ing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.' ." Isa. xvi. 10. The crushed pulp of the grapes sunk into the bottom of the vat or cistern; the expressed juice flowed out through a spout inserted in the side of the cistern, about one-third of its height from the ground. The juice was imperfectly extracted by the treading process, and another operation was required to render available what remained in the trodden pulp. For this purpose a bag, made of flags or rushes, was provided, in which the pulp was placed, and compressed by twisting the ends of the bag with staves or hand-spikes. The editor of the Pictorial Bible, a work whose judicious illustrations convey fuller and more perfect information than all the folios of the commentators, confirms our theory, that the bag was used to extract the juice from grapes already subjected to the treading operation, by observing, that there is an intermediate process in the supply of fruit to the bag-press; the grapes are deposited in large buckets, and not brought directly from the vines, as they are to the treading-press. Fishing is one of the employments most frequently depicted on the monuments. It is recorded, as a fearful aggravation of the first plague of Egypt, "the fish that was in the river died," Ex. vii. 21; and the first great complaint of the Israelites, when they murmured against Moses in the Desert, was, "We remember the fish that we did eat in Egypt freely." Num. xi. 5. Isaiah alludes to the importance of fish to the Egyptians, when denouncing divine vengeance against them: "The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish....... And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish." Isa. xix. 8-10. We have briefly noticed flax and cotton in our account of the agricultural produce; we have now to examine their importance to the manufacturing population of Egypt. When the prophet wishes to describe the misery which the foolishness of the Egyptian princes was likely to bring on the labouring classes of their subjects, he mentions the weavers as next in importance to the fishermen: "Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded." Isaiah xix. 9. Instead of "networks," the margin of our Bibles has "white works," which is the true translation; the prophet alludes to the cotton manufacture, which has been so often confounded with linen both by ancient and modern writers. The linen and cotton were exported in the shape of yarn. We are told that "Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn; the king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price." 1 Kings x. 28. And the linen of Egypt was highly valued in Palestine, for the seducer, in Proverbs, says, "I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt." Proverbs vii. 16. Spinning was wholly a female employment; it is rather singular that we find work frequently performed by a large number collected together, as if the factory system had been established three thousand years ago. In almost every example of embroidery we find the mistress of the house either superintending the work or actually engaged in it. Our classical readers will remember that Andromache was thus employed when she received intelligence of the death of Hector: Far in the close recesses of the dome, Iliad, XXII. Surcoats ornamented with needle-work formed no small part of the ancient warrior's pride. An allusion is made to the custom in the most striking passage of Deborah's triumphal hymn, "The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots? Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself, Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey? to every man a dainsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needle-work, of divers colours of needle-work on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil." Judges v. 28-30. The repetition of the "divers colours" in this passage, is a strong proof of the value that was anciently set on this embroidered work. Herodotus assures us that weaving was especially the business of men, but his observation must be understood to apply to the public manufactories rather than to the employments of domestic life. The most beautiful specimen of it which we have yet seen is given by Minutola, from the tombs of Beni Halsan, vol. ii. plate 24; it would be impossible to exhibit its peculiarities without the aid of colours, but they may perhaps be understood from the following description. The weaver's loom is held fast by four blocks, securely imbedded in the ground; the workman sits on that part of the web already finished, which is a small delicately chequered pattern of yellow and green; the materials spread around prove to us that the byssus, or cotton employed in the manufacture of the richest cloths, was dyed in the wool before it was placed in the hands of the weaver. It is manifest also, from the account Moses gives us of the furnishing of the tabernacle, that the wool was frequently coloured before it was given to the female weavers and spinners. He says, "all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen." Exodus xxxv. 25. The sacred historian also mentions a material for spinning which we have not positively identified on the monuments, though we think that in some instances its presence is probable: "And all the women whose hearts stirred them up in wisdom spun goats' hair." Exodus xxxv. 26. Moses is the first who mentions the preparation of gold in wires to be interwoven with the more precious cloths. "And they did beat the gold into thin plates and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work." Exodus xxxix. 