you should believe and hope the best, in every case, that all the circumstances, candidly weighed, will allow. It is difficult to conceive that Unbelievers can be influenced by bad motives to attend on your public services, as they have no worldly honour, power, emolument, or advantages whatever to hope for from it; if influenced by sinister motives they would be likely to attend the Established Church, or among some more popular party of Dissenters, rather than among you. It is likely their early habits render it pleasant, if not necessary to their comfort, to attend at some place of public worship; and both their understanding and their hearts give the preference to Uni tarian worship; or, it is possible, after all, that they have so much relish for Christianity, and their speculative notions have so little influence, that they really find enjoy ment in Christian worship; or they may still see so much excellence in Christianity that they may feel interested in its promotion for the good of mankind, and may wish to keep the attention of their families engaged to it; or, which I know to be the case with some, they may think and speak of themselves as Unbelievers, merely because they cannot find demonstration where only moral evidence exists, and cannot find the same absolute certainty, which they have heard some Christians express. Whichsoever of these, or whatever other motives may influence them to attend among you, it would be uncharitable and unjust to ascribe it to any bad motive, and you ought to act towards them in the spirit of your great Master, in such a manner as is calculated to impress them with the happy influence of faith in Christ upon the temper and conduct, doing all you can to remove their doubts and difficulties, and to win their attention to the evidences of truth. 4. It certainly would be improper, how much soever you may respect and esteem Unbelievers who attend on your public services and mix in your congregations, on account of their virtue and goodness, either to say or do any thing that would look like complimenting or countenancing their unbelief, as if it was the effect of superior strength of mind, or of freedom of thought, or of fearlessness of character: this would justly lead others to question your Christian sincerity, and would be highly injuriYou ought never to speak or act otherwise than as Christians, under the foolish notion that your letting your faith and hope prominently appear, even in your inter ous. course with Unbelievers, would give offence. Sensible and honest Unbelievers will respect you the more for your speaking and acting in character as Christians; your allegiance to Jesus Christ absolutely requires it of you; and every Christian principle and motive should impel you thus to act. All your conversation should be with simplicity and godly sincerity. Any want of firmness and steady consistency, in the profession of your faith in Christ, and in acting as believers in him, will injure your character in the view even of Unbelievers, and tend to strengthen them in their unbelief. It is not necessary for you to be always disputing with them when in their company; but so far as circumstances require it, you should be ready to shew the steadfastness of your faith, and to give a reason of the hope which is in you. In those places where sone Unbelievers attend, it would be wrong for the minister to seem to point at them in his public services; this would only irritate and do harm, and might lead to unpleasant altercation it will be wiser and better for him to make the services truly Christian, and conduct them as he would if nó such persons were present. If the services be judiciously conducted, and the members of your congregations conduct themselves in a truly Christian manner, you will sustain no injury from a few Unbelievers attending on your public services, and being treated with candour, liberality and respect. I My remarks on this subject having swelled beyond what I had expected, I must reserve what I have further to say on the treatment of Unbelievers by Christian congregations to my next letter; in the mean time I direct your attention to the Monthly Repository, where a controversy on this subject is going on: and remain, most truly yours, R. WRIGHT. &c. Cedars of Lebanon. THE extract from Harris, relating to the small number of Cedar Trees in Lebanon, given in our last number, p. 220, is agreeable to the representations of many other writers, but is improbable in itself, and is at variance with the report of some modern travellers of the highest credit. The following interesting passage is from the journals of Mr Fisk, the American missionary to the Holy Land. We take it from the Missionary Register of December, 1824, There is much sense in the concluding observations, Instead of being on the highest summit of Lebanon, as has sometimes been said, the Cedars are situated at the foot of a high mountain, in what may be considered as the arena of a vast amphitheatre, opening to the west, with high mountains on the north, south and east. They stand on five or six gentle elevations, and occupy a spot of ground about three-fourths of a mile in circumference. walked round it in fifteen minutes, We measured a num ber of the trees. The largest is upwards of forty feet in circumference. Six or eight others are also very large, several of them nearly the size of the largest: but each of these is manifestly two trees or more, which have grown together, and now form one. They generally separate a few feet from the ground into the original trees. The handsomest and tallest are those of two or three feet in diameter, the body straight, the branches almost horizontal, forming a beautiful cone, and casting a goodly shade. We measured the length of two by the shade, and found each about ninety feet. The largest are not so