"Make not the hungry soul sorrowful, neither provoke a man in his distress."

"Add not more trouble to a beart that is vexed, and defer not to give to him that is in need."

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Reject not the supplications of the afflicted, neither turn away thy face from a poor man.”

"Turn not away thine eye from the needy, and give him none occasion to curse thee."

"For if he curse thee, in the bitterness of his soul, his prayer shall be heard of him that made

him."

"Let it not grieve thee to bow down thine ear to the poor, and give him a and give him a friendly answer with meekness.”

"Be as a father to the fatherless, and deliver him that suffereth wrong, from the hand of the oppressor; so shall thou be a son of the Most High, and he shall love thee more than thy mother."

On Silence, and on Speaking in proper Time and Place.On Secrecy and Discretion.

"He that can rule his tongue, shall live without strife; and he that hateth babbling shall have less evil,"

confidence from her supplications, and feeling herself equal to the enterprize, she took the falchion* of Holofernes from the pillow of the bed, and saying "strengthen me, O Lord God of Israel, this day." She struck twice upon his throat with all her might, and severed the head from the body. She then so managed as to conceal and bring it out with her, when she came to join her maid, who was still waiting the approach of her mistress.

As soon as they met, Judith put the head of Holofernes into the bag of provision which the maid always carried; and they both went out, according to their usual custom, unsuspected and unobstructed by any one. But the moment they passed in this fortunate manner, all the out posts and guards stationed about, they hastened with all possible expedition through the valley, and went up the mountain of Bathulia, and came to the gates of the city; and Judith, as soon as she could make herself heard, cried out to the watchmen at the gate, to open it immediately to admit her, for that she brought joyful tidings, and that God would yet spare Jerusalem.

When the men of the city found that Judith was returned, and that they heard her voice, they were on a sudden filled with hope and joy; and

* A sword of a peculiar make.

they came running towards her, and they called all the chief people together, and they crowded and ran from all quarters, both great and small, for her return filled them with wonder, and they instantly lighted a large fire, that by the light of it they might see and stand near her, to hear an account of her perilous adventures. Then in a loud voice Judith commanded them all to praise God for the deliverance, which he had brought about by her hand; and then to their astonished eyes, drew forth the head from the bag, and said, "Behold the head of Holofernes, the chief captain of the army of Assur: the Lord hath smitten him by the hand of a woman."

Then all joined in solemn thanksgiving for this destruction of their greatest enemy, and next in praises of Judith, who had so imminently risked her life, for the preservation of Jerusalem, her temple, and her inhabitants. Judith then advised them (and all were attentive to her counsel) to take the head of Holofernes, and hang it on the highest place on their walls, and that as soon as morning dawned, every valiant man well armed, with a captain over them, should go out on the mountain and pretend to descend, but not to go down; this appearance (she said) would cause an alarm, and that they would run to the tent of their general for instructions how to act; when disco

vering their loss, fear and dismay would fall upon them, and that then they would become an easy prey.

he was

but soon

She requested however that before this was put in practice, they would call Achior to her, that he might be acquainted with the fate of him who despised the house of Israel. It was so that when Achior attended in consequence of Judith's wish to see him, and beheld so great a prodigy, as the head of Holofernes in the hand of a man, so much overpowered, he fainted away; recovering, he joined in admiration of the conduct of Judith, and earnestly solicited a recital of whatever had occurred to her since her residence in the Assyrian camp. To this she readily assented, "And declared unto him in the midst of the people, all that she had done, from the day she went forth, until that hour she spake unto them.”

And when she had left off speaking, all the people shouted with a loud voice, and made a joyful noise in the city. And Achior was so convinced by all these wonderful events, of the truth and purity of the religion of the people of Judea, that he was joined with the house of Israel from that day.

The next morning the sun arose in all its glory, which the men of Bethulia no sooner perceived to dawn, than they took the head of Holofernes, and placed it in the most conspicuous place of the highest wall; and each valiant man taking his weapon, sallied out from the city, under the command of experienced captains.

When the Assyrians beheld this manœuvre, it caused a great commotion in the camp, it being totally unexpected, and they instantly came to the tent of their chief captain, to give him information of this strange event; and said to him who had the charge of all his things, "Waken now our lord, for the slaves have been bold to come down against us to battle."

But what language can express the consternation and distress of Bagoas, when he saw his lord cast dead upon the floor, and his head taken away from him. He uttered a cry of the most agonizing sorrow, and instantly ran to the tent of Judith, and not finding her there, he leaped out to the people, and cried, "These slaves have dealt treacherously-one woman of the Hebrews hath wrought shame upon the house of king Nabuchodonosor; for behold Holofernes lieth dead upon the ground, without a head."

The confusion and dismay which this dreadful intelligence excited in the Assyrian armies is thus

E