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us; as if it were of no consequence whether we are saved, or lost for ever? Shall we become our own worst enemies? As long as we slight salvation, we are actually preferring death. Have we no care for our future welfare? Or can we expect that God should take us to heaven when we die, if we now reject the message by which he invites us to come to him?

3. Once more. To slight Christ for the sake of the world, for the farm, or for the merchandize, is prefering labour and vanity to substantial bliss. Can the world prove to us a better friend than Christ? Can it propose any thing more valuable than his salvation? Are the trifles and vanities, the dreams and shadows, of this passing scene to be compared to the lasting realities of the world to come? Were crowns and kingdoms our inducement to abandon Christ; were all the plea sures and riches and glories of this world insured to us as a recompence for such conduct, it would be folly still. What are these in the scale, when the choice lies between joy or misery for ever? What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? But men in general cannot hope for the thousandth part of what the world might give them. Besides, we think but too little of the responsibility that is attached to great powers or possessions on earth, and of the account which must one day be given of them. Would a man choose the condition of Dives or of Lazarus? Of the rich man with no thing but his present enjoyments, or of the poor one with nothing but his future hope? We think it a happy lot to live amidst gaieties and pleasures; but we never think what a misery it is to die and leave them all, when we have nothing else in prospect. When the enjoyments of the world are past, they are past for ever. When the happiness of the next begins, it begins for eternity. Think what torture it will add to the sorrows of the un

CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 232.

happy, that they lost their salvation for such short-lived vanities. Think what zest it will add to the happiness of the blessed, that what they once had to renounce for Christ could have done them so little good, had they kept it.

Let us learn from all this the danger of too great attachment to the present world. When our affections and thoughts are too much employed with temporal objects, we shall have neither time nor inclination for better things. When such things are pressed upon our notice, we go away to the farm and to the merchandize, not regarding the message of Heaven. The seed, as we find in another parable, falls among thorns, and is choked. "He that received seed among thorns is he that heareth the word, and the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering in choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful." Never then, as we value our salvation, let earthly views, pursuits, and pleasures, divert us from the great concerns of eternity. Do we dread to share the guilt of those who slight the Gospel? Then let us labour more and more to check all immoderate affection for present things. Let us not set our affections on things on the earth, but set them upon the things above. As our real interest lies there, let our hearts be much there too. Let us think of these things now, as we shall wish to have thought of them when the present scene shall close. Let us make that choice now, which we shall wish to have made then. Let our Bibles direct us in that choice. Let us search the Scriptures. Let us pray that our understanding may be opened to understand them. Let us pray that our hearts may be enlarged to follow them. The views they set before us are elevated views. To enter into them, our minds must be raised. We must have something of that wisdom which is from above, something of that pure 2 H

and spiritual taste and holy disposition which only the Spirit of holiness can give. All necessary qualifications, however, may be obtained by prayer, in the name, and for the sake of the Saviour. Who

soever asketh, receiveth; whosoever seeketh, findeth. Let us be but sincere and diligent in this duty, and the promise of Heaven has ensured us success.

MISCELLANEOUS.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I SEND you a paper containing a few observations on some ancient Jewish Customs, illustrated entirely by scriptural examples. I believe if you refer to Calmet's Dictionary, or any other book on Jewish Antiquities, you will not find these articles written in the same manner. If you think them worthy of a place in the Christian Observer, they are at your service. R.

1. On the Custom of Rending the Garment.

The custom of rending the gar'ment, so prevalent among the Jews, was very ancient: we read of it as early as the days of Jacob and Job. It was used as a symbol of sorrow, and probably had its origin in uncivilized times. The Patriarchs being men of plain manners, it is natural to suppose that they would observe a custom handed down to them from time immemorial, and which accorded so well with their feelings in outwardly expressing the inward sorrow of their hearts in the hour of affliction.

