penalty was denounced against any city of Israel that should introduce the worship of false gods, Deut. xiii, 12-18. Some have thought that the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter was of this description; but the original word is different, it is neder, and implies resigning or giving up to the service of the Lord; not cherem, or destruction of the thing dedicated.

In Lev. xxvii, are the rules relating to things dedicated to God by a solemn vow. The vow of Jacob (Gen. xxviii, 20-22) was similar. Other vows were of abstinence or selfdenial, as to abstain from wine, and to be scrupulously careful in some circumstances of conduct. Such was the vow of the Nazarite; see Numbers vi. There were two classes of Nazarites-those wholly devoted, often from their birth, as Samson and John the Baptist; and those for a limited period, which vows were not unfrequent on recovery from sickness, or deliverance from danger, and continued for an interval of time before sacrifices of thanksgiving were offered. Here we may refer to Acts xviii, 18. The apostle Paul, for some reason not recorded, bound himself by a vow, in consequence of which he shaved his head, and we find him afterwards saying he must needs go to Jerusalem. He felt that it was his duty to proceed there at that time; this was also needful for the performance of his vow, for when such an engagement was made in a foreign country, the party must go to Jerusalem to perform it. We may notice the similarity of the Romish pilgrimages to this custom; but many abuses accompanied these observances in the days of our fathers, and are continued in some degree even up to the present day.

Advocates of Popery refer to the vows under the Mosaic law, and to the Nazarites in particular, when they seek to defend their monastic institutions. But a slight examination of the subject will show, that even the ceremonial observances of the Mosaic law do not, in this respect, afford any sanction to the slavish restrictions and painful results of the system maintained by the Church of Rome. There is nothing in common between the cheerful, simplehearted, and pious devotedness of the Hebrew votaries, such as the Rechabites, Jer. xxxv, and the victims of the Romish system; the horrors of which, even in our own times, have been very ably delineated by Blanco White,

and many others. A system, by the principles of which Blanco White saw some of the intimate friends of his youth hurried "into the grossest and most daring profligacy:" while under its slavish observances he saw one sister, at the age of twenty-two, slowly sink into the grave, from decaying health, the result of spiritual apprehensions and temporal privations; and bade farewell to another sister, who at the age of twenty had been induced, by the visionary representations of the Romish clergy, to leave an infirm mother to the care of servants and strangers, and to bind herself to the observances of rules which denied her the comforts enjoyed even by the lowest classes of society. Her health speedily gave way, and disease filled her conscience with fears. Her brother says, "I had often to endure the torture of witnessing her agonies at the confessional. I left her, when I quitted Spain, dying much too slowly for her only chance for relief. I wept bitterly for her loss two years after; yet I could not be so cruel as to wish her alive." After this brief allusion to the horrors of the monastic vows, both in their principles and their effects, can any one doubt whether they are the institutions of God or the inventions of man? They illustrate the statement of our Lord, that the Pharisees bound men with heavy burdens, grievous to be borne. The apostle said to his brethren, ye are not ignorant of the devices of Satan, 2 Cor. ii, 11: let us beware that he get no advantage over us.

This part of our subject must not be left without referring to the vow of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, and the faithfulness with which his descendants observed it in the days of Jeremiah, chap. xxxv. It has been said that the Rechabites still exist, according to the Divine promise, verse 19. Joseph Wolff relates, that one of these people, named Mousa, was pointed out to him in 1824, while among the Yezedi, or devil-worshipers, in Mesopotamia. He was wild in his appearance, like an Arab, dressed in the costume usual among those children of the desert, and was standing by his horse, the bridle in his hand, ready to mount. Wolff showed him the Bible in Hebrew and Arabic, and found he was acquainted with the Old Testament. On inquiring whose descendant he was, Mousa replied by turning to the Book of Jeremiah, and read chap. xxxv, 5-11; and added, "We reside at Hadoram, Usal, and Mecca, in the deserts

around those places. We drink no wine, and plant no vineyard, and sow no seed, and live in tents, as Jonadab our father commanded us. Hobab was our father too: come to us, you will still find sixty thousand in number, and you see thus the prophecy has been fulfilled: Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me forever.'" Mousa accepted the Bible, mounted his horse, and galloped off to the desert, carrying with him the word of God, and leaving behind him a striking evidence to the truth of sacred writ. Such is the account given by Joseph Wolff; and let us not forget why the Rechabites were made a sign to the prophets, or rather to the people at large. The children of Rechab obeyed the words of their father; the Jews refused to listen to the warnings of their God, as spoken by his servants the prophets; "Behold, I will bring upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered." Awfully indeed has this declaration been fulfilled. How shall we escape, if we, in like manner, neglect the great salvation

offered to us!