3. Cloth of golden tissue is not uncommon on the monuments, and specimens of it have been found rolled about the mummies, but it is not easy to determine whether the wire was originally interwoven, or subsequently inserted by the embroiderer. Perhaps the most singular instance of mutual illustration between the scriptural records and the Egyptian monuments is derived from the forty-fifth Psalin, in connection with the subject under discussion. It is generally supposed that this Psalin was a hymeneal ode composed on the occasion of Solomon's marriage with Pharaoh's daughter, although it is allowed on all hands to have a much higher purport, prophetically referring to the majesty and grace of the Messiah's kingdom. As many of the illustrations we have derived from the monuments are new, having escaped the notice of the commentators, we shall follow the order of the Psalm rather than of the main subject, the textile fabrics of Egypt, in the order of our remarks. The title of the Psalm is of some importance; it is headed, "To the chief musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil, a song of loves." The word Shoshannim has puzzled the commentators, Jewish and Christian; it signifies "lilies," and they all declare that "lilies" have nothing to do with the subject of the ode. But, as we shall presently see, this hymeneal ode was intended to be sung by the female attendants of the Egyptian princess, and they are called "the lilies," not only by a poetic reference to the lotus-lilies of the Nile, but by a direct allusion to their custom of making the lotus-lily a conspicuous ornament of their head-dress. Shoshannim, then, instead of being the name of an unknown tune, as most of the commentators assert, is a poetic allusion at once to the country, the beauty, and the dress of the female choristers. Maschil signifies "instruction;" the word rendered "of loves." (Jedidith) signifies also "the beloved one," or, by a slight change in the pointing, "the lovely or beloved girls;" that is, the female attendants for whose instruction the ode was composed. Let us now turn to the thirteenth and fourteenth verses. "The king's daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework; the virgins, ber companions that follow her, shall be brought unto thee." The first clause refers to the light fine texture of the Egyptian muslins; they were so delicate as to receive the name of "woven air," through which the whole form is distinctly displayed. We have already mentioned the use of "wrought gold" both in the weaving and the embroidery of Egypt. The latter, of course, is alone referred to by the term "needle-work," but we do not find, from the monuments, embroidery much practised as a trade distinct from weaving. It is sufficiently evident, from what has been said, that the art of dyeing had made as great progress as that of weaving. The various colours, white, yellow, red, blue, green, and black, are met with in beautiful perfection, but without mixture, for it appears that the Egyptians did not know how to produce a variety of shades by mixing and blending their colours. In one of Rosellini's plates, however, we think that we have found an example of an attempt to produce the varying shades of shot-silk. But no one can look at the number and richness of the colours without being compelled to inquire whether their dyestuffs were indigenous or imported from abroad. We have reason to believe that the blue is derived from indigo, which neither the monuments nor the historians notice among the productions of Egypt. It was most probably obtained from India. In a naval combat on the Red Sea, forming a compartment in one of the pictures supposed to represent the wars of Sesostris, we have Hindús, or a nation cognate to them, engaged in fight with the Egyptians, and if there was a warlike, there might also have been a commercial intercourse between the two nations. It is probable that dye-stuffs were obtained from the Tyrians; their scarlet and purple colours have been always celebrated; they had an extensive commerce through Babylon with the interior of central Asia; and their trade with Egypt was so extensive that they established a factory at Memphis, under the protection of their national goddess Astarte. This intercourse must have been anterior to the days of Solomon, for in his hymeneal ode, one of the encouragements he holds out to his Egyptian bride is, "The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift.' Psalm xlv. 12. In the time of Ezekiel, the Tyrian trade with Egypt, and its description, is one of the chief features in his account of the wealth of Tyre. linen, with broidered work from Egypt, was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail." Ezekiel xxvii. 