faith, they closed their eyes upon the world, but they closed them in the transporting assurance that God would accomplish his promises. They had the firmest persuasion that the Messiah would bless the world. By faith they antedated these happy times, and placed themselves, in idea, in the midst of all their fancied blessedness. They hailed this most auspicious period: saluted it, as one salutes a friend whose person we recognise, at a distance. These all died in faith, died in the firm persuasion that God would accomplish these magnificent promises, though they themselves had not enjoyed them, but only had seen them afar off: God had only blessed them with a remote prospect of them. They were therefore persuaded of them, they had the strongest conviction of their reality-they embraced them-with transport saluted' them at a distance, confessing that they were but strangers and pilgrims upon earth, but were all travelling towards a CITY which had foundations, whose builder and maker is God!

Respect was shown to persons on meeting, by the salutation of Peace be with you! and laying the right hand upon the bosom but if the person addressed was of the highest rank, they bowed to the earth. Thus Jacob bowed to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother Esau. (Gen. xxxiii. 3.) Sometimes they kissed the hem of the person's garment, and even the dust on which he had to tread. (Zech. viii. 23. Luke viii. 44. Acts x. 26. Psal. Ixxii. 9.) Sometimes persons out of humility turned aside from the way, as if they were unworthy to salute those whom they met : and it has been supposed that our Saviour's words on sending out the seventy disciples may be referred to this custom. (Luke x. 4.) Near relations and intimate acquaintances kissed each other's hands, head, neck, beard (which on such occasions only could be touched without affront), or shoulders. (Gen. xxxiii. 4. xlv. 14. 2 Sam. xx. 9. Luke xv. 20. Acts xx. 17.) Whenever the common people approached their prince, or any person of superior rank, it was customary for them to prostrate themselves before them. In particular, this homage was universally paid to the monarchs of Persia by those who were admitted into their presence ;-a homage, in which some of the Greek commanders, possessed of a truly liberal and manly spirit, peremptorily refused to gratify them. In imitation of these proud sovereigns, Alexander the Great exacted a similar prostration. This mode of address obtained also among the Jews. When honoured with admittance to their sovereign, or introduced to illustrious personages, they fell down at their feet, and continued in this servile posture till they were raised. There occur many instances of this

1 Aoracauevo. The word always used in salutations. See Romans xvi. passim. 2 Vereor ne civitati meæ sit opprobrio, si quum ex ea sim profectus, quæ cæteris gentibus imperare consuevarit, potius barbarorum quam illius more fungar! C. Nepos. Conon. p. 153. The Athenians punished a person with death for submitting to this slavish prostration. Athenienses autem Timagoram inter officium saluta tionis Darium regem more gentis illius adulatum, capitali supplicio affecerunt; unius civis humilibus blanditiis totius urbis sua decus Persica dominationi summissum graviter ferentes. Valerius Maximus, lib. vi. cap. 3. p. 561. Torrenii, Leida,

custom in the New Testament. The wise men who came from the East, when they saw the child Jesus with his mother Mary, fell down and worshipped him. Great numbers of those who approached our Saviour, fell down at his feet. We read of several of the common people who prostrated themselves before him and worshipped him. Cornelius, at his first interview with Peter, when he met him, fell down before him and worshipped him, and remained in this submissive attitude till Peter took him up; saying, Stand up; I also am a man. In the Old Testament we read that Esther fell down at the feet of Ahasuerus. These prostrations among the eastern people appear to us to the last degree unmanly and slavish ; but it seems that the inhabitants of the oriental countries have always used more illiberal and humiliating forms of address and homage than ever obtained in Europe.

It was also customary in those times, whenever a popular harangue was about to be delivered, and the people stood convened, for the orator, before he entered on his discourse, to stretch forth his hand towards the multitude as a token of respect to his audience, and to engage their candid attention. Frequent instances of this polite address of an orator to the assembled multitude occur in the classics. In like manner we read that St. Paul, before he commenced his public apology to the multitude, bespoke their respect and candour by beckoning with his hand to them. Paul said, "I am a man who am a Jew of Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and I beseech thee suffer me to speak unto the people. And when he had given him license, Paul stood on the stairs and beckoned with his hand unto the people." Thus also in the account of the tumult which happened at Ephesus, when the whole city was filled with confusion, some clamouring one thing, some another, and the mob which Demetrius had raised were instigated to the last excesses of violence and fury, though, as is usual in mobs, the majority of them, as the sacred historian tells us, knew not what it was that had brought them together; in the midst of this confused scene we read that the Jews pushed forward and placed one Alexander on an eminence. He being exalted above the crowd, intended in a formal harangue to exculpate the Jews from any concern in the present disturbance. Accordingly he beckoned to them with his hand-making use of this respectful customary address to insure their favourable regard, before he delivered his designed apology. But this specious and popular artifice, it seems, did not avail the orator, for the moment the mob understood he was a Jew, they pierced the air with their confused cries, repeating, for two hours together, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!"

