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slain, or to kill it, or to wave some part of it when killed. 9. Between the porch and the altar was more holy than that which was farther removed; for none of the priests that had a blemish, or was bare-headed, durst enter it. 10. The Porch and Holy Place were more holy than that, because none might enter them with unwashen hands and feet; a circumstance that might be omitted when going up and down the Court of the Priests without officiating, but if they officiated they must wash. 11. Lastly, The Most Holy Place was the holiest of all, for there the Three in One God peculiarly resided; none might enter it but the high priest, and even the high priest could enter it only one day in the year. I might add, that the Temple and its precincts was a sanctuary for debtors and other criminals, and as such it was guaranteed by Demetrius."

Such was the relative sanctity of the sacred edifice, and, on account of it, persons lying under uncleanness were forbidden to enter. But it is easy to see, that, in a number of cases mentioned in the law, the matter was left between God and themselves: since, in some, the inquiry would have been highly indelicate, and in others, entirely impossible. Accordingly, the punishment of such offences was left partly to the interference of God, and partly to the interference of men. Death, by the hand of Heaven, and cutting off, were of the former kind, and whipping and rebels' beating were of the latter.

Death by the hand of Heaven appears to have been such a visible interposition of God in the way of punishment, as happened to Nadab and Abihu, in the Old Testament; and Ananias and Sapphira in the New:"

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Maimonides reckons eighteen offences that are liable to this punishment."

Cutting off would appear to refer rather to the soul than to the body: to the being left in this life in a state of judicial blindness and hardness of heart: and to the being cut off in the next from the gracious presence and favour of God. The Talmud reckons up thirty-six offences that are liable to this."

These were the punishments left to be inflicted by the hand of God, but as many a wretch might contemn them, because sentence against an evil work was not speedily executed, therefore were punishments inflicted also by the hand of man, to operate both on their sense of pain, and sense of character.

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The manner of whipping, as a religious punishment, is thus described in the Jewish treatise entitled Maccoth-The culprit's hands being tied fast to a pillar, or post, a cubit and a-half high, named Ty, so that his body bowed upon it, the officer of justice laid hold of his garment and tore it asunder till his breast and back were exposed. Then, standing on a stone, which was behind the criminal, he took a whip of about a yard long, composed of three cords, each cord plaited with four leathern thongs, and administered it sharply to his breast and back: a third part of the stripes being applied to the breast, and two thirds to the back; or, more commonly, the whole to the back. As the law forbade more than forty for the same offence, this invention of the three cords was adopted to keep within that number, for thirteen times three make forty, save one, as the apostle Paul observes, in 2 Cor. xi. 24. We may farther remark,

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that as this offence was against religion, so it was always administered with religious solemnity, in the presence of three judges; and, during the punishment, the chief judge of the three read from the Scriptures the following words:" If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name the Lord thy God, then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sickness, and of long continuance." The second judge numbered the stripes. The third bade the officer smite. And the chief judge concluded the whole by reading Ps. lxxviii. 38. "But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not; yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath."

Sometimes, in notorious offences, they tied sharp bones, pieces of lead, or thorns to the ends of the thongs, called by the Greeks αστραγάλωλας μαστιγας, flagra taxillata; but in the Scriptures they are termed scorpions and it is to them that Rehoboam alludes when he told the Israelites, that his government would be more strict than his father's: "My father chastised you with rods, but I will correct you with scorpions."

The last punishment inflicted on those who violated the sanctity of the Temple was called. rebels' beating, or the punishment of the mob, who became themselves both the judges and the executioners. Upon whomsoever, therefore, they saw to be visibly transgressing, they fell in a moment, with all their fury, snatched the first weapons that nature or chance threw in their way,

■ Deut. xxviii. 58, 59. b 1 Kings xii. 12. < See the punishment of forty stripes save one mentioned by Park, in his Travels in Africa, as inflicted on a Bushreen, ch. vi、

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and often ceased not from punishing till they deprived him of life. It is probably to this that we should ascribe the eagerness of the people to stone our Saviour in John viii. 59; x. 31. And the apostle Paul in Acts xxi. 31.

For the other kinds of punishment in use among the Jews, or noticed in
Scripture, see part ix. sect, iv.

PART III.

THE MINISTERS OF THE TEMPLE.

SECT. I.

The High Priest.

The manner of installation under the tabernacle and first Temple. The gar ments of office particularly described. The urim and thummim, and beth-kel. His dress on the day of atonement. Garments under the second Temple. The phylacteries and anointing oil. How installed under the second Tem ple. His several duties; duration in office; and certain things of a civil nature, in which he differed from other Israelites. The succession of high priests from their first appointment till the building of the Temple; from thence till the carrying away to Babylon; no account of them during the Captivity; the account continued, from their return till the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Average lives of the high priests during each of these periods.

THE ministers of the Temple naturally divide themselves into the four following classes, viz.-the priests, the Levites, the stationary men, and the Nethinims. Let us, therefore, attend to each of them in their order, beginning with the priests, among whom were the eight following gradations of rank: viz.-the High Priest, the Sagen, the Kethûlikin, the Amercelin, the Gezberin, the chief priest of every course, the chief of the family that served in that course, and the ordinary priests. But as the High Priest naturally held the highest rank, it is proper to begin with his character and office.

This distinguished privilege was confined to the family of Aaron, and to the first born originally of that family. For as the elder sons of families, before the giving of the law, were the priests of these families after the death

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