Elisama and Helon, as they drew near the gates of Jerusalem, soon perceived from the commotion among the people, from the triumphal preparations, some wholly, some only partially finished, and from the influx of strangers, that a public rejoicing was at hand. It resembled the preparation for the Passover, but there was more of mirth, and altogether a more worldly character in it. The acclamations of joy which had been heard on the first intelligence of the victory were now renewed, on the evening before the victors were to make their solemn entry into Jerusalem.

Iddo was standing at the gate of his house, a place in which, according to the custom of the Jews, the father of the family was seldom seen, not even Iddo, lively and active as he was. On this occasion, however, he had stationed himself there, in order to lose none of the animating sights which the busy and crowded streets exhibited. Beside him stood the Nazarite, who had already arrived, in his coarse garments and unshorn locks.

The feet of the guests were washed and the supper served up. The conversation turned on what the travellers had seen during their journey, and what had passed in Jerusalem during their absence. All were in eager expectation of the spectacle of to-morrow, and as Elisama was weary, they speedily separated and retired to rest. On the following day, as early as the commencement of the morning-sacrifice, the multitude streamed towards the gate of Ephraim, by which the victorious army was to enter. The streets of the New City and the Lower City, as far as the castle Baris, were strewed with fragrant flowers; tapestry of various colours hung from the parapets of the roofs, and banners were displayed from the Alijahs, while on the pinnacles of the temple were hung the curtains which in former years had closed the entrance of the sanctuary. A chorus of virgins passed out at the gate of Ephraim, under a splendid triumphal arch, to meet the victorious army. Messengers were hastening to and fro, the crowd increased, and every one was endeavouring to find himself a commodious place. The music of the temple was heard between. Sallu had secured one of the highest places for his masters, from which the whole scene lay before their eyes. In this way several hours had passed; the messengers, mounted on horseback, went and returned more frequently—at length, from thousands of voices was heard the exclamation, “They come!”

The chorus of virgins arose with their psalteries and tabrets, and sung in bold strains the valour of the conquerors, the fall of Samaria, and the mercy of Jehovah to his people. When they reached the advanced guard of the army, way was made for them, till they reached the car on which the youthful Maccabees were seated. Standing before it they began an ode, the burthen of which recalled the immortal song of Miriam, the sister of Moses, the first of the female singers of Israel.

Then the hymn took up the praises of the princes and the warriors and the whole people, and the defeat of Samaria; and at the close of every strophe, all with united voice and instruments, raised the chorus of Miriam.

The victorious princes thanked the virgins, who advanced before them to the triumphal arch at the gate of Ephraim. Here stood the high-priest with the whole of the Sanhedrim, and a great multitude of the priests and Levites. To the sound of the temple music they sang the following psalm:

Priests, warriors, and citizens listened to the psalm in silent veneration. The aged man who wore the insignia of the high-priest’s office looked at times with moistened eyes upon the car in which his sons were seated, as if the remembrance of his own youthful heroism revived in his mind, and as if he would have said, “My Aristobulus, my Antigonus, sons of Mattathias, noble Maccabees, perform deeds in Israel, like those of the brethren Judas and Jonathan!”

When the psalm was ended, he approached his sons: they descended from their chariot and hastened to throw themselves into the arms of their father, who embraced and blessed them. The music began again; the triumphal procession arranged itself and advanced through the city, which resounded on every side with songs of congratulation. The maidens with their tabrets and psalteries headed the procession: they were followed by a multitude of victims for the sacrifice, adorned with flowers, branches and fillets, designed to be offered as a thank-offering on the morrow. Then came the prisoners in fetters, and the huge elephants which had been taken from the Syrians. Each of these animals bore a wooden tower upon his shoulders, in which were thirty-two warriors, besides the Ethiopian who guided him.^[40]

