“What are their names, Alfred?" "I never knew."

"What professions did they follow ?"

“I never knew; they always seemed to have plenty of money, and to spend it freely."

“Poor boy !” I said; "you have been sadly deceived.”

"And so my poor life ends," sighed he; "I have sown to the flesh, and must of the flesh reap corruption; and I, who might have been this day happy and respected, am corrected by mine own wickedness, and only see dishonour and ignominy before me."

"Shall I pray with you, Alfred ?”

66

Oh, yes; if God does not have mercy upon me, then indeed all is lost!"

Anything like the despair which was in the tones in which he uttered these words, I have never since heard. Together we knelt down, and in a voice broken by sorrow, we lifted up our hearts to Him who is able to save to the uttermost, and who has promised to remove sin and sin's burden from the penitent, as far as the east is from the west.

Two days after this poor Alfred was found dead in his cell!

The men who had been instrumental in leading him astray were eventually discovered, and were found to be not only gamblers, but forgers. They were transported for life, and received their sentence without the slightest sign of penitence.

I am often found thinking of the sad history of my former pupil; and whenever I have an opportunity, I say to all those who are lovely, on account of their amiability and candour of disposition, “Beware of stepping forth into a world of temptation without religion for your guide and guardian; for the world is full of dangerous pitfalls and precipices, which yawn for your destruction, and stronger than you have fallen therein and come to ruin."

PAPER FROM THISTLES.--Galignani says that a number of persons are occupied in the neighbourhood of Sens (Yonne) in collecting thistle heads for a paper manufacturer, who uses them as a substitute for rags. The paper made from them is said to be of a superior quality, and to yield a saving of 40 per cent.

THE FUNERAL OBSEQUIES OF JACOB.

THE funeral of Jacob was conducted on a scale of the greatest magnificence. The cavalcade consisted of the house of Joseph and his brethren, and his father's house (their little ones only excepted), of all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt. "There went up with him," says the sacred narrative, "both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great company." The funerals of Egyptian princes were generally very magnificent; and, though many of the ceremonies connected with them would not be observed at the funeral of Jacob, yet the description given of it warrants us to suppose that it was one of the most remarkable ever known. History informs us of the splendid funerals of Alexander the Great, and of the brave Marcellus; and, in modern times, great honour has often been done to the remains of celebrated kings and warriors; but it is doubtful whether the obsequies of any individual can bear comparison with those of Jacob. The retinue that followed him; the distant journey which that company performed; and the genuine sorrow occasioned by his death, render his funeral, for that age especially, singularly unique.

Representations of funeral trains are found on some of the oldest monuments of Egypt, and, if the funeral of the patriarch was conducted in the manner of the Egyptians, the cavalcade left the land of Goshen in something like the following order :-First, a long retinue of servants, probably armed; then a number of women beating their breasts and throwing dust into the air; after them another line of servants; and then the hearse, drawn by horses, bearing the sarcophagus decked with flowers, the head of the body being partly exposed to view. Behind the hearse would be the male relations and friends of the deceasedJoseph and his brethren-some beating their breasts, and others showing their sorrow by their silence as they walked, leaning on their long sticks, with a slow and solemn step. But from this order there would necessarily be many deviations, and it is probable that most of the relations would occupy chariots, or some other kind of vehicles, though many who followed in the train must have proceeded on foot.

It must have been highly gratifying to Joseph and his

brethren that so many of the Egyptians were disposed to show such respect to their father; for it is probable that, of the large company that went up with them to Canaan, many went, not at the request of Joseph, but voluntarily, or by the desire of Pharaoh. It was perhaps necessary, however, that the remains of the patriarch should be attended by a large cavalcade, as they had to be carried through a country occupied by nomad hordes; and as, moreover, the inhabitants of Canaan might be disposed to question Jacob's right to be interred in the cave of Machpelah. "There is a tradition among the Jews," says Dr. Kitto, "that Joseph contemplated the possibility of an attack from the family of Esau, which also claimed the field of Machpelah; and that it actually came to a battle between the two parties, in which Joseph was victorious." It is difficult to credit such a story, but there can be no doubt that, by being accompanied by such a retinue, Joseph would be the better able to carry his object into effect; and, without molestation from hostile tribes, to deposit the remains of Israel (his father) in the peaceful vale where Abraham and Isaac slept.

