God? Have you considered that he is every where present that he sees all our sins-that he hates sin and is angry with the wicked every day? And further, when you think of God, you must remember that he has no need of your praises to make him happy. God never changes; no circumstance can make him more happy one day, than he is another. If so, he must have desired the good of his creatures, when he gave the command --Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

If, then, you are tempted to play or wander about on the Sabbath, remember who has commanded us to rest —it is the Almighty God, who is so far exalted above us. Jesus Christ, when on earth, obeyed this command; we are told that it was his custom to go, every Sabbath day, into the synagogue. Here then, dear Francis, is an example for you. By what I have said, I hope you will be induced to spend your mornings in serious reflection and prayer; and from the study of the Bible at home, go to hear it explained at meeting, and then remember that the eye of the ever present God will follow you. R. R.

Your friend,

INDIA CRACKERS.

The good people of a certain place made preparations for a Sabbath school celebration, on the fourth of July. In this place, there lived a little boy, seven years of age, the child of pious parents. William was a constant attendant on the Sabbath school, and if you had looked at him, as he entered the school, you would have read in his bright eye that he was glad to be there.

In this school there was a monthly collection for a number of benevolent objects, and William used to contribute; but I fear he did not often give of his own money, as is the case with a great number of the children in the same school. He did not, I fear, save, as many others do, the cents that are given him by his friends, for the monthly contribution; and I will tell you what makes me think so. On the last 4th of July, William had a quarter of a dollar given him by his father. This you will say was a large sum to entrust to the man

agement of so small a boy. Indeed it was-larger, by far, than my father ever gave me, on such occasions, even when I was twice as old as little William.

Now there lived near William's house a poor widow and some fatherless children. Did William buy bread with his quarter of a dollar, and give it to this poor wo ́man? Oh, no! He spent it all for India Crackers, and then went down on some of the wharves, with other boys, while twelve or fourteen hundred other children, in the same place, were listening to the Address, which was prepared on purpose for them, and to the delightful singing of nearly two hundred S. S. scholars. There, on the wharf, William blew up his crackers, and with them went his quarter of a dollar, not doing him or any body else any good.

I have talked with William since, and he says he felt sorry that he did so, and that he did not save it for the monthly collection, or give it to the poor widow woman. I hope it is so, and I think he has learned a lesson which he will long remember,--never to spend money for India Crackers.

IDOLATRY.

The worship of images is very ancient. These images, at first, were rude blocks of wood or stone. Afterwards they were made of ivory, and finally of iron, brass, silver and gold, and much art and labor were expended upon them, some of which were of great stature. In the time of Moses these images were seen in the form of men, women, beasts, birds, insects, fishes, the sun, moon and stars. Some were partly human and partly animal; for instance, the Dagon of the Philistines had a human form above, and terminated below in the shape of a fish. Let us refer to some of the images mentioned in the Bible.

1. The calf made and worshiped by the Israelites in the wilderness, as well as the two calves set up by Jeroboam in Dan and Bethel, were made of gold, in imitation of the two celebrated living bulls in Egypt, viz: Apis, at Memphis, and Mnevis, at Heliopolis. Perhaps the Israelites intended to worship the true God under these images. It was nevertheless gross idolatry.

2. The Ephod of Gideon was, probably, a piece of wood, carved in the likeness of the sacerdotal garment of the high priest and covered with gold.

3. Images of Baal. Under these images the sun was probably meant. The sect of the Arabians called Nabateans, erected altars to the sun on the tops of houses, and worshiped it with libations and the burning of incense. A city in Egypt called Heliopolis was consecrated to the sun which was represented in this city and in Syria by the image of a beardless youth. His right hand, like that of a charioteer, was in an elevated posture,and sustained a whip; his left hand grasped a thunderbolt. This idolatrous image was covered with gold. In the reign of Ahab, king of Israel, we read of four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal who were slain by order of Elijah.

4. Bel, was a heathen idol worshiped in Babylon. There was a splendid temple erected to this god there, resembling, in its construction, seven towers built one upon another. In the upper tower was the shrine or most sacred part of the temple, which was furnished with a bed and table of gold. The image which Nebuchadnezzar set up in Babylon, we are informed, was sixty cubits or more than one hundred feet high, and six cubits or upwards of ten feet broad. This was probably covered with gold.