After these came the high-priest with the Sanhedrim, the priests, the Levites, and the temple-music. The two sons of Hyrcanus, on their car, formed the centre of the procession, and after them came the military music of flutes, horns, aduffes, and trumpets. The army itself followed, adorned with branches of laurel and palm. First came the heavy-armed infantry with shields and lances, in companies of hundreds and thousands. They had no upper garment, and their under garment, which was girt up short, was of various form and colour, as the fancy of each individual dictated; but all had a sword hanging at their girdle; their feet and arms were protected by metal greaves and arm-pieces, the body was covered with a coat of mail, the head with a helmet, and over the back hung the large shield. The light-armed infantry followed in like manner, but with less cumbrous defensive weapons, and slings, bows, and darts for offence. The cavalry were few in number and lightly armed: the Jewish state had never maintained any large force of this description. The military engines followed, of which the Israelites had learnt the use from the Phœnicians and Syrians; catapults, bows which were bent by machinery and threw beams of wood to a great distance; balistæ, levers with one arm which hurled masses of stone of many hundred weight into a fortress; battering rams, consisting of the trunks of trees, armed at the extremity with an iron head of a ram, swung in chains, which were set in motion by warriors who stood beneath a moveable pent-house, and thus driven with great force against the walls. The people, crowding behind, closed the whole procession. When they arrived at the castle of Baris, the youthful warriors entered their father’s palace, and the army dispersed itself through the city.

Helon had beheld with pride this display of the martial power of his nation. War and its pomp and circumstance had hitherto possessed little interest for him, who, from his youth, had been devoted to the peaceful pursuits of science, and had now turned all his desires to the priesthood; yet, on this occasion, an ardour was excited in him which he had never felt before. These troops were the conquerors of the Samaritans, that apostate people, who had opposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem with such bitter hostility, and been a thorn in the side of the people of Israel. At the same time memory recurred to the manifestations of God’s power in behalf of his people in earlier times, to the triumphs of Uzziah and David, to the songs of the virgins in honour of him and of Saul, of the daughter of Jeptha, of Deborah, and Miriam. What youth is there whose bosom does not glow at the sight of a victorious army of his countrymen?

While the city was filled with tumultuous rejoicings, Helon drew aside a relation of Iddo, who had served in the war, and led him home, questioning him respecting all the events of the campaign. The rejoicings of the inhabitants continued till the evening. But suddenly the trumpets were heard to sound, to announce the appearance of the new moon. The high-priest and the Sanhedrim had scarcely attended the warriors home, when they had to assemble in their hall in the temple, and fix the commencement of the festival. They were accustomed always to meet here on the evening of the new moon. Men were stationed on all the heights and watch-towers, who, as soon as they perceived the new moon, hastened to announce it to the Sanhedrim; on this the high-priest said, “The new moon is hallowed,” and the Sanhedrim replied, “It is hallowed.” Fires were then kindled upon all the hills, or messengers sent to different parts, and on the following day the people celebrated the feast of the new moon.

For the first time for many years past, the fire was lighted on this occasion on the mount of Olives. For several years, it had been the practice of the Samaritans, always watching to do injury to Israel, to light the fire on the wrong evening, and thus to mislead the people in the distant towns. The custom of making the fire therefore had been discontinued, and messengers sent through the country instead. Now, however, that Samaria was destroyed, no deception was feared, and the fires could be lighted as in old times; the citizens of Jerusalem hastened to the roofs of their houses, to watch the blaze on the mount of Olives, to which others soon answered on the more distant hills.

This new moon introduced the second month of the ecclesiastical year, Sid or Ijar. The civil year began with the new moon of October, as the natural commencement of the annual circle of agricultural operations.

When the morning came, the people crowded to the sacrifice through the gate of Nicanor into the temple. All the courts were filled, and the warriors supplied in some measure the place of the pilgrims. Elisama and Helon remembered, that if they wished not to defile the temple, and bring on themselves the punishment denounced by the law, of being cut off from the people, they had a special duty to perform.^[41] Before their journey they had touched the grave of Helon’s father, in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and had thus become unclean. This did not prevent them from appearing before the high-priest, or from entering on their journey, or from performing their morning and evening prayer; but they were not allowed to go further into the temple than the court of the Gentiles, and had they knowingly ventured even to enter the court of Israel, they would have made themselves obnoxious to this terrible punishment. Levitical uncleanness had reference exclusively to appearing before Jehovah, in the place where his honour dwelt. The rigid demand of the performance of a purifying ceremony conveyed this intimation, that what is deemed pure by men, is not so regarded by Him, whose eyes are as a flame of fire, until it has been again made holy by the rite which he has ordained. After both had bathed themselves and washed their clothes, they presented themselves, as they had already done the preceding day, on the steps which lead from the court of the Gentiles into that of the women; and underwent a sprinkling. This was performed by one, who was himself clean, on those who were unclean, and with a bunch of hyssop dipped in the water, mixed with the ashes of the red heifer.^[42] Helon thought of the words of David,

