comes an accountable creature. Hence arise our obligations to improve our time and our talents for the great purposes for which they were given."

"You often talk, father, of our accountability."

"Those, Harry, who have to give an account to God, should often think of the solemn subject, and not only think of it, but fervently pray that they may appear at that reckoning 'with joy, and not with grief.'"

POSTURE.

"In the discourse which you read in the family on the Sunday evening, father, it was said, that the people in the East used to lie on couches at their meals." "They did so, Harry; and this is still the case in many parts of the East. And this circumstance will illustrate many passages of the Scriptures."

"In the Book of Samuel, it is said, that 'David sat before the Lord.' Pococke, Mr. Harmer remarks, has given the figure of a person half sitting and half

What is said in the Book of Samuel? What ought we to do therefore? What should those do who are to account to God? How do the people of the East place themselves at their meals? What does this fact illustrate? Repeat a verse from Esther.

kneeling; that is, kneeling so-as to rest his body on his heels. This is the manner in which inferior persons sit at this day before great men, and is considered as a very humble posture. In this manner, probably, David sat before the Lord, when he went into the sanctuary to bless God for His promise respecting his family."

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"But I referred to their posture at meals."

"Well, Harry, we will notice it. They were accustomed to have three tables; two long ones joined to one shorter at one end; the other end was open, and

What has Pococke given? How do inferior persons sit before great men ? How did David probably sit before the Lord ?

was very convenient for the approach of the servants to the guests, and in many instances the tables were arranged so as to form a half circle, around which were rows of couches, on which persons got up by the aid of a footstool, and placed themselves in a recumbent posture. This view of the subject finely illustrates several passages in the Gospels. In the seventh of Luke, it is said, that a woman in the city who knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him, weeping; and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment."

"It is said that she stood at Jesus' feet behind him; but were not his feet before him ?"

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Harry.

According to our views and habits, you are right, Our feet at table are before us. But as our Lord was reclining on a couch, the woman stood at His feet behind Him."

"I see how it was, father; and so she could readily come to his feet, and wash them, and wipe them with the hairs of her head. But she could not have done so, if they had sat at meals as we do now."

How were the tables arranged in the East? What is said in the 7th of Luke? Why is it said that Jesus' feet were behind him?

"So our Lord took a basin, and went round after supper, and washed his disciples' feet. You see, the feet, as they reclined on their couches at meals, were easily accessible; more so than any parts of their bodies; and this view renders the Scripture narrative easy to be understood."

"Your account of the woman washing our Lord's feet is very plain, when we consider that they almost lay down on couches to their meals among the Jews."

MOURNING.

"I WANTED to ask you, father, about the minstrels, and the people who made a great noise in the chamber where the damsel lay dead; and whom our Lord, you know, turned out of the room; Who were they? Were they her relations ?"

"I apprehend not, Harry. I think they must have been people who were hired to mourn and make a noise."

How does it appear easy for our Lord to have washed his disciples' feet? Who were the minstrels who were in the chamber of the damsel who lay dead? For what purpose are some persons hired ?

"Hired to mourn!"

"Yes, Harry; there are still persons whose business it is to bewail the dead. So we read in Amos, 'Call such as are skilful of lamentation, to wailing.' 'There are women,' says Captain Lyon, in his Travels in Northern Africa, whose sole employment it is to attend the house of mourning, where they howl, lament, and tear their hair and faces in a barbarous manner. Their cries continue with very little intermission during three days; and the additional din occasioned by their repeatedly beating wooden boxes, or pots, is truly horrible."

"Why what good could this do?"

"None at all. Yet it is still the practice in the East. Dr. Clarke says, speaking of these hired mourners, their noise 'began about sunset, and continued with little intermission, not only all the night, but during many succeeding nights and days. We were at first doubtful whether the sounds we heard were expressions of joy or of lamentation. A sort of chorus, mixed with screams, yet regulated by the beating of tambourines, now swelling upon the ear, now expiring in cadences, was repeated continually; and as often

What do we read in Amos? What does Captain Lyon say of women in Northern Africa? What does Dr. Clarke say of hired mourners ?