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948. [Lev. ii. 16.] With oats torrified it is possible to compose a cream which shall have the perfume of the vanilla.

St. PIERRE's Studies of Nature, vol. ii. p. 460.

949. [Exod. xx. 24.] TERTULLIAN observes, that the turf altars, constructed without elegance, were in use among the Romans even in the days of Numa.

950.

Apolog. c. 25.

In Scotland, when the Highlanders hold their Bel-tien, which is a rural sacrifice on the first of May in every village, they cut a square trench on the ground, leaving the turf in the middle; on that (as an altar) they make a fire of wood, en which they dress a large caudle of eggs, butter, oatmeal and milk. The rites begin with spilling some of the caudle on the ground, by way of libation; they end in a feast on the caudle.

951.

See PINKERTON's Voy. and Trav. part ix. p. 49.

But there is not the least hint in the Gallic language, customs, or traditions, that alludes to animal sacrifices, even among the Druids. The very name of sacrifice in Gallic, is compounded of words which signify the offering of the cake.

BELL'S Pantheon, vol. i. pp. 269, 273.

952. [Exod. xii. 8.] Unleavened bread was salted or sugared cake. This kind of sweet bread was used, we find, by Homer's worthies:

Then near the altar of the darting king,
Disposed in rank, their hecatomb they bring;
With water purify their hands, and take
The sacred offering of the salted cake.

POPE'S Iliad, b. i. l. 584.

953. In the Hebrides it appears, that we may still learn how and why the antient sacrifices obtained the name, as well as figure, of certain animals. One of the caverns at Tormore is a hundred and twelve feet long, and thirty high, narrowing to the top like a Gothic arch; towards the end it branches into two. Within these two recesses, which penetrate far, are on each side several small holes, opposite to each other. In these were placed transverse beams, that held, according to the mode of the times, bags formed of the skins of animals, which served as kettles sufficiently strong to roast the contents.

See MAJOR (lib. v. p. 215.) who wrote concerning the Hebrides, in Latin, about the year 1518. Also PINKERTON'S Voy. and Trav. part x. p. 263.

954.

The SHECHINAH, the CHRIST of GOD, having so far established a Covenant of vital communication between Himself and Man, in prescribing the proper food, the sacramental bread, which he should eat ; to complete this Covenant, directs also what Man should drink, and what he should not drink, in order to become and continue a constant Receiver of spiritual life from the only TRUE FOUNTAIN of living waters. In Paradise, when the licentious Nachash (No. 213.), "more subtle than any Beast of the field," had discovered and effectually recommended to God's people intoxicating wine, Adam and his wife heard the voice of the LORD GOD distinctly saying: "Adam, where art thou? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee, that thou shouldest not eat?-Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;" Gen. iii. 1-7. —After the Flood, when Noah had planted a vineyard, the fresh fruit of every species of the vine is allowed him, but intoxicating* wine, or other liquor, is a second time forbidden: " Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; but the flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat;" Gen. ix. 3, 4.-To the Hebrews, as well as Gentiles, this and every kind of blood, FERMENTED, is a third time prohibited: "Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood: I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people;" Lev. xvii 10. -To Christians, in the fourth and last Covenant, blood —" new," or fresh drawn from "the fruit of the vine," is expressly enjoined sacramentally, by the CHRIST, JESUS, when" he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new Covenaut, which is shed for many for the remission of sins;" Matt. xxvi. 27, 28.

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See Above No. 306 and Note.

957. [Mark xiv. 12.] In the celebration of the Lord's supper in the Greek Church, there is a ceremony, called the slaying of the Holy Lamb. The priest, in consecrating the bread, takes a loaf, and, cutting it crosswise, says, "The Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world," is slain for the life and salvation of the world.

PANTOLOGIA, Art. Greek Church.

