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for a time be out of the reach of spiritual foes, had the Lord: we think of some relative or friend, they not a more subtle warfare to carry on, even that we may intercede for him at the throne of on the interior field of the mind itself. I do not grace. From each of these points countless lines mean to say that Satan can penetrate the very diverge. With the friend a thousand particulars, seat of thought into this secret chamber of the collateral to our prayer, are intimately connected soul none, perhaps, but God can enter. But the his residence, his neighbourhood, his family, his great deceiver has, doubtless, access to the imagi- history. Here, then, lie the strength and art of nation. There he can paint his images, or over- the deceiver. Out of all these associations he colour those already drawn there he can touch selects the most attractive points: he presents the scenes, which memory brings back, with such them drawn out and pictured on the imagination : alluring strokes as, if we be not watchful of his he strews each path, which branches off, with devices, to turn our prayer into sin. No one, who flowers; and thus succeeds in diverting us from closely inspects the movements of his inward man, the road that leads to God. can fail to notice that, when engaged in devotion, there is some active agency at work to divert his mind and thoughts from the important matter he has in hand. The attentive observer of his own heart will discover that Satan has various stratagems for this purpose. His first essay, when we kneel down, is to prevent our going to prayer at all. And to effect this, it is really curious to notice how he can bring before the mind the very topics which are most likely to indispose us to pious exercises. If there be any favourite object of which we are in too eager chase; if there be any matter in which we are engaged more difficult and entangled than every other; if there be any harassing doubt how we ought to act, or what is best to be done, on any pressing occasion; in short, whatever is most likely to strike upon some string which will set an endless train of interests and associations in play, such is the object which the tempter is sure with consummate skill to conjure up, so as to prevent our even commencing the work of prayer; at least he will strive to keep us from it till the mind is perfectly untuned for holy things, and till that Spirit which alone can teach us how to pray has been effectually banished from the heart. If Satan fails in this first attempt, and we do, when we kneel down, compose our thoughts and lift them up to God, his next endeavour is to lead the mind to turn off at every devious path which, as we travel on in prayer, presents itself to the mental eye.

The fact is, that, when we address ourselves to God, it is not as if the soul were breathing forth some barren aspirations, nor is it the mere upheavings of the heart in shapeless sighs and abstract wishes. There may indeed, at times, be "groanings of the spirit which cannot be uttered;" but ordinary prayer is a business which we transact with heaven. When we pray, we must pray about something: various topics must come before the mind. We must bring forth out of the treasures of memory 66 things both new and old;" and these we must present unto the Lord. Subjects, scenes, and persons, about which the heart is interested, must be pondered over, that we may take counsel of God's omniscience concerning them. Hence it arises that, as the mind pursues these trains of thought, it must be constantly liable to turn aside from the narrow path of prayer. Each separate idea which comes to view, each individual object which appears upon the mental stage, these have all their various associations and endless bearings. Every one is the centre of its own system, and spreads out into a thousand branches. Here, then, the tempter is on the watch, and ready to assail. We call, for instance, before the mind a case or scene, that we may offer it up in prayer or in thanksgiving before

But he has devices of more deadly aim than this. He can, if we relax our vigilance, not only scatter our devotions to the winds, but turn our prayer into sin. When we cry to God for strength against some fierce temptation, or when the offences or follies of our youth pass in humiliating review before us; when we worthily lament our sins and acknowledge our wretchedness, even here we tread on slippery ground: here points of attack are opened to the adversary, points to which he directs his most envenomed darts. For, if we deprecate a thing, we must think of it: if we call a sin to remembrance, the times, the circumstances, the associations of that sin must start up, and re-appear before the mind. If, then, while we ourselves have conjured up such scenes, Satan can cast a cloud between our souls and the sanctifying light of heaven, the mind has to grapple with sins and temptations, all grouped around it, not in the energy of faith, but shorn of its strength, and on the low level of its depraved nature. Of all the wanderings in prayer, these are, need I say, the most to be deplored; wanderings in which the enemy of souls leads us, before we are aware whither we are going, to re-act in the thoughts the very sins for which we supplicate the pardon of heaven.

