rite suited to teach the obligations of a holy nation, to seek for purity of heart and holiness of life.

A proselyte of the covenant was a stranger, who renounced idolatry, and had been circumcised, and thereby was pledged to keep the whole of the ceremonial as well as the moral law. These were called proselytes of righteousness. A proselyte of the gate was a stranger who sojourned among the Jews, "the stranger that is within thy gates," Deut. xiv. 21. He worshipped Jehovah as the only true God, and received the moral law; but he was not circumcised, nor engaged to the ritual and ceremonial observances. Of this description probably were "the devout men who feared God," frequently mentioned in the New Testament, particularly Cornelius, Acts x. 1. They were bound to the observance of the sabbath.

The rite of circumcision was to be performed when the child was eight days old, even though that day might fall upon the sabbath, John vii. 22; and it is considered that it was then customary to name the child: see respecting John the Baptist and Jesus, Luke i. 59, ii. 21; where we read how Simeon took the child Jesus in his arms and blessed him. At the institution of this rite Abram's name was

changed to Abraham.

In later times, the Jews introduced superstitious and unnecessary observances into this as well as other rites. One was to leave a seat empty for the prophet Elijah, who was supposed to be present, though not visible. The whole observance became unnecessary, when the ceremonial law was done away by the coming of Christ, and the Christian dispensation was set forth. There are frequent references to this in the writings of the apostles, for many Jewish Christians were still attached to their old rites, and endeavoured to enforce the observance of them, especially circumcision, which was the first, and as it were the bond or pledge to all the rest. But the apostles, particularly St. Paul, earnestly contended against the observance of this rite by the Gentiles; knowing, that, if liberty should be permitted in this respect, their Christian liberty as to all ceremonial observances could no longer be opposed. The question was solemnly considered by the apostles and the rest of the church at Jerusalem, as is recorded Acts xv., when the assembly followed the view taken by the apostle James, that the observance of this rite was not to be required from Gentile converts. Then the preachers of the gospel seem to have gone forth with

renewed activity and success. Yet, while the temple stood, many Christians who were of Jewish extraction seem to have considered it requisite that they and their children should observe the ordinances of the ceremonial law. St. Paul caused Timothy to be circumcised, his mother being a Jewess, Acts xvi. 1-3; and the apostle himself declared before Festus, that he had not done anything contrary to the law of the Jews. An attempt to confirm this point, that he "walked orderly and kept the law," in which perhaps there was some departure from Christian simplicity, gave rise to the tumultuous scenes that ended in the apostle being sent to Rome as a prisoner: see Acts xxi. It is best always to act with simplicity as well as with truth, and not even in appearance to lay stress upon things which in our hearts we believe are indifferent.

It is plain also that Moses, from the first promulgation of the law, directed the attention of the Jews to the spiritual import of this rite: see Deut. x. 16, xxx. 6. The latter verse is a promise, as follows, "And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." It indicated the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, Col. ii. 11; and the prophets frequently reproached the disobedient Jews as uncircumcised in heart.

At the admission of full proselytes, who were called proselytes of righteousness, circumcision, baptism, and the offering of sacrifices were customary. The two latter were required of women as well as men. The baptisms or washings were accompanied with some ceremonies, and are supposed to be alluded to by the apostle Paul, Heb. vi. 2, and elsewhere. A proselyte was required: 1. To come willingly; neither force nor fraud might be employed. 2. Perfectly to renounce errors and idolatry, and entirely to separate from former friends: the Jews called proselytism a new birth, and our Lord showed that men must be born again, not only of water, but of the Holy Ghost, John iii. 5. 3. Submission to the law given by Moses. 4. An engagement to continue faithful to death.

Another point respecting the ritual or ceremonial law, noticed by Lowman, must here be briefly adverted to, The ritual law clearly denotes the belief in the immortality

of the soul, and the separate existence of departed spirits, as the general belief of the whole nation. This is also expressed by the laws against consulting the dead; but especially by the strict enactments against the idolatrous customs of their neighbours, either in regarding the souls of dead men as demigods, or in worshipping demons as the guardians of mortal men. Not only are there direct laws against these observances, but the whole of the Jewish rites evidently are framed so as positively to exclude any such doctrines. Nothing is more expressly set forth, than that no attention must be paid to any belief in a class of inferior deities, wherewith heathen worship abounds. This is strongly implied in the regulations which precluded all undue respect to the dead; see Lev. xix. 28. The excess to which funeral honours were carried among the heathen, by an easy transition, led to deifying the objects of this respect; the very same feeling led to the canonizing of dead men, and the worship of saints, in the church of Rome and in the Greek church.

