means necessary to save life; but if the disease were of a chronical nature, it was to be endured on that day, rather than prepare medicines or attempt a cure on the Sabbath. Our Lord cured the blind man on the Sabbath-day, not only showing his miraculous power in using means improper according to human reason, but also such as directly opposed the Jewish traditions. Maimonides, in his writings, gives the following decisions on this point: "Let not those that are in health use physic on the Sabbath-day. Let not him that labors under a pain in his loins anoint the place affected with oil and vinegar, but with oil he may if it is not oil of roses; nor is it lawful to rub any part so as to rub the skin off! He that has the tooth-ache, let him not take vinegar into his mouth to spit it out again, but he may to swallow it. He that has a sore throat let him not gargle it with oil, but he may swallow down the oil, whence if he receive a cure it is well. Let no man chew mastich or rub his teeth with spice for a cure, but if he does this to make his mouth taste sweet it is allowed. They do not put wine into a sore eye. They do not apply fomentations or oils to any affected part." The rules for using physic are very numerous, and show what foolish nostrums were latterly in use among the Jews. Many are such that it was well to be restrained from using them at any time. The regulations of the Mishna, respecting the Sabbath, make us wonder how such enactments could have been made by rational beings. Thus, a man might break a barrel to get dried figs out of it to eat on the Sabbath, but he must not bore a hole in it for that purpose. The evasions were numerous. One man might not do any forbidden work alone; but if two joined in doing it, then it often became lawful. If any food had been warmed on the eve of the Sabbath, it might be heated again. A man might ask his neighbor to give him wine, but not to lend it to him, as that might tempt the lender to make a written memorandum on the Sabbath. One other case may be related. If a house had two balconies on different stories, projecting out, that the inhabitants might draw up water out of a well in an open court beneath, and the bucket passed through a hole in the lower balcony when drawn to the upper one, they might not use it on the Sabbath, unless an inclosure ten palms high was made round the mouth of the well, or reaching downward from the lower balcony. What must have been the state of a people, where similar regulations without number were enforced, or even devised! The stricter Jews did not allow even the pulling out a beast or sheep from a pit, though it was not condemned by the teachers as unlawful; see Matt. xii, 11. They thought it enough to bring food and fodder to the place, unless there were danger from its remaining there. Christ's question to the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, had reference, not to his desiring to be healed-that he had shown by lying there so long; but the inquiry was, whether he would be healed on the Sabbath; thus ascertaining whether he was blindly superstitious, like the Pharisaical rulers, John v, 6–9. Another class of limitations affected the removal of things. They might not carry a burden on the Sabbath, but they might remove articles from one place to another. Our Lord's directions to the man at Bethesda, to take up his bed and go to his house, was plainly in opposition to these unscriptural limitations. It was both a trial to the man's faith, and an open opposition to the Jewish superstitious observances. Hereby also a preparation was made for the change of the Sabbath, from the seventh to the first day of the week. One method of observance, by which the later Jews broke the Sabbath while they pretended to be strict in observing it—their feasting on that day—has already been alluded to. The extent to which they proceeded in this respect appears from many passages in the Jewish writings. One of their rabbis is said to have bought flesh from thirteen butchers, that he might be able to select the very best; another seated himself upon an ivory seat, to blow the fire for warming his dinner, thus thinking that he honored the Sabbath, although the precept was express, that no fire should be kindled on that day. Lightfoot notices these customs in reference to the statement, (Luke xiv, 1,) “that Christ was feasted in the house of a Pharisee on the Sabbath, when he healed the dropsical man." But the interpretation given by the Jewish writers to Isa. lviii, 13, "Thou shalt call the Sabbath a delight," is a sufficient proof of the dreadful extent to which these blasphemous practices (for such they may be called) were carried. They blasphemously said, "We must live more delicately on the Sabbath than on other days; and he is highly to be commended who provides the most delicious fare against that day. He that feasts thrice on the Sabbath shall be delivered from the calamities suffered by the Messias, from the judgment of hell, and from the war of Gog and Magog!" Too often, indeed, do nominal Christians make the Sabbath a day of surfeiting and drunkenness; and others, though not going to this extent, yet on that day plainly show that "their God is their belly," Phil. iii, 19. The new moons, or first days of every month, were observed with peculiar solemnities; see Num. xxviii, 11-15. Additional sacrifices were then offered, comprising burnt, sin, meat, and drink-offerings; and trumpets were sounded during the oblations, Psa. lxxxi, 3. The new moons, also, were seasons on which the pious Israelites resorted to the