On this day, as on every other day of the year, the daily service before the altar of Jehovah began by the sacrifice of a lamb, with the meat and drink offerings which belonged to it.^[43] When this had been done, the burnt-offering and the sin-offering which Moses had appointed on the new moon, for the whole people, were offered up,^[44] and finally the thank-offering for individuals. The burnt-offering consisted of two young bullocks, a ram, and seven lambs of the first year, with their meat and drink offerings. The meat-offering to each bullock was three ephas, to the ram two ephas, to each of the sheep a tenth of an epha of flour, (the epha was equal to forty-three and a half egg-shells.) The drink-offering to each bullock was half a hin of wine, to the ram a third, and to the sheep a fourth of a hin. (The hin contained as much as seventy-two egg-shells.) Besides this was added, to each meat-offering, the same quantity of oil as there was of wine in the drink-offering, and also a handful of incense. The sin-offering consisted in a goat. While the burnt-offering was presented, the great Hallel was sung, and the priests on the pillars blew the trumpets.^[45]

After this the high-priest presented his thank-offering for the victory, consisting of a vast multitude of bullocks, rams, and sheep, with the appropriate meat and drink offerings; his sons also testified their gratitude by considerable sacrifices, and some of the principal officers of the army took the same method of expressing their gratitude or discharging their vows. The victims which had been seen in the procession of the day before, adorned with flowers and fillets, were brought to the altar; their blood was sprinkled upon it, the entrails with the fat waved to the Lord, towards the four winds of heaven, and then burnt upon the altar. The breast, the right shoulder, the jawbones, the tongue, and the stomach came to the share of the priests, the rest was prepared as a feast for the person who offered the sacrifice. During the sacrifice the priests blew their silver trumpets, and the Levites on the fifteen steps sung the following psalm of David:

Towards the end of all these offerings, which were so numerous that it would not have been possible to have accomplished them all in so short a time, but for the practised dexterity and systematic procedure of the priests, the Nazarite made his appearance: he had already laid aside his coarse garment, and he was now to be solemnly absolved from his vow. It was necessary for him to present all the three principal kinds of offerings, a lamb for a burnt-offering, a yearling sheep for a sin-offering, and a ram for a thank-offering.^[46] To these was added, besides the drink-offering, a basket full of unleavened cakes, of the finest meal, of which a part were kneaded with oil, a part had only had oil poured upon them. The burnt-offering was wholly consumed on the altar; the sin-offering was the portion of the priests; the thank-offering served in a great measure to furnish a festive meal, which was prepared for the Nazarite and his friends, in a small court in the south-east corner of the court of Israel, called the court of the Nazarites.

Helon, Elisama, Iddo, the relation of Iddo, who had returned from the war, and many others were invited to partake of this meal, and accompanied him to the court of the Nazarites. The excavation in which the fire was burning was cleared, and fresh coals heaped upon it. Then the Nazarite, returning thanks in a prayer to God, took the knife, and cutting off the hair from his head, threw it on the coals to be consumed. The flesh of the thank-offering was then roasted, and when it was ready, a priest took the shoulder, together with a cake mixed with oil, and another on which oil had been poured, and placed them in the hands of the Nazarite. They went together to the front of the sanctuary: the priest placed his own hands beneath those of the Nazarite and waved what he held in them before Jehovah, towards the four winds of heaven, and then received it for his own portion.