5. Images of Moloch. This monster of a deity was represented by a statue of brass, with arms extended, but declining towards the earth. Children were sacrificed to this idol. When they were offered, they were placed on his arms, which declined considerably, so that the victims readily rolled off from them into a furnace of fire placed below. The offering up of children, in this manner, was forbidden by Moses; yet we find that, long after his time, they were sacrificed by Ahaz and by Manasseh. In the later periods of the Jewish nation, this Idol was erected in a valley south of Jerusalem, called the " Valley of the son of Hinnom." A part of it was called Tophet, being so named from the drums which were beaten to prevent the groans and cries of the children sacrificed from being heard.

6. Teraphira were probably images sculptured in imitation of the human form, and were used as household gods.

Thus we see how men, in ancient days, made themselves gods, and worshiped the work of their own hands. And though God had solemnly charged the Jews not to make themselves any graven image; yet they disobeyed his command, and departed from the worship of the Lord who made heaven and earth, and bowed themselves down to the idols of the heathen. For this great wickedness and idolatry, their temple was destroyed, their country made desolate, and themselves were carried into captivity for seventy years. After their return to their own land, and the rebuilding of the temple, we do not hear of their ever returning to their idolatrous worship. S. S. W.

LETTERS FROM PERSIA.

No. IX.

Oormiah, (Persia,) Feb., 1834.

To the Sabbath Schools in Amherst and Andover, Mass.

June 11. My dear friends,-Daylight revealed to us the village of Javislook, which consists of about twenty rude huts. The Aga (chief man) has an imposing situation, upon the summit of an overhanging mountain.

I sent my interpreter to the village for eggs, but he returned saying, "There are none.' I then sent him for milk; but he could find none. I sent him a third time, for meat, but his answer was, still, “there is none." What is there? I inquired; “Why nothing but bread and yogoord," (sour milk) he replied, Our servant then spread before us dry food, from provisions we had brought with us, from which we made a comfortable re past, and started again, about eight o'clock, in the morning.

The weather was cloudy and very damp, though it did not rain. We rose gradually upon the side of a mountain, leaving beautiful fields in the valley below. As we continued rising, we at length found ourselves shrouded in dense clouds, and thus proceeded, until we came upon the top of a narrow ridge, with fathomless gulfs on each side, which were now and then partially revealed, as the clouds were driven away by the wind, We followed this ridge, some distance, where it widens into a mountain top, clothed with a thick growth of heavy timber. The beech seemed predominant. Ridge still succeeded ridge, which we climbed on narrow passes, to almost interminable heights, until we found ourselves shivering in a climate entirely different from the one in which we started in the morning. We were obliged to put on additional cloaks, and were still very cold. Dense clouds, on all sides, prevented our enjoying the

extended surveys, as we rode along, which we were confident our immense elevation must command.

We reached Karakapan, five hours-about sixteen milesfrom Javislook, at one o'clock in the afternoon. This village is near five thousand feet above the level of the Black sea; and indeed of the village we had left, that morning. It consists of only five or six rude huts, occupied mainly for the accommodation of the road. We could scarcely find a level place, large enough on which to pitch our tent.

In the course of the afternoon, the clouds cleared away, and opened to us scenes of inconceivable sublimity. We found ourselves upon the top of a lofty mountain, surrounded by alternate gulfs and snow capped summits. Several large snow drifts lay sparkling within a few feet of our tent. The mountain sides and deep valleys and ravines below, were still buried in dense clouds, driven furiously by the winds. As the clouds cleared away, more and more, the waters of the Black sea at length appeared at a great distance.

Just before evening, a shepherd passed along with his flock, which he had been pasturing upon green patches, on the sunny sides of the mountains. He milked one of his cows for us; and thus we were furnished with a luxury we had little expected at that elevation.

The ground was very damp, and the weather chilly, and as the sun sunk down behind the western mountains, we became very cold. We piled on our beds all the blankets we could rally, and stopped up the cracks in our tent with our garments. We still found ourselves very cold; but we passed the night without much exposure. We had little anticipated such a temperature, in midsummer, even on the mountains of Asia Minor.

June 12th. The morning was fair, and though very cold, delightful. We were early on our way. Our path led up several frightful precipices, and was so narrow and difficult, in many places, that I should have been afraid to trust myself to my feet. A single misstep would have plunged us hundreds, and often thousands of feet, into gulfs below. The caravan horses, of these regions, become accustomed to such roads; and the traveler soon learns, that it is safest for him to entrust himself to his animal. We passed over snow, a considerable part of the day; and the bright reflection of the sun's rays was very oppressive to our eyes. The last half of our ride, after ascending the precipices, was over lofty table land. Not a tree or shrub was any where to be seen. I inquired of our muleteer when we should again find forests-" Not for many hundred miles, at least not in Turkey, and I have never traveled in Persia," was his reply; and the result verified his statement, for we found but one more forest, and that of stinted pines only, on our whole