TOBIAS RETURNS TO HIS AGED FATHER.

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father and mother now count the days, and their spirit is grievously afflicted within them." At length Raguel consented that his daughter should go on her journey, both parents taking leave of her with a blessing, and admonishing her, to honour her father and motherin-law, to love her husband, to take care of the family, to govern the house, and to behave herself irreprehensibly.

to Tobias that they should hasten forwards, leaving Sara and the camels to follow leisurely. In the meantime Anna sat beside the way daily, on the top of a hill, from whence she might see afar off. And while she watched his coming from that place, she saw him afar off, and presently perceived it was her son coming and returning she told her husband, saying: "Behold, thy son cometh." And Raphael said to Tobias: "As soon as thou shalt come into thy house, forthwith adore the Lord thy God: and giving thanks to Him, go to thy father, and kiss him. And immediately anoint his eyes with this gall of the fish, which thou carriest with thee. For be assured that his eyes shall be presently opened, and thy father shall see the light of heaven, and shall rejoice in the sight of thee." Then the dog, which had been with them in the way, ran before, and coming as if he had brought the news, showed his joy by his fawning and wagging his tail. And his father that was blind, rising up, began to run, stumbling with his feet and giving a servant his hand, went to meet his son. And receiving him he kissed him, as did also his wife, and they began to weep for joy. And when they had adored God, and had given Him thanks, they sat down together. Then Tobias taking of the gall of the fish, anointed his father's eyes. And he stayed about half an hour, when a white skin began to come out of his eyes, like the skin of an egg. And Tobias took hold of it, and drew it from his eyes, and immediately he recovered his sight, and they glorified God, both he and his wife, and all that knew him.

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41. The parting words of the Archangel Raphael, and the Prophecy of Tobias.

Nothing now remained but to show gratitude to Raphael, or Azarias as he was supposed to be. Tobias therefore calling him before his father, asked what reward should be given him for his various services? all of which he recounted to his father, pressing Raphael at the same time to accept the half of all their goods. Raphael then stood forward and said :

THE PARTING WORDS OF RAPHAEL THE ARCHANGEL.

Bless ye the God of heaven because He hath shown His mercy to you.

For it is good to hide the secret of a king, but honourable to reveal and confess the works of God.

Prayer is good with fasting and alms.

For alms delivereth from death, and the same is that which purgeth away sins, and maketh to find mercy and life everlasting.

But they that commit sin and iniquity, are enemies to their own soul.

I discover then the truth unto you, and I will not hide the secret from you.

When thou didst pray with tears, and didst bury the dead, and didst leave thy dinner, and hide the dead by day in thy house, and bury them by night, I offered thy prayer to the Lord.

And because thou wast acceptable to God, it was necessary that temptation should prove thee.

And now the Lord hath sent me to heal thee, and to deliver Sara thy son's wife from the devil.

For I am the Angel Raphael, one of the seven who stand before the Lord.

And when they had heard these things, they were troubled, and being seized with fear they fell upon the ground on their face. their face. And the Angel said to them

Peace be to you, fear not.

For when I was with you, I was there by the will of God: bless ye him, and sing praises to him.

I seemed indeed to eat and to drink with

you but I use an invisible meat and drink, which cannot be seen by men.

It is time therefore that I return to him that sent me but bless ye God, and publish all his wonderful works.

Tobias and the whole family fell down with fright and remained prostrate for three hours afterwards the spirit of prophecy fell upon the aged Tobias, and he rose up and foretold the glory of Jerusalem.

THE ELDER TOBIAS FORETELLS THE GLORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

Jerusalem, the city of God, the Lord hath chastised thee for the works of thy hands.

Give glory to the Lord for thy good things, and bless the God eternal, that he may rebuild his tabernacle in thee, and may call back all the captives to thee, and thou mayest rejoice for ever and ever.

Thou shalt shine with a glorious light; and all the ends of the earth shall worship thee.

Nations from afar shall come to thee: and shall bring gifts, and shall adore the Lord in thee, and shall esteem thy land as holy.

For they shall call upon the great Name in thee.

They shall be cursed that shall despise thee: and they shall be condemned that shall blaspheme thee: and blessed shall they be that shall build thee up.

But thou shalt rejoice in thy children, because they shall all be blessed, and shall be gathered together to the Lord.

Blessed are all they that love thee, and that rejoice in thy peace.

My soul, bless thou the Lord, because the Lord our God hath delivered Jerusalem his city from all her troubles.

Happy shall I be if there shall remain of my seed, to see the glory of Jerusalem.

The gates of Jerusalem shall be built of sapphire, and of emerald, and all the walls thereof round about of precious stones.

All its streets shall be paved with white and clean stones: and Alleluia shall be sung in its streets.

Blessed be the Lord, who hath exalted it, and may He reign over it for ever and ever, Amen.

At his

Tobias lived forty-two years after his sight was restored, and saw the children of his grandchildren. death, he warned his son that the destruction of Ninive was at hand, and commanding him to go out of it after his death, he predicted that the time would come when the Gentiles would forsake their idols, and adore the LORD GOD OF ISRAEL.

§ 42. "Isaias, the Prophet of Juda."

Cotemporary with Amos and Osee, in Israel, Isaias, in Juda, began openly to rebuke both king and people, for the vices with which they were defiling the kingdom, and provoking the wrath of the Lord their God. Isaias came forward as a prophet about the time of the reign of Joatham. He foretold that the Assyrian power would bring the kingdom of Israel to an end, by reason of its sins and idolatry, and he warned Juda, that God would severely punish them also, if they persisted in provoking him with the same sins. In both cases the Assyrian power was to be the rod of God's wrath.

THE PROPHET ISAIAS.

THE SINS OF THE PEOPLE REBUKED BY ISAIAS.

Wo to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children; they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the holy one of Israel, they are gone away backwards.

For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad.

To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck-goats.

When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in my courts?

Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, and the sabbaths, and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked.

My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are become troublesome to me, I am weary of bearing them.

And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood.

THE FEMALE VANITY OF

And the Lord said: Because the daughters of Sion are haughty, and have walked with stretched-out necks, and wanton glances of their eyes, and made a noise as they walked with their feet and moved in a set pace.

The Lord will make bald the crown of the head of the daughters of Sion, and the Lord will discover their hair.

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How is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot ? justice dwelt in it, but now murderers.

Thy silver is turned into dross: thy wine is mingled with water.

Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves: they all love bribes, they run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless: and the widow's cause cometh not in to them.

For thou hast cast off thy people, the house of Jacob because they are filled as in times past, and have had soothsayers as the Philistines, and have adhered to strange children.

Their land is filled with silver and gold: and there is no end of their treasures.

And their land is filled with horses: and their chariots are innumerable. Their land also is full of idols: they have adored the work of their own hands, which their own fingers have made.

And man hath bowed himself down, and man hath been debased: therefore forgive them not.

§ 43. Isaias opposes the alliance with Assyria. Joatham died, and Achaz, his son, now began to reign in Jerusalem. If the prophet Isaias had complained in the previous reign of Joatham, that the land was full of idols, the sin of the kingdom now became worse, for Achaz gave idolatry the sanction of the royal example. He publicly offered his son in sacrifice to Moloch, the god of the children of Ammon,