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the mean time sung on the fifteen steps the great Hallelujah, and at each psalm the priests on the pillar, which stands by the altar, blew the trumpet three times. Iddo carried the

lamb to the pillar, hung it to one of the hooks, and taking off the skin and the fat, gave the fat to the priest, who salted it and laid it upon the altar. He then carried the lamb home. So did every one of the body who had been first admitted ; and when they had all finished, the folding-door opened again, and a second body was admitted. Without the greatest regularity, it would have been impossible in so short a time that such a multitude of lambs should have been killed. Helon descended the steps with Iddo, who had also offered a thank offering; and as he paused at the gate and looked back, he mentally exclaimed, "Better is a day in thy courts than a thousand elsewhere!"

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The day of preparation had killed his paschal

THE Passover was now begun. was past; every master of a house lamb on Moriah, attaining for this day an equal dignity with the highest order in the state, and exercising a sacerdotal function. The festival was called in Hebrew Pesach, or according to the Chaldee pronunciation, which was then become universal, Pascha, the deliverance, or the passing over. The companies who were to eat the paschal lamb were already assembled, and the lambs were roasting in the deep ovens in the women's apartments.

These ovens were excavations in the ground, about two feet and a half broad, and five or six feet deep. The sides were covered with stones, which were heated-by a fire kindled at the bottom, and then the lamb was suspended

within, on a piece of wood running lengthwise. It was expressly commanded by Jehovah, "Ye shall not eat of it raw, nor sodden with water, but roasted with fire."* The fifteenth day of the month Nisan, or Abib (our April) the first of the sacred year, was now arrived. The Jewish day began with sunset, an emblem that primeval darkness had preceded the birth of light, and that all life has its origin in a period of darkness.

When all the preparations were ended, and the Passover just about to begin, Helon hastened to the roof of the house. He looked down upon the open place and up to Moriah and Zion, to the mount of Olives, and on the valleys of Gihon and Kedron. "Wherever I look," thought he, "hundreds of thousands of the children of Israel and the seed of Abraham are assembled to commemorate their deliverance from Egypt. They have come up to the hill where Jehovah had made his name to dwell, and their minds are filled with the thought of their fathers, and the mighty works which the God of their fathers had done in their behalf. Well is it said, Israel is Israel only in the Holy Land." He entered the Alijah, and remained long in fervent prayer. When he came again upon the roof, the last glow of evening over Zion was illuminating the city, and the lamps which were kindled in every house and tent shone through the thin veil of vapor which was spread over the prospect. He lingered on the roof till the golden margin of the western clouds had disappeared and the stars had begun to twinkle in the firmament.

When he went down and entered the inner court, he saw within the porticoes three rooms brilliantly illuminated. It was not possible for all the guests to eat the Passover with the master of the house, because each company was not to exceed twenty. Two other apartments had therefore been prepared for other parties. On such occasions, we have before observed, no citizen of Jerusalem considered his house as his own, but cheerfully resigned it for the use of strangers,

* Exod. xii. 9.

who according to ancient custom acknowledged his courtesy, by the gift of the skin of the paschal lamb. The light was streaming through the lattices of all the rooms, and Helon entered, with a beating heart, that which was appropriated to the use of Iddo and his peculiar guests. A multitude of smaller lamps were suspended from the walls, and one of great size stood in the middle. Costly carpets were spread ou the floor, tapestry was hung on the sides, and gold and silver glittered on the divan, though it was not used on this evening; for the paschal lamb was to be eaten standing. The air was filled with the fragrance of Arabian frankincense and the most exquisite perfumes. The women were all richly clad, especially the mistress of the house, who appeared this evening in all her choicest ornaments, a mother in Israel in the city of God. It was only on this day that the women ate with the men; even the men servants and maid servants were not excluded. The whole household of every rank and age, even the children, if they had begun to taste flesh-meat, must be assembled, and all must be Levitically clean. Of the inhabitants not disqualified by uncleanness none were to be absent, but strangers of the gate, hirelings, and all uncircumcised persons: for such had been the command of Jehovah, "There shall no stranger eat thereof."* All the rest were on this night brethren, for all had been delivered by Jehovah from the house of bondage. The bondsman was as the freeman, the woman as the man; and all partook alike of the festivity; all were the people of Jehovah, and equal in his sight.

