Assurs. The offering to him consists of plantains, flowers, betel-leaves, areca-nuts, saffron, and cocoa-nuts. On the day when the door-frame and threshold of a new house or temple are fixed, the Vattuma santhe is offered.

The Hindoos have a very solemn oath connected with the threshold of the temple. Is a man accused of a great crime? he goes to the temple, makes his prostrations, and then approaches the threshold: he pauses, then steps over it, declaring at the same time that he is not guilty of the crime laid to his charge. It is therefore very common to ask a person who denies any thing that he is suspected to have done, "Will you step over the threshold of the temple?"

The Lord, in his severe denunciations, by the prophet Zephaniah, against the Jews for their idolatry, declares, "In the same day also will I punish all those who LEAP on the THRESHOLD;" (Zeph. i. 9;) from which it appears that they also used thus to take an oath, or to perform some other heathenish ceremonies.

But the threshold is also sacred in private houses: it is not propitious for a person to remain on it: neither to eat, sneeze, yawn, nor spit whilst there. Should he do so, the people in the house will throw water upon him to prevent the evil.

I must not forget to notice the pointed observations of the prophet Ezekiel on the same subject. He beheld that "the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house." (Ezek. x. 4.) In the preceding chapter the prophet gives a fearful description of the idolatry of Israel; "the glory of the Lord" having "gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was," in contempt of their idolatry, or to indicate its nature: thus showing that he is gone to the threshold, and is about to depart from them. When the glory of God was about to return to the temple, the sin of Israel hindered it, and the prophet exhorted them to repentance. The Lord likewise reproved them: "In setting their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed." (Ezek. xliii. 8.) At length the judgments of the Lord were denounced against Moab, Ammon, and Assyria. For the prophet Zephaniah declares, that "nettles and salt-pits" shall be amongst them; that Nineveh shall be "like a wilderness," that "flocks shall

lie down in the midst of her," and that "desolation shall be in the thresholds." (Zeph. ii. 9, 13, 14.)

When I consider the united opinion of many learned men as to the identity of Dagon and the Indian Vishnoo; the time when Dagon was destroyed before the ark; (only one hundred and eighty years previous to his next incarnation of Rāmar;) the humiliation of the heathen deity in being broken to pieces on his own threshold; the consternation of the priests and people; their refraining thenceforward to tread on the threshold; the denunciations of the Lord against those who leap on the threshold; his great displeasure against those also who impiously had set their thresholds by his; the circumstance of the threshold being a SACRED place amongst the Hindoos; their belief that a deity dwells in it, and that a very solemn oath is taken by stepping over it :-I am induced to form the conclusion, that all these allusions, ceremonies, and denunciations have their origin in the falling of Dagon before the ark of the Lord on the threshold of his own temple.

CHAP. XIX.

They tarried until afternoon.-Verse 8. The Hebrew has it, "till the day declined."

In this way also do our people speak, when the sun has passed the meridian: "I shall not go till the sun decline." "I must not go till the declining-time."

CHAP. XXI.

On the east side.-Verse 19. The Hebrew has this, "toward the sun

rising."

Does a person ask the way to a place which lies towards the East? he will be told to go to the rising place, to the rising sky if to the West: "Walk for the departed place, the gone-down place."

RUTH.

СНАР. І.

Are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?-Verse 11.

So said Naomi to the widows of her sons, who were following her. When a mother has lost her son, should his widow only come occasionally to see her, the mother will be displeased, and affect to be greatly surprised when she does.

"Do I again see you? Is it possible? Are there any more sons in my womb?" But the mother-in-law also uses this form of expression when she does not wish to see the widow.

Where thou diest, will I die.-Verse 17.

The dreadful practice of widows burning themselves on the funeral pile with the dead bodies of their husbands, has made the declaration of this text familiar to the native mind. Hence a wife, when her husband is sick and in great danger, will say, "Ah! if he die, I also will die; I will go with him! Yes, my body, thou also shalt be a corpse!" A slave makes use of the same language to a good master.