From time immemorial it has also been the universal custom in the East to send presents one to another. No one waits upon an

1 Qui ubi in castra Romana et prætorium pervenerunt, more adulantium, accepto, credo, ritu ex eâ regione ex quâ oriundi erant, procubuerunt. Conveniens oratio tam bumili adulationi. Livius. lib. xxx. cap. 16. tom. 3. p. 130. edit. Ruddiman.

eastern prince, or any person of distinction, without a present. This is a token of respect which is never dispensed with. How mean and inconsiderable soever the gift, the intention of the giver is accepted. Plutarch informs us that a peasant happening to fall in the way of Artaxerxes the Persian monarch, in one of his excursions, having nothing to present to his sovereign, according to the oriental custom, the countryman immediately ran to an adjacent stream, filled both his hands, and offered it to his prince. The monarch, says the philosopher, smiled and graciously received it, highly pleased with the good dispositions this action manifested. All books of modern travels into the East, Sandys, Thevenot, Maundrell, Shaw, Pococke, Norden, Hasselquist, Light, Clarke, Morier, Ouseley, and others, abound with numberless examples of this universally prevalent custom of waiting upon great men with presents-unaccompanied with which, should a stranger presume to enter their houses, it would be deemed the last outrage and violation of politeness and respect. It was, therefore, agreeably to this oriental practice which obtains in all these countries to this day, that the wise men, when they entered the house to which the star had directed them, and saw the child and his mother, after they had prostrated themselves before him, and paid him the profoundest homage, as the evangelist informs us, opened their treasures, and testified their sense of the dignity of his person, by respectfully making him rich presents, consisting of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

II. When any person visited another, he stood at the gate and knocked, or called aloud, until the person on whom he called admitted him. (2 Kings v. 9-12. Acts x. 17. xii. 13. 16.) If the visitor was a person of extraordinary dignity, it was customary to send persons of rank, who were followed by others of still greater rank, to meet him, and to do him honour. Thus Balak sent princes more and more honourable to meet Balaam (Numb. xxii. 15.), and the same custom obtains to this day in Persia.3 Visitors were always received and dismissed with great respect. On their arrival water was brought to wash their feet and hands (Gen. xviii. 4. xix. 2.), after which the guests were anointed with oil. David alludes to this in Psal. xxiii. 5. The same practice obtained in our Saviour's time. Thus we find Mary Magdalene approaching him at an entertainment, and, as a mark of the highest respect and honour she could confer, breaking an alabaster vase full of the richest perfume and pouring it on his head. Our Lord's vindication to Simon, of

1 Plutarch's Morals, vol. i. p. 299. edit. Gr. Stephani.

2 The common present now made to the great in these countries is a horse: an ass might formerly answer the same purpose, and to this Moses probably alludes in Numb. xvi. 15. as well as Samuel (1 Sam. xii. 3.), particularly, as asses were then deemed no dishonourable beasts for the saddle. See Burder's Oriental Literature, vol. i. p. 243.

3 Morier's Second Journey, p. 129.

4 It is worthy of remark that Otto of Roses, which is the finest perfume imported from the East at this time, is contained in pots or vases, with covers so firmly luted to the top, that it requires force and breaking to separate them, before the perfume can be poured out. Does not this explain the action of Mary Magdalene?

the behaviour of this woman, presents us with a lively idea of the civilities in those times ordinarily paid to guests on their arrival, but which marks of friendship and respect had (it seems) been neglected by this Pharisee, at whose house Jesus Christ then was. He turned

to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, and thou gavest me NO WATER FOR MY FEET, but she hath WASHED MY FEET with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no KISS: but this woman, since I came in, hath not ceased to KISS MY FEET. Mine HEAD with OIL thou didst not anoint; but this woman hath ANOINTED MY FEET with ointment. To this practice of anointing, Solomon alludes (Prov. xxvii. 9.): and among the Babylonians, it was usual to present sweet odours. (Dan. ii. 46.) It is still the custom in Egypt, among the Arabs and other nations, thus to treat their guests, and, when they are about to depart, to burn the richest perfumes.1 Among the Asiatic sovereigns also, it is a common custom to give both garments and money to ambassadors, and persons of distinction whom they wish to honour: hence they keep in their wardrobes several hundred changes of raiment ready for presents of this kind. This usage obtained in Egypt, where Joseph gave changes of raiment to his brethren, and to his brother Benjamin three hundred pieces of silver, besides five changes of raiment. (Gen. xlvi. 23.) That such were given by way of reward and honour, see Judg. xiv. 12. 19. Rev. vi. 11. and vii. 9. 14.

