JACOB'S ALTAR AT SHALEM.

"AND Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-aram; and pitched his tent before the city. And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money. And he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel." This latter word signifies that the altar was dedicated to the Lord God of Israel. It appears to have been customary with the early patriarchs to devote particular spots to the worship of God, by erecting altars in his name, and thus consecrating the place as a family sanctuary, whither, no doubt, all the members of the little social community were accustomed to repair to offer up their devotions to the Almighty. These elementary temples are supposed to have been hallowed by the divine glory resting upon them, as it did in after times upon the ark of the covenant, both in the tabernacle and in the temple. They were in all probability succeeded by the proseuchæ, or houses of prayer, which were merely enclosed areas without roofs. To these succeeded the synagogue, of which there does not appear to be any trace prior to the Babylonish captivity. The proseuchæ differed from the synagogues in several particulars. In the latter, prayers in which the whole congregation united, were delivered according to an established formulary. In the former, every individual who entered prayed apart, offering up any prayer that his feelings might dictate or his circumstances require. In the accompanying illustration Jacob is seen on his knees before an altar, which he had raised to Jehovah in a small tract of land that he had purchased nigh to the city of Shalem. He has already offered a burnt-sacrifice upon it as an act of dedication, which is favorably accepted, as is shown by the direct ascent of the smoke. His tents appear in the valley behind him, under the shelter of a precipitous hill, which is crowned with the majestic cedar, a tree eminently associated with sacred history

JACOB'S DAUGHTERS TRYING TO

COMFORT HIM.

WHEN the sons of Jacob exhibited before him the wellknown coat of his favourite child dipped in blood, in order to delude him into the belief of Joseph's death, "Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him." Believing that Joseph had been torn to pieces by some beast of prey, and perhaps feeling that he was in a measure instrumental to his death, as he had sent him to his brethren to see how they and the flocks were going on, Jacob's heart was blighted and he gave himself up to the agonies of despair. The aged father, inconsolable for the loss of his son, refused the consolation of his family. The artist has represented him seated in his tent clothed in sackcloth, the deepest mourning he could assume, and which in those primitive times it was the custom to put on whenever any one died very near of kin. As Jacob had but one daughter, Dinah, she is seen leaning over his shoulder with anxious affection, endeavouring to soothe him. The others are the wives of his sons, two of whom are offering him their consolations, whilst the third stands apart, overcome with grief at beholding the mental agonies of her father-inlaw. Two of the sons appear at the door of the tent where the whole had assembled in order to see how the bereaved father would receive the condolence of his daughters. Afraid of increasing their parent's grief by their presence, they are supposed to have sent their wives to attempt what they felt themselves unlikely to accomplish; but the patriarch "refused to be comforted."