Husbands sometimes boast of the affection of their wives; and compare them to the Eastern stork, which if it lose its mate in the night, is said immediately to shrick and die.

CHAP. III.

Behold, he winnoweth barley to-night in the threshing-floor.-Verse 2.

In these regions much of the agricultural labour is performed in the night. The sun is so hot and pernicious, that the farmers endeavour, as much as possible, to avoid its power. Great numbers, therefore, plough and irrigate their fields and gardens long after the sun has gone down, or before it rises in the morning. The wind is likewise gene

rally stronger in the night, which might induce Boaz to prefer it for the purpose of winnowing.

From the next two verses we learn that he took his supper there, and slept among the barley. Corn in the East is not kept in stacks; but, after being reaped, it is, in a few days, threshed on the spot. The threshing-floor is a circle of about forty feet in diameter; and usually consists of clay and cowdung, without wall or fence. Under these circumstances, it is necessary for some of the people to sleep near the corn, till all shall have been threshed and taken home.

She came softly and uncovered his feet, and laid her down.-Verse 7. In the margin to the fourth verse, the expression is, "lift up the clothes that are on his feet."

All inferiors and servants sleep at the feet of their master. It is nothing uncommon for those who have a great favour to procure, to go to the house of the rich, and sleep with the head at his door, or in the verandah. Thus, when he arises in the morning, he finds the suppliant at his door. Should a master wish to dismiss his servants, they often say, "My lord, turn us not away! how many years have we slept at your feet?"

King Arechanan was once placed in great difficulty by his implacable enemy Tirriyothanan. The king, in his distress, resolved to lie down and sleep at the feet of Chrishna. The enemy also went for the same object, but slept at the head of the deity. In the morning when Chrishna awoke, he found the rivals in their different places, and each earnestly requesting his favour. After hearing both sides, the preference was given to Arechanan, because he had displayed the most humility, he having slept at the fect of the deity.

I am Ruth, thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid.-Verse 9.

The prophet Ezekiel, in describing the Jewish church as an exposed infant, mentions the care of God in bringing her up with great tenderness, and then, at the proper time, marrying her; which is expressed in the same way as the request of Ruth: "I spread my skirt over thee; and thou becamest mine." (Ezek. xvi. 8.)

Dr. A. Clarke says, "Even to the prescut day, when a Jew

marries a woman, he throws the skirt or end of his talith over her, to signify that he has taken her under his pro⚫tection."

I have been delighted, at the marriage-ceremonies of the Hindoos, to see amongst them the same interesting custom. The bride is seated on a throne, surrounded by matrons, wearing her veil, her gayest robes, and most valuable jewels. After the thali has been tied round her neck, the bridegroom approaches her with a silken skirt, (purchased by himself,) and folds it round her several times over the rest of her clothes. A common way of saying, " He has married her," is, "He has given her the koori,"—has spread the skirt over her. There are, however, those who throw a long robe over the shoulders of the bride, instead of putting on the skirt.

An angry husband sometimes says to his wife, "Give me back my skirt;" meaning that he wishes to have the marriagecompact dissolved. So the mother-in-law, should the new daughter not treat her respectfully, says, "My son gave this woman the koori, ('skirt,') and has made her respectable; but she neglects me."

The request of Ruth, therefore, amounted to nothing more than that Boaz should marry her.

CHAP. IV.

Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here.-Verse 1.

The word "gate" in the Scriptures is often used to denote the place of public consultation, and also that appropriated for the administration of justice. This gives us a correct idea of our Saviour's meaning, when He says in reference to his church, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it;" all their consultations in the gate, all their machinations which there they concoct, shall be ineffectual and useless. This definition of the word "gate," in the first of these meanings, exactly accords with the usages of the Hindoos. People, therefore,

• This part of the ceremony often produces powerful emotions on all present. The parents on both sides then give their benedictions.