also musical. At the present day, many of the ministers in the Synagogues are noted for the solemnity and beauty of their monotoning and chanting of the Scriptures and prayers.

As reorganized by David, the Temple Choir consisted of 4000 ordinary musicians: "four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith: to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at even."2 There were, besides, 288 skilled instructors in the musical art,3 whose duty it was to train and lead the 4000 ordinary choristers. All these, both instructors and choristers, were, like the Priests, divided into 24 Courses, to attend by turns at the Daily Services, and to serve together on great occasions. Each Course, therefore, representing the maximum number of Levites (probably much larger than the actual number) who composed the Daily Choir, consisted of 12 leaders and 166 Levitical singers and instrumentalists. All these were men above 20 years of age, and were robed, when on duty, in white. The Instrumental part of the Choir was strengthened at the ordinary services by not more than 5 Priests blowing with silver trumpets; and on great occasions, by not more than 120 Priests with silver trumpets, this being the number so employed at the Dedication of Solomon's Temple. The strength of the Instrumental part of the Choir was also greatly increased by the assistance of skilled instrumentalists from distinguished Israelitish families. The Vocal powers of the Choir were strengthened and enriched by the employment of female singers, afterwards replaced by boys' voices.*

1 See below, Chapter XXXII.

1 Chron. 16. 4-6; 23. 5, 30.

3 1 Chron. 25. 6, 7.

4 2 Chron. 5. 11-13; 7. 6; 29. 26-28. Amos 6. 5, and Pusey in loc. Ezra 2. 65. Neh. 7. 67. Edersheim, pp. 52, 56.

The three Choirmasters, Heman, Asaph, and Juduthun, directed the Choir with cymbals instead of wands. The number of musical instruments employed was very great, but lutes and harps were principally relied upon. In the Temple of Herod there was a WindOrgan, with a hundred different tones, whose thunderlike sound was heard at Olivet.1

7.—Beautiful and Dignified Worship.

In the preceding Chapters, I have frequently had occasion to refer to the beauty and magnificence of Hebrew Worship. I need not, therefore, enlarge upon that subject here. But there is one feature of the Temple Worship, namely its vast and splendid Dignity, to which I would briefly direct the reader's attention. There was nothing approaching to Pettiness in the Temple Ritual. All was vast, orderly, dignified, magnificent, and profoundly reverent. A multitude of rapid and minute gestures and movements, such as became common in the debased rituals of many Christian churches in the Middle Ages, never broke the bold and noble outlines of the Temple worship. The devotional power and vast impressiveness of its magnificent Services were never frittered away in a maze of fantastic and perplexing minutiæ. The imposing magnitude of the Temple buildings and Courts: the magnitude of the Great Altar, 48 feet square (at the base), and 15 feet high, with three (and on the Day of Atonement, with four) fires flaming upon it the magnitude of the principal sacrifices; the number of Priests, Choristers, and worshippers; and the necessarily large scale of all the movements and acts

1 Delitzsch, Commentary on the Psalms, I. p. 33.

connected with the sacrificial rites, must have raised the entire ceremonial to an imposing height of dignity and splendour. In the Temple worship, all things were, I repeat, as a rule large, visible, dignified, impressive; and they all, in their several places, filled up the noble amplitude of a ritual which ritual which must have powerfully influenced the minds and imaginations of all who beheld it.

8.-Silent Worship.

A statement of a few of the leading facts and characteristics of the Temple ritual and worship, such as I have attempted here, might give the impression that the Temple worship was overpoweringly loud and noisy. Loud almost as thunder it certainly was at times: when some great doxological anthem burst forth, or some hymn of exulting joy and triumph was chanted by the vast Choir and vast multitude, with countless musical instruments straining their utmost power to uplift the joy to heaven. But these were the exceptions to the general rule in Hebrew worship, the mighty and glorious contrasts to the reverent and subdued tones and sweet low solemn melodies in which many of the prayers and psalms were chanted in both the Temple and the Synagogues.

We have seen that while the Incense was being offered, there was a long period for silent prayer, during which no sound was permitted in the Temple. There were doubtless, as in the synagogues, frequent short intervals for silent or whispered supplications. In the short pauses which took place in the chanting of every Psalm, there were acts of silent adoration. A worship which was so rich in silent prayer and adoration, and so often subdued and soft in its tones, could afford to

shake the heavens at times with thunderous anthems and responses.

It was not the Temple worship, but it is our imitations of it, which are too often loud, noisy, harsh, and undevotional. Our ordinary Church Services have no place for silent prayer, no sweet and solemn pauses for adoration, no meditation, no repose. And we are under a constant and almost irresistible temptation to make matters worse, by driving through our beautiful, but long and burdensome Offices, as through a hard day's work. Everybody is in a hurry; and, towards the end, everybody is more or less impatient. We can just get through our Services, but we have not a moment to spare: no time for great joy, no time for tender sorrow, no time for reflection, or for adoration, or for silent. prayer, or for anything, but hard rapid reading and hard rapid singing. Our Services ought to be much more frequent than they are; and also much shorter, sweeter, brighter; with more solemnity, more thought, more adoration, more of the spirit of love and peace and rest; and more silence.

CHAPTER XXXI.

JEWISH FESTIVALS IN THE TEMPLE.

1. The Passover.-2. The Great Day of Atonement.-3. The Feast of Tabernacles.

1.-The Passover in the Temple.

THE slaying of the Paschal lambs in the Temple was a remarkable and impressive ceremony.-The men of Israel, with their Paschal lambs, were admitted, from the outer Courts, in successive large divisions,1 to the part of the Priests' Court in which the sacrifices were usually slain. From this part of the Court to the Great Altar, white-robed Priests stood ranged in two rows; the one holding golden, and the other silver bowls. Other Priests stood with silver trumpets, ready to sound the signal for the slaying of the lambs. The Levitical Choirs, robed in white, stood in rows at their desks, East of the Great Altar, and on the broad steps leading up to the colossal Gate of Nicanor. 2 On this occasion, the Ordinary Evening Sacrifice was offered about an hour earlier than usual. Immediately afterwards, the above arrangements were made; and when all was in readiness, about 3. p.m. (the hour of Christ's death upon the Cross), the Priests blew a threefold blast, loud and long, with their silver trumpets, as a

1 Mishna, Pesachim, V. 5-7. Edersheim, The Temple and its Services, pp. 190, 191. Smith's Dict. of the Bible, II. pp. 714, 715, Art. Passover. 2 See above, Chapter XXIX. § 3.