Matthew, xix. 24. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

A proverbial form of speech suggested by the low entrances to the enclosures round an Eastern house, so made as to exclude thieves on the back of camels.

Matthew, xxi. 12, 13. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

"There was amongst the Jews a certain right, called jus zelotarium, or the right of zealots,whereby private persons, acted by a zeal for God, might do immediate execution upon some malefactors, without expecting the sentence of any court of judicature. And some conceive, that our Saviour, by this right of zealots, did whip the buyers and sellers out of the temple, and overturn the tables of the money-changers, because he was never questioned by the Jews for it. But this was then a legal and regular thing, permitted by the public laws of that nation in some certain cases, yet so as that those zealots were afterwards accountable to the Sanhedrim for what they did."-Cudworth. "Money-changers.' Moormen, whose business it is to give cash for notes, may be seen sitting in public places in Ceylon, with heaps of coin before them. On observing a person with a note, or in want of their services, they earnestly solicit his attention.

Matthew, xxi. 44. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

"In this passage, Christ is supposed to allude to the different methods of stoning to death then prac

tised. When a criminal was stoned to death, they threw him headlong from an eminence, in such a manner as to dash him against some great stone; if this did not dispatch him, they threw another upon him, thereby to crush him in pieces." Lamy in Newcomb.

Matthew, xxii. 20. 21. And he said unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Cesar's.

It should seem the Romans received tribute, in coin of their own stamping; for the Jews abhorred images so much, as not to allow a carver or painter to live in Jerusalem after the captivity. Among the most ancient British coins extant, are those marked TAXIA, considered by antiquarians to have been minted for paying tribute to the Romans, who refused coins not their own.

Matthew, xxii. 23. The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection.

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"No future life."-Campbell. This reading, for the propriety of which, see the Doctor's note; renders the different parts of the paragraph consistent, whereas the doctrine of the resurrection was but a part of what the Sadducees denied.-See also, Acts, xxiii. 8.

Matthew, xxii. 24. Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

The Hindoo sages, says Mr. Ward, have given a law precisely similar to this; and the Cingalese observe the same usage.

Matthew, xxiii. 8-10. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters; for one is your Master, even Christ.

Budhuist priests, according to their degrees, are styled Sanja-rāja, the revered king, or pontiff'; Nayaka, the high priest; Pandittaya, the adept; Tirrunnānsy, the expounder; and Gooroonānsy, the preceptor.

Matthew, xxiii. 24. Ye blind guides, which strain at (ont) a gnat, and swallow a camel.—Proverbs, vi. 13. He winketh with his eye, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers. There are Arabic proverbs extant, answering to these and other such passages.

Matthew, xxiii. 27. Woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres.

I have been often reminded of this when observing the tombs in Ceylon undergoing a white-washing, though the ones here alluded to, were, I suppose, introduced by the Dutch,—the natives following the model where they could go to the expense. They consist of a small room built to lodge the coffins in, having on the top an ornament in the shape of one. There are magnificent tombs in Kandy, wherein are deposited the remains of the royal family. The Budhuist mausoleums, one of which is usually constructed near a temple, and in which a relic of Budhu is said to be deposited, look handsome while they continue white-washed and in repair, but at length they have an appearance of gloomy solemnity.

Matthew, xxiv. 26. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

"Behold, he is in the desert." "In such an hermitage, or blind chapel, built in a bye-place, to the

honour of such a saint, as our Lady of Loretto, Hall, or Sichem. Behold, he is in the secret chambers, or conclaves, (of Cardinals, &c.) or cupboards, as the breaden-god borne up and down in a box, or on an altar, and worshipped by the common people."Trapp. See also Gale's Court of the Gentiles, III. Book 2, chap. 2.

Matthew, xxvii. 51. And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.

The veil of the temple was not unlike a Turkey carpet. The fact of its being rent from top to bottom-not from bottom to top, shows the miracle the more remarkably, and the accuracy of the Evangelists.

Mark, ii. 4. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.

In case this happened in a house like many in India, nothing could be easier. A plank or two might be started from the top balcony or viranda in the back court, where the congregation was probably assembled, and the man let down in his hammock. 2 Kings, i. 2. Ahaziah, it may be, fell from the top viranda by the breaking of a rail. The nearest likeness I can think of would be the front of a gallery in a chapel or theatre.

Mark, ii. 19, 20. And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. Mr. Ward's remark on this passage, with respect to the Hindoos, applies to Ceylon also, and pro

bably to the East in general. Large parties of friends belonging both to the bride and bridegroom, attend on both during the wedding-day, who may very properly be called the children of the bridechamber. On the following day, when the bridegroom leaves the house of his father-in-law, the attendants are filled with sorrow, especially the near relations.

Mark,vii.11-13. But ye maintain,if a man say to father or mother, Be it corban, (that is, devoted,) whatever of mine shall profit thee; he must not thenceforth do aught for his father or his mother, thus invalidating the word of God, by the tradition which ye have established.-Campbell's Version.

Mark, xiv. 14. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the good man of the house, The Master saith, where is the guest chamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? As among the Hindoos, respectable householders among the Cingalese have a room reserved for the accommodation of strangers.

Mark, xiv. 20. And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish.-John, xiii. 26.-Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.

Persons closely attached among the Cingalese as well as the Hindoos,occasionally eat off the same plate, or leaf. If I recollect aright, Dubois says, the husband and wife do so on the marriage day, but never after. And on that occasion, among the Cingalese, each party moulds a ball of rice and presents it to the other. The incident relating to Judas, is probably designed to mark the contrast in his behaviour the more strongly.