Among the ritual observances of the Jewish law was the consecration of the ashes of the red heifer, and the use made of them by mixing them with water, to be employed for the ceremonial purifications, by sprinkling the unclean, This is of importance, for the rite certainly had direct reference to Christ and things done under the gospel. It has been well remarked, that the water used for purifying owed even its typical qualities to the ashes of the heifer mixed with it. St. Paul makes a distinct allusion to it in the epistle to the Hebrews, chap. ix. 13, 14. In Numbers xix. the reader will find a full account of this ritual observance, and the various purposes for which the ashes were to be used. To these ceremonials the later Jews made very considerable additions. Many rules were appointed for guidance in selecting the heifer, which was shut up seven days before the sacrifice. The priest appointed to officiate was prepared by a variety of ceremonials, and the animal was sacrificed on the side of the valley of Kedron, towards the Mount of Olives. The heifer being killed and burned, the ashes were gathered up with great care, pounded, and sifted. One third part was laid up in a place on the mountain for the sprinkling the people, one-third delivered to the twenty-four courses of priests for their purifications, and the

remainder kept in a chamber of the temple. The lengths to which the later Jews carried their superstitious observances, in using these ashes, are too absurd to be mentioned.

According to Jewish traditions, nine red heifers have been sacrificed: one by Eleazar, the son of Aaron; one by Ezra ; seven others between the captivity and the destruction of the temple by the Romans; and they expect that a tenth will be burned in the days of their Messiah. That seven should have been required during the last 500 years, and only two during the preceding period of 1000, shows how the ceremonial observances were multiplied. The sacrifice of this heifer was typical of the death of Christ; but learned men point out several circumstances, by which this sacrifice and its ceremonials poured contempt on some heathen usages, especially by the sacrifice of an animal held sacred by the Egyptians. And by confining the use of consecrated water to one case, that of defilement by a dead body, the use of similar lustrations by consecrated water on other occasions was checked. In the other cases of general occurrence, the water used for purification was selected without any ceremonial observances; but still they expressed a due honour to the presence of Jehovah, constantly representing how needful it was for those honoured by a near approach to the Divine Presence, to keep themselves pure, and cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, that they might honourably serve a God so holy and so pure.

In other regulations the customs of the heathens are directly opposed, and sometimes expressly forbidden, as by the injunction not to seethe a kid in its mother's milk, Exod. xxiii. 19, which was practised among the heathen as a magical rite. They sprinkled the milk in their fields and gardens, believing it would ensure fruitfulness in the following year. Also in the distinctions about clean and unclean meats, Lev. xi., and by directing sacrifices of animals which were accounted sacred by the heathen.

One more ceremonial must be noticed. The rites for cleansing a leper are stated Lev. xiv. in very clear and express terms. It is to be observed, that the cleansing of the leper was not in any manner supposed to be caused by the observance of any rites of the law, or by any proceedings of the priests. All they had to do was to examine the leper, and pronounce when he was cleansed.

The

priest was to examine the leper some days before he was allowed to enter the court of the tabernacle, to offer the sacrifices commanded by the law for his cleansing. The same course was pursued in the temple, where a place was set apart for the leper till the time for the offering of his

He

sacrifice arrived. Although pronounced clean by the priest where he dwelt, and inspected on his arrival at the temple, yet it is to be observed, that he was not allowed to enter the court of Israel till his sacrifices had been offered. stood in the gate Nicanor, stretching forwards towards the inner court, but might not proceed farther till his sacrifices were slain, and the priest had put some of the blood of the victim upon his left ear. How lively this representation of the efficacy of the atoning blood of Christ!

Lowman and Graves have clearly shown that the Jewish ritual, as a system, was not so burdensome as many suppose. It is true, that there were many ceremonial observances, but these in their simple and original form were all calculated to promote the temporal interests and welfare of the nation; therefore the adversary tempted them before the captivity to break these, and to refuse compliance with the Divine precepts; and after the captivity, to render the kind