prophets and public teachers to hear the word of God, 2 Kings iv, 23; Isa. lxvi, 23; Ezek. xlvi, 1; Amos viii, 5. From what passed between David and Jonathan, (1 Sam. xx, 5, 18,) the new moon appears to have been observed as a public festival. This period is regarded by the modern Jews, who bless God for having created the moon, and for having renewed her to teach the Israelites that they ought to become new creatures. Connected with this observance was the annual festival of the feast of trumpets, so called from the solemn sounding of the trumpets on that occasion, Lev. xxiii, 24; Num. xxix, 1. It is called a memorial of the blowing of trumpets, but it is not easy to tell of what it was a memorial. Patrick considers that it was a memorial of the creation of the world, wherefore the ancient beginning of the year was dated from that time. It was on the first day of the moon, in the autumnal month Tizri, consequently on the first day of the civil year; but it was the seventh month, according to the way of reckoning the ecclesiastical year, and some suppose that it was honored by this feast as a Sabbatical month. All servile work was forbidden, a holy convocation of the people assembled on this day, and additional sacrifices were offered. In the later times of the Jewish state, three forms of public benediction were read, blessing God as the author of the seasons. After each benediction, three short portions or verses from the law, and as many from the psalms or prophets were read, concluding with another from the law; and in the temple, the Levites sang the 81st Psalm. Thus the feast of the new moons was held as sanctifying each month, and the feast of trumpets sanctified each year, and reminded the Israelites that their times were in God's hands. The later Jews connected the observance of this day with a superstitious belief that God then sits in judgment on the actions of men, and that records are made accordingly in a book of life for the just, a book of death for the wicked, and a book of a middle state for those not very good nor very bad: upon such an unscriptural idea it is unnecessary to offer any remarks. Maimonides, a Jewish writer, after stating that the good and bad deeds of a man are balanced against each other on this day, adds the following useful exhortation: "The blowing of the trumpet on the new-year's day is an ordinance of Scripture, and there is intimation in it as saying, Ye sleepers, awake from your sleep; and ye who are in a deep sleep, arise from your deep sleep; search into your actions, turn with repentance, and remember your Creator. Ye who have become forgetful of truth, by pursuing vain and temporary things, and have been absorbed the whole year in vain and idle matters, which can neither avail nor deliver you, look after your souls, amend your manners and your deeds; and may every one of you forsake his wicked ways and his ungodly thoughts." The beginnings of the months and years were not settled by a regular calculation, but by the actual appearance of the new moon. Persons were appointed to watch on the tops of the mountains for its first appearance after the change. As soon as they saw it, they informed the sanhedrim, and public notice was given through the land. This notice at first was given by lighting fires upon the high places; but, as the Samaritans sometimes caused deceptions by making false fires, latterly the notice was given by messengers, in the seven months in which the most important festivals occurred. But if the moon was not seen on the night following the thirtieth day, they made the next day the first of the following month. Hence there was sometimes a difference of a day as to the beginning of a month; and persons came forward who had seen the new moon when the watchers had not observed it: whence, at times, disputes arose as to the proper day for the great festivals, particularly the passover; and the sanhedrim latterly commanded that the first statement should be followed, and not corrected, even if other evidence proved it to be wrong. The solemn sounding of the trumpets reminds of that great and solemn day, "when the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised," 1 Cor. xv, 52. To this awful moment, perhaps, these soundings of the trumpets were intended to have particular reference. But the blowing of the trumpet is also considered to betoken the glad sound of the gospel, as the trumpet of the jubilee, Lev. xxv, 9. In either case it is a rousing sound. Awake! again the gospel-trump is blown ; But what are heaven's alarms to hearts that cower That draw their curtains closer round, The nearer swells the trumpet's sound? Lord, ere our trembling lamps sink down and die, Touch us with chastening hand, and make us feel thee nigh. CHAPTER XVIII. THE PROPHETS. THERE is not in Scripture a precise account of the prophets and the schools of the prophets, but many circumstances are mentioned respecting them. The prophets were not a regularly constituted order or succession of men, but were raised up as God saw fit, to perform sacred and important duties. The gift of prophecy was not confined to the tribe of Levi; there were prophets from all the tribes, and even sometimes among the Gentiles, as Balaam, Num. xxii, 5; though, when evil men were employed as prophets, it was only for a limited time, and with reference to some particular message. At first, the prophets were called seers, (1 Sam. ix, 9; 2 Sam. xv, 27,) from the discoveries made to them of things to come. They declared the will of God, and delivered the Divine messages committed to them, both |