His vow was thus completely ended, and all the prescribed solemnities had been observed. But not contented with this he offered several special thank-offerings, which were sacrificed in the usual manner, and the flesh prepared for the feast. The table was spread in one of the galleries over the porticoes in the court. Iddo and Helon were made to take the seats of honour, one on each side of the Nazarite. He, relieved from the cumbrous and unseemly load which he had borne for a year, had anointed his head, and was clad in a splendid caftan. The servants of the temple waited on them during the whole of the meal.

The Nazarite spread his hands over the bread, and as a blessing ascribed praise to Jehovah. Then, with more than ordinary solemnity, he took the cup with both his hands, lifted it high above the table with his right, and said, “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, thou King of the world, who hast given us the fruit of the vine.” The company said Amen! He then, in a long draught, drank the first wine which he had tasted for a year, and as the guests followed his example, he exclaimed, “It is time that wine maketh glad the heart of man, as the Psalmist teaches us; but he who would feel the full force of the saying, must have drank it for the first time at the close of a Nazarite’s vow, before the face of Jehovah, after the destruction of Samaria. This is the time to enter into the full force of what the Preacher says, 'Eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart: for thy work is pleasing to God. Let thy garments be always white and thy head lack no oil.'”^[47]

“I perceive,” said Iddo, “that you and I have reason to congratulate ourselves, that we are children of Israel and not Rechabites, who after the example and command of their ancestor Jonadab, refused to drink wine, when it was set before them by the prophet Jeremiah.”^[48]

“I have found by experience,” said the Nazarite, “that zeal for Jehovah makes abstinence easy, and burdensome observances light.”

“That may be seen,” said one of the company, “in the case of the high-priest, who leads in some respects the life of a Nazarite perpetually. He is not allowed to drink wine, or any strong drink in the temple;^[49] for the spirit of the Lord, and not intoxicating liquors, must gladden his heart. He must not touch a corpse; for he must have no communion with sin, or death which is its punishment. He must not make his head bald; for that which in ordinary life might be a burden must be an ornament of his head.”^[50]

“This motive,” said Iddo, “makes many things light, that would otherwise be grievous,” casting his eyes towards his young relative, who had just returned from the war. “It is true,” said the youth, “I declined to avail myself of the indulgence which the law would have granted me, I had been just betrothed, when the war broke out. The keeper of the genealogical register assembled our youth and read to us the law, as spoken by the Lord our God to Moses. ‘When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses and chariots and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the Lord thy God is with thee, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say unto them; Hear, O Israel: ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint: fear not and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them. For Jehovah your God goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to give you victory. And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, Who is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? Let him return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. And who is there that has planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? Let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it. And who is there that hath betrothed a wife, and that hath not taken her? Let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her. And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and shall say unto them, Who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren’s heart faint, as well as his. And when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, then shall captains place themselves at the head of the people.’^[51] On this proclamation being made, a multitude of persons withdrew, who had built houses, or planted vineyards, or been betrothed to wives. I however refused to avail myself of this privilege, nor would my bride allow me to claim it. My father had served when, twenty years before, our prince, John Hyrcanus, had conquered Sichem and destroyed the temple on Gerizim, and he had talked to me a thousand times of his campaigns and his victories. So I thought it became his son to be with the sons of Hyrcanus, when they marched for the destruction of Samaria, and I went therefore joyfully to the field.”

“And are you not now in haste to return home?” asked Iddo.

“I shall remain here till the fourteenth of this month Ijar, and then with my comrades celebrate the latter Passover, not having been able to keep the feast at the proper time.^[52] Then I will return home and relate to my bride the valiant deeds of Aristobulus and Antigonus, how we defeated Antiochus Cyzicenus, who came to raise the siege of Samaria; and how Jehovah strengthened my arm, so that I smote his general Callimander in battle, whom he had left to command his army, when he himself retired to Tripolis. She will laugh the Syrians to scorn, and become my faithful wife.”

When he had said these words, the whole company were loud in his praise. “Never,” exclaimed Iddo, “may the altar of Jehovah be without an Hyrcanus; never may the chief of Israel when he goes to battle be without such soldiers!”