7. We cannot conclude this portion of our subject without some reference to the works in metal, which rank next in importance to weaving. It would appear that the Egyptians were ignorant of the use of iron, for all the implements not formed of gold and silver, are painted green, and must manifestly have been made of brass. We need not remind our classical readers that all the weapons mentioned by Homer are said to have been formed of this metal. Casting must have been carried to a high degree of perfection, for most, if not all, of the war chariots are brazen; a circumstance "Fine it proved not only by their green colour, but by the lightness and neatness of their wheels, and their beautiful ornaments, too elaborate to have been carved. Swords, quivers, knives, axes, and adzes, are all formed from the same material, and even some bows appear to have been formed of this metal. As there were no mines i Egypt, it seems probable that the great quantity of metal required in the arts was obtained from the in terior of Africa. Copper, in hardness, bears the proportion to iron of about eight to nine, and was therefore not very much inferior to it before the art of formin the latter into steel was discovered. The monuments clearly show us that iron was either unknown or unused in the flourishing days of the Pharaohs, and this circumstance tends strongly to demonstrate the antiquity of the Pentateuch, and consequently its authenticity as a contemporary document, when we find that invariably the metals described as employed for use or ornament, are those only which appear on the ancier: monuments of Egypt. Thus Bezabel is said to have been instructed "to devise cunning works, to work in gold, in silver, and in brass." Exodus xxxi. 4. may be necessary to add, that in Hebrew the same word signifies both brass and copper; our translators invariably use the former, even when the native copper is mentioned. The account given of the structure of the tabernacle proves that metallurgy must have been well understood in the days of Moses, and from the description of the golden calf, we may infer that the casting of idols and statues was no uncommon practice. Gilding was certainly understood by the Egyptians, for we find traces of it on the mummies and the muminy cases. It would be too long a digression to examine whether the "overlaying the boards of the tabernacle with gold," Exodus xxxvi. 34, refers to gilding or a covering of thin plates; but, in support of the former view, we may notice that the weight of the plates would have rendered the tabernacle very difficult of transport, and a positive incumbrance to the Israelites in their journeying through the desert; the amount of gold, too, collected by Moses, would not have supplied sufficient material for plates, however thin, to cover the entire edifice; and, finally, the word here rendered "overlaying," is the same used to describe the decorating of the carved work in Solomon's temple, which must have been gilding, as plates, however thin, would have concealed the tracery and foliage described to have been wrought with so much artistic skill. Metal mirrors were in common use among the ancient Egyptians; they occasionally appear on the monu ments, and are mentioned by Moses in the account of the brazen laver. "He made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the looking-glasses (metal mirrors) of the women assembling." Exodus xxxviii. 8. The Egyptian women of rank appear to have used mirrors of burnished silver. Bells, chains, ear-rings, and other metallic ornaments, are not only depicted on the monuments, but found in the tombs. A LETTER TO A CHRISTIAN FRIEND IN AFFLICTION. BY THE REV. S. SIMPSON, Minister of the Scotch Church, Usher's Quay, Dublin. MY DEAR FRIEND,-I am glad to find that you are so much recovered from the severe indisposition of body with which you have been lately exercised. Sickness is one of those evils sin has brought upon us, and from which few are always exempt in this mortal state. The human frame is of so delicate a make, so tender in all its parts, that it is easily impaired, and sometimes the least inattention will lay a foundation for some dreadful aisease, which will not lose its hold, till it has destroyed the vitals, and brought its possessor to the house appointed for all living. However, I would be thankful, with you, that the Lord has been pleased to restore you your wonted health; and I hope that you will be able to see, that the Supreme Disposer of all events hath been infinitely wise in causing you to pass through the fire. As we are sometimes led to set a greater value upon our blessings, by being for a time deprived of them; so, perhaps, (after this trial,) should you enjoy your health in future, you will be more thankful for it, and more careful of it. that we have not perused it; our sanctuary, that we Need I remind you, that no child of God escapes the rod? He "scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?" Heb. vi. 12. The wicked are often permitted to enjoy uninterrupted tranquillity, in the pursuit of earthly vanities, and in the gratification of their own corrupt desires; but our Heavenly Father loves his children too dearly, and has purchased them at too exalted a price, to suffer them to fall a prey to the god of this world. He allows the ungodly to enjoy their shortlived happiness now; but having reserved a better inheritance for his people, he trains them up by certain rules, and according to a certain plan of discipline, till all the dross of their character is purged away, and they are fitted for the presence of angels and glorified saints above. And what child of God ever escaped affliction? If we look at Moses, at Abraham, at Job, at David, at Daniel, at the apostles, and at all the first Christians, we see that the page which unfolds their history is but the record of their afflictions. And why should any disciple of Jesus suppose that he shall escape affliction? Is the servant greater than his master? And shall we be ashamed to follow in His footsteps, who was emphatically "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief?" Afiction, my dear friend, is the consecrated path that conducts to heaven; and it is "through much tribulation that we are to enter the kingdom."" everlasting arms underneath us," in affliction or in Acts xvi. 22. death, we shall have a pillow on which to rest with composure and delight. What is all the world without this? To enter the furnace of affliction without the attendance of the Son of God, is to have the first sparks of the flames of hell kindling upon us! But, O forget not that Jesus is the way to his Father's heart-the only way. In your union to him, you will have a pledge of all present and all future good. With his arm on life, will begin to wear a smile, and the desert of affliction itself will blossom as the rose. Some of the dispensations of Divine Providence are exceedingly painful and mysterious. They deprive us of property, of health, and of the desire of our eyes, with a stroke. They make our hearts desolate, and render our house the house of mourning." But, when sanctified, they are often the means of more than ordinary communion with our God. We see his hand guiding and inflicting them; we hear his voice speak-which to lean, the wilderness, even of this perplexed ing to us by them; we feel his influence accompanying them; and we say, "It is the Lord,-let him do what seemeth good in his sight." And when this is the case, we have fellowship with God, and the merciful design of affliction is answered. For as Absalom set Joab's fieid on fire, in order to gain an interview with him; so God often sends some fiery trial to us, for the very purpose of bringing us nearer to himself, that we may have fellowship one with another; and though the furnace through which we have to pass be seven times heated, yet one like the Son of man is always there, and there "we have fellowship with him in his sufferings." Blessed Jesus! thou hast been a man of sorrows; thou art touched with the feeling of all our infirmities; every string that trembles in our bosom, produces a vibration in thine own; and thou art nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and savest such as are of a contrite spirit. Let us, my dear friend, seek rightly to improve every trying dispensation. When we feel the smart of the rod in our persons, our families, or our circumstances, let us examine ourselves, and, under divine assistance, seek to know the reason why God contends with us. Perhaps there is, as one remarks, some sin unmortified, some temper highly offensive in his sight, some neglected duty that looks us in the face and reproaches us, some idol to which our hearts eling with criminal determination. Perhaps our closet testifies against us, that we have not frequented it; our Bible, I hope, my dear friend, that the Lord will go on to restore your wonted health, that your animal frame may be strengthened, and above all, that you may enjoy the blessing of Him, in the light of whose countenance is life, and whose favour is as the cloud of the latter rain. If he be with us all will be well, whether we are in health or sickness, prosperity or adversity, life or death; but without him, we can do nothing, enjoy nothing, or say nothing to any good purpose. The most abject situation is pleasant when he smiles-the most elevated miserable when he frowns. We are ready to sink under the smallest trial, destitute of his presence; but we can rejoice in the greatest, when he communicates to us his grace. Happy are those who see themselves weak, that Christ may strengthen them, that feel themselves as nothing, that Christ may be all and in all unto them. Such will be able to discern his wisdom in all the dispensations of his providence, and admire his wonderful love and unmerited kindness in the work of redemption, while they are enabled to be submissive and patient in every trial, happy and composed in every difficulty, thankful for every cross as well as for every comfort, and at last go off triumphantly to the world of glory above. That we may enter into that rest which remains for the people of God, is the prayer of your unworthy but willing servant, SACRED POETRY. INVITATION TO THE LORD'S TABLE. THIS is the feast of heavenly wine, O bless the Saviour, ye that eat, Not heaven affords a costlier treat, The vile, the lost, he calls to them The banquet spread for you. If guilt and sin afford a plea, And may obtain a place, Surely the Lord will welcome me, COWPER. THE SUFFERINGS OF THE REDEEMER,— THE Saviour, what a noble flame He march'd before the rest! 