958. [Lev. i. 5.] Now, as to the nature of such blood as was used at the Last Supper by JESUS, the CHRIST; Achilles Tatius, after telling us (lib. ii.) that the Tyrians claim Bacchus, the inventor of wine, for their countryman, adds a tradition of theirs, that Bacchus having been hospitably entertained by a Tyrian shepherd, drank to him in wine, which after the shepherd had quaffed he asked, Whence did you get this sweet blood? To which Bacchus replied, This is the blood of grapes.

Comp. Lev. ix. 9. Ecclus. xxxix. 26. & L. 15. PARKHURST.

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961. [Acts vi. 1.] The prayers of the first Christians were followed by oblations of bread, wine, and other things: and hence both the ministers of the church, and the poor derived their subsistence. Every Christian, who was in an opulent condition, and indeed every one according to his circumstances, brought gifts, and offered them, as it were, to the Lord. Of the bread and wine presented in these offerings, such a quantity was separated from the rest as was required in the administration of the Lord's Supper; this was consecrated by certain prayers pronounced by the bishop alone, in which the people assented by saying Amen. The Holy Supper was distributed by the deacons; and this sacred institution was followed by sober repasts, which, from the excellent end they were designed to promote, were called agapæ, or feasts of charity.

Ibid. vol. i. p. 128.

962. [John vi. 53.] In the Four great Covenants displayed in -the Bible, a spiritual communication has been successively

opened, "for the remission of sins," between GOD in CHRIST and every sincere penitent, who devoutly meets his REDEEMER at the sacrificial or sacramental Table, to receive with thankfulness through the appointed means, the living and true Bread which cometh down from heaven. The SHE-. CHINAH, on all such occasions, was ever divinely present, and did actually partake, it seems, of the Covenant Sacrifice; either consuming what was offered by his Glory, or socially eating and drinking of it, during a temporary incarnation,† as MAN with Man. -Thus" the LORD had respect to Abel and his offering; but to Cain and his offering, He had not respect;" Gen. iv. 4, 5. -"And Noah builded an altar to the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savor: and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; neither will I again smite any more every living thing, as I have done;" Gen. viii. 20, 21. "And the LORD appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre : —and, lo, three Men stood by him. —And he said, my Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. -I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts. after that ye shall pass on. And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes on the hearth. And Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it to a young man; and he hasted to dress it. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them: and he stood by them under the tree; and they did eat;" Gen. xviii. J—8. —Now in reference evidently to this interview, JESUS, the CHRIST who took not on him the nature of Angels but the seed of A braham, says to the Jews: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad ;" John viii. 56. This "LORD JESUS, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Covenant in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me ;" 1 Cor. xi. 23–25. —Thus "GOD was in CHRIST reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them: -be ye reconciled to GOD;" 2 Cor. v. 19, 20.

See No. 183.

-

+ The word SHECHINAI, from its root Shachan to dwell, has been invariably used by the Jews to signify that Symbol of the Divine Presence, in which God to a certain degree and in an especial manner might be said to dwell, as the soul of a man dwells in his body; "the said Shechinah or Visible Symbol being", says Dr. WELLS, "not only corporeal or consisting of parti cles of matter, as otherwise it could no more have been seen by the eyes of men than God Himself; but also being as it were the Body, within which was the special Divine Presence Itself. See in his Bible, vol. iv. Discourse v. p. 66.

The Angel of the Divine Presence, the Holy Spirit of God, bad frequently spoken to mes; but there is not one account, in all the Hebrew Scriptures, that ever either a created agent or angel, or a spirit of a dead man, had spoken in the name of God to any human being.

See HUTCHINSON's Religion of Satan, p. 53.

THE SABBATICAL AND JUBILEE YEARS.

[Lev. xxv. 8, 9.] And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound, on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of ATONEMENT shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.

