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upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your genera

tions.

A fabulous value and efficacy was attributed to incense. Herodotus says:"The trees which produce frankincense are each of them guarded by a prodigious number of flying serpents."-HDт. 1. III. v. 107.

"There is bred in the trunk of the Styrax tree a worm which eats through the timber to the surface, and throws out raspings like bran or sawdust, a heap of which is collected at the root. Afterwards a liquid distils, which readily concretes into a mass like gum. It is used for incense in large quantities by superstitious worshippers of the gods." STRAB. 1. XII. c. 7.

"The Egyptians, as soon as they rise in the morning, burn incense of resin to cleanse and purify the air, and to stimulate the energies of the body. At noon they burn myrrh. They burn these simple perfumes in the day time as those which are engendered by the sun, but towards night they kindle a composition of various sorts and qualities called cuphi."-PLUT. de Isid. et Osirid. c. 80.

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19. For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat: 20. When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord.

"Disposed in rank their hecatomb they bring,

With water purify their hands, and take
The sacred offering."-Hoм. I. 1. 1. v. 448.

Nestor says:—

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Bring water for the hands, and use words of good omen, that we may beseech Saturnian Jove, if haply he may have mercy on us."-IBID. 1. ïx. v. 171.

"In me 'tis impious holy things to bear,

Red as I am with slaughter, new from war,
Till in some living stream I cleanse the guilt

Of dire debate, and blood in battle spilt."-VIRG. Æn. 1. II. v. 720. 23. Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, 24. And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary,

25.

and of oil-olive an hin:

And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil.

These are

"The composition called by the Egyptians cuphi, is a mixture of sixteen ingredients, among which are rosin, myrrh, mastich, cardamomum, and calamus. not compounded at a venture, but certain sacred writings are read to the apothecaries while they compound them."-PLUT. de Isid. et Osirid. c. 81.

"Scented calamus, which grows in Arabia, is common to both India and Syria, that which grows in the last country being superior to all the rest."

PLIN. Hist. nat. 1. XII. c. 48.

EXODUS XXXI.

1. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying,

2. See, I have called by name Bezaleel the Son of Uri, the son of Hur,

of the tribe of Judah;

3. And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, 4. To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass. "Minerva first taught mortal men to be carpenters, and also to make shields and curiously wrought chariots."-HOм. H. in Vener. v. 12.

18. And He gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

The law written by the finger of God was, perhaps, the first example of writing that the world possessed. Here the divine art was promulgated, of which other nations afterwards partook. The Tyrians and Sidonians, being nearest to the fountain head, were the first to receive the art of writing from the Jews. Cadmus is said to have brought an alphabet of sixteen letters from Phoenicia or Egypt into Greece, but it is difficult to say at what period; and it may be concluded that if the Egyptians had possessed the art of writing as early as it has sometimes been supposed, they would not have entrusted their ancient records entirely to hieroglyphics. The tables of stone, too, were imitated by those who first cultivated this art. Epigenes said that the Babylonians preserved the accounts of their observations of the heavens for 728 years upon baked bricks. The words ostracismus, tabella, laterculus, &c., refer to the shells, tablets, and tiles upon which the earliest inscriptions were performed, for want of better material; while the words petalismus, liber, and folium, indicate the leaves and bark of trees used for the same purpose.

"Sacred as the laws

On brazen tables graved."-SOPH. Trachin. v. 666.

"The inhabitants of Panchæa possess a record, written, as they say, by Jupiter's own hand. They have also a large golden pillar, on which are letters inscribed, called by the Egyptians sacred writing, expressing the famous actions of Uranus, Jupiter, Diana, and Apollo, written, as they say, by Mercury himself."-DIOD. SIC. 1. v. c.46.

"Intellect is like law in a city; not, indeed, that law which is written in tables or engraved on pillars, but that law of which a divinity is the legislator."

MAX. TYR. Diss. 40.

"Two tables of laws had been added to the ten of the former year."
LIV. 1. III. c. 37.

EXODUS XXXII.

4. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

It is probable that the Jews had formed some attachment to the gods of Egypt, which had not been entirely destroyed even by the judgments which had visited those deities in common with their worshippers. The calf was an Egyptian idol. See Exod. VIII. 26, and Ix. 6.

6. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

That is to sing and dance, as stated in verses 18 and 19. Dancing was very common at religious ceremonies, and was not in itself objectionable. See 2 Sam. vi. 14. The "feast unto the Lord" which Moses proposed to Pharaoh to hold was probably a dance of this kind accompanied with sacrifices.

"And when they had performed the sacrifices and sung their peans, the Thracians rose up, and the armed men danced to the sound of the pipe; and they sprang up nimbly and used their swords in the dance."-XEN. Cyrop. 1. v. c. 9.

"The pious chief, if thus the heav'nly mind

Might yield to calm the wave and chain the wind,
With lips devout and suppliant action prays,
And pours libations o'er the sacred blaze.
Orpheus commands, the youths in arms advance,
And tread the measures of the warlike dance;
With swords they clash their shields, and all around
Through the vex'd air the dismal clangors sound.
That ancient custom still the nations keep,
When kings are borne within the tomb to sleep.
In Rhea's worship still the Phrygian crowd,
The goddess soothe with drums and timbrels loud."

APOL. RHOD. Arg. 1. 1. v. 1132.

"The Salii, when in the month of March they carry the sacred bucklers through the city, are habited in purple vests, girt with broad belts of brass. They wear also brazen helmets, and carry short swords, with which they strike upon the bucklers and to those sounds they keep time with their feet. They move in an agreeable manner, performing certain involutions and evolutions in a quick measure, with vigour, agility, and ease."-PLUT. Num. c. 13.

"Of all the ancient mysteries no one is discoverable at which dancing was not in practice."-LUCIAN. de Saltat. c. 15.

"Dances are led up, and pæans sung in honour of the gods.”
ARR. Exped. Alex. 1. iv. c. 11.

"We read that even the Lacedæmonians ranked a certain kind of dancing among the manly exercises, as being useful in war. Neither was this practice held in disrepute among the Romans, as may be proved by the dance which continues still to be practised by priests, and hallowed by religion."-QUINTIL. 1. I. c. 11.

EXODUS XXXIII.

20.

And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

"The gods are terrible when they appear in their real forms."

Ном. П. 1. xx. v. 131. "Ah! who of the gods, passing beyond the incense-receiving dwelling, presents a countenance radiant as the sun! Let us fly, O mother, lest we behold the power of the gods."-EURIP. Ion, v. 1551.

"The laws of Cronus decree that whosoever shall have beheld any of the immortals when the Divinity himself shall not choose, this same should behold with a heavy penalty." CALLIM. H. in Pallad. v. 101.

"The Pelleneans tell us that the statue of the goddess stands commonly untouched, and that when the priestess moves it out of the temple, in order to carry it in procession none dare look it in the face, but, on the contrary, they turn away their eyes with gre care, for it is not only a terrible and dangerous sight to mankind, but its look renders t trees barren and blasts the fruit where it passes."-PLUT. Arat. c. 32.

Jupiter says:

"Mortals die with fright, if I appear before them in my proper shape."
LUCIAN. Dial. Dec

"I beheld Bacchus dictating verses among the remote rocks! My mind ti

with the recent terror."-HOR. 1. II. carm. 19.

"The divine Janus presented his two-fold features before my eyes. I was struck with amazement, and felt my hair stiffen with terror, and my heart was frozen with a sudden chill."-Ov. Fast. 1. 1. v. 95.

21. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock :

22.

And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:

23. And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall not be seen.

In the poets the gods are often represented as visiting the abodes of men in disguise at the moment of their departure, they assume their own form and are recognised, their back parts' only being seen.

Neptune appearing to the Ajaces in the form of Calchas, thus discovers himself as he withdraws.

"Not Calchas this, the venerable seer,

Short as he turn'd, I saw the power appear :

I mark'd his parting, and the steps he trod,

His own bright evidence reveals a god."-Hoм. П. 1. XIII. v. 70.

