must not be less than nine cabbin, equal to as many English quarts. The water is poured upon the sheet with which the corpse is cleansed, it being forbidden to touch a dead body with the bare hand. The washing must commence with the head, and so downward to the feet. When the whole body has thus been washed, it is laid on its back, and the nails of the hands and feet are properly cleansed with an instrument made for the purpose. During these operations, as well as those that follow, no part of the corpse is left uncovered. The 'washing' being thus finished, the corpse has now to pass under the ceremony called Taharah, or 'purification.' The operators first wash their hands with clean water, and then wipe them dry with a towel. Four persons now hold a sheet over the corpse. The wet sheet is then withdrawn, and nine cabbin of clean cold water are poured upon the bare body, commencing as before from the head downward. Previously to pouring this water of purification, they are to repeat as follows: 'And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him to sanctify him. . . . Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. And ye shall be holy; for I, the Lord your God, am holy.-Taharah! Taharah! Taharah!'

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The corpse is next well dried with a clean sheet. A cap is then put upon the head, with the words, And he put the mitre upon his head;' and when the body is placed in the coffin, the words are uttered, May he go to his appointed place in peace!'

The purification board is then carefully cleansed and dried; and the water spilt upon the ground must also be well dried up. It is likewise provided that the water used for the purification shall not be cast where human beings might pass over it, but that it shall be carefully poured out in some secluded place.1

These facts are interesting, though it may be hard to say how many of the particular usages, beyond the general practice 1 See 'The British Jews,' by the Rev. JOHN MILLS. London, 1853.

of washing the dead, equally belong to scriptural times. Perhaps most of them are thus ancient, as there is usually less change from lapse of time in such matters than in any others. In the existing Jewish practices as described, nothing is more worthy of notice than the scrupulous delicacy with which a necessarily unpleasant operation is performed; and, indeed, whatever else may be said of the Jews, it is certain that no nation surpasses, or even comes near them (as a people), in personal modesty, both as it respects the living and the dead.

Peter at once responded to the application made to him, and proceeded to Joppa with the messenger. On his arrival he was taken to the upper chamber in which lay the body of the departed; and here all the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them.' These widows were doubtless such as had been particularly benefited by her kindness, and they now lamented their lost benefactress. Here we find another corroboration of the prominent attention paid to the wants of widows in the ancient church. It may be that these widows showed the clothes they wore at the time, and which they owed to the bounty of Dorcas, rather than the stores of clothing she had prepared for the poor. Peter, however, put them all forth gently from the room, as he had seen his Master do, when He raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead. Being thus left alone with the corpse, he kneeled down and prayed, as Elisha had done of old (2 Kings iv. 33), and perhaps because this was a great and strange matter, in which he was not yet assured of the mind of God. But he arose from prayer satisfied, and turning to the corpse, said, 'Tabitha, arise!' At these words she opened her eyes; and when she saw Peter, whom she had probably known in his former visit to this quarter, she sat up. But her movements being hindered by the habiliments of death, he gave her his hand to help her to her feet; and then calling in the saints and widows,' who were anxiously awaiting the result, he presented to them alive and well the friend whose loss they had so grievously deplored.

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A miracle like this, upon one so well known and so highly esteemed as Dorcas, could not fail to make an impression, even stronger than that which the miracle performed upon Æneas had made, on the minds of the people. It became a theme of common discourse throughout all the region of Joppa; and the immediate result was, that 'many believed in the Lord.'

The historian remarks, that 'forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, Peter was sent for. It may be interesting to know that they are within sight of each other, both being situated in the great plain of Sharon, and about twelve miles apart. The village of Lydda, now called Lud, still contains about a thousand inhabitants; and though its houses are small and poor, and its streets, or rather lanes, dirty, yet there is an air of thrift and prosperity about the place not often seen in Palestine. The orchards which surround it are rich and beautiful, and the plain beyond them is well cultivated. Of St. George's church, only the walls and part of the vault of the chancel remain; but these form one of the finest ruins in western Palestine. The capitals of the pilasters and the cornice are marble, and profusely ornamented. One lofty pointed arch stands on the south side of the aisle, and is seen from a great distance over the plain.