On leaving Goshen the cortége did not take the direct route to Canaan, but the more circuitous one through part of Arabia, and the land of Moab and Ammon. This is evident from the fact that "they came to the threshingfloor of Atad which is beyond Jordan;" and that route was preferred, in all probability, for the purpose of avoiding some of the tribes with which Egypt was, at this time, on no very friendly terms. The suggestion, then, above made, that it was necessary that a large force should accompany the remains of Jacob to the place of sepulture, is thus strengthened and confirmed. One and the same reason led Joseph to secure a considerable retinue of attendants, and to take the more circuitous instead of the nearer road to Hebron, namely, the possibility of the cavalcade being attacked by nomad hordes.

Near, then, to one of the fords of the Jordan, and on the eastern side of the river, the vast concourse that came up out of Egypt with the remains of the patriarch, rested. The place is designated "the threshing-floor of Atad," which some think refers to an individual; but others are of opinion that the whole phrase should be rendered “the plain of the thorn-bush." The spot was, no doubt, a

large area, or level piece of ground, such as was generally selected for the threshing out of corn by the feet of oxen, and sufficiently extensive for the whole company to encamp. And here they remained seven days, and mourned "with a very great and sore lamentation"- —a mourning which is said to have been made by Joseph. But, it may be said, had they not mourned seventy days already, and might not this have been deemed sufficient? Some, probably, will think so, and will be disposed to say that Joseph's grief was immoderate and excessive. But, even if it were, who can blame him? The sad moment had now arrived when the body of his venerated sire was about to be consigned to its final resting-place; and just as when we come to the spot where we intend to deposit the remains of a beloved friend, a fresh gush of sorrow wells up from the heart and pours itself forth in sighs and tears, so now Joseph felt again the bitterness of the loss he had sustained, and stopped to give expression to the emotions of his breast.

On many occasions those who attend, in the capacity of mourners, the obsequies of the dead, are no mourners at all, and ofttimes may it be said in reference to such per

sons

"Of all who flock'd to swell and see the show,

Who cared about the corpse? The funeral
Made the attraction; and the black, the woe:

There throbb'd not there one heart that pierced the pall." Nor can we doubt that of those who wept and made sore lamentation at "the threshing-floor of Atad," many were wholly indifferent to the event which they professed so greatly to deplore. But there was one there, at least, whose heart did throb indeed; and not one only, but many; for Benjamin, as well as Joseph, and Reuben, and Judah, and all the sons of Jacob, doubtless, sorrowed deeply for their loss. And the mourning attracted the attention of the Canaanites; for "when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians : wherefore, the name of it was called Abel-mizraim (i. e., "the mourning of the Egyptians") unto this day." Never before had they witnessed such a mourning-such a funeral, as this, and no doubt they would inquire what was the

cause of it, and who it was that the Egyptians were about to bury. Did this mourning induce them the more readily to grant permission to Joseph and his brethren to proceed with their father's remains to the field of Machpelah? This is not improbable, for scarcely could they fail to sympathize with sorrow such as this.

The Egyptians remained on the spot where they had encamped, and the sons of Jacob proceeded to the burialplace alone. "His sons did unto him," says the historian, "as he commanded them: for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying-place of Ephron the Hittite before Mamre."

They crossed the Jordan, probably at the spot where, many years after, Joshua and the tribes of Israel crossed it, and where (the river being at that time overflowed) its waters were divided, and stood up as a heap. As they do not appear to have experienced any difficulty in the passage, we may infer that the river was at that time low, the depth of it at the ford not exceeding a few feet. Having crossed it, they journeyed southward, and came at length to the consecrated spot where the bones of Abraham and Sarah, and of Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah, already lay. The word Machpelah signifies "double," and may intimate either that the cave or that the field was such. In caves, sometimes natural, and sometimes hewn out of the solid rock, it has ever been the custom of the Jews to bury; and Godwyn observes, that the usual inscription on their sepulchres is, "Let this soul be bound up in the garden of Eden, or in the bundle of the living. Amen. Amen. Amen."

What ceremonies were observed in connection with the actual interment we are not informed, nor do the customs of the Israelites, in later times, throw any light upon the question. We know, however, that in the spot where he wished to be buried, perhaps by the side of Leah, and not very far from the remains of Abraham and Isaac, the sons of Jacob laid his body, and left him to repose in the land which was afterwards to become the inheritance of his children. It was theirs already by promise, and now that they had deposited in it the remains of Israel their father, they would be still more confident that they should one day occupy it, and they would no doubt feel, and would