So Venus shows herself to Æneas, as she is parting from him;

"Thus having said, she turned, and made appear
Her neck refulgent and dishevel'd hair,

In length of train descends her sweeping gown
And by her graceful walk the queen of love is known.”

So Apollo, appearing to the Trojans in the form of Butes

"He spake, then flew

Obscure in air, and vanished from their view;
The Trojans, by his arms their patron know,

VIRG. En. 1. I. v. 406.

And hear the twanging of his heavenly bow."-IBID. l. ix. v. 657.

"Jupiter, they say, was long averse to the earnest solicitation of Hercules to see his person; but, in consequence of his repeated importunity, the god, in compliance, used the following artifice he cut off the head of a ram, and covering himself with its skin, showed himself in that form to Hercules from this incident the Egyptian statues of Jupiter represent that divinity with the head of a ram."-HDT. 1. II. c. 42.

:

Plutarch mentions the following inscription on the temple at Sais :

"I am all that hath been, is, and shall be; and my peplum, or veil, no mortal hath ever yet uncovered."-PLUT. de Isid. et Osirid. c. 9.

EXODUS XXXIV.

5. The Lord descended in the cloud.

"Some deity, having his shoulders wrapped in a cloud, comes to protect Diomedes."-Hoм. I. 1. v. v. 186.

"Jupiter manifested himself from heaven in a cloud burning with rays of light and gold."-VIRG. Æn. 1. VII. v. 142.

15. Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;

Feasting and merry-making formed a principal feature of the sacrifices and worship of the ancients. See Exodus XXXII. 6.

"It seemeth to me that the Jewish feasts of Sabbaths are not altogether unlike those of Bacchus. They solemnise and honour the Sabbath with mutual feasting, and inviting one another to drink wine."-PLUT. Sympos. 1. IV. qu. 5.

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'The feast approach'd; when to the blue-eyed maid

His vows for Cygnus slain the victor paid,
And a white heifer on her altar laid.
The reeking entrails on the fire they threw,
And to the gods the grateful odour flew :
Heav'n had its part in sacrifice: the rest

Was broil'd, and roasted for the future feast."-Ov. Metam. 1. XII. v. 150.

"Time was, when on the rack a man would lay

The seasoned flitch against a solemn day;

And think the friends who met with decent mirth,

To celebrate the hour which gave him birth,

On this, and what of flesh the altar spared,

(For altars then were honoured) nobly fared.”—Juv. Sat. II. v. 83.

30. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, Behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.

"The warrior goddess gives his face to shine
With majesty enlarged, and face divine."

HOм. Odyss. 1. XXIII. v. 156.

"White o'er my sable eye-brows, snowy white,

My open forehead seemed one lustrous light;
My eyes a living azure as they streamed,
Ev'n than Minerva's more divinely beamed."-THEOCR. Idyl. xx. v. 24.

Lucian, describing a statue of Juno, says

She also bears upon

"On her head she wears a tower, and is environed with rays. her head a stone called, from its singular property, the Lamp. This stone shines by night with such splendour as to illuminate the whole temple; and though in the day time it is much less bright, yet it always preserves a fiery appearance."-LUCIAN. de dea Syr. c. 32. "From young Iulus' head

A lambent flame arose, which gently spread

Around his brows, and on his temples fed."-VIRG. Æn. 1. II. v. 682.

EXODUS XXXVIII.

8. And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the looking-glasses of the women assembling.

The marginal reading is brazen glasses. Mirrors were in use among the Greeks at a very early period. They were at first formed of metal, usually of a composition of tin and copper, but sometimes of silver or gold. Subsequently they were made of polished stones, and of glass covered at the back with a thin plate of metal, as in the present day.

"Having placed the golden chaplet around her tresses, she arranges her hair in the radiant mirror."-EURIP. Med. v. 1161.

"Men who preside over mirrors and scents."-IBID. Orest. v. 1112.

"I was binding my braided hair with fillets, looking into the round polished

surface of the golden mirror."-ID. Hecub. v. 925.

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