'Twas love that urged him on. And to the rising God! And while thy bleeding glories here MISCELLANEOUS. COWPER. house, and began to pay his debts. His wife told all who inquired about him, that the cause of this great change, was reading a religious tract, entitled, "The Wonderful Advantages of Drunkenness," which a poor man had thrown in at their door. After being away two years, I returned to that neighbourhood again. I stopped at a public-house, about two miles distant from the village before named, and offered my tracts for sale. One of the persons in the room, with a dreadful oath, said, I was one of those ranters or methodists that had made their companion mad. The woman of the house said, "Do you call him mad? Then I wish you were like him; then you would pay the five pounds you owe me; for he has paid me every farthing he owed me, and all in less than two years.' On entering a house, about a mile further, I was informed, that the tract I had thrown, two years before, into a poor man's house, had made him another man. At length I arrived at the village. A woman looked very hard at me, and said, "Are you not the man who sold me some tracts about two years ago?" I said I was. Then she said, "I have eighteen-pence, which a friend left for you, and now you must go with me to the house where you threw the tract in, which the wind carried under the table, and I am quite sure the woman will not tell you to go away now.' As soon as I entered, the woman informed her I was the old man she so much wished to see. She cried out, "What! that dear man who threw in the tract?" and, running, she took hold of my hand, and said, "I humbly beg your pardon for what I said; I was in a passion, and vile and wicked.” She bade me sit down to dinner, and said her husband would be there in a few minutes. As soon as he came in, she told him who I was. He took me very kindly by the hand, and said, "Blessed was that hour when you threw the tract into my house, and thrice blessed is that God who directed you to one so wicked. I was then poor and wretched; spent most of my time in the ale-house but now, thank God, I have a house of my own, and it is my greatest delight to come home after the labours of the day, and talk of the goodness of that God which directed me to the reading of the tract, The Wonderful Advantages of Drunkenness."" The Power of the Word.-In the parish of the late Rev. L. Richmond, was a dissolute, thoughtless man, who bitterly persecuted religion in those who professed it. He had formed a secret resolution never more to enter the church. Circumstances, however, constrained him to alter his determination. Mr R. preached from Psalm li. 10; " Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." Sharper than a twoedged sword is the Word of God; and in its application by the power of the Spirit to this poor man, it proved to be "the hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces." He confessed, that immediately on his return home, he, for the first time, fell on his knees, and with crying and tears poured forth the strong emotions of his heart in the language of the publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" Separate Numbers from the commencement may at all times be had to complete sets. The Drunkard reclaimed.-The following anecdote was related by John Eastward, of Yorkshire, a hawker: -As I passed through a village in Yorkshire, I asked a poor woman to buy a religious tract. She replied, "Away with you and your tracts." I turned round and threw one in at the door, and the wind carried it under the table. The man of the house came home, saw it, took it up, and read the title, "Wonderful Advantages of Drunkenness ;" he left his dinner, and put it in his pocket. After he got to his work, he read it again. In the evening his companions missed him at the alehouse; and when they saw him, they inquired where he was on the preceding evening. He said he had been reading a religious tract. At this account of himself, they one and all laughed, and said he was going to turn methodist. His neighbours said, "John P. was sober last night;" which quite surprised them, as this seldom occurred. But from this time he kept from the public-stitched in a printed wrapper, price Sixpence. Published by JOHN JOHNSTONE, at the Offices of the SCOTTI*8 CHRISTIAN HERALD, 2, Hunter Square, Edinburgh, and 19, Glassford Street, Glasgow; JAMES NISBET & Co., HAMILTON, ADAMS & Co., and R. GROOMBRIDGE, London; W. CURRY, Junr. & Co., Dublin; and W. M'COMB, Belfast; and sold by the Booksellers and Local Agents in all the Towns and Parishes of Scotland; and in the principal Towns in England and Ireland. Subscribers in Edinburgh, Leith, and Portobello, will have their copies delivered at their own residences regularly, by leaving their addresses with the Publisher.