cient cause of it. How preposterous then is it to weep at the effect and mock at the cause; to mourn for the suffering, and never for the sin; to use your utmost efforts for the alleviation of human suffering, and to use none to abolish that accursed thing from which all suffering comes, and which is the exclusive source of all that is painful and destructive both in this life and that to come! How many are guilty of making a mock at sin who would shrink with horror at the inhumanity of mocking the pains and sufferings of their fellow-mortals, or who would feel indignant were their own sorrows to become the sport of others! "Fools," and only fools, "make a mock at sin." CONFIRMATIONS OF SCRIPTURE. In the funeral rites of different Eastern nations, a very striking similarity is observable. The customs and manners of the Orientals are found to be nearly stationary from age to age. The descriptions of Homer, which are accurately copied by Virgil, relate almost exclusively to Asiatic manners, and these remain pretty much the same in later times, as they were at that early period of the world's history. This permanency of Eastern manners and habits becomes indirectly an evidence in favour of the scriptures, as the modern practices of the same people illustrate the descriptions of the ancient prophets, and show that they were describing the realities of actual life. The graphic exactness of these descriptions forms only a part indeed, but it is a striking part, of the truth of the entire record. Infidels themselves have often been impressed with the coincidence between the statements of scripture upon these points, and what they themselves have observed when travelling in the East. The peculiar customs adverted to by the prophet Jeremiah, ix. 17, 18, 21; and xxii. 18, find striking parallels among the Egyptians, the Arabs, and the NO. II. M Turks, at the present day. In Egypt, according to Mr. Lane, who long resided in Grand Cairo, when a man is at the point of death, an attendant turns him round to place his head in the direction of Mecca, and closes his eyes. Even before the spirit has departed, or the moment after, the male attendants generally exclaim, "Al'la'h! There is no strength nor power but in God! To God we belong; and to Him we must return! God have mercy on him!" While the women of the family raise the cries of lamentation, called "wel wel eh," or " wilwa'l," uttering the most piercing shrieks, and calling upon the name of the deceased. The most common cries that are heard on the death of the master of a family, from the lips of his wife, or wives, and children, are, "O my master!" "O my camel!" that is, "O thou that broughtest my provisions, and hast carried my burdens." "O my lion !" "O camel of the house !" "O my dear one!" "O my only one!" "O my father!" "O my misfortune !” The clothes of the deceased are taken off as soon as he has ceased to breathe; and he is attired in another suit, placed on his bed or mattrass, and covered over with a sheet. The women continue their lamentations, and many of the females of the neighbourhood, hearing the conclamation, come to unite with them in this melancholy task. Generally, also, the family of the deceased send for two or more nedda'behs, or public wailing-women, though some persons disapprove of this custom. The nedda, behs beating their ta'rs (or tambourines) exclaim several times, "Alas for him!" and praise his turban, his handsome person, &c.; and the female relations, domestics, and friends of the deceased, with their tresses dishevelled, and sometimes with rent clothes, beating their own faces, cry in like manner, "Alas for him!" This wailing is generally continued at least an hour. The wailing of women at funerals was forbidden by the prophet; and so also was the celebration of the virtues of the deceased. Mohammed declared that the virtues thus ascribed to a dead person, would be subjects of reproach to him, if he did not possess them, in a future state. But it is astonishing to see how some of the precepts of the prophet are every day violated by all classes of the modern Mooslems, the Wah'ha'bees alone excepted. The following is a translation of part of a poem sometimes chaunted at funeral processions. ["I assert] the absolute glory of Him who createth whatever hath form: And reduceth his servants by death: Who bringeth to nought [all] his creatures, with mankind: They shall all lie in the graves: The absolute glory of the Lord of the East:* The sun, to wit, and the moon ; His absolute glory; how bountiful is He! When a servant rebelleth against him, He protecteth!" + Similar customs are alluded to by Lord Byron, who was himself an eye-witness of the scenes he describes, in one of the less exceptionable of his poems. The following exquisite passage requires no apology for its introduction "By Helle's stream there is a voice of wail, Thy destined lord is come too late; The loud Wul-wulleh warn his distant ear? *Literally "the two easts," or "the two places of sunrise;" the point where the sun rises in summer, and that where it rises in winter. Or "the two places of sunset." From the "Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians," by E. W. Lane. The The handmaids weeping at the gate, Bride of Abydos, canto ii. v. 27. Wul-wulleh," his lordship observes, in a note, is the death-song of the Turkish women; and he adds, the "silent slaves" are the men whose notions of decorum forbid complaint in public. We may remark, in reference to funeral rites generally, whether among civilised or barbarous tribes, that they all go to illustrate the great principle of the immortality of man. Why all this care about the relics of what was once humanity, if there were not a secret, cherished, indestructible impression upon the mind, that this fugitive existence is not our final portion! The wailings of the Israelitish women, so pathetically described by the prophets, the wild "ulaloo" of the modern Greeks, and all similar customs, tend to prove that our nature abhors the idea of extinction, and clings to the hope of continued existence with the tenacity of an instinct which reason could not, if it would, and would not if it could, effectually oppose. Still farther, the solicitude of men to make some provision for their own sepulture, shows how reluctantly we forego our hold upon time, and our connexion with the world of living things. Abraham purchased for himself a burying-place; the last thoughts of Jacob lingered over the sepulchre of Rachel; and Joseph "gave commandment concerning his bones." Even the proud spirit of Nelson bowed to this natural feeling, as was evinced by his well-known exclamation shortly before he expired-" You won't throw me overboard, Hardy!" But how strongly should this subject remind us of the value of that gospel which brings life and immortality to light, and will even raise the ruined framework of the body from the dishonours of the tomb. Reader, are you adequately solicitous respecting the Are you final condition of the soul that never dies? the humble, faithful, decided follower of Him, who is "the resurrection and the life?" If not, the mourning and lamentations of the funeral scene will only be the heralds of that "weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth," which is the hopeless portion of souls irretrievably lost! To the Christian, on the contrary, the darkness of death is but the prelude to the light of eternity, and to the songs and gratulations of that world, in which his sun shall no more go down, for "the days of his mourning shall be ended." Cambridge. S. T. PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE, ILLUSTRATED BY FACTS, NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED.* There are facts always taking place in the world of the same nature with those recorded in scripture, and equally indicative of the operations of providence and grace. There are materials in existence for a similar history to that of scripture, were but the pen of inspiration afforded to throw its light on their remote causes and consequences, and on all the agencies concerned in them. But since the clue has been given us, it is wise to follow it, and to place these facts in analogy with those of scripture, as confirmatory of its principles. 66 MATT. XXVI. 52. They that take the sword, shall perish with the sword." "Some time since," says an excellent minister, “I endeavoured to prove, in a discourse to my own people, the incompatibility of war with Christianity. Soon * Communications to be inserted under this section, must be well authenticated. |