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The woman healed by our Lord, see Mark v. 26, "had suffered many things of many physicians." St. Luke the evangelist, who wrote one of the Gospels and the Acts, was a physician, Col. iv. 14. As for medicine, Prov. xvii. 22, says, that a merry heart doeth good like a medicine." This of course, does not mean foolish merriment; but a cheerful disposition often adds to health and strength. The balm already mentioned was a healing balsam or gum, highly valued the best was found in Gilead. The merchants to whom Joseph was sold were carrying this balm to Egypt. Jacob sent some as a present to the ruler of Egypt, Gen. xxxvii. 25; xliii. 11.

Some diseases mentioned in the Bible, were like those with which people are afflicted at the present day. All are proofs of the displeasure of God against sin. It was by sin that death entered into the world, Rom. v. 12; and diseases are the means whereby the life of man is usually shortened. In Exod. xv. 26, and Deut. vii. 15, Moses was commanded to tell the Israelites, that if they kept the law of God, he would put none of the evil diseases of Egypt upon them; and we know that the Lord often chastises a nation or a people for their sins, by sending them diseases: this is mentioned in many places in the Scripture. In the New Testament, there is frequent mention of persons being possessed with devils. Their conduct, in some respects, resembled that of maniacs, or mad people now; but evidently it was, in many respects, different, and was produced by the immediate influence of evil spirits. Such cases, however, have long ceased to exist. The diseases of the body also frequently refer to the sickness or diseases of the soul from sin, as already mentioned; thus many such expressions in the Psalms, and other passages in Scripture, doubtless refer to the soul.

CUSTOMS RELATIVE TO THE DEAD AND TO FUNERALS.

By the ceremonial law, it was considered that a dead body polluted for seven days everything that touched it, Numb. xix. 14-16. For this reason the priests, who had to offer sacrifices every day, were forbidden to assist at funerals. Even the bones of the dead had the same effect. Josiah caused the bones of the idolatrous priests to be burned on the altars of their false gods, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 5.

When a person was dead, his nearest relations closed his eyes. This was promised to Jacob when he was to go down to Egypt, Gen. xlvi. 4. The body was then washed, Acts ix. 37, and laid out, as it is still called.

It was usual to make great lamentations and mourning for the dead. Abraham and his family mourned for Sarah, Gen. xxiii. 2; and the funeral of Jacob was a very solemn one: see the account in Gen. 1. All the Israelites "mourned for Aaron thirty days," Numb. xx. 29, and the same time for Moses, Deut. xxxiv. 8, although then on the point of entering Canaan. The mourning for Jacob was seventy days, Gen. 1. 3. Sir John Chardin relates, that, in the year 1676, when he was at Ispahan, in Persia, the mistress

of the next house died; the moment she expired, all the family, about twenty-five or thirty persons, set up a loud cry that quite startled him. He says these cries were repeated at intervals for a long time together; they were continued during forty days. This custom led to the employment of hired mourners, who are referred to in several places in Scripture: see Jer. ix. 17, 18; 2 Chron. xxxv. 25; Job iii. 8; Eccl. xii. 5; Amos v. 16. From Matt. ix. 23, we learn that music was sometimes used. In Egypt, the mourning women bring tambourines which they beat, crying "Alas for him!" Others play on tabors and sing mournful songs.

The manner in which persons cut themselves and tore their hair, upon these occasions, is referred to Jer. xvi. 6; vii. 29, although it was forbidden in the law, Levit. xix. 28, Deut. xiv. 1.

Even in families where expensive preparations were not made, the people mourned greatly. This led to much vain ostentation of sorrow. Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to lament with and to comfort them, John xi. 19. This was after the funeral, and they followed Mary to the grave, thinking she was going to weep there. Thus many persons were present to witness the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. The widow of Nain also was accompanied by many friends, Luke vii. It is so now. Hartley describes the corpse as carried openly on a bier dressed with much care; thus probably the only son of the widow was carried forth, Luke vii. 12-15. The ceremonial of the Greek burial service closes with a parting kiss given to the body by the relatives present.