Such are the dangers to which prayer itself exposes us. But let us be faithful, and we shall overcome the wicked one: let us resist the devil, and he will flee from us. And here I would, in the first place, suggest this counsel: If, when on our knees, we find that our mind has lost its hold on prayer, and that our thoughts have wandered to the ends of the earth, let us not by a sudden exertion, as it were, pull in the reins, and thus with a vigorous effort return to the path of duty. Such violent movements are not favourable to true devotion. They may force us back to the task of formal prayer; but calmer methods are required to re-collect the scattered thoughts, to compose the disorders of the bosom, and again to fix the wandering heart on God. When we find, then, that we have left the path of prayer, and got into the labyrinth of the world, we should seek to disengage our minds, not by a strong reaction, but by a process as quiet and peaceful as the spirit of devotion which we would rekindle in the soul. We must not rush back with rude precipitancy into the temple of our hearts, but approach the sanctuary with measured steps and gentle tread, as those who feel themselves on holy ground. This will defeat one great end of Satan, which is not only to lead us out of the way, but to render that wandering a cause of annoyance and fretful impatience to the mind. But we

Thus far we may escape his snares. may do more: we may turn his stratagems to our

own account, and make his plans recoil upon himself. If thoughts, then, will intrude in spite of all our vigilance, and if we cannot turn them out, let us convert them into the aliment of prayer, and into fuel for the fire of our devotion. For instance, if some perplexing care is injected into the mind, let us not trace it through the windings that it opens, but let us at once submit in supplication unto God, and spread it before the Lord. If Satan presents to our mental eye some person who has despitefully used us or wounded us in the tenderest part, let us take the hint, and pray that God will forgive this "enemy, persecutor, or slanderer, and turn his heart." Again: should the adversary, as I have already intimated, invade the sanctuary of confession, and essay to poison the very tears of contrition and sighs of penitence; should he, by alluring pictures presented to the fancy, strive to turn our sorrows for past sins into the desire of repeating them; let us meet these cruel, horrible devices in the full panoply of still more earnest prayer. Let us drown the siren's voice in strong cries to heaven. Let us seize each fiery dart as it issues from the wicked one, and send it up in a flame of supplication unto God. Thus shall we turn the tide of warfare against the enemy of our souls. Thus will he perceive that where he intended mischief he has been only the instrument of blessing. He will feel that he "imagined such a device as he was not able to perform." He will see that no weapon can prosper against those that hold them fast by God, and that "all things work together for good to them that love him." He will desist from his vain attempt. He will own the omnipotence of prayer, and no more heap fresh sacrifices upon its altar. He will leave the saint alone with his God, and no longer seek to molest him with wanderings in prayer.

JONAH'S GOURD.

BY C. M. BURNETT, ESQ.

dom, are called the Arag λɛyopɛva, must see that it is one thing to render these words, by common consent, according to some supposed analogy, without any authority from or knowledge of the root; but it is quite another thing to contend, fiercely and dogmatically, that such and such was the meaning intended to be affixed by the inspired writer. Blessed be God, so far as man's salvation is concerned in the revelation of his word, nothing of importance has been obscurely rendered. It is, therefore, not an objection that, in the translation of such difficult words as that under consideration, we cannot ascertain the exact meaning; and, therefore, that the translators have availed themselves of those collateral aids which are afforded by the natural objects around, and have called in the assistance of reason where revelation is silent or uncertain. But I do not think that such assistance can be available in the present instance; for the strong probability is, that the whole affair was a miraculous act, and that the kikiun, whatever it was, came forth out of the earth by God's bidding ("and the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah"), without any regard to the ordinary laws of vegetable life. It seems almost impossible of belief that men of such acknowledged learning and piety as Jerome and Augustine should carry their differences, as to what the plant really was, to such an extent as they are recorded to have done. Nevertheless, their mutual weakness in the matter destroys what confidence we might otherwise place in their reasonings. It is by no means clear how those learned writers who have attempted to make this word identical with certain known vegetable substances, such as the gourd, the palma christi, or the ivy, could surmount the difficulty which must ever surround the subject, taken in the natural

sense.

