1. First, at the head of the procession were Heman, Asaph, Ethen, and probably a band of others, with cymbals, sounding clear and loud, in order to heighten the sound (both of the song and of the instrumental music) to joy; that is, to the expression of high festive joy.

2. Next to these came a choir of Soprano Singers, accompanying themselves with musical instruments. 3. Next came a choir of Bass voices, with instrumental accompaniments.

4. Chenaniah, who, as "chief of the Levites," was the captain of the bearers, walked immediately behind the choir of bass voices.

5. After Chenaniah came two doorkeepers of the Ark.

6. Next came a band of Priests blowing with silver trumpets.

7. Then came the Ark of God itself, borne in the prescribed manner with staves resting upon the shoulders of the Levites. "The children of the Levites bore the Ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the Lord."

8. Immediately after the Ark and its bearers, there was another band of Priests blowing with silver trumpets.

9. Next came two other doorkeepers for the Ark.

10. Then came King David clothed in byssus, like the other processionalists, and wearing besides, as the head of a priestly nation, the white ephod of the high-priesthood. He was the leader of the chorus.

II. Following the king, came the vast chorus of the whole nation, 30,000 voices, supported by musical instruments of all kinds.

The procession moved off in a choral dance, with a joyous outburst of music. But, lest there should have

been any error or unatoned guilt, it was arranged that a halt should take place at the sixth pace, in order that sacrifices might be offered. "And it was so, that when they that bear the Ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings." The procession then advanced, as before, with sacred music and sacred dancing, towards Jerusalem. "And David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod." "Thus all Israel brought up the Ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps."

When the procession reached its destination, and the Ark was deposited safely in the sanctuary of the new Tabernacle prepared for it in Jerusalem, "burnt offerings and peace offerings "were again offered before the Lord: a noble hymn was chanted by all the united choirs and worshippers; and the people were dismissed with the King's blessing. "So they brought the Ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before God. And when David had made an end of offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine." Then followed a sacrificial feast, after which "all the people departed every one to his house."

These sacrifices in the new Tabernacle were the beginning of the noble liturgical worship which David had organized to be carried on continually in his capital. The hymn chanted in the Tabernacle on that

1 2 Sam. 6. 13.

memorable day has been preserved in the Sixteenth Chapter of the First Book of Chronicles. "Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the Lord into the hands of Asaph and his brethren.

Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name,
Make known His deeds among the people.

Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him, &c. &c.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for ever and ever.

And all the people said Amen, and praised the Lord." We have here an interesting allusion to the people's chanting responses and choruses in the Tabernacle. Their voices, which had sung in the open air, doubtless with grand effect, as the procession passed from the house of Obed-edom to Jerusalem, did not become silent when they entered the sacred precincts of the Tabernacle. The music which had been heard by the highway passed into the courts of the Lord's house and resounded at His altar. There are many allusions in the Psalms to the share which all Hebrew worshippers had in the services of the Tabernacle and Temple. "Let all the people say Amen. Praise ye the Lord." "Ye people, pour out your hearts before Him." "Let the peoples (all nations) praise Thee, O God: let all the peoples praise Thee."1 These are evidently allusions to the liturgical usages of Hebrew worship.

The Open-Air Procession which we have been considering ended in a Service within the sacred enclosure of the new Tabernacle. So it has ever been in human worship. The ancient Open-Air Services, with their multitudes of white-robed singers and minstrels; their

1 Ps. 62, 8; 67. 3. 5; 106. 48.

wreaths, bright banners, and palm branches; their choral chants, sacred dances, and solemn acts of reverence-in a word the Responsive, Congregational, Reverent, Musical, and Beautiful rituals and worships of primitive times-have marched in joyous Processions, from sacred hill-tops, open plains, and primeval forests, into the great temples which civilized men have reared for the glory of God. Within these temples, Worship, with all its ancient characteristics, finds, or ought to find, a glorious and abiding home and shelter. The original worshippers themselves pass swiftly away-a vast invisible procession of kings and priests and people -to the eternal world; but others as swiftly take their places; and the ceaseless hymns and chants resound down the ages, from millennium to millennium.

CHAPTER XXIV.

JEWISH OPEN-AIR SERVICES-continued.

1. The Founding of the Second Temple.-2. The Dedication of the Wall of Jerusalem.-3. "Songs of Degrees," or Pilgrim Songs.-4. Sama

ritan Passover on Gerizim.

1.- The Founding of the Second Temple (Ezra 3. 10-13. 1 Esdras 5. 59–65.)

THE laying of the foundation of the Second Temple, under Ezra, after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish Captivity, was the occasion of a great OpenAir solemnity on Mount Zion. The brief account of this solemnity given by Ezra, taken in conjunction with the later account in the fifth Chapter of the First Book of Esdras, shows that the Worship on this occasion was, as usual, Responsive, Congregational, Musical, and Beautiful. Acts of Reverence, although not here alluded to, were certainly not absent: they were never omitted in Hebrew Worship.

"And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the Priests in their apparel" -their beautiful robes of office-" with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David, king of Israel." "And," guiding their voices with the musical instruments, "they sang together by course "-rather, they sang antiphonally, responding to each other-"in prais