| 924 And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed; and the Egyptians mourned for him three-score and ten days.
And Pharaoh said, go up, and bury thy father according as he made thee swear.
And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt.
And his sons did unto him according 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."
After reflecting upon what men have done; the honor they have shown to the dead in days and ages passed and gone, it gives an honorable person, a saint, or a feeling man, horrible sensations to read such inhumanity as is expressed in the piece above copied from one of the time chroniclers of the day. There is certainly trouble enough among the living, without troubling the mouldering [moldering] remains of the dead. When revenge and hatred are steeping their garments in gore, and every man's hand is against his neighbor, suppose the word goes forth, "Let the dead bury their dead,-will there not be a feast for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the air? He that hath ears to hear let him hear, and "honor the dead."
THE NORTH AGAINST THE SOUTH.
The Christian Intelligencer, (of Georgetown Kentucky,) a Methodist paper, and edited by a clergyman, contains a call for a convention of the laity of the Methodist Episcopal church, to consider the action of the ministers at the Louisville convention, in relation to the separation of the body into northern and southern divisions.
This movement is an extraordinary one for that body of people, but is one of the characteristics of the times:
Whereas, conventions are the order of the day, and the late Louisville convention has undertaken an extensive reformation in the church of our choice, which is to end no one knows where; and, whereas, it is meet and right that the members of said church should have a voice in all matters vitally affecting their spiritual and eternal interests, it is hereby respectfully suggested and proposed that the laity of said church hold a convention at some point in Kentucky, to be hereafter designated, some time about the first of October next, then and there to determine for themselves what shall be their action, in the face of a new organization, termed the Methodist Episcopal Church, south.
(->) It must needs be that offences [offenses] come but wo unto him by whom the offence [offense] cometh!-"Then and there to determine what shall be the rule of action!"-All that need be said,(while the blood of the prophets and saints remains unatoned for,) is division. No sectarian church or body or worldly minded men need to hope to do any thing that can augment union, harmony, or peace: God will not let them. These are the great days of trouble and commotion-Who is on the Lord's side? And by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. (See Amos 7th.)
NAPOLEON'S ATTEMPT TO PASS THE RED SEA.-The author of Eothen, or Traces of Travel, after mentioning several speculations as to the point at which the Israelites passed the Red Sea, one of the suppositions being that they had traversed only a small creek at the northern extremity, near Suez, proceeds as follows:-"Napoleon, when at Suez, made an attempt to follow the supposed steps of Moses, by passing the creek at this point, but it seems, according to the testimony of the people at Suez, that he and his horsemen managed the matter in a manner more resembling the failure of the Egyptians, than the success of the Israelites. According to the French account, Napoleon got out of the difficulty by that warrior-like presence of mind which served him so well when the fate of nations depended on the decision of a moment. He ordered his horsemen to disperse themselves in all directions, in order to multiply the chances of finding shallow water, and was thus enabled to discover a line by which he and his people were extricated. The story told by the people at Suez is very different. They declare that Napoleon parted from his horse, got thoroughly submerged, and was only fished out by the people on shore. I bathed twice at the point assigned to the Israelites, and the second time that I did so, I chose the time of low water, and tried to walk across, but I soon found myself out of my depth, or at least in water so deep that I could only advance by swimming."
(->) More men than Napoleon have tried to penetrate into the mysterious works of the Lord and failed also. We always have to record these specimens of great littleness for the benefit of posterity.
In old times, when David was in trouble, he sent his young men to a person by the name of Nabal for provisions.
"And Nabal answered David's servants, and
(page 924) |
