feeling, and pinches up the flesh with his hands; and a third thrusts the hook through the place marked, so as to take fast hold. This is done on both sides of the back. The man rises, stands on his feet, and then mounts on the shoulders of an attendant; the cross beam is lowered, and the hooks are tied to it; ropes are then pulled at the other end, which raises the part on which the wretched man swings, and in a moment he is high in the air. As he rises, water is thrown in his face, while the crowd cheer and clap their hands. The pole is then swung round, and the suspended man throws down flowers, leaves, and strips of paper, on those below: these are eagerly seized by the crowd. They swing him round five times, and the cry is raised by the people, "How many more ?" when, perhaps, he daringly tells them to do it five, ten, or twenty times more. Again, they rush round with their victim, while he raises his hands to his forehead as an act of worship to the frightful-looking idols beneath. He descends, with a bleeding body, from a height of forty to sixty feet, amidst the applause of the people.

Some are swung only for a few minutes; others for half an hour. It is said one man was swung three times in one day, on different posts; and, at another time, four men were on the hooks at the same time. In some cases the hooks are driven through their legs or feet; and in this way five women were suspended. They do not shed a tear, but appear indifferent to the pains they suffer. A missionary once

saw a man smoke a pipe while swinging; and another had a shield and sword, which he moved about, to imitate a man fighting with an enemy. When a third was lifted on high, a butterfly was seen to pass over him, and a hundred voices cried, "Behold! behold! the goddess is pleased, is pleased!" The ignorant heathen thought that this was an approval of the deed of cruelty and blood.

During this ceremony, which commonly lasts several days, the whole place is like a fair : there are stalls for the sale of sweetmeats and fruits, with music, singing, and dancing.

You will wonder what good these men promise to themselves by tearing their bodies. Some do it to obtain a name, and to be great among the people, or to have power with the gods. Others, as the way to secure pardon for their sins. How vain are these ways to obtain peace for a guilty conscience, and peace with God! They have an idea that something must be done to atone for their sins, but having no knowledge of Jesus Christ, and of his atoning sacrifice, they hope by self-torture to cleanse away their guilt.

Oh! pray for the poor heathen. Send them Christian teachers, who shall tell them of the mercy of God, and the love of a Saviour. Send them Bibles and tracts, that they may know there is redemption through the blood of Jesus, and that "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts iv. 12.)

In the book of the Prophet Jonah, we find the only mention made of the Gourd throughout the sacred writings. It is there represented to us as possessing properties unlike any other portion of the vegetable world. In one-night it grew up, and reached so considerable a size, as to form a complete and refreshing shadow from the beams of an eastern sun. What this wonderful plant was, botanists are at a loss to inform us, for they know of no plant to which this description may apply, though some suppose it to have been the Ricinus or Palma

Christi, from its height, the size of its leaves, and the quickness of its growth, This may be correct, but we may justly attribute a miraculous growth to the plant which shaded Jonah.

But let us look at the effect which the sudden appearance of the gourd produced upon Jonah. We read (chap. iv. 6.) “So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd." No doubt, when sitting disconsolate under the walls of the city of Nineveh, (then no longer given to destruction,) Jonah had felt oppressed by the heat, which in eastern countries is so intolerable, and this, together with the displeasure he felt at the mercy held out to the Ninevites, “grieved him greatly." God then relieved him, by abating the heat, and easing his mind by easing his body. But how does a sense of this

mercy act upon the future conduct of Jonah ? God deprives him of the friendly shelter he had so long received, and immediately "he wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live." What a lesson is here conveyed to us, not to set our affection on things below, lest they be suddenly taken from us, and we be overwhelmed with grief and impatience.

Jonah also added, in much weakness and rash passion, in answer to what God asked him, "Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd ?" "I do well to be angry even unto death." Then God answered him in words which may be thus paraphrased: "I have done this purposely to shew thee thine own error and weakness; thou hadst pity on a sorry plant, which cost thee no labour, which received no life from thee,

which suddenly came up, and suddenly vanished; and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are six-score thousand infants, that have not lived to offend, and much cattle, which are not capable of offence? How much are these better than the senseless plants of the earth! And these are the work of my hands, and have cost me much care and regard, and such as require time and leisure for their perfection, bethink thyself therefore, how just reason I have to be angry at thy unmercifulness, which art angry at my forbearance of Nineveh."

M. P.

REPENTANCE AND FORGIVENESS.

.

WILLIAM LITTLEWOOD was walking with a school-fellow one Wednesday afternoon, when a boy threw some stones at him, and called him names. His companion wished to defend him, but William simply said, "Leave him alone;" and in a few days, this very same rough boy who had pelted him, came to him with a look of grief, and in a humble tone of voice requested his forgiveness. William instantly shook hands with him, and said, "I freely forgive you, and I hope my sins in the sight of a holy God may be forgiven too."

* Bishop Hall.