of the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father-the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."*

If, however, the sabbath could not be suspended by the festivities of the Passover, they might receive additional solemnity from the sabbath. Helon felt its sanctity with double force, in this combination. He had risen early in the morning, and could scarcely wait till the hour arrived, for his going up with the old men to the temple, for the first time in his life, to spend a sabbath there. The morning sacrifice consisted on this day of the usual offering of a lamb; then followed the special offering of the sabbath, two lambs of a year old, with the meat and drink offering that belonged to them. Last of all, the festival-offering, which consisted of two young bullocks, a ram, seven yearling lambs as a burnt-offering, and a goat as a sin-offering. In the mean time the sabbath psalm was sung by the Levites from the fifteen steps.

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord,
And to sing praises unto thy name, O most High!
To show forth thy loving-kindness in the morning,

And thy faithfulness every night,

Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery,

Upon the harp with a solemn sound.

For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work,

I will triumph because of the works of thy hands.

O Lord! how great are thy works;

Thy thoughts are very deep!

* Isaiah lviii. 13, 14.

A brutish man knoweth not this,

Nor doth a fool understand it.

When the wicked spring as the grass,

And when all the workers of iniquity flourish,

It is that they may be destroyed for ever:
But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore.
For lo! thine enemies, O Lord,

For lo! thine enemies shall perish!

All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
But thou exaltest my horn like the unicorn's;

I am anointed with fresh oil;

And mine eye shall see my desire on mine enemies,

And mine ear shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.

The righteous flourisheth like the palm-tree,

He groweth like a cedar in Lebanon.

They that are planted in the house of the Lord

Shall flourish in the courts of our God.

They shall still bring forth in old age,

They shall be full of sap and flourishing,
To show that Jehovah is just,

He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Ps. xcii.

Helon remained the whole day in the temple, witnessed the evening-sacrifice, and heard the sound of the trumpet which proclaimed that the sabbath was at an end. The old men retired soon after the morning-sacrifices leaving him to his own reflections, and rejoicing that one was found among the youth of Israel, so full of enthusiasm for the service of Jehovah. Helon, as he wandered about the courts of the temple, was revolving a design, which had long been forming in his bosom, and which had been rapidly matured by the feelings of the last few days.

CHAPTER VII.

THE CLOSE OF THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER.

ALTHOUGH the greater part of the people had already returned to their homes, to begin the harvest, and large companies had taken their departure every morning with the music of cymbals and psalms, all the priests and Levites still remained, and a great multitude of the people. Not fewer than 100,000 men were still to be seen assembled in the courts of the temple.

One day Helon was present at the evening sacrifice, and was witness of a novel scene. He was standing beside the thirteen chests, which were placed in the court of the Women. Each of these chests was inscribed with the. name of the gift which was to be deposited in it. Some were for the capitation tax, others, for the money which remained over and above of the destined sum when the victim had been purchased; others, for voluntary gifts for the benefit of the temple. A Jew of Cyrene came to bring the capitation tax of his countrymen. The law had enacted as follows: "The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, when thou takest the sum of the children of Israel, they shall give every man a ransom for his

soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them, that there may be no plague among them when thou numberest them: this shall they give, every one that is numbered a half-shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary: a half-shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Every one, from twenty years and upwards, shall give an offering to the Lord; the rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than a half-shekel, that it may be for a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls.”* The shekel is a coin which contains twenty gerahs,† and has at different times been of different values, but since the time of the high-priest Simon, has been equal to a Grecian stater. The coin, as struck by him, has a beautiful stamp: on the one side is seen, in the centre, the budding rod of Aaron, with the legend around it, "The holy Jerusalem:" on the other side is a pot of manna, and the words "Shekel of Israel." Whole and half shekels were coined. It was such a half-shekel that every Jew of twenty years and upwards was bound to give, as an acknowledgment of his belonging to the people of Jehovah. It might be considered as a capitation tax levied in the last month of the ecclesiastical year. On the first day of this month, Adar, the Sanhedrim sent messengers through the whole country, who demanded the half-shekel, and fifteen days were given for the payment. On the fifteenth day

of Adar, the receivers of the half-shekel took their seats beside the chests, in the court of the Women, and all who were twenty years and upwards brought their contribution. If any one neglected to do so, compulsory measures were resorted to, in order to obtain it. To the very poorest persons a further respite of a year was granted, and for this reason a chest for the past year was placed by that which received the contributions of the present. At this time a multitude of the poorer class were seen soliciting alms from the rich, to enable them to discharge their debt. This was the only kind of begging which the law allowed in Israel. Strangers, who came to Jerusalem chiefly at the festivals, were accustomed to take these opportunities of discharging the debt, especially at the Passover, which was some weeks later than the day of the month Adar, on which it became due.

The Cyrenian had brought the sum which was due from his Jewish brethren in Cyrene, and was about to deposit it in the chest. But it was necessary that it should be paid in shekels, and he had only foreign coin. As this was a case of frequent Occurrence, the receivers of the shekel were also money-changers, and had their tables beside the chests. For a certain premium they gave Jewish shekels for the Cyrenian coins. Helon witnessed the proceeding with no small dissatisfaction.

He had the true Mosaic dislike of commerce and trade, of which, in the whole law, no single instance