When Joseph's brethren brought his coat of many colours dipped in the blood of a kid, to their father, he recognized it and rent his clothes, in token of his excessive grief. In like manner, when Job was deprived of his property, and had lost his sons and his daughters, he rent his mantle or garment. David also rent his clothes, as also all the men that were with him, on hearing of the death of Saul when he

fell in battle with the Philistines. -These examples were cases of real sorrow, where the heart was filled with grief for the loss of near and beloved relatives. The custom in time became prevalent as a decent ceremony, and was used as such at funerals by the Jews, after they were settled in the land of Canaan. At the funeral of Abner, however, where David was the chief mourner, he observed it from unaffected sorrow of heart, and not as a mere ceremony for pomp and show.

In various other parts of Scripture we find rending the garment employed as a sign of repentance. Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord, until the evening tide, because the men of Ai had defeated his army; which he supposed was on account of some sin that either he or the people had committed. He rent his clothes in token of humiliation, beseeching forgiveness from God, and imploring his accustomed presence and protection. Also, when the book of the Law was read to Josiah, and he understood how widely the people had departed from its commands, he rent his clothes; he was afraid, and humbled himself; he repented of his own sin, and entreated God to forgive the sins of his people.

The custom is used in rather a different sense in some other parts of the Bible. Garments were rent on some occasions to denote anger, as well as sorrow or repentance. It is, however, to be observed, that

sorrow.

it was generally anger mixed with In the passage in which we read of Rabshakeh's reproach ing the living God, Hezekiah rent his clothes with a feeling of indignation, as well as sorrow, on hear ing of his blasphemy. We find a somewhat similar instance so late as the days of the Apostles; for when Paul and Barnabas healed the lame man at Lystra, and the superstitious people believed them to be gods, and would have done sacrifice unto them if they had not been prevented, the Apostles sent their clothes for grief and astonishment at their blindness, and with horror at the thought of receiving the worship which belonged only to the Omnipotent Creator.

The custom, therefore, of rending the garment, must have had its origin at a very early period of the world; and though we do not read of it sooner than the days of Jacob, we may reasonably suppose it had been in use long before that time. It is certain, from the authority we have quoted, that it was in use before the giving of the Law, and probably earlier than the days of Abraham, the father of the Jewish people. It must also have been observed in other nations, as it was known in after-times to the Greeks and Romans, who were not much disposed to borrow from the Jews. It does not, however, appear that the Jews were forbidden to rend their garments in token of grief, though the custom originated among an idolatrous people. There was nothing in the observance of it that had the least tendency to idolatry; and as it was sanctioned by the authority of the Patriarchs, the Jews were as zealous and regular in their observance of it as if it had been delivered from Heaven by Moses.

2. On the Custom of Shaving the Head.

This custom was also used to express sorrow, though of a different kind from that which was signified by rending the garment,

It was generally employed to sig, nify bondage, when one person was reduced to a state of servitude to another; though it would seem also to have had a general reference to any great and overwhelming affliction. Thus we find that Job shaved his head when deprived of his sons and daughters in one day.

It is not very easy to trace the origin of this custom. From the example of Job, we may conclude that it had been in use before his time; and as he lived at an early period of the world, it must have been very ancient.

In the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, we read that the Jews were prohibited from shaving their heads in token of mourning for the dead, "Ye shall not round the corners of your head, ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead." It appears, however, from various passages in the books of the Prophets, that shaving the head was permitted as a sign of humiliation for sin. When Sennacherib invaded Judea, and approached the walls of Jerusalem with a great army, the people evidenced the utmost consternation; for which the Prophet reproves them in the following words: "Then didst thou look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest; ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, and ye have gathered together the water of the lower pool, and ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall; ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool, but ye have not looked unto the matter thereof, neither had respect unto Him that fashioned it long ago."-The fault of the Jews was not so much in using lawful means for their defence, as in trusting solely to them, when they were exhorted by the Prophet to weeping and mourning, and to baldness, instead of relying upon their own strength. According to

