August 19

Genesis xlix.—33. And, when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

Genesis 1.—1. And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.

2. And Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel.

3. And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.

7. 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.

8. And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.

9. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company.

10. And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan; and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation; and he made a mourning for his father seven days.

12. And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them;

13. 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 Maure.

The custom of embalming the dead was more marked and uniform among the Egyptians than with any people of whose funeral rites we have knowledge. With families of means, great pains were taken for the preservation of the body after death. According to Diodorus, embalming was a distinct profession: the process consumed from thirty to forty days; and, for persons of distinction, the mourning was extended to seventy-two days. Herodotus assigns seventy days to the

15. And, when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.

16. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died.

17. So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.

18. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.

19. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not; for am I in the place of God?

20. But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

21. Now, therefore, fear ye not: I will nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

24. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die; and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land, unto the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

25. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.

26. So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

embalming. There can hardly be a doubt that the body of Jacob lies uncorrupted still in the family-tomb at Hebron, or that the sarcophagus of Joseph remains where it was buried in Shechem.

The fears of Joseph's brethren show how much harder it is for guilt to forgive itself than for love to forgive it; but the loving peace of Joseph's age was a beautiful contrast to the dark and troubled times of his youth.

APPROPRIATE HYMN.]

Prayer.

[Nos. 32, 46.

O God, our heavenly Father! we come to thee in our need; for thou alone art able to succor us: we come to thee in our weakness; for thou alone canst give us strength: we come to thee in our sins; for thou alone canst pardon, heal, and save us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord! for the sake of thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ; and suffer us never to fall away from thee. We praise thee for thy watchful providence over us in our persons, in our family, in our home, in all that pertains to our well-being; and we beseech thee grant unto us, this day, health and prosperity, and preserve us from all harm and danger. Keep us from all

impatience and anger, from envy and jealousy, from every evil lust. Grant us grace to be faithful in all the offices and relations of life. May we study to be helpful to each other, be patient of each other's infirmities, and rejoice in each other's prosperity! and may the love that blesses our earthly home interpret to us the love of our Father in heaven, and draw us toward the better home! We make supplication for all men; beseeching thee, the Father of all, to dispense unto all thy mercies according to their several conditions and necessities, through Christ our Lord. Amen.