Independently of the fact of there being no direct clue to its identification, we know of no plant in the vegetable creation that approaches the kikiun in the rapidity of its growth, even allowing the utmost latitude of meaning that could possibly be THE word "kikiun," or "kikajon," occurs five taken for the parallel sentences in connection. The times in the book of Jonah, in connexion with words of revelation would satisfy the ordinary that remarkable account of God's dealings with reader that the plant, whatever it was, was of a the prophet on his mission to Nineveh. It will few hours' growth; for there we are distinctly told be remembered that, though he had an intimation"that it came up in a night, and perished in a that the city would be spared, yet he did not fully believe it; he therefore left the city, and retired on the east side of it, and erected a booth to protect himself from the weather, there to remain till he should see the event. It was while in this position that the Almighty very graciously and miraculously caused some kind of vegetable substance to spring up around him, which in one night grew into such luxuriance as to afford him a shelter from the scorching rays of the sun. This vegetable substance (kikiun) in our English translation has been rendered "gourd;" but by what authority I know not, beyond the fact that the seventy, the Syriac, and the Arabic versions, and numerous commentators, have adopted the same word. In no other part of the Hebrew scriptures, except those above-named, does it occur. It becomes us, therefore, to be very careful in offering any opinion as to its real meaning; for all those who are unacquainted with the difficulty morning rose in time to come;" and, if we make sense of it, as of rendering those words from the Hebrew text which, from their occurring only once or but sel

night:" and, lest we should be in uncertainty as to the definite meaning of this expression, namely, whether it grew completely in a single night, or whether this was only a strong oriental expression for a very rapid growth, we have the fact set at rest by the additional statement that "God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the kikiun that it withered." This, however, does not satisfy some biblical critics, who, resting their doubt on the Hebrew word put for the next day" (lemecheret), incline to the belief that it has a reference to a much more distant time*. But, without going

The same word occurs in Exod. xiii. 14: "And it shall be

when thy son asketh thee in time to come"-or to-morrow, as in the margin; in Deut, vi. 20: "And when thy son asketh thee in time to come;" and Josh. iv. 6: "When your children ask their fathers in time to come." This, however, only proves that the word has a wider latitude of meaning attached to it, but not that it will bear such a latitude of meaning in Jonah iv. 7, for it would be senseless to translate it there, "when the

our English translators have done by rendering the words, "on the morrow," in this last passage, then the question of the miracle can no longer be cavilled at by the most dainty sceptic.

into the merits of such an argument, and making use of that reasoning which is not opposed to the word of God, we must see at once how unnecessary the whole transaction would have been, and how inadequate to the purpose required, were we to suppose the plant was several days in growing; for then would Jonah have left the scene before it had afforded him any protection.

The author of "Scripture Illustrated," observes: "The gourd of Jonah should be no trivial lesson to theological disputants. So long ago as the days of Jerome and Augustine, those pious fathers differed as to what the plant was; and they not only differed in words, but from words they proceeded to blows, and Jerome was accused of heresy at Rome by Augustine. Jerome thought this plant was an ivy, and pleaded the authority of Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and others: Augustine thought it was a gourd; and he was supported by the seventy, the Syriac, the Arabic, &c., &c.*. Had either of them ever seen the plant? No. Which of them was right? Neither. Let the errors of these pious men teach us to think more mildly, if not more meekly, respecting our opinions, and not to exclaim, Heresy !' or to enforce the exclamation, when the subject is of so little importance as gourd versus ivy.

"Nevertheless, there is a just importance in this subject as well as in others; and the most minute plant or insect mentioned in the word of God demands our best endeavours to obtain a competent acquaintance with it."