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the Jewish economy, every great calamity which befel them was on account of some heinous sin; and therefore it was more pleasing to God that they should repent of that sin, by shaving the head as an outward sign of the deepest humiliation, and leave the keeping of the city to him without whose care the watchmen only watched in vain, than that they should rely upon what is emphatically called in Scripture an arm of flesh," while they failed to humble themselves before their offended God. When the destruction of Moab was foretold by the same Prophet, their misery is described to be so great that their heads would be shaven as a mark of bondage; that there would be baldness on every head, and every beard should be cut off. Jeremiah and the other Prophets use the same language when foretelling any calamity which was to befal the Jews. "Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away; take up a lamentation on high places, for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. And make thee bald and poll thee for thy delicate children, enlarge thy baldness as the eagle, for they are gone into captivity from thee."-These quotations shew us that shaving the head was permitted in token of humiliation for sin, though expressly prohibited in mourning for the dead. If it had been altogether prohibited on any occasion, particularly some great public calamity, we should not find such frequent reproof for the neglect of it. But the fact was, that the Jews were prone, and in this respect we are all too much like them, to neglect the warnings and despise the afflictive visitations of Divine Providence. "And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine, and saying, Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die." "Thou hast striken them, but they have pot grieved; thou hast consumed

them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made. their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return."

Shaving the head seems therefore, as far as we can collect from Scripture, to have been used chiefly on two occasions; as a sign of repentance for sin, and as a mark of bondage and reproach. When David sent his servants to Hanun, he shaved off one half of their beards, which was considered so great a disgrace that they were ashamed to return until they were grown. And when Nebuchadnezzer took Tyre, it is said that every head was made bald, as a token of their bondage. However strange this custom may appear to us, it was not so considered among the Jews in ancient times: God himself required it as a sign of repentance, and antiquity had sanctioned it as a mark of servitude and disgrace.

3. On the Custom of Sitting in·

Sackcloth and Ashes.

Sackcloth and ashes were used only in times of great public or personal distress; and, like shaving the head, were considered as signs of repentance, either to avert the threatened calamity, or as a token of mourning when it had arrived. The sackcloth used on these occasions was different from what we understand by that name: it was generally made of black hair, as we may learn from that allusion to it in the book of the Revelations, where we read of the sun becoming black as sackcloth of hair. This rendered it inconvenient and disagreeable when worn next the skin. It is said of the King of Israel," And the people looked, and behold he had sackcloth within upon his flesh," in consequence of his sorrow for the famine which raged in Samaria, and in order, by this demonstration of grief and penitence, to avert the pressure of it from his people. Though Ahab was a very wicked man, yet, when he heard of the

evil which the Prophet pronounced against him and his posterity, "he put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went softly;" that is, he repented of his sin; and God protracted the evil which he had threatened by the Prophet, because he humbled himself. When the Prophet Jonah was sent to Nineveh, to preach repentance, he cried and said, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown:" in consequence of which the people believed the message of God," and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the King of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne; and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed nor drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God; yea let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will return and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not." Our Saviour alludes to this very circumstance; for when he preached to the unbelieving Pharisees, he told them that "The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and behold a greater than Jonas is here." And again; "If the mighty works which were done in Bethsaida and Chorazin had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes."

We do not read in Scripture of using sackcloth before the days of Job, as a sign of sorrow and repentance, though it is probable that the custom had existed long before

his time, especially as it was known to the other nations around Judea. Ashes also were put on the head, to signify the deepest humiliation for sin, and as the emblem of an afflicted spirit. Ashes were considered symbolical of our origin; "Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return;" so that when a mourner was sitting in sackcloth and ashes, he was forcibly reminded of his mortal state. We read that the three friends of Job sprinkled dust toward heaven, or in the air, as well as on their heads. When the Apostle Paul declared the manner of his conversion before the Jews, and his appointment to preach to the Gentiles, "they cried out and cast off their clothes, and threw dust: into the air;" which probably signified much the same as though they had said, If this man be suffered to live, he will fill the world with troubles and commotions, and disturb the peace of nations with his new doctrine.

The origin of sitting in sackcloth and ashes, like many other Jewish customs, is lost in remote antiquity. The practice was required only as an outward sign of inward repentance, and no further than the latter was genuine, could the observance be acceptable to God. If these external symbols were adopt-› ed when there was no inward repentance, and merely to comply with the established customs of the country, they would be looked upon in no other light in the sight of God than as mere hypocrisy; and we read that he reproached the Jews for this very sin. "Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen, To loose

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