963. [Lev. xxv. 4.] The Israelites entered the Land of Promise in the 1450th year before Christ, and kept their first Jubilee (in agreement with a Judgment then passing above) the 7th year following: consequently the Jubilee year has ever since fallen on the seventh year subsequent to every fiftieth aud hundredth year, before and after Christ. In these Sabbatic and Jubilee years justice was executed throughout the Land, in regard to the personal liberties, privileges, and property of every individual, in coincidence with the spiritual Judgments periodically passing on the deceased, as may be seen by attending to the successive times in which the Judgments took place that are described by the Prophets, by our Lord in the Gospels, and by John in the Revelation. See Isai. xiii. 9-14. Dan. vii. 9, 10. Ezek. xxxii. 7. Joel ii. 1. iii. 1, 15. Matt. xxiv. 29, 30, 40. Mark xiii. 30. 1 Peter iv. 5—7. Rev. vi. 12. xx. 12. —Such a general Judgment, which Paul declares to take place equally on the quick and the dead, Swedenborg says he saw, duly accomplished in the Spiritual World in the year of our Lord 1757. It is a remarkable coincidence, that the mariner's needle which in this latitude pointed truly to the north in the year 1657 and has been inclining to the northward ever since, at the averaged rate of about 10 per annum, has reached the utmost extent of its variation, has been stationary, and is now receding. From this fact, if the observation be correct, it seems that about 25 degrees is the extent of its variation westward; that it will, in about 150 years, again point truly to the north, and probably for the next 150 years will incline to the east: taking up a period of 600 years in making a revolution.

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3. That year became sanctified, or devoted so sacredly to the public good, that no one could claim any exclusive right to the blessings of it; Lev. xxv. 6.

4. The increase of this year was enjoyed in common with their masters, by the slaves and labouring poor, denominated (as in Jonah iii. 7, 8) the beasts and cattle of the land; Lev. xxv. 7.

5. Neither vineyard nor oliveyard, during this year, was to be pruned; Lev. xxv. 4. Exod. xxiii. 10.

6. Israelites, or proselytes of justice, alone were then released from their debts: strangers and proselytes of the gate, who worshipped in the court of the Gentiles, were not so exonerated; Deut. xv. 3.

7. At the Feast of Tabernacles, this year, the law of Moses was to be read in the hearing of all Israel; Deut. xxxi. 10-13.

8. Every seventh year, all Hebrew slaves were to be discharged from bondage, Exod. xxi. 2; Deut. xv. 12.

According to Rambam, the Jews began this their Schemittah, or year of intermission from the labors of the earth, thirty days before the first of the seventh Moon, Tiryri. Rev. RICHARD CLARKE,

966.

According to Michaelis, this law (Deut. xv. 1-3) enjoins that in the seventh or sabbatical year, no debtors should be dunned, or debts sued for, because theu the Israelite derived no income from his land. And JOSEPHUS may be understood in nearly the same sense, when he says, [Antiq. b. iii. ch. xii. § 3.]-The fiftieth year is among the Hebrews called the year of jubilee; and then debtors [as to personal apprehension, or compulsatory payment] become free from their debts.—But how great would be the injustice, and the misery, occasioned by a septenuial extinction of debts! Under such a law, none would be so foolish as to lend; so that those who stood in need of loans, would only be in a worse predicament, through the mistaken clemency of the legislator.

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967. [2 Sam. xi. 1.] What made the chief ornament of the spring, and immediately preceded the harvests, was the decision of law-suits, or the meeting of the judges. The priests, during the year, appeared but seldom in public, except at the times of religious affairs. But they went out in the spring, that is, in February, and met to judge the differences of private persons, that these might afterwards freely go about their respective works. Those judges being entertained at the public charge in their labyrinth, had no manner of ambition, nor any interest or intimacy, and judged the people with the utmost integrity and justice. (HEROD. Euterp. n. 46.) — After the decision of the law-suits of private persons, and while the people were busy about cutting down and thrashing the corn, the judges continued to hold their sessions, and to provide by general regulations for all the exigences of the state. Zech. i. 8. ABBE PLUCHE, Hist. of the Heav Rev. vi. 2.

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vol. i. p. 231.

