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Elijah no one partakes, but it is looked upon as sanctified. The ceremony concludes by singing the hymn of, ‘Lord, build thy temple speedily;' at the end of which, the head of the family says: This year we are here; may we be next year in Jerusalem.'

"I would make a few remarks on this feast, as viewed in connexion with the first institution of our Lord's Supper. The passover has been celebrated by the Jews, without intermission, since the Babylonish captivity; and as we are not a people given to adopt modern innovations of any sort, it is probable the mode has never been changed, in any other way than by the addition, or substitution, of different prayers, suited to the state of dispersion, which are to be met with in all the various services, as well as allusions to the sayings of certain eminent men, the date of which is of course not difficult to ascertain. It is, therefore, most probable, that our Lord and his disciples, in all the ceremonial part, commemorated it in the same manner as we now do. The custom of dipping the bitter herbs, seems to accord with Christ's words :-" -'He that dippeth with me in the dish,' 'He to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it.' In reading the narratives of the four Evangelists, we must remember, they were written by Jews, and that those for whom they were first written, were either Jews, or the disciples of Jews; none of them, therefore, enter into any detailed account of the services of that evening, but simply allude to them as matters well known. We are not, therefore, to be surprised that the two cups are not mentioned in all the narratives; but to regard the narrative of them by St. Luke as sufficient evidence that they were used. In chap. xxii. 17, it is said:-' He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves;' and in verse 20, Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood....' The breaking of the bread being mentioned in connexion with this cup, gives every reason to suppose that it was the hidden cake which our Lord used

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for this purpose, and which I have already said is generally considered commemorative of the hidden manna. It is very probable that this was introduced during the time of the second Temple; the pot with the manna not being there. Our Lord said to them at a former period: -Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead; . . . . he that eateth of me shall never die. The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.'

"It seems very appropriate, to take that which was used as an emblem of the hidden manna to represent that broken body, given for the life and nourishment of the world, as the manna was given to the children of Israel." See A Brief Sketch of the Present State and Future Expectations of the Jews, by RIDLEY H. HERSCHELL, pp. 54–65.

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CHAPTER X.

THE HAREM.

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CONDITION OF WOMEN IN THE EAST-THE HAREM-EGYPTIAN HAREMS OCCUPATIONS OF WOMEN-VISITING LABORIOUS DUTIES OF THE LOWER ORDERS-SECLUSION OF WOMEN-NOT PERMITTED TO EAT WITH MEN-LADY F. EGERTON'S VISIT TO AN EASTERN HAREM.

CONDITION OF WOMEN IN THE EAST.-THE HAREM.

GENESIS, xvi. 1, 3, 4.

"Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai...took Hagar...and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And...her mistress was despised in her eyes."

xviii. 6-9.

"And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah,

and said,... Make cakes upon the hearth....And he took butter and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them....And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent."

xxix. 30.

"And (Jacob) loved...Rachel more than Leah."

Xxx. 4, 9.

"And (Rachel) gave (Jacob) Bilhah her handmaid to wife. (And) Leah...took Zilpah her maid, and gave

her to Jacob to wife."

ESTHER, i. 9.

"Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to King Ahasuerus.” ESTHER ii. 3, 4, 8, 9.

"Let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women ;...and let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti....So... Esther was brought...unto the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him; and he speedily gave her...seven maidens ...out of the king's house; and he preferred her and her maids unto the best place of the house of the women.”

iv. 5.

"Then called (Queen) Esther for Hatach, one of the king's chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her."

The position of women in Eastern countries is so totally unlike that which they hold in our own happy land, that we must refer expressly to it, in order to understand the picture of domestic life presented to us in all the writings of travellers in the East.

It has been observed, that "Christianity alone gives woman her proper share" both in religious and civil enjoyments. Where Christian principles have not obtained, there the condition of women is often most deplorable. In many parts of the East women are regarded as slaves and menials, and even when treated with kindness and affection their state is still far below that of their sisters in Christian lands. Nor does their degradation consist in the poor amongst them being required to perform many labours which usually among ourselves devolve on men; or in the rich being engaged in some employments which in families of rank here are fulfilled by domestics. These are light evils, if evils they are at all. The wives of our English labourers cheerfully share with them many a heavy toil; and as to the wealthy and great, though we might deem it strange to see a queen in these days preparing her husband's dinner, as queens did of old, yet there would be in this no real hardship, and certainly no disgrace. Perhaps if the ladies of England would study more closely the picture of a good mistress given by the wise mother of King Lemuel,* they would learn to be more profitably employed than they too often are at present.

It is not, then, in their laborious occupations that Eastern women are to be pitied, but in their being called on to perform them as slaves. The wife is not the friend and companion, but the slave of her husband. The meal which her own hands have prepared for him, she must not partake of with him.

The English peasant may enliven her daily toil with the cheerful hymn she learnt perhaps as a child at school as she sits and works she may repeat many a comforting passage of Holy Scripture, which from time to time she has committed to memory; and on the blessed Sabbath-day she may accompany her husband and children to the house of prayer, there to forget all the troubles of earth, in looking forward to eternal joys.

* Prov. xxxi. 10, &c.

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