The conversation respecting the events of the war continued during the rest of the meal. The young soldier related to them the particulars of the defeat of Antiochus and his generals, and the ravages which he had committed upon the country when he dared not, even with the six thousand Egyptian auxiliaries, attack the Jewish army. At length the last cup was blessed, and they left the temple full of joy and gratitude. As they descended, they heard the shouts of joy from the castle Baris, where the high-priest had made a great banquet for his sons.

“O thou dream of my childhood and my youth, art thou then really about to be fulfilled? O pride and sorrow of my forefathers, sacred priesthood, art thou indeed about to be revived in their descendent? Praised be Jehovah!”

Such were the exclamations of Helon, when, a few days after the feast of the new moon, the morning dawned of the day on which he was to appear before the Sanhedrim, and to undergo their scrutiny, preparatory to his admission into the priesthood. The following day was the sabbath, when he was to offer his first sacrifice. He opened the door of the Alijah on Iddo’s house, while it was yet twilight, and after the performance of the Kri-schma threw himself on the ground before Jehovah, and thus prayed:

The sun was rising as he quitted the Alijah. He looked towards the east, where his father’s sepulchre lay in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and then to the south-west towards Egypt, where the reflection of the rising sun streaked the edge of heaven with a ruddy glow, and mentally greeted his mother. Next to the image of his parents according to the flesh, that of Aaron, the great progenitor of the sacerdotal order, took possession of his mind, on this day, which was to witness his admission into their society. Elisama came to fetch him from the roof, and with a step of conscious dignity and pride conducted him to Iddo and the guests, who were assembled in the inner court. Having received their hearty congratulations, Elisama conducted his Helon to the temple-hill. Not even on the day when he made his first pilgrimage, and passed through the Beautiful gate and the gate of Nicanor, had the old man felt as he did on this morning, in which his kinsman was to revive the priesthood in his family. His heart beat not less high than Helon’s, and his aged eye was lighted up with youthful exultation and hope. He blessed Jehovah, who had given to him and to his deceased brother firmness to withstand all the solicitations which had been addressed to them, to assume the priesthood at Leontopolis.

Helon entered, with trembling steps, into the courts of the Lord. The Sanhedrim was standing along with the course of priests for the week, in the court of the Priests, and the morning-sacrifice was performed with the customary rites. As the priests on the pillars blew their trumpets at the pouring out of the drink-offering, and the Levites sung on the fifteen steps, the sound of their voices and their instruments seemed to him like the call of Jehovah to him. “To-day,” thought he, “I stand for the last time, as one of the people in the court of Israel, to-morrow I shall minister before the face of Jehovah!” When the sacrifice was over, the high-priest and the Sanhedrim withdrew into their hall of judgment. No meeting of this body was ever held for merely secular business, either on the sabbath or the day of preparation, but they often assembled to transact what related to the service of God.

With deep emotion Helon entered the hall; it was one of the largest and most splendid of all which the courts of the temple contained. It lay partly in the court of the Priests and partly in that of Israel, and was called also Gazith, because it was paved with marble. There, was an entrance from both courts, one called the Holy, the other the Common. In this all the courses of the priests were exchanged, and here the great council, or Sanhedrim, held its sittings.

The Sanhedrim consisted of seventy-one persons, partly priests, partly Levites, partly elders. In extraordinary cases the elders from all the tribes were convoked, who then formed the great congregation. The high-priest occupied the place of president, and was seated at the western end; he bore the title of Nashi, or Chief. On his right sat the Ab-beth-din, Father of the Council, probably the most aged man among the elders, and on his left the Wise Man, probably the most experienced among the doctors of the law. The remaining sixty-eight sat in a half circle, on either side, with a secretary at the end of each row. As the three chief persons belonged respectively to the sacerdotal order, to the body of the citizens, and the profession of the law, so the remaining members were made up of these three elements. The twenty-four courses of the priests were represented here by their heads, the elders were a deputation from the chiefs of families and of houses; the doctors of the law were the most learned of the Levites. The whole assembly was seated, with crossed feet, on cushions or carpets. The Sanhedrim was the supreme judicial and administrative court in Israel; every thing relating to the service of God, foreign relations, and matters of life and death, came under its cognizance. It was further their business to scrutinize every son of Aaron, who wished to enter as a priest into the service of Jehovah.

