THE CHRISTIAN'S GIRDLE.

TRUTH AND FAITHFULNESS.

Truth, eldest daughter of the Deity!

Truth of his council when he made the worlds,
Nor less when he shall judge the worlds he made;
Though silent long, and sleeping ne'er so sound,
Smothered with errors, and oppressed with toys,
That Heaven-commissioned hour no sooner calls,
But from her cavern in the soul's abyss,
Like him they fabled under Ætna whelmed,
The goddess bursts in thunder and in flame,
Loudly convinces, and severely pains.-
Ye deaf to truth, peruse this parsoned page,
And trust, for once, a prophet and a priest :
"Men may live fools, but fools they cannot die."

Historical Notice.

....

YOUNG.

THE HEBREWS generally wore no Girdle in the house, nor even abroad, unless they were at work, or upon a journey. At these times, they girt their clothes about them, as the Eastern people still at this day wear them. This appears from many passages of the Old and New Testament. Elijah “girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab ;" and Elisha ordered his servant Gehazi to gird up his loins, and to go and lay his staff on the face of the Shunamite's child." Our Saviour, preparing himself

m 1 Kings xviii. 46.

n 2 Kings iv. 29.

F

to wash the feet of his disciples, girt himself about with a towel. The soldiers likewise had their belts generally girt about them, to which the Psalmist alludes, "Thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle."p

Belts, or Girdles, were often made of very precious stuffs. The virtuous wife made rich Girdles, and sold them to the Canaanite, or Phoenician merchants. These Girdles were used in common, both by men and women; but the women's are more frequently called zona. We may judge of their value, by the kings of Persia sometimes giving cities and provinces to their wives, for the expense of their Girdles. Our Lord, appeared to John "with a golden Girdle's; noting the excellency of his ministration as Priest. And in Rev. xv. 6, the seven angels who came out of the temple were clothed with linen, and girt about "with golden Girdles." On the contrary, the prophets and persons who made particular professions of humility and contempt of the world, wore Girdles of skins, or leather. The prophet Elijah had one of this sort, as well as John the Baptist. In times of mourning, they used Girdles of ropes, or sackcloth, as marks of humiliation and sorrow. God threatens the daughters of Zion, who had offended him with the excess of their ornaments, to reduce them to the wearing of sackcloth. And in Isaiah xxii. 12, the Lord threatens Jerusalem with bringing her into captivity, with cutting off her hair, the instrument of her pride, and obliging her to gird herself about with sackcloth.

• John xiii. 4.

9 Prov. xxxi. 24.

s Rev. i. 13.

P Psal. xviii 39.

r Ezek. xvi. 10.

t Isa. iii 24.