The purifications connected with the worship of the Jews may be noticed here; they were often observed by the performance of vows, as Acts xxi, 23, 24. Washings, or ablutions, are generally among the most ancient religious ceremonies of every nation; but the simplicity of the rites of purification, directed by the Divine law, was well calculated to guard the Israelites against the use of the superstitious, and often barbarous rites practiced by the heathen for lustrations. There was a washing of the whole body, used at the admission of Jewish proselytes in later times, and in some ablutions commanded by the law. There was also a pouring of water on the feet and hands, or sprinkling it. Sometimes the water was mixed with ashes of the red

heifer mentioned at page 227. In the solemn sacrifices, sprinkling the blood was an indispensable ceremony, typifying Christ's shedding his blood for our sins, 1 Pet. i, 2. Also anointing with oil was sometimes used, as with respect to the tabernacle and its furniture, Exod. xxx, 26-28; but the anointing was more frequently used in consecrating or

setting apart to an office, Exod. xxviii, 41. The holy oil, as Mather observes, signified the Spirit of God; the anointing therewith, the communication of the Spirit in the saving graces, and in the Divine joys and consolations of it. Also the anointing of the priests signified the anointing of Jesus Christ with the Spirit beyond measure, Psa. xlv, 7; John iii, 34. This is called the resting of the Spirit upon him, Isa. xi, 2.

We need not go into the details of the numerous cases in which washing, pouring, and sprinkling of water were enjoined. They all intimated the necessity of purity in heart and life, without which God could not be approached acceptably, either in public or private devotions. These observances, also, were conducive to the general health; indeed we everywhere find, that attention to the Divine precepts profits the body as well as the soul.

The custom of washing the hands before and after meals has always prevailed in the East; it is the more necessary from the custom of eating without knives, or forks, or spoons, or even the chopsticks used by the Chinese.

But

in this simple washing, as in many other matters, the later Jews added superstitious and burdensome observances to the customs of their forefathers, and the plain directions of the law. Our blessed Lord condemns the extent to which the Pharisees carried these requirements. There was to be

a certain quantity of water used, and the hands and arms must be washed in a certain manner, and to a certain height; and this repeated, if not done at first exactly as was customary. Again, for some sorts of food more washings were required than for others: before bread was eaten, the hands must be washed with care, but dry fruits might be eaten with unwashen hands. Many directions were given on these subjects by the Jewish doctors, and these caused our Lord's dispute with the scribes and Pharisees, Mark vii, 2-8. This law was even made a hindrance to the reading of the Bible. If a person, otherwise clean, touched any part of the Scriptures, he might not eat till he washed his hands. The reason assigned for this was, that possibly the books, which often had been laid up in secret, might have been gnawed by mice! Surely this prohibition plainly shows what spirit dictated such rules.

So scrupulous were the Pharisees as to these purifica

tions, that the Jewish writers relate a story of a certain rabbi, who was imprisoned in a dungeon with a scanty allowance of food and water. One day, a part of the water being accidentally spilled, he chose to use the small quantity that remained for his washings, at the hazard of perishing from thirst, rather than to drink what was left, and omit his usual purifications. Well might these observances be characterized as a yoke too heavy to be borne. These "divers washings" the apostle Paul mentions among other ceremonial rites to which the Jews clung with extreme pertinacity.

CHAPTER VI.

THE SABBATICAL YEAR-THE JUBILEE-THE NEW

MOONS.

THE Sabbatical year was an ordinance in the law given by Moses, and had reference to the institution of the Sabbath. As the Sabbath of the seventh day was a day of rest for man and beast, so the Sabbatical year was a time of rest for the land, which, during every seventh year, was to lie fallow, or remain uncultivated. What was produced without tillage or pruning was to be left common for all, especially for the poor and for the cattle, Exod. xxiii, 11; Lev. XXV, 1-22. But the Jews were not to pass their time in idleness during this year. They could fish, and pursue the wild beasts, repair their buildings and furniture, and carry on manufactures and commerce. They also were more employed in devotional services this year, when the whole law was to be publicly read, Deut. xxxi, 10-13. To prevent any suffering from famine, in consequence of this adherence to the Divine command, God promised an unusual supply every sixth year. This remarkable institution was a trial of the faith of the Jews, and of their reliance on a particular Providence, and it was a special mark of that government under which the Israelites were placed when they settled in the promised land; a government which acknowledged the Lord for their King, and considered him as present among them in a peculiar manner. It created and strengthened a sense of dependence on God, and charity