expressed by anointing him: "God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows;" Psalm xlv. 7. It is observed, that this spiritual unction of Christ was not performed at once, but at three different times, each effusion being more plentiful than the former. The first was at his birth, and in his minority; and it appeared in the extraordinary wisdom which he discovered at twelve years old, insomuch, that when at that early age he taught in the temple among the scribes and doctors, "all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers;" Luke ii. 47. The second was at his baptism, when the Spirit of God descended like a dove, and lighted upon him; Matt. iii. 16. The third, and most complete, was upon his ascension, when he "received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, which he shed forth upon his disciples;" Acts ii. 33. The prophecy of the Psalmist, contained in the forty-fifth Psalm, to which I referred above, relates, I apprehend, not so much to the two former unctions, which were designed to qualify him for his ministry on earth, as to that which he received after his ascension, in reward of his humiliation and obedience. The second part of the ceremony of consecration was enrobing the priests with the sacerdotal vestments. These were eight, four common to the high-priest and inferior priests, and four peculiar to the high-priest. The former were the drawers or breeches, the coat, the girdle, and the bonnet or turban; Exod. xxviii. 40-42. The latter, the robe, the ephod, the breast-plate, and the holy crown. All these garments, especially those peculiar to the high-priest, were exceeding rich and sumptuous; the colours gay, and disposed in a beautiful contrast; they were ornamented with rich embroidery, and set off with gold and jewels; and, no doubt, they were very graceful in their shape and form, according to the taste of those times. Little, indeed, can be advanced with certainty concerning the fashion of several of these vestments, Moses having left us hardly any thing more than their names. Josephus, indeed, hath given a particular description of them all,* and, doubtless, a very faithful one, according to their fashion in his time. But who can say, how far it might have altered during many ages, and in such various changes as the * Antiq. lib. iii. cap. vii. tom. i. p. 138, edit. Haverc. Hebrew commonwealth had undergone, from the time of Moses? The account given by the rabbies is very different from his; and St. Jerome's, as to some of these garments, different from both. The moderns, who have set before us lively descriptions, in writing, and in pictures, vary so much, that some of them seem to have furnished the world with new models for masquerade habits, rather than to have delineated the real fashion of the pontifical vestments.* This caution premised, we shall endeavour to give you the best account we can of these garments, in the order in which they were put on, The first was the - michnese-badh, which we render "linen breeches;" Exod. xxviii. 42. And according to Josephus, it much resembled the modern garment, which we call by that name; for he says it was fastened round the middle, εμβαινοντων εις αυτο των ποδων, the feet or legs being put into it. Its use was "to cover their nakedness," as it is expressed in the book of Exodus; that is, for the sake of decency, when they stood aloft on the altar, and the people were beneath them, or even when they were on the ground, stooping to perform any part of the sacred service. Moses has left us no description of these drawers, only that they were made of linen, and that they were to" reach from the loins even to the thighs;" that is, according to the rabbies, to the bottom of the thighs, or to the knees. They also inform us, that the waistband was a little above the navel, and near the heart; and that they were tied about the waist with a string, run through the waistband, in the manner of a purse. garment was common to the high-priests and to the inferior priests.‡ This That no such garment was wore in Noah's time, seems evident, from the story of his being uncovered in his tent, Gen. ix. 21; nor by the Jews in the time of Moses, except by the priests, and that perhaps only when they were officiating at the altar, as may be reasonably conjectured from the law in Among others, compare Braunius de Vestitu Sacerd. p. 646, 647. 655, * edit. 1701; or Witsii Miscell. tom. i. lib. ii. dissert. ii. sect. xlviii., with Calmet's Dictionary, under the word priest. + Antiq. ubi supra, sect. i. p. 139. ↑ Maimon. de Apparatu Templi, cap. viii. sect. xviii. p. 146; Crenii Fasciculi Sexti. L Deuteronomy against the immodest woman, Deut. xxv. 11; for if it had been commonly wore, she could not easily have committed the crime for which she was condemned to lose her hand. Probably, in David's time, it was worn only by the priests, which may be the reason that when Hanun, king of the Ammonites, " shaved off half the beards of David's servants," or ambassadors," and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their posteriors," and dismissed them in this disgraceful and indecent condition, they were greatly ashamed;" 2 Sam. x. 4, 5. That this garment was not used among the Romans, in latter times, even by their priests, appears from Martial's ludicrous description of one who was sacrificing: 66 Ipse super virides aras luctantia pronus Dum resecat cultro colla, premitque manu, Suetonius's account of the manner of Julius Cæsar's death, makes it more than probable that he wore no such garment. "Utque animadvertit undique se strictis pugionibus peti, toga caput obvolvit simul sinistra manu sinum ad ima crura deduxit, quo honestius caderet; etiam inferiore corporis parte velata." Upon the whole, it may be reasonably concluded, that the use of this decent garment had its origin from the divine institution of the Jewish priesthood. 