Lord," it seems incredible, were it not recorded, that the desire to gratify his pride should have so obliterated his feeling and compassion towards so vast a multitude of perishing souls. Surely he knew not what spirit he was of, when his anger burned because God deprived him of a temporary enjoyment, instead of gratifying his unmerciful spirit. Yet multitudes of the present day, though they have been surrounded and protected from the scorching effects of poverty and disease by the bounties of an overruling, merciful, but just God, sit under their gourd contemplating the misery, the ignorance, and the destitution, not of one city only, "wherein are more than six score thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand or their left," but of many cities, and, like the insensible prophet, looking more with ease and complacency to "see what will become of them," rather than using the talent committed to their trust, and praying to God with earnest prayer that he will spare them more time for repentance. This gourd cannot long defend them, any more than did the kikiun defend Jonah; and, whenever it pleases the Almighty to prepare a worm to smite the gourd, which he may do in one night, if we have not availed ourselves of those privileges while under the gourd which are denied to thousands, we must expect to suffer from the dreadful effects of God's anger.

The Cabinet.

This is just reasoning, so long as we do not suffer our inquiries to lead us away into error; but, in the case before us, like multitudes of others HARSHJUDGMENTS.-Charitable allowance should which have passed out of the hands of biblical be made for the weaknesses of an afflicted brother. commentators, far too much weight seems to have been given to the merest inferences adduced by Not but that the Christian should exemplify fortitude authors to identify the plant, while the obvious and blessed and happy is he that does so-but God purpose intended to be answered by recording it compassionates weaknesses: he makes allowance in the pages of revelation seems almost overlooked. when men judge harshly. Nay, we are not left to The prophet Jonah expressly tells us that the dubious inference. We have had a case in point. Lord prepared this plant. In one sense he pre- That was an affecting scene, when Mary, the sister of pares every plant; but, if the plant in question had Lazarus, under the recent smart of that dreadful loss grown sui generis, without any immediate interposition on the part of God, what need was there which laid her home and hearth desolate, flung herthat the act should be specially recorded in the self at the feet of him who often joined their happy word of God? We cannot, then, conceal the ob-circle, and heard the warm welcome from those lips vious fact, or divest it of the importance intended to be conveyed to the mind of the humble reader of God's word, that it was a supernatural act, an immediate operation of the finger of God, without the interposition or assistance of any previously created vegetable substance.

But we may, indeed, ask here, For what purpose was this miracle recorded? Was it simply and barely to assure the people of God of the miraculous power which he possessed? Surely we might have gathered as much as this from many similar interpositions previously recorded.

There is perhaps no circumstance revealed in the scriptures which so strikingly contrasts the magnitude of God's mercy and condescension with the rooted and overwhelming selfishness of man's nature as this short transaction in the history of Jonah's life. A prophet of God he was; and, seeing that his former affliction, when the billows and the waves of God's wrath passed over him, had brought him to confess that "salvation is of the

All these authorities are versions made immediately from the Hebrew.

which now were cold and frozen in death, her dear brother's, her beloved Lazarus. That was an affecting scene; and there was much of what the Christian would call weakness in it too, when in an agony of grief she threw herself at his feet, and, in accents such as weeping woman's voice can alone convey, said, with convulsive sobs," Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." And he met her

not with cold severity of manner: he answered her not roughly: he said not, "Woman, where is thy

faith, where is thy fortitude? What! weeping for the idol!" No: the cry of the desolate and widowed heart touched his bosom: he let her sorrow flow on unreproved: he said nothing. He stood motionless for a few moments, while her grief flowed in a gushing tide; and when at last the silence was broken by the sorrowful inquiry, "Where have ye laid him?” as he moved towards the spot, the tears were seen to drop from his own eyes-" Jesus wept*."

• From "Self-Inspection ;" by the rev. Denis Kelly, M.A., minister of Trinity chapel, St. Bride's, London.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND MAGAZINE.

(Genater.)