III. "Conversation, in which the antient orientals indulged like other men, in order to beguile the time, was held in the gate of the city. Accordingly, there was an open space near the gate of the city, as is the case at the present day in Mauritania, which was fitted up with seats for the accommodation of the people. (Gen. xix. 1. Psal. Ixix. 12.) Those, who were at leisure, occupied a position on these seats, and either amused themselves with witnessing those who came in and those who went out, and with any trifling occurrences, that might offer themselves to their notice, or attended to the judicial trials, which were commonly investigated at public places of this kind, viz. the gate of the city. (Gen. xix. 1. xxxiv. 20. Psal. xxvi. 4, 5. lxix. 12. cxxvii. 5. Ruth iv. 11. Isa. xiv. 31.)

Intercourse by conversation, though not very frequent, was not so rare among the antient orientals, as among their decendants of modern Asia. Nor is this to be wondered at, since the fathers drank wine, while the descendants are obliged to abstain from it; and we are well assured, that the effect of this exhilarating beverage was to communicate no little vivacity to the characters of the antient Asiatics, at least to that of the Hebrews. (See Isa. xxx. 29. Jer. vii. 34. xxx. 19. Amos vi. 4, 5.) The antient Asiatics, among whom we include the Hebrews, were delighted with singing, with dancing, and with instruments of music. Promenading, so fashionable and so agreeable in colder latitudes, was wearisome and unpleasant in the warm 1 See several instances of this custom in Harmer's Observations, vol. ii. pp. 378 -392.

climates of the East, and this is probably one reason why the inhabitants of those climates preferred holding intercourse with one another, while sitting near the gate of the city, or beneath the shade of the fig-tree and the vine. (1 Sam. xxii. 6. Micah. iv. 4.) It is for the same reason also, that we so frequently hear in the Hebrew Scriptures of persons sitting down, as in the following passage, "Blessed is the man, that standeth not in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. (See Psal. i. 1. cvii. 32. lxxxix. 7. cxi. 1. lxiv. 2. 1. 20. xxvi. 5.)

The bath was always very agreeable to the inhabitants of the East (Ruth iii. 3. 2 Sam. xi. 2. 2 Kings v. 10.); and it is not at all surprising, that it should have been so, since it is not only cooling and refreshing, but is absolutely necessary in order to secure a decent degree of cleanliness in a climate, where there is so much exposure to dust. The bath is frequently visited by eastern ladies, and may be reckoned among their principal recreations. Those Egyptians, who lived at the earliest period of which we have any account, were in the habit of bathing in the waters of the Nile. (Exod. ii. 5. vii. 13-25.) It was one of the civil laws of the Hebrews, that the bath should be used. The object of the law without doubt was to secure a proper degree of cleanliness among them. (Lev. xiv. 2. xv. 1-8. xvii. 15, 16. xxii. 6. Numb. xix. 6.) We may, therefore, consider it is as probable, that public baths, soon after the enactment of this law, were erected in Palestine, of a construction similar to that of those, which are so frequently seen at the present day in the East.

The orientals, when engaged in conversation, are very candid and mild, and do not feel themselves at liberty directly to contradict the person, with whom they are conversing, although they may at the same time be conscious, that he is telling them falsehoods. The antient Hebrews in particular very rarely used any terms of reproach more severe than those of adversary or opposer,, raca, contemptible, and sometimes fool, an expression, which means a wicked man or an atheist. (Job ii. 10. Psal. xiv. 1. Isa. xxxii. 6. Matt. v. 22. xvi. 23.) When any thing was said, which was not acceptable, the dissatisfied person replied, it is enough, 77, 055 77, ixavour. (Deut. iii. 26. Luke xxii. 38.)

The formula of assent or affirmation was as follows; du εITUS, , thou hast said, or thou hast rightly said. We are informed by the traveller Aryda, that this is the prevailing mode of a person's expressing his assent or affirmation to this day, in the vicinity of mount Lebanon, especially where he does not wish to assert any thing in express terms. This explains the answer of the Saviour to the high priest Caiaphas in Matt. xxvi. 64., when he was asked, whether he was the Christ, the Son of God, and replied du emas, thou hast said.

To spit in company in a room, which was covered with a carpet, was an indication of great rusticity of manners; but in case there was no carpet, it was not accounted a fault in a person, provided he spit in the corner of the room. The expressions, therefore, in Deuter