Elisama entered the hall attended by Helon. He announced the name of the young man and of his father, and produced extracts from the registers, which ascertained the legitimacy of his birth. The tribe of Levi, when numbered in the wilderness, contained 22,000 males above a month old,^[53] and 8580 males between thirty and fifty;^[54] they were all devoted to the service of Jehovah; but only a single family, that of Aaron, had the privilege of furnishing priests for the altar; the rest of the Levites were only the servants of the priests.^[55] In David’s time the number of the Levites from twenty years and upwards was 38,000;^[56] that of the priests perhaps not 6000. Aaron had four sons, two of whom were punished with an early death in the wilderness, for their presumption: the other two, Eleazar and Ithamar, had such a numerous posterity, that these were divided into sixteen and eight, or twenty-four courses or families.^[57] As only four were found among those who returned from the captivity, these were divided into the original number of twenty-four, which bore the name of the ancestor of each family.^[58] Helon, by his father’s side, belonged to the course of Malchia, which was the fifth; and by the mother’s to that of Abia, which was the eighth.

Next, the passage of the law was read, in which Jehovah commands that no descendent of Aaron should ever be admitted to the priesthood, who had any natural imperfection or deformity of body, although he might still claim a subsistence from the provisions of the temple.^[59] Helon was examined and found free from any of those imperfections which the law enumerates. Had he proved otherwise, he would have been clad in black, and dismissed, being only allowed in future to discharge menial offices about the temple. The outward worship of Jehovah was to be a mirror and emblem of the inward dispositions demanded from the worshipper; and therefore he required, that both his sacrifices and those who offered them should be without blemish.

Helon having undergone the necessary scrutiny, and having been found not only of pure descent but free from all bodily infirmity, was committed to the care of one of the ministering Levites, and conducted by him into the vestry, which stood near the gate of Nicanor. Here the Levite put on him the white sacerdotal robes, which one of the same body had made. They consisted of drawers reaching to the leg, the under-garment fitting close to the body and descending to the ancles, woven of one piece without a joining or a seam; the girdle of four fingers’ breadth, which went twice round the body, and, being tied in front, both ends hung down nearly to the feet;^[60] it was woven so as to resemble a serpent’s skin, and embroidered with flowers, purple, dark blue, and crimson; lastly, the turban, which was wound firmly around the head in the form of a crown. The feet were bare.

After being robed, Helon returned into the hall of the Sanhedrim, and the law of Moses relative to the priests was read to him;^[61] “And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, None among them shall defile himself with a dead body among his people, except for the nearest of his kindred, for his mother and for his father, and for his son and for his daughter, and for his brother and for his sister, while she is still a virgin and lives with him, having no husband; for her he may defile himself. But he shall not defile himself for any one that belongeth to him among his people, least he desecrate himself. They shall not make their heads bald, nor shave off the extremity of their beard, nor make incisions in their flesh. They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God, for the offerings of Jehovah made by fire, the food of their God, they are to offer; therefore must they be holy. They shall not marry a woman that is a harlot, nor one that has been polluted, for they are holy to their God. And thou shalt esteem them holy for they offer the food of thy God; they shall be holy unto thee; for I Jehovah who sanctify them am holy.” When this passage had been read, the high-priest blessed the candidate for the priesthood, and said, “Praised be God that no blemish hath been found in the seed of Aaron, and praised be he who hath chosen Aaron and his sons to stand and minister before God in his holy temple.” And all the members of the Sanhedrim said Amen! The sitting was thus ended, and Helon was led into the court of the Priests. Those of the course which was then on duty were standing there, and, greeting him, received him among their body.

The family of Aaron was consecrated once for all in the wilderness, when they offered on eight successive days the sacrifice of initiation.^[62] Since that time it had been only renewed, and each new priest began his ministration by a meat-offering,^[63] on his presenting which the original unction was imputed to him. This Helon was to do on the following morning, and it fortunately happened that, owing to the delay occasioned by the return of the victorious army, the course to which he belonged entered on duty on this very sabbath.^[64]

Elisama offered on this joyful occasion a magnificent thank-offering of several bullocks, and invited the whole course of priests, who gradually arrived to be in readiness to begin their functions, to feast upon the sacrifice.