66 The second garment, which was put on after the breeches, was the nn chethoneth, or coat, as it is called in our translation; Exod. xxviii. 40. It was made of linen; Exod. xxxix. 27. We have no description of the fashion of it in Scripture, except in the visionary appearance of Christ to St. John, in the form and habit of a priest, Rev. i. 13; and he is said to be ενδεδυμενος ποδήρη, “ clothed with a garment down to the feet," which perfectly agrees with the description the Jewish writers give of the chethoneth; who say, that it reached down to the feet; and that it likewise had sleeves which came down to the wrist, and was tied about the neck, in the same manner as the breeches about the waist; so that it was not much unlike a long shirt. It was common to the high-priest * Lib. iii. epigram. 24. In Vita Jul. Cæs. cap. lxxxii. Maimon. de Apparatu Templi, cap. viii. sect. xvii. apud Crenii Fascicul. Sextum, p. 146. "De longitudine tunicarum, erant illæ talares, qua and the inferior priests; except that, perhaps, the tunic of the high-priest was rather made of finer linen, or wove in a more curious manner; for it is called pawn nina chethoneth tashbets, which we render the "broidered coat;" Exod. xxviii. 4. Ainsworth translates it, "a coat of circled work;" and observes, that it differed from broidered work, because that was of various colours, whereas this coat was all white, but wove in circles, or round hollow places, like eyes. The same word, he remarks, is used afterwards, ver. 11, for ouches, or hollow sockets, in which jewels were set. Dr. Lightfoot conceives this tunic to be a sort of diaper, wove in some figure, as circles, or checkers.* The high-priest, when he went into the holy of holies on the day of expiation, was clothed only in the vestes alba, as they are commonly called, or the garments of the common priests, Lev. xvi. 4; yet the tunic which he then wore is supposed to be somewhat different from, and perhaps meaner than theirs; that it might be more suitable to the peculiar service and deep humiliation of that day. This is thought to be intimated, in the coats made in common for Aaron and his sons being called ww ni chethoneth shèsh, Exod. xxxix. 27; whereas the tunic which the high-priest wore on the solemn feast day, is called - chethonethbadh; Lev. xvi. 4. The shesh is imagined to be a fine sort of Egyptian linen, such as was worn by their princes; for with it Pharaoh clothed Joseph; Gen. xli. 42. Some take it to be a fine cotton; whereas the word 2 badh, is supposed to import a common and meaner sort.† Braunius is of opinion, that there was no difference between the shesh and the badh, as to the fineness of the stuff, the michnese badh, or linen breeches, being spoken of as made of un ww shesh moshzor, "fine twined linen," as our translators render it. And the only difference between them, which he assigns, is, that the badh (being derived from 1 badhadh, solus) was made of a single thread, and the shèsh (which word rum manicæ pertinebant ad volam manus, et pro latitudine manus patebant." See other testimonies apud Braunium de Vestitu Sacerd. lib. ii. cap. ii. sect. vii. p. 461, edit. 1680, sect. cccxli. p. 372, edit. 1701. * Temple Service, chap. iii. + Vid. Cunæum de Repub. Hebr. lib. ii. cap. i.; et Leusden. Philol. Hebr. mixt. dissert. xxvii. p. 179, 180. signifies six) was composed of several, perhaps six, threads twisted together. He supports this sentiment by the testimony of Maimonides, and various other Jewish doctors.* The third garment was the DN abnèt, or girdle; Exod. xxviii. 40. This was likewise made of the ww shèsh, or fine twined linen, and curiously embroidered with a variety of colours; Exod. xxxix. 29. Moses has not acquainted us either with the length or breadth of this girdle. But Josephus and the rabbies have given us the measure of it, though their accounts are very different. It went, according to Josephus, twice about the waist. But Maimonides makes it to be thirty-two ells long. If this account be true, the use of it seems to have been, not only to bind the tunic close and tight, but to serve for a warm upper garment, by swathing the body from the arms to the waist; and also to strengthen the back for the laborious work of killing, dressing, and burning the sacrifices. However, Josephus's account seems the more probable; partly, because so warm a dress would, in that warm climate, have been highly inconvenient, especially when they were engaged in the most laborious part of their employment, or were tending the fire on the altar; and partly, because in the visionary appearance of Christ in the priest's habit, referred to before, he is said to be "girt about the paps with a golden girdle:" an expression which renders it unlikely that the greater part of his body was swathed with it; rather intimating, that it was tied once or twice about the breast. Josephus informs us,§ that it was tied in a knot before, the ends of it hanging down for ornament to the feet; but that when the priest was about any work, which obliged him to stoop, and the ends of the girdle would be in his way, he threw them over his left shoulder. Maimonides makes the breadth of the girdle to be three fingers,|| Josephus four; * Vid. Braun. de Vestitu Sacerd. Hebr. lib. i. cap. ii. sect. iii. p. 23-25, edit. Amstel. 1680; alias, sect. xvii.—xix. p. 17—19, edit. 1701; cap. vi. sect. viii. p. 131-134, edit. 1680; sect. xcii. xciii. p. 101-103, edit. 1701; cap. vii. sect