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963. [Lev. xxvi. 15, 34.] The Sabbatical and Jubilee judgments, ordained in the twenty-fifth chapter of Leviticus, ceased to be observed from the time the Israelites chose themselves a king." From Saul to the Babylonish captivity are numbered about 490 years, during which period, there were 70 sabbaths of years; for 7, multiplied by 70, make 490. Now the Babylonish captivity lasted 70 years, and during that time, the land of Israel rested. Therefore the land rested just as many years, in the Babylonish captivity, as it should have rested sabbaths, if the Jews had ●bserved the law relative to the sabbaths of the land.

HOUBIGANT.

969. [Exod. xxxiv. 24.] Michaelis argues from the known customs of the Arabs, that, except among the Canaanites, a truce from all hostilities was most sacredly kept in those days, at least among the nations related to the Israelites, on every sabbath, and during the three great annual festivals. See SMITH'S Michaelis, vol. i. pp. 343–346.

970. Accordingly, no foreign nation ever came to destroy the Jews at any of their solemn festivals, from the days of Moses till that awful passover when Titus encompassed Jerusalem, destroyed 1,100,000 of the besieged, and took 97,000 captives, in cousequence of their then apostacy from GOD, and from obedience to him.

See JOSEPHUS' Wars, b. v. ch. iii. § 1. b. vi. ch. ix. § 3. vol. vi. Notes.

THE NAZARITE.

971. [Num. vi. 2-3.] When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD; he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink.

That vows of Nazaritism were not an original institution by Moses, but of more antient, and probably of Egyptian, origin: and that, in his laws, he only gives certain injunctions concerning them, partly to establish the ceremonies and laws of such vows, and partly to prevent people from making them to, or letting their hair grow in honor of, any other than the True GOD, -is manifest from the following circumstance: This ordinance was given in the second year after the departure from Egypt; but in an earlier law concerning the sabbatical year, which was made in the first year, Moses adopts a figurative expression from Nazaritism, calling the vines, which in that year were not to be pruned, Nazarites, Lev. xxv. 5. The thing itself must, therefore, have been already in use, and that for a long period (see it attempted by Abraham, Gen. xxii); because such figurative expressions, particularly in agriculture, gardening, and rural economy, do not succeed to the proper

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975.

See PLUTARCH's Lives, vol. i. p. 50.

The Nazarite shall shave or poll the head, for his separation. This was the real act of circumcision among the Jews. See Acts xxi. 21-26.-Also Jer. ix. 26. xxv. 23. xlix. 32.-In the same way they circumcised their trees, by lopping them in the fourth year. See Lev. xix. 23, 24. -When a person becomes a Mahometan, at this day his head is shaven. (Dr. A. CLARKE.) In Japan, the priests have their heads shaved. The Chinese wear their hair very long, never cutting it, and tying it together at the top of the head; whilst the Japanese shave the crown of the head quite bare till a little above the ears, tying the remainder of the hair around the neek with a strip of white paper. —With some villagers in Persia, as with all Mahometans, the hair of the head is shorn and covered with a small turban or one of their little pointed caps. See No. 468, &c. CARON. -Pinkerton's Coll. part xxx. pp. 629, 638. vol. ix. p. 115.

976. [Num. vi. 9.] In Tibet the religious persons, called Lamas, have the tonsure, like Romish monks, and offer to GOD corn, barley, dough, and water, in very neat little vessels; which offerings are eaten by them as a holy thing (or as consecrated sacramental bread). (PINKERTON, part xxix. p. 548.) —After that the Nazarite may drink the wine in the sacrifices; to the partaking of which he is now admitted, as a member of the congregation, or as a qualified communicant. Num. vi. 20.

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FISH.

977. [Num. xi. 5.] We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick.