In the middle of the room stood the table, which in the east is always low, because the guests either lie around it on sofas, or sit on carpets. On this occasion, however, there was neither sofa nor carpet near the table, which stood apart, as if the preparations were but half finished. It was about the middle of the second hour of evening (half past seven) when the company, consisting of nineteen persons, assembled

*Exod. xii. 43.

around the table. Every one, though splendidly clad, appeared prepared for a journey. With sandals on their feet, which at other times were not worn in a room, but given to the slaves to be placed at the door, with their garments girt, and staff in their hands, they surrounded the table, A large vessel filled with wine stood upon it, and the meal began by the master of the house blessing it. He laid hold of it with both hands, lifted it up with the right and said, "Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, thou king of the world, who hast given us the fruit of the vine ;" and the whole assembly said, "Amen." Next he blessed the day, and thanked God for having given them the Passover: and then, drinking first himself from the cup, sent it around to the rest. When this was over, he began again; “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, thou king of the world, who hast sanctified us by thy precepts, and commanded us to wash our hands." He and the whole company then washed their hands in a silver basin, with water poured from an ewer of the same metal. This was the emblem of purification, and implied, that every one should come with a pure heart, as well as clean hands, to partake of the paschal meal. The unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, a vessel with vinegar, the paschal lamb, were placed upon the table. The master of the house then spoke again; "Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, who hast given us of the fruits of the earth." He dipped some of the herbs in vinegar, and the whole company did the same. At this moment, the mistress touched her little grandson, a child of ten years old. Children were always present at this festival, and one design of its establishment was, that the son should learn from the lips of his father the event to which it referred, and the remembrance of it might be thus propagated to the most distant posterity.* The child understood the hint, and asked his grandfather, why on this night alone the guests stood around the table, instead of sitting or lying. With dignity and solemnity, the grandfather, turning to the

Exod. xii. 26,

child, related to him how their forefathers had been oppressed in Egypt, and how the Lord had brought them out thence with a mighty arm. He described to him the evening which preceded their flight from Goshen, their busy preparation, and their anxiety to conceal it from the Egyptians. The lamb was slain and the blood sprinkled on the door-posts, that the destroying angel of the Lord might pass by their houses when he slew the first-born of the Egyptians. It was to be roasted, not boiled, that it might be sooner ready; it was to be eaten in a standing posture, as by men prepared for instant departure; it was to be consumed entire, for the whole people were to quit their dwellings and never to return to them; and no bone of it was to be broken, for this is the act of men who have time and leisure for their meal.

The bitter herbs were then eaten, and the 113th and 114th psalms were sung. This formed the first half of the great song of praise, which was called emphatically the Hallel, consisting of six psalms, from the 113th to the 118th, sung on all great festivities. A second washing of the hands followed, the cup was a second time blessed and sent round. The master broke off a piece of the unleavened bread, wrapped it in the bitter herbs, and, having dipped it in the vinegar, ate it, and then distributed a portion to each of the company, who did the same; and now the eating of the lamb began, in which the paschal feast properly consisted. Along with the lamb the boiled flesh of the thank offering, which Iddo had made in the temple, was placed upon the table, and blessed by the master of the house. The lamb was wholly consumed, it being forbidden by the law that any part of it should remain till the next day. If any part were not eaten, it was to be burnt. The bones were not to be broken, for everything was to remind them of their hasty flight from Egypt.

Festivity and cheerful conversation now reigned among the whole assemblage. Whether it be that a people, which had suffered so much calamity and oppression, naturally enjoys the more keenly a temporary interval of pleasure, or that every approach to God is to the pure mind a source of joy

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