with the Scriptural character of the prayers. It is used in the Hebrew Daily Service in the Society's Chapel, in London; in the Mission Church at Jerusalem; in Warsaw, Berlin, and in some other stations.

3. Tracts in various languages are distributed; besides publications of greater extent, which have been called for by the intelligent spirit of inquiry manifest, and the discussions carried on amongst the Jews.

The "Old Paths," by the Rev. Dr. M'Caul, wherein the modern religion of the Jews is contrasted with that of Moses and the Prophets, has been translated into German, French, Hebrew, Judeo-Polish, and Dutch. This work is much sought after, and has had a great and decided effect upon the Jewish mind.

4. The Episcopal Chapel, at Bethnal-green, is open for Divine Service, under the license of the Bishop of the Diocese. Divine service is celebrated three times on Sundays, and every morning and evening during the week. On Sunday afternoon the prayers are in Hebrew, followed by a sermon in English; and on Friday evening the prayers are also in Hebrew, with a sermon in German, for the special benefit of those Jewish converts or inquirers who understand English imperfectly. The attendance of baptized and unbaptized Jews and Jewesses at the daily services, averages from thirty to sixty adults, exclusive of those in regular attendance, who are the members of the Hebrew College, the inmates of the Jewish Converts' Operative Institution, and the children of the Hebrew Schools, besides other Jewish and Gentile worshippers. On Sundays there is a larger attendance of Jewish con

verts; many who have settled at a distance, take pleasure in paying frequent visits to the church and congregation in which they were baptized, and first brought into Christian communion; and there are many, who having been brought up as children in the Hebrew schools, continue in after life to attend upon ministrations endeared to them by early recollections. Many unbaptized Israelites are continually attracted by their connexion or acquaintance with the members of the Hebrew College, or the Operative Institution; and others, and those not a few, on account of their relation to children in the schools. Large numbers are in the habit of attending when it is known, that either an adult or a child is to be baptized. (To be continued.)

"THY WORD IS TRUTH."-No. VI.

ONe fact arrests the attention of the traveller in Egypt; it is this-the splendour of the sepulchres. Whatever may have been the habits of the ancient Egyptians, whether luxurious or simple, costly or plain, one thing is evident, they prided themselves upon the magnificence of the memorials of the dead.

This is accounted for by an ancient writer,* who says, "their priests taught them that their stay in this world was of short duration, that their tombs alone could be considered as everlasting habitations, which it was a religious duty to adorn. It was for the interests of the priests to urge such doctrines, for the persons employed

* Diodorus.

in making and decorating the tombs were of the sacerdotal order, and the splendour of the funeral obsequies tended to their emolument. They, therefore, induced the people to expend considerable sums on the celebration of these rites, and even the poor amongst the Egyptians would deprive themselves of many of the necessaries of life, in order to purchase their tombs. The process of embalming a body amongst the wealthy, cost about £250 of our money; and an immense sum was expended on the burial place." A modern traveller has said, "I was amazed to find that the perfection of art was reserved for the tombs-for these spots, destined to silence and darkness. Hieroglyphics cut deep and correctly, figures so real and soft, one could imagine them to be but lately formed; the whole scene so unlike a tomb that the presence of the mummy is necessary to recall the fact, that it is an habitation of the dead."

And truly can the writer testify, that much as she may have heard or read of the splendour of Egyptian tombs, yet in visiting them, her own mind was more struck by the folly of man in thus honouring his ashes, than by the talent exercised in the effort. On entering some of the tombs, she could almost have fancied herself in one of the many luxurious mansions in civilized England. The lengthened galleries-the beautifully proportioned chambers-the elaborate chiselling, and the highly finished painting still fresh in deep and glowing colors-all seem to belong to life rather than death-to present occupation, rather than to the memory of bygone generations, whose names are well nigh obliterated.

But while the mind of the traveller recalls the

past history of Egypt, and passes back through the long line of kings, whose embalmed dust may yet be hidden in these sepulchral caves, or may have been removed at the caprice of some ignorant Arab, there is something very affecting in the thought, that one individual there was in Egypt, who was set over all the land, who wore Pharaoh's ring and was arrayed in vestures of fine linen, with the royal chain about his neck; who, when he rode in the second chariot of king Pharaoh, they cried before him "bow the knee, (Gen. xli.) and without him no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt; but of this one no monumental record remains! Should we not have expected that a man raised to such dignity, because he was the means of saving the life of every man, woman, and child, from the king to the peasant, that he would have been embalmed at his death with the most costly perfumes, and that the richest sepulchre, or the loftiest pyramid, would have been prepared by a grateful country to be the resting place of his ashes? But what is the account of his funeral? It is recorded by unerring truth in the word of God, "By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones." (Heb. xi.) "And they (his brethren, not the Egyptians,) embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin, in Egypt." (Gen. i. 26.) "And he was carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Jacob bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor, the father of Sychem." (Acts vii.)

And why was this? The man, equal to Pharaoh in dignity, orders no tomb to be erected in the precincts of the royal city. He speaks not

of a costly sepulchre, but he gives a "commandment concerning his bones." He had come into Egypt a purchased slave, and (as if to mock the unimportance of the intervening events, as far as human honour was concerned,) he would be taken out of Egypt a heap of bones. Having done the work for which God sent him into Egypt he had no ambition to make himself a name, that his house should continue for ever, or his titles be inscribed upon monumental stones. Rather did he, by faith, desire that his crumbling dust should lie beside the remains of his believing forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He refused the pyramid of stone, and preferred the lowly tomb in Palestine. For well he knew that the same God of truth who had sent him into Egypt and raised him from a prison to a throne, that he might preserve a posterity in the earth to the seed of faithful Abraham, and "to save their lives by a great deliverance," (Gen. xlv. 7,) would also fulfil with his hand that which he had spoken with his mouth," saying, "unto thy seed will I give this land." (Gen. xii. 7.)

Therefore did Joseph, in simple faith and love, prefer to anticipate the period when his bones. should be carried into the promised land, and laid beside his forefathers, rather than share the distinction of the honours due to him from his rank and dignity in the land of Egypt.

Reader, go and do likewise. Cast in your lot with the people of God; seek not the praise that cometh of man, but rather let your "witness be in heaven, your record on high." (Job xvi. 19.) Act upon the promises, and you will surely find that the God of Joseph will be your God; that he will deliver you in all your troubles, be your