prospect of that future and immortal state, which remaiaeth for the people of GoD, when the labours and the trials of this world are past In a little while the long shadows of the evening will be chased away and the darkness of the night shall be dispelled by that sun which shall rise to cheer us with the light of everlasting day.

Then shall all the righteous be gathered together in one vast assemblage, and no tears, nor sorrows, nor distress will detract from their joys. Then shall they know even as they are known, and dwell forever in the presence of their GoD and REDEEMER.

Such a prospect disarms adverity of its sharpest stings, and it is a consolation which Christianity only can afford. It is what mankind had long and vainly sought to obtain by the feeble light of reason; but which no human exertion could ever discover; and of which, mankind must have forever remained uncertain and unsatisfied, had not Jesus Christ appeared in our world to bring life and immortality to light, and to render it consistent with the perfections of God to bestow this invaluable gift on ruined man.

We have thus considered the influence which the religion of Jesus Christ has upon our happiness in the present life only, independent of its power to render us eternal ly happy in that future world, whither we are rapidly hastening. In the latter view of the subject, every person who is Vol. VI. No. 11.

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capable of comparing the period of human existence, with eternity; or, of perceiving the difference between the pains of hell and the happiness of heaven, will immediately acknowledge that the sincere Christian would be an infinite gainer,even on the supposition, that his religion renderea him perfectly miserable through life.

then are its

How strong claims to our grateful acceptance and admiration, on account of its tendency to produce our greatest happiness here as well as hereafter. It is true there are difficulties and discouragements incident to the Christian life; we are sometimes called upon to sacrifice our feelings; we have many evil propensities to eratlicate; and there are many ob stacles to be overcome in our religious course. But our greatest pleasures frequently result from the activity and exertion, which are requisite to enable us to overcome obstacles that oppose our progress in some favourite pursuit. The value we aftach to any object, is usually proportioned to the difficulties we have experienced in acquiring them. And we are assured that God is ever ready to bestow that assistance which is necessary to enable us to triumph over those obstacles, which our corrupt natures and an evil world may present. But it must be recollected that` these difficulties and sacrifices are not exclusively confined to the man of religion. The man of the world is frequently

required to make greater sacrifices of his time, his proper ty, his health, his feelings and his enjoyments, than ever fall to the lot of the disciples of christianity.

So that if you make the host favourable allowances possible for the world, it must be acknowledged that the lifficulties and burthens it imposes, are as great as those imposed by religion But the real happiness produced by a life of piety, infinitely exceeds all that can be attained in any other course. For the true satisfaction and happiness of the mind can only be found in

a life of active goodness, of picty and religion, proceeding from a pure heart, a good conscience and from faith unfeigned. Let this representation of religion induce us to take upon ourselves the ycke of Christ

that is, to join ourselves to him as his disciples; not merely in profession, but in heart and in truth; by obedience to his commands, by imitating his example and trusting to him for our salvation; that thus we may obtain true honour and peace and respectability in this world, and everlasting joy in the world to

-a

THE following sketches of the character, customs and religion of the Wandering Arabs on the Desart of Africa are extracted from Capt Jas. Riley's "Authentic Narra tive" a very interesting work and one which, on many ac 'counts, is deserving of the patronage of the public. Having described Zahahrah, or the great Western desart of Africa, the writer proceeds to an account of the inhabitants, from which the following a bridgement is made.

"Nearly all parts of this vast desert are inhabited by different tribes of Arabs, who live entirely on the milk of their camels, and wander from valley to valley, travelling nearly every day for the sake of finding food for their camels, and consequently food for themselves. hey live in tents formed of cloth made of

camel's hair, which they pull off by hand, and spin with a hand spindle. Each family has a mat which serves as a bed for the whole. They lie down on it promiscuously, only wrapped up in their haick or blanket, if they have oneif not, in the skin which cov ers their loins only, and lie close together to keep off the cold winds which blow under their tents in the night. The children lie between the grown persons are as low, and frequently lower than their feet; and their long bushy hair, which is never combed, and resembles a thrumb mop, serves them instead of a pillow. The families consist of the father and one or more wives, and the children that are unmarried, and their slaves, whot are black.

Their heads

"The rich Arabs have one,

two, or three slaves, male and female; these are allowed to sleep on the same mat with their masters and mistresses, and are treated in all respects like the children of the family in regard to apparel, &c.they are not however permitted to cohabit with the Arab women under pain of death, and are obliged to

take care of the camels and follow them, and to do other drudgery The father of the family is its absolute chief in all respects, though he seldom inHicts purishment. His wives and daughters are considered as mere slaves, subject to his will and caprice; yet they take every opportunity to decieve or steal from him. He deals out the milk with his own hand, nor dare any one touch it until it is thus divided.

"When one family sets off, the whole of that part of the, tribe dwelling near, travel on with them; and I have frequently seen from 500 to 1000 camels in one drove, all going the same way; and I was greatly surprised to see with what facility they would distinguish and separate them.

"When they rise in the morning, after having first milked their camels and suckled the young ones, they next attend to prayers-which is done in the following manner:They first find a sandy spot, then unwrap themselves and take up sand in both their hands; with this they rub their faces, necks, arms, legs and every part of their bodies except their backs;

ing

themselves with their hands, they worship, bowing their faces in the dust, twice successively; then, being still on their knees, they bend themselves forward, nearly to the ground, repeating Hi et Allah-Sheda Mohammed-Rasool Allah; then rising, they again repeat Allah Hovakibar, two or three times; and this is the common mode of wor shipping four times a day. In addition to this at sunsetting, they implore the Almighty to send rain to moisten the parched earth; to cause the food to grow for their camels; to keep them under his special care, with their families and tribes; to enrich them with the spoils of their enemies, and to confound and destroy them that seek their hurt; They thank the Almighty for his past mercies, for food, raiment and his protection, &c.

They then repeat part of a chapter from the Koran, in which God's pretended promises to the faithful are made known by their Prophet; and repeating at all times the Hi el Allah, or "Great is the Almighty God, and Mohammed is his holy prophet."

Their times of prayer, are

before sunrising in the morning, about noon, the middle of the afternoon, about sunsetting, and again two or three hours after the sun has set; this makes five times a day, washing themselves, at least their face and hands when they have water, before praying; when they cannot get water, they perform their ablutions by substituting sand.

"The Arabs always wash when it is in their power before they eat, nor does any business divert them from a strict observance of their religious ceremonies. While pursuing their journies and going on in the greatest haste, when the time of prayer arrives, all stop, make their camels lie down, and perform what they conceive to be an indispensable duty; praying, in addition to their usual forms, to be directed in the right course, and that God will lead them to wells of water, and to hospitable brethren, who will feed them, and not suffer them to perish far from the face of man; that he will enrich them with spoils, and deliver them from all who lie in wait to do them mischief. This done, they mount again cheerfully and proceed, encouraging their camels by a song, a very lively one, if they wish them to go on a trot; if only to walk, something more slow and solemn.

"The men are very quick, active, and intelligent-more so taken collectively than any other set of men I had ever seen in the different parts of the world I had before visited,

They are the lords and masters in their families and are very severe and cruel to their wives, whom they treat as mere necessary slaves; and they do not allow them even as much liberty as they grant to their negroes, either in speech or action. They are considered by the men as being without souls, and consequently they are not permit ted to join in their devotionsand are seldom allowed to speak when men are convers. ing together. The continual harsh treatment and hard drudgery to which they are subject have worn off that fine edge of delicacy, sensibility and compassion, so natural to their sex, and transformed them into unfeeling and unpitying beings, so much so, that their conduct towards me and my companions in distress was brutal in the extreme, and betrayed the extinction of every humane and generous feeling.

"The Arab is high-spirited, brave, avaricious, rapacious, revengeful; and, strange as it may appear, is at the same time hospitable and compassionate. He is proud of being able to maintain his independence, though on a dreary desert, and despises those who are so mean and degraded as to submit to any government but that of the Most High. He struts about solę master of what wealth he possesses, al ways ready to defend it, and believes himself the happiest of men, and the most learned also, handing down the tradition of his ancestors, as he is

years. He looks upon all other men to be vile and beneath his notice, except as merchandize. He is content to live on the milk of camels, which he takes great care to rear, and thanks God daily for his continual mercies.-They considered themselves as

much above me and my companions. both in intellect and acquired knowledge, as the proud and pampered West India planter fancies himself above the meanest new négro, just brought from the coast of Africa.

"I never witnessed a marriage among them, but was told that when a young man sees a girl that pleases him, he asks her of her father, and she becomes his wife without

ceremony.

They all learn to read and write. In every family or division of a tribe, they have one man who acts as teacher to their children. They have boards of from one foot square to two feet long by eighteen inches wide: On these the children learn to write with a piece of pointed reed. They have the secret of making ink and that of a very black dye. When a family of wandering Arabs pitch their tents they set apart a place for a school here all the boys who have been circumcised of from 8 to 18 or 20 years old attend, and are taught to read and to write verses from the Koran, which is kept in Manuscript by every family on skins. They write their characters from right to left-are very particular in the

their lines very straight.

The teacher I was told never punishes a child, but explains the meaning of things, and amuses him by telling tales that are both entertaining and instructive; he reads or rehearses chapters from the Koran, or some other book, for they have a great many poems, &c. written also on skins. When the board is full of writing they rub it off with sand, and begin again. The boards on which they wrote seemed to have lasted for ages. They enumerate with the' nine figures now in use in all European nations and in A.

merica.

There appeared to be no kind of sickness or disease among the Arabs of the desert during the time I was with them--and they appeared to live to a vast age. There were people I saw belonging to the tribe in which I was a slavetwo old men and one woman, who from their appearance were much older than I had seen. These men and the woman had lost all the hair from their heads, beards, and every part of their bodies-the flesh had wasted away, and their skins appeared to be dried and drawn tight over their sinews and their bones like

Egyptian Mummies ; their eyes were extinct having totally wasted away in their sockets; they had lost the use of their limbs and appeared to be deprived of every sense.

An undutiful child of civilized parents might here learn a lesson of filial piety and be