.-This was probably to commemorate the fact that the Israelites left Egypt in such haste that they had no opportunity to leaven their dough (ver. 39), and were consequently obliged, in the first instance, to eat unleavened cakes. The present injunction is even now attended to by modern Jews with the most scrupulous precision. The master of the family searches every corner of the house with a candle, lest any crumb of leavened bread should remain, and whatever is found is committed to the fire; and after all, appre. hending that some may still remain, he prays to God that, if any leaven be still in his house, it may become like the dust of the ground. Extraordinary precautions are also used in preparing the unleavened bread, lest there should be anything like leaven mixed with it, or any kind of fermentation should take place in it. These particulars will be found to give more than common point to the text of 1 Cor. v. 7, 8. The exclusion of leaven for seven or eight days might, as Harmer observes, be attended with some inconvenience in Great Britain, but none at all in Palestine. The usual leaven in the East is dough kept till it becomes sour, and which is kept from one day to another for the purpose of preserv. ing leaven in readiness. Thus, if there should be no leaven in all the country for any length of time, as much as might be required could easily be produced in twenty-four hours. Sour dough, however, is not exclusively used for leaven in the East, the lees of wine being in some parts employed as yeast.

Anecdotal Yllustrations.

MISTAKEN PIEZY. The Mother's Warning.–An American author observes, One of my earliest recollections is of a warning given me by a pious mother, that we should not go to play on a neighbouring pond on Sunday, because if I did I should surely be drowned. She even urged her warning by the citation of cases of accidents happening to those who were at the time engaged in Sabbath-breaking. This warning was well-meant, but most unfortunate in its influence. For I knew well, and acted accordingly, that accidents by drowning were not more likely to occur on Sunday than on any other day, other things being equal. God does not sanction moral principles in that way, with certain rare exceptions. He punishes transgressions of physical laws with physical penalties; but moral transgressions, though punished physically at times, are not punished on the retributive principles man might act upon. And Christ Himself opposed this identical error most expressly (Luke xiii. 1–5).

PROMISES EVEN TO A CHILD SHOULD BE HELD SACRED. Sir William Napier and the Little Girl.-Sir William Napier was one day taking a long country walk near Freshford, when he met a little girl about five years old sobbing over a broken bowl. She had dropped and broken it in bringing it back from the field to which she had taken her father's dinner in it, and she said she would be beaten on her return home for having broken it, when with a sudden gleam of hope she innocently looked up into his face and said, “ But you can mend it, can't ee?” My father explained that he could not mend the bowl, but the trouble he could, by the gift of a sixpence to buy another. However, on opening his purse, it was empty of silver, and he had to make amends by promising to meet his little friend on the same spot at the same hour next day, and to bring sixpence with him; bidding her meanwhile tell her mother she had seen a gentleman who would bring her the money for the bowl next day. The child entirely trusting him, went on her way comforted. On his return home he found an invitation awaiting him to dine in Bath the following evening, to meet some one whom he specially wished to see. He hesitated for some little time, trying to calculate the possibility of giving the meeting to his little friend of the broken bowl and still being in time for the dinner party in Bath; but finding this could not be, he wrote to decline accepting the invi. tation, on the plea of a “pre-engagement," saying to us, “ I cannot disappoint her, she trusted me so implicitly."

"REDEEMING THE TIME." Romaine was careful and systematic in his expenditure of time. A biographer says that he breakfasted at six in the morning, dinner was ready for him at half-past one, and he supped at seven in the evening. He assembled his family to prayers at nine in the morning, and at the same hour at night, and occasionally his friends were admitted to these private devotions. His Hebrew Psalter was his constant breakfast companion. From ten till one he was employed in visiting the sick and others. His studies occupied most of the afternoon, and he retired to rest always at ten.- Rev. G. H. Stanton, in “ Church Sunday School Magazine.”

SOLOMON'S ADDRESS TO THE SLUGGARD. PROVERBS vi. 6–8.--"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be

wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.” Ants storing Seeds.—At Mentone, Mr. Moggridge observed that two species of ants, frequenting the sandstone slopes of that neighbourhood, were in the habit of carrying into their nests the seeds of certain late fruiting-plants. He discovered some channels extending a long way into the rock, and at the end of one of these was a cell full of seeds. Outside the channels there was generally a heap of the husks of the various seeds. He strewed near the nests quantities of hemp and 'millet seeds. These were carried away, and after a fortnight many of them were brought out again, evidently because they had begun to germinate. The ants exposed them to the air for a time, and having gnawed off the radicle to stop further growth, they conveyed these back again. Mr. Moggridge stated that some thought the ants used these seeds as building materials, but he had seen no proof of that.

PARENTAL INFLUENCE IN RESTRAINING FROM SIN. Dr. Archer and the Scotch Lad.--"What would your auld father and mother think?" I once heard Dr. Archer ask a youth whom he knew was being led into temptation. Twenty sermons could not have produced so happy a result. All the associations of home, and persons whom he had fondly loved, were instantly awakened. The theatres with their gaudy gran. deur, and the fascinating scenes of those night saloons, where thousands of young men have been for ever ruined, lost their charm when compared with the home of purity he had left, and which the simple question had brought vividly to his recollection,

-“What would your father and mother think if they saw you there?” I saw by the looks of the youth that the words had made a deep impression upon him, and I am sure from that time forward he was not again tempted to cross the threshold of those glittering dens of vice.—" Memoir of Dr. Archer."

CHRISTIAN CONSISTENCY IN TRYING CIRCUMSTANCES. Psalm lxxiii. 23.-—“Nevertheless I am continually with Thee.” Religion in the Navy.—The recently published life of Captain Robert Steward affords us another proof that a man may serve God as acceptably and as constantly in the navy as in any other position. His biographer tells us : “ Captain Steward found Christ at sea, he followed Christ at sea, and he preached Christ at sea. He was saved on board ship, and on board ship he grew in grace and waxed in strength. His vessel was a house of prayer, and whether in English or foreign ports, outward bound or homeward bound, in fine weather or in foul weather, the voice of supplication, the song of praise, regard for the Sabbath, care for the soul, were never lost sight of.”.

THE FINAL TEST. REVELATION xxi. 27.-" There shall in no wise enter into it anything tha

defileth.” Contraband Articles.-A traveller crossed the frontier, and had to pass the custom-house. The officers said to him, “ Have you any contraband goods ?” He replied, “I do not think I have.” “That may be all true," said the officers, “but we cannot permit you to pass without examination. Permit us to search." “If you please," said the traveller. The examination over, the traveller addressed the officers, saying, “Gentlemen, will you allow me to tell you what thoughts this examination has awakened in my mind? We are all travellers into an eternal kingdom, into which we cannot take any contraband. By these forbidden things I mean deceitfulness, anger, pride, lying, covetousness, and similar offences which are hateful in the sight of God. For all these, every man who passes the boundary of the grave is searched far more strictly than you have searched me. God is the great Searcher of hearts; from Him nothing is hid; and in that kingdom, as in this, every forbidden article subjects a man to punishment.”—Foster's “ Cyclopædia.”