--Subscribers in Glasgow will, in like manner, have their copies delivered, by leaving their addresses at the Publishing Office there, 19, Glassford Street. Subscription (payable in advance) per quarter, of twelve weeks, 18. 6d. per half-year, of twenty-four weeks, 3s.-per year, of fortyeight weeks, 6s.-Monthly Parts, containing four Numbers each, THE CONDUCTED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF MINISTERS AND MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH. " THE FEAR OF the lord, thAT IS WISDOM." No. 89. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1837. ILLUSTRATIONS OF FAITH. FAITH CONSIDERED AS A DUTY,-OBJECTIONS. THE last topic considered was, what are the things to be believed concerning Jesus Christ, of which the blessed result is the salvation of him who believes them. This is what is commonly expressed by "saving faith." We shall now consider this faith in Christ as a "commanded duty," and we hope to show that the command is reasonable, and that the objections to it are futile and untenable. PRICE 14d. ness of engaging in the public and private acts of the worship of God, and of being just, and generous, and compassionate to their fellow-men. They seem to overlook the only thing that gives value to these acts, and the want of which renders them an abomination in the sight of God. That thing is love to God, on the one hand, and love to their fellow-creatures, on the other. Hence we are taught that "love is the fulfilling of the law." Let this be particularly noted, we are commanded to “love God with all the heart, and soul, and strength, and mind, and to love our neighbour as ourselves." Now, I am not aware of any objection to the reasonableness of the command to love God, generally at least, even on the part of those who are living in enmity to him. I would just ask, To show that it is a commanded duty, we have then, can there be love till there first be faith or only to quote the apostle's language, 1 John iii. 2, 3, belief, not only in the existence, but in the attri"This is His commandment, that we should believe butes and qualities of the object beloved? What, on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love indeed, is the object of love, but the qualities it one another, as he gave us commandment." Every possesses? For if these be removed, nothing reone knows that what are called good works con- mains as the object of affection. The command sist of obedience to the commandments of God; to love, then, implies obedience to a previous comand in accordance with this, our Saviour calls mand to believe; for belief, and the knowledge obedience to the command to believe in him a which it necessarily implies, must come before "work;" and as involving all good works, and all love, as the less must be implied in the greater. that constitutes them good, he calls it "the work," | And as love to God is a duty, of which the reaand "the work of God." The connection in sonableness is unquestionable, it is equally unwhich the passage occurs is this: our Lord hav- questionable that belief, without which love cannot ing fed the five thousand with five loaves and two exist, is also reasonable. It is the pious and holy small fishes, the multitude came next day to hear motive, arising from love to God, that renders any his instructions; and in reference to the miracle outward act acceptable, and without such a motive, by which he had satisfied their hunger, he exhorted the act, whatever it be, is an abomination. Now, them not to "labour or work for the meat which it is because there can be no good motive without perisheth, but for that which endureth unto ever-love, and no love without faith, that the Scripture lasting life. Then said they unto him," under the saith, "without faith it is impossible to please influence of that carnal tendency, which renders God." men desirous to establish a claim of right on the divine favour, "what shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." There is no man, except the brutalized victim of vice, and devoted slave of Satan, that ever doubts the reasonableness of being commanded to obey God; yet, somehow or other, it will be found, in point of fact, that men limit their notions of obedience to outward acts. They feel the reasonableVOL. II. Any man that thinks at all will be sensible that all that constitutes obedience must be referred to the mental powers and the moral feelings, or, as it is commonly expressed, the understanding and the heart. It is the training of these powers that is the object of all that discipline in the school of Christ, by which men are made meet for heaven. It is by this spiritual part, and not by our bodily organs, and the earthy elements of which they are composed, that we are allied to God himself; and it is on this that the image of |