Among the rest he had invited the old man of the temple. He who bore this name was a venerable priest, nearly one hundred years old, of the course of Jojarib, to which the Maccabees also belonged. Engaged, since his twenty-fifth year, in the service of Jehovah, he had now past eighty years in the house of his God, and in the course of them had witnessed very eventful times. He had entered the temple, in the life of the excellent high-priest Onias III., and had endured the alternate yoke of the Syrians and the Egyptians; he had seen Antiochus Epiphanes, and known the victims of his sanguinary fury; he had been one of those who followed the valiant Mattathias to the wilderness; he had admired the heroic deeds of the members of the family of the Maccabees, Judas, Jonathan, Simon, and John Hyrcanus, and had served them in succession. In Egypt, where he had frequently dwelt, he had seen, forty years before, the foundation of the temple of Leontopolis, and he had beheld that of Gerizim levelled with the ground. As a doctor of the law, he was master of all the knowledge of divine or earthly things which Israel then possessed, and had been able to compare his experience with the word of God. He knew accurately the opinions of all the sects into which Israel was divided, and though he joined himself to none of them, yet was honoured by them all, and almost reckoned by all to belong to themselves. For a considerable time, during the last years of the high-priest Simon, and in the first years of Hyrcanus, he had discharged the honourable office of the Wise Man in the Sanhedrim, and in every year of the thirty-four that had elapsed since the new era of Israel’s emancipation began, some important affair had been decided by his counsel. In consequence of his increasing years, he had laid down all his offices, resigned his house and property to his children’s children, and taken up his abode in a single apartment in the temple, where he discharged the duty of a priest of the permanent course, as it was called, that is of those who dwelt in Jerusalem and supplied the place of any one in the other courses who could not serve in his turn. His piety, his wisdom, his earnest longing for the advent of the Messiah, and his affection for the house of the Maccabees, were become proverbial. He united so well the mild dignity of age with the fresh sensibility of youth, that he possessed a most decided influence over the principal persons in the state, but more especially on all the younger priests, whose teacher he might be considered, and who very generally adopted his opinions. Even the heathens admired the vigour and originality of his mind. What most surprised many of his countrymen was, that he, whom they would, before all others, have called a Chasidean, that is a man of extraordinary piety, laid no claim to so high a title, and contented himself with the humbler name of a just man.

The old man made his appearance, but declared that he came only to bid the youth welcome to the courts of the Lord. A feast, even in the temple, he said, did not befit a man over whom one hundred winters had already past. All rose up when he appeared, and, falling at his feet, kissed the border of his robe. Helon had heard of him in Alexandria, and Elisama had pointed out his venerable form to him, as he assisted at the sacrifice; and when he saw him appear in the banqueting room, for his sake, overpowered by such kindness and condescension, he too fell, in silent reverence, at his feet, and kissed the border of his garment. The old man raised him up, and said, “Praised be the God of Israel, who bringeth the seed of Aaron out of Egypt, to the place where is the memorial of his name.” He spoke of his grandfather, whom he had known at Alexandria, and said that Jehovah would bless that house for ever, on account of the zeal which every member of it had displayed for the honour of his law. He then called Helon from the company, observing to the rest, that before he partook of their feast, he would regale him with food of another kind. Helon with profound veneration followed the old man, who led him through the court of the Gentiles to Solomon’s porch, which with its lofty pillars formed the eastern boundary of this court. Here he placed himself on the ground and Helon beside him. He made the youth relate to him the history of his life, and the manner in which the desire of becoming a priest had been first awakened in him. He afterwards addressed a few of those questions to him, by which one who knows mankind penetrates into the bosom of a youth. His countenance gradually assumed an expression of pleasure and good-will, which led Helon to hope that his answers had been satisfactory.

“It cannot be said my son,” he at length began, “that the Hellenists have been wholly wrong in their allegories. They are right in the principle from which they set out, that the service of Jehovah contains a hidden and deeper wisdom. Does not David say,