on both his hands, and, as some of the masters teach, with all their might; it will be sufficient to understand in general the meaning of this rite. Imposition of hands, says the forementioned great author, " was Outram, "a rite of marking or pointing out such things as were either sentenced to death, "or recommended to the grace of God, or 1. i. c. 15. § 8. xlviii. 14. appointed to some office, or some sacred "" use. When a person was guilty of blaspheming the name of the Lord, and cursing, the witnesses against him were to lay their hands upon his head, by which they solemnly attested his guilt. Let all that Levit. heard him, lay their hands upon his head, xxiv. 14. and let all the congregation stone him. It was also in use as a rite of blessing; as in the example of Jacob, when he blessed Ephraim and Manasseh: He stretched out Genesis, his right hand, laying it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly, for Manasseh was the first born. Here the use of putting the hand on the head of the person to be blessed, and the preference of the right hand in the use of this ceremony, are plainly represented, as of well-known, as well as of very ancient use. And when Moses was directed to invest Joshua with the office of Judge, and put some of his honour upon Num. him, that all the children of Israel might xxvii. 22, be obedient; he took Joshua, and set him ༣ 23. 1. c. 15. $8. before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the Lord commanded by the hands of Moses. Imposition of hands was accompanied, in most cases, with confessions, praises, or Outram, prayers, suitable to the nature and design of the sacrifice. The same learned author has observed, from Maimonides, and other Hebrew masters, several of the forms, in which the offerer, who put on his hands, confessed his sins over a sin-offering, and his trespasses over a trespass-offering, or celebrated the praises of God in peaceofferings. I shall only show the wise and useful design of this rite, in an instance prescribed by the ritual itself. In offering the first-fruits, they were to be brought before the Presence, unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, to place his name there. When they present this offering to the priest, they are to say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers for to give us. And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar Deut. xxvi. 2. the Lord thy God. And thou shalt speak and say before thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous. And the Egyptians evil en OF THE HEBREW WORSHIP. BRAR THE UNIVERSITY CALIFORNIA treated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon to 11. How suitable is this profession to the offering of the first-fruits! Here is an acknowledgment of the goodness of God; of their own unworthiness to receive so great goodness; of the truth of God's promises, and God's faithfulness, in fulfilling his covenant. What useful instruction, what proper praise, do these few words express; Now, behold, I have brought the first-fruits of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given me! By the next law, on paying the second tithe, a portion for the widow, the fatherless, and stranger, with the Levite, they were to profess, I have brought away the hallowed things out of my house; and also have given them unto the Levite and unto M 12. the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither 13, 14. have I forgotten them. I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away aught thereof for any unclean use, nor given aught thereof for the dead; but have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. This profession, directed by the ritual, was a wise provision, to keep in memory the goodness of God to the Hebrew nation, and their peculiar engagements to the honour and service of Jehovah, the God of their fathers, as the Abrahamic family: it was a wise means, by an offering to Jehovah, attended with such a profession, to prevent the superstitions then gaining ground. As the Bishop Egyptians, says Bishop Patrick, "when they offered the first-fruits of the earth, kept the feast of Isis with doleful lament"ations; and as the Egyptians by this mourning acknowledged Isis, that is, the "earth, to be the giver of all these good Patrick on the place. 66 66 things; so Jehovah required his people "to bring in their harvest with the great"est joy and thanks to him. As the ido "laters separated some part of the first"fruits for magical purposes, and some“times for carnal and filthy" (as in their feasts, great impurities were allowed and practised" and as they were used to ho"nour the gods and heroes of their country publicly, according to the laws of "their country, and privately, as much as they were able, with speaking well of "them, and with the first fruits and an"nual offerings;" the ritual wisely di- Spencer, rects, not only an offering to Jehovah, the l.ii.c. 24. one true God, and a profession that they have not abused the fruits of the earth to any magical or unclean use, or to the honour or worship of any departed souls as became heroes since their death; it was a constant useful exhortation to receive all their blessings as the gift of Jehovah, and to honour him, and him only, as their God. 2 There is another confession directed by the ritual, which may help to explain the intention and the use of it; it is the confession the high priest was directed to make, when he had laid both his hands upon the head of the live goat. And Levit. Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the xvi. 21. head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. If a private person had sinned, he was to make a particular confession of that sin. And it shall be Levit. v. when he shall be guilty in one of these 5. things, that he shall confess that he hath |