Forty-fifth Week—Fourth Day.

PETER'S VISION.-ACTS X. 9-23.

AFTER the great miracle of raising Tabitha from the dead, Peter did not return to Lydda, but remained at Joppa, his summons to which place had perhaps only slightly anticipated his intention of proceeding thither.

It is probable that among the disciples at Joppa there were persons of good worldly standing and consideration, any of whom would have felt honoured in receiving the apostle under their roof. But he chose to take up his abode with one Simon a tanner,' of whom we subsequently learn that his house was by the sea-side, that is, beyond the town; for the trade of a tanner was one which the Jews would not allow to be

exercised within any of their cities. This prohibition arose primarily from a regard to sanitary considerations, which, among this people, always took the form of pronouncing a thing, a trade, a practice, to be 'unclean,' and which far more effectually realized the objects in view than all the rules of the 'boards of health' in the world. The trade of a tanner was for some reason or other regarded as mean and low among the ancients generally; and by the Jews, in particular, was held in great contempt. In the Talmud we read, "Woe unto him whose trade is a tanner!' Being aware of this, we find some probability in the conjecture of some ancient commentators, that the trade of Peter's host is here so pointedly specified, in order that it might appear that the apostle did not feel himself elevated by the dignity of the late miracle above mean persons and things.

It was during his stay with Simon, at his house by the sea-side, that Peter one day withdrew for secluded devotion to the housetop at the noon-tide hour of prayer. He then became exceedingly hungry, and would gladly have taken some food; but the mid-day meal, being the first considerable meal of the day, was not yet ready. While in this state, he fell into a kind of ecstasy or trance, in which, in mental vision, he beheld a vast sheet of open work, probably like a net, let down by the four corners from heaven. Observing this more narrowly, he perceived that it contained all kinds of living creatures-animals, tame and wild, birds, and even 'creeping things.' A voice was then heard: Rise, Peter; kill and eat!' But to this, with the prompt readiness of one whose mind was still replete with notions derived from the ceremonial law, Peter objected: 'Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.' The call implied that he might use for food any of the creatures presented to his view; and his response expressed his reluctance, his moral inability, to eat that which the law of Moses had pronounced unclean.

To Peter's objection the voice replied, 'What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.' This-whether the entire vision, or the voice only, is not certain-was repeated

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three times, either to impress it the more strongly upon the apostle's mind, or to confirm in the strongest manner the importance and certainty of the truth thus conveyed. The reader will recollect other instances in which certainty is indicated by repetition, and especially by threefold repetition. Thus, in Gen. xli. 32, Pharaoh's dreams are expressly declared to have been repeated, in order to indicate that the Lord would certainly and shortly bring the things to pass.

But what things were in this case denoted by the vision? This was the question on which Peter pondered. He seems to have been in doubt whether God meant only to indicate that every distinction of meats was abolished by the Christian religion, and therewith, perhaps, the ceremonial law, of which practically that distinction formed a most prominent part; or whether a yet deeper meaning was not concealed under itnamely, that the Gentiles, who did not observe this distinction of meats, and were on that and other grounds accounted impure by the Jews, were to be so regarded no longer, nor their society to be any longer shunned, but were to have the doctrines of the gospel freely preached to them.

His doubts on this point were soon resolved; and he speedily learned that the vision had been sent to him in order to determine and guide his conduct, under circumstances which might otherwise have perplexed him greatly.

While he was still considering this matter, three strangers, one of them a Roman soldier, appeared at the tanner's gate, inquiring whether 'Simon, whose surname is Peter' (to distinguish him from the master of the house, who also bore the name of Simon), 'lodged there.' The house was probably not high, so that Peter's attention may have been attracted by the knocking and the inquiries at the gate. And then, to free him from doubt, the Spirit deigned to inform him that the men who sought him had been sent by Himself, and that he was to go with them without doubt or fear. On this Peter went down to the strangers, and telling them that he was the man for whom they inquired, asked what they wanted with him.

In reply, they entered into a recital, from which he gathered