frontlets between thine eyes." (Deut. vi. 8.) The rabbies have understood this and similar directions literally, and, therefore, they are placed in phylacteries worn on the forehead and on the hand. The passages of the law which are thus used are, first, Exodus xiii. 1—10; second, Exodus xiii. 11-16; third, Deut. vi. 4-9; fourth, Deut. xi. 13—21. These are written on four separate pieces of parchment, (each part on one of the pieces,) for the phylactery to be worn on the head; and, again, in four columns on one piece of parchment (each passage in one column) for that which is worn on the hand. These are

placed in small square boxes with straps, and are made as we now proceed to describe.* A famous rabbi, in a book called "The Tree of Life," says:

"The rules for making phylacteries for the head are these: Take a square piece of wood; its length must be equal to its width, and its width to its height. . . Make in it three deep incisions in order that it may be divided into four compartments," as represented in the accompanying wood-cuts.

"Then take a piece of leather, and moisten it with water, put in the square block of wood, which has been cut as required, and make the leather come into each incision; whilst it is yet moist press it on both sides until there be made in the leather the figure of a Shin with three heads on the right side of him that wears the phylacteries, and the figure of a Shin

* From Rev. M. Margoliouth's "Principles of Modern Judaism Investigated."

777

with four heads on the left side.

When the leather is dry, take it off the block of wood, and there will be within four empty compartments.

"Then place upright one of the written portions in each division. This is the order of putting them in. Put Deut. xi. 13-21 in that which is on the right hand of him that uses them; Deut. vi. 4-9 in the next; Exodus xiii. 11-16 in the third; and Exodus xiii. 1-10 in the fourth, that is, on the left hand of him that uses them. In this manner, then, take the sinews of a clean beast, particularly sinews which are in the steps of the animal, which are white and stiff; bruise them with stones or other hard substances until they become like flax; then spin them, and with the thread, sew the divisions together at the four sides; on each side three stitches, altogether twelve stitches, according to the number of the twelve tribes of Israel. If the number be lessened and made ten, according to the number of ten only, leaving out Judah, who was a King, and Levi, who was a Priest: or if the number of stitches be increased and made fourteen, according to the number of the twelve tribes with the addition of Manasseh and Ephraim, it is also right."

"In the twelfth century* there arose a great controversy amongst the rabbies, as to which of the above-named portions of Scripture should be placed in the first, second, third, or fourth division of the phylactery for the head.

* A.D. 1175.

Rabbi

Solomon Jarchi and Maimonides proposed one. order; whilst Rabbenu Taam, (a relative of Jarchi,) and his school, proposed another. "They who fear God will procure both phylacteries, and wear both, for there is room on the forehead for both."* The practice of the more pious Jews shews how complete the subjection of the mind may become and does become to the mere unfounded and puerile decisions of the rabbies. "They do procure both phylacteries and wear both on their forehead in prayer-time in the morning all pious Jews in Jerusalem do so."

Observe here the progress of superstition. There is no reason to believe that phylacteries were used at all for centuries after the law of Moses was given. They appear to have been in the first instance strips of parchment worn on the forehead; then to have taken a less simple form till the fertile fancies of the rabbies added more and more, and they came to assume their present shape and complex manufacture. So it is with man's inventions. We should, therefore, be most careful never to admit anything as binding on the conscience in matters of religion, which is of confessedly human origin" which cannot be proved by most certain warrant of holy Scripture" for if once man's authority is admitted as equal to that of God, we have no defence against the increase of his power, till, as Satan's agent, he becomes supreme, robs God of his glory, and makes the soul a fettered captive in the dark prison of the destroyer-superstition.

(To be continued.),

Shulchan Aruch Orach Haim, page 23.

"THY WORD IS TRUTH.”—No. II. "REMEMBER the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind." And surely there are few Christians whose minds have not lingered in that Holy City, and thought of her in her prosperity, when David dwelt there, and when King Solomon "made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about;" or in her adversity, when in consequence of her rejection of the Lord of glory she was brought very low. Thus have I seen her, and with some such feelings as a child would experience, who on visiting the house of a beloved parent, found it pillaged and wasted, and the habitation of wicked men and unclean animals. Sounds of sinful mirth, or hymns to the Virgin and to saints, are heard where songs of praise to Jehovah were wont to be raised. The heart is saddened by the contrast of the present with the past. "O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps." (Ps. lxxix. 1.) "The voice of mirth and gladness has ceased from her streets, for the land is desolate." (Jer. vii. 34.) "The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire. Jerusalem is become heaps." (Mic. iii. 11, 12.) "Truly her house is left unto her desolate." (Matt. xxiii. 38.) "The stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street." (Lam. iv. 1.) "The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground and keep silence." (Lam. ii. 10.) "All her beauty is departed. Her filthiness is in her

The

skirts. She is come down wonderfully. adversary hath spread out his hand on all her pleasant things. All her people sigh, they seek bread." (Lam. i.) Such is Jerusalem! and in walking amidst her ruins I have been forced to exclaim, Lord, thy word is truth; for if I would describe that which my eyes have seen, the prophetic Word of God has now become the most exact literal description. I will quote a few sentences from a letter written in Jerusalem in March, 1839:-" Here we are at the Latin Convent, enjoying Christian communion with our friends at the Mission House, and witnessing every moment the truth of the Word of God. But Oh! such a sad spectacle of woe cannot be realised, except by a personal visit! Ruins, heaps, plague, famine, war, earthquake, tyranny, division, persecution, superstition, confusion of tongues, poverty, are terms which in our own happy country are more ideal than actual, for we seldom have them brought under our notice in their plain terrible reality. But here you cannot avoid them; nay, in a measure, you are forced to sympathize in them, and that too in a spot which is endeared to the tenderest affections of the Christian, and big with promise of coming restitution. Since Sunday last I have been quite overwhelmed with the condition of the Holy City. (Ps. lxxix.) The wrath is indeed come upon her to the uttermost, and nothing but a miracle can revive her. Oh! if the groaning and travailing in pain foretel the birth, if the passing away of old things precede the introduction of a new dispensation, if the shaking of the dry bones in the valley of death is the first step in the visible and actual restoration of Israel,