It is still customary among the eastern nations for relatives, particularly females, to go to the graves of their deceased friends, and to lament over them. Fountain, a missionary in the East Indies, says, "One morning I heard a great noise, and found a number of women and girls assembled to lament over the grave of a lad, who had been killed by a wild buffalo ten days before. The mother sat on the earth at one end of the grave, leaning upon it, exclaiming, 'O my child! O my child!' At the other end of the grave sat another female, expressing her grief in the like manner.' Sitting is the usual posture of mourners in the east, Isa. iii. 26; Matt. xxvii. 61. They hang down their heads, as Lam. ii. 10. Le Bruyn, at Ramah, saw a number of women visit the burial place, and make a great lamentation, Jer. xxxi. 15.

The ancient customs of mourning may be noted from what Ezekiel was forbidden to do. He was not to cry, not to put off his head-dress, not to go barefoot, not to cover his mouth, or the lower part of his face; this latter is the binding up the lower jaw like that of a dead corpse; he was not to eat the bread of men-the feast usually prepared for a funeral, Ezek. xxiv. 17. The lamentations usual are alluded to Jer. xxii. 18.

The bodies of great people were embalmed, or wrapped up very carefully with gums and spices, before they were put into the tomb. Jacob was embalmed, Gen. 1. 3. The

dead body was laid in nitre for thirty days, and afterwards forty days with spices and gums. This was done by physicians. Joseph of Arimathea brought a quantity of spices, and wrapped the body of Jesus in linen cloths, John xx. 39, 40. The two companies of women who went to the sepulchre on the morning when our Lord arose from the dead, had prepared spices for the same purpose, Luke xxiii. 56; Mark xvi. 1. This was the manner of the Jews to bury, John xix. 40. Lazarus also was bound in cloths, so that it was necessary to loose him, John xi. 44. Asa was "laid in the bed, which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices, prepared by the apothecaries' art," 2 Chron. xvi. 14.

Many dead bodies are still found in Egypt thus wrapped up, or embalmed. Countless myriads of these remain in the mummy pits and excavations. They are called mummies, and numbers of them have been brought to this country. Not more than two hundred years ago, the mummies were used in medicines! It should cause us solemn thoughts to look at one of the bodies thus preserved, so that even its features can be plainly distinguished; and to think it may, perhaps, be the body of one of those ancient Egyptians who lived when the Israelites were in Egypt, or the remains of one who was concerned in the invasions of Judea, or in trading with the Jews, or in some other of the events recorded in the Scriptures. It also shows how foolish such care and anxiety for the dead body After having been preserved at a great expense for many hundred, or even, perhaps, some thousand years, the body at last is brought to a distant land, shown for some time as a curiosity, and then suffered to moulder away. Thousands of these remains have been broken and mutilated for the sake of the ornaments sometimes found with them, while many are used for fuel, the gums and resinous substances with which they were embalmed making them useful to burn. Of how much greater consequence is it for every one to care for the soul! Many of the Egyptians had heard of the true God, and yet continued to worship idols; nay, even cats and monkeys, or leeks and onions! Let us also beware how we neglect the great salvation which is offered to us!

are.

Among the Jews, and some other customary to bury the dead bodies. and their descendants, were buried

eastern nations, it was Abraham and Sarah, a particular account

is given of Abraham's purchasing a burial place for his family, Gen. xxiii. It was also the custom in the days of our Lord, as we find from the account of Lazarus, John xi. 38. The graves sometimes were dug in the earth, as that of Rachel, Gen. xxxv. 19. That spot is now marked by a small square building, not by a pillar. Buckingham describes the place as wild and solitary. Carne notices that the Mohammedan graves around it are very numerous. The Jews are not allowed to enter this tomb. In general, the places of interment were caves, or places cut in the rocks, as the tomb where our Lord was laid, Matt. xxvii. 60. Such tombs are now found in Judæa, Persia, and elsewhere. There are many in the rocks near Jerusalem: such was that prepared by Shebna, Isa. xxii. 16.

Coffins, or boxes to hold dead bodies, were not usual among the Jews. The body was wrapped in a cloth, and carried upon a bier to the tomb, as is described respecting the widow's son at Nain, so that he immediately sat up, when commanded by Christ, Luke vii. 14, 15. In those climates, when the body was not embalmed, it was buried very soon after death. See the account of Ananias and Sapphira, Acts v. 5-10. The embalmed bodies in Egypt. were usually put into a box of sycamore wood, generally painted yellow, with figures of other colours.

In the accounts of the funerals of the Jewish kings, we