When the waters of the Nile have risen

to their extremest height, there appears above the surface an immense quantity of the lily species, which the Egyptians call the lotos: having cut down these, they dry them in the sun. The seed of the flower, which resembles that of the poppy, they bake, and make into a kind of bread; they also eat the root of this plant, which is round, of an agreeable flavor, and about the size of an apple. There is a second species of the lotos, which grows in the Nile, and which is not unlike a rose. The fruit, which grows from the bottom of the root, is like a wasp's nest (perhaps the honey-comb of Luke xxiv. 42): it is found to contain a number of kernels of the size of an olive-stone, which are very grateful, either fresh or dried.

Of the byblus or papyrus, which is an annual plant, after taking it from a marshy place, where it grows, they cut off the tops, and apply them to various uses: They eat or sell what remains, which is nearly a cubit in length. To make this a still greater delicacy, there are many who previously roast it. With a considerable part of this people, (such) fish constitutes the principal article of food; they dry it in the UD, and eat it without other preparation.

978.

See BELOE's Herod. Euterpe, xcii.

Of the Babylonians there are three tribes, whose only food is fish. They prepare it thus: having dried it in the sun, they beat it very small in a mortar, and afterwards sift it through a piece of fine cloth; they then form it into cakes, or bake it as bread.

HEROD. Clio, cc.

979. [Luke xxiv. 42.] After the Egyptians have cut their Lotos plante, they dry them in the sun; then having parched the seed within the Lotos, whose head resembles that of the poppy, they make bread of it, baking it with fire. They eat its root also, which is round and as big as an apple. Beauties of Nature and Art displayed, vol. xii. p. 141.

980. [Num. xi. 5.] The fruit of the Lotos is so delicious, that is soon makes the strangers who eat it forget their native country.

St. PIERRE's Studies of Nature,
Arcadia vol. iv. p. 199.

981. When I was in Upper Egypt, says POCOCKE, they told me there was a large fish called lotos,

which probably is the lotos that was worshipped by the Egyptians. Trav. in Egypt.-Pinkerton's Coll. part lxi. p. 333.

982.

The laws of the Egyptians compelling them to cherish their animals, a certain number of men and women are appointed to this office, which is esteemed so honourable, that it descends in succession from father to son. When these persons travel through the cities, or the country, they make known, by certain marks which they exhibit, the On the particular animals of which they have the care. receipt of a piece of silver, the person who keeps the representative beast, feeds it with pieces of fish, which is the constant food of such sacred animals. Lev. xi. 2. See BELOE's Herodot. Euterpe, lxv, and note 113.

983.

The queen of cucumbers grows in the fertile earth round Cairo, after the inundation of the Nile, and not in any other place in Egypt, nor in any other soil. It ripens with water-melons: its flesh (v. 4.) is almost of the same substance, but is not near so cool. The grandees eat it as the most pleasant fruit they find, and that from which they have the least to apprehend. It is the most excellent of this tribe of any yet known. (HASSELQUIST, p. 258.) —GEDDES supthis to be the kind of cucumbers meant in Num. xi. 5. poses

984.

Squashes, of which Melons and Pompions are different species, serve many nations partly as a substitute for bread. Of these there is the round, the crane-neck, the small flat, and the large oblong squash. The smaller sorts being boiled, are eaten during the summer as vegetables; and are all of a pleasant flavor. The crane-neck, which greatly excels all the others, is usually hung up for a winter's store, and in this manner can be preserved for several months. See CARVER's Trav. in N. America, p. 349.

985.

The water-melon, thus feelingly recollected by the murmuring Israelites, is still cultivated on the banks of the Nile, in the rich clayey earth which subsides during the inundation, from the beginning of May till the overflowing of the Nile, i. e. to the end of July or beginning of August; and in the island Delta, especially at Blos, whence the largest and best are brought. This serves the Egyptians for meat, drink, and physic. The FLESH of it is eaten with bread: the juice is collected in a hole made in the melon, and is a most refreshing, but sometimes dangerous, drink and the same juice, mixed with rose-water and a little sugar, is the only medicine used by the common people in burning fevers. This is very comfortable to the patient; for it cools and refreshes him. (See HASSELQUIST, p. 355.) ·

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