high, but some of the others, I think, are a little higher. They produce a conical fruit, in shape and size like that of the pine, I counted them, and made the whole number 389. Mr. King counted them, omitting the small saplings, and made the number 321. I know not why travellers and aus thors have so long and so geuerally given 28, 20, 15, 5, or 7, as the number of the cedars. It is true, that of those of superior size and antiquity, there are not a great number; but then there is regular gradation in size, from the largest down to the merest sapling. One man of whom I inquired, told me that there are cedars in other places in Mount Lebanon, but he could not tell where. Several others, to whom I have put the question, have unanimously assured me that these are the only cedars which exist on the mountain. The Maronites tell me that they have an annual feast, which they call the Feast of the Cedars, "Before seeing the cedars, I had met with a European traveller who had just visited them. He gave a short account of them; and concluded with saying,It is as with miracles the wonder all vanishes when you reach the spot.' What is there at which an Infidel cannot sneer? Yet let even an Infidel put himself in the place of an Asiatic-passing from barren desert to barren desert-travers ing oceans of sand and mountains of naked rock-aċcustomed to countries like Egypt, Arabia, Judea, and Asia Minor, abounding in the best places only with shrubbery and fruit trees; let him, with the feelings of such a man, climb the ragged rocks, and pass the open ravines of Lebanon, and suddenly descry among the hills a grove of 300 trees, such as the cedars actually are, even at the present day, and he will confess THAT to be a fine comparison in Amos ii. 9: Whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks. Let him, after a long ride in the heat of the sun, sit down under the shade of a cedar, and contemplate the exact conical form of its top, and the beautiful symmetry of its branches; and he will no longer wonder that David compared the people of Israel, in the days of their prosperity, to the goodly cedars: Ps. lxxx. 10. A traveller who had just left the forests of America, might think this little grove of cedars not worthy of so much notice; but the man who knows how rare large trees are in Asia, and how difficult it is to find timber for building, will feel at once that what is said in scripture of these trees is perfectly natural. It is probable that, in the days of Solomon and Hiram, there were extensive forests of cedars on Lebanon: a variety of causes may have contributed to their diminution and almost total extinction; yet, in comparison with all the other trees that I have seen on the mountain, the few that remain may still be called the glory of Lebanon." Harris's Natural History of the Bible. In our last number (pp. 218-226) we extracted several passages from this valuable compilation of Eastern “Natural History," with a view to illustrate the Scriptures: we proceed to lay before our readers a few more interesting extracts. To us northern readers of the Bible the Palm-tree is associated with many pleasant ideas; Dr. Harris thus describes this fine production of warm climates: "PALM-TREE. TAMAR. Occurs first Exod. xv. 27, and afterwards frequently. "This tree, sometimes called the date-tree, grows plen tifully in the East. It rises to a great height. The stalks are generally full of rugged knots, which are the vestiges of the decayed leaves: for the trunk of this tree is not solid like other trees, but its centre is filled with pith, round which is a tough bark full of strong fibres when young, which, as the tree grows old, hardens and becomes ligneous. To this bark the leaves are closely joined, which in the centre rise erect, but after they are advanced above the vagina which surrounds them, they expand very wide on every side the stem, and as the older leaves decay, the stalk advances in height. The leaves, when the tree has grown to a size for bearing fruit, are six or eight feet long; are very broad when spread out, and are used for covering the tops of houses, &c. "The fruit, which is called 'date,' grows below the leaves in clusters, and is of a sweet and agreeable taste. The learned Kæmpfer, as a botanist, an antiquary, and a traveller, has exhausted the whole subject of palm-trees. The diligent natives (says Mr. Gibbon) celebrated, either in verse or prose, the three hundred and sixty uses to which the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the juice, and the fruit were skilfully applied.' The extensive importance of the date-tree (says Dr. Clarke*) is one of the most curious subjects to which a traveller can direct his atten tion. A considerable part of the inhabitants of Egypt, of Arabia and Persia, subsist almost entirely upon its fruit. They boast also of its medicinal virtues. Their camels feed upon the date stone. From the leaves they make couches, baskets, bags, mats, and brushes ; from the branches, cages for their poultry and fences for their gar dens; from the fibres of the boughs, thread, ropes and rigging; from the sap is prepared a spirituous liquor; and the body of the tree furnishes fuel: it is even said, that from one variety of the palm-tree, the phoenix farinifera, meal has been extracted, which is found among the fibres of the trunk, and has been used for food. "In the temple of Solomon were pilasters made in the form of palm-trees. 1 Kings vi. 29. It was under a tree of this kind that Deborah dwelt between Ramah and Bethel. Judges iv. 5. To the fair, flourishing, and fruitful condition of this tree, the Psalmist very aptly compares the votary of virtue: Psalm xcii. 12-14. "The righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree. Those that are planted in the house of JEHOVAH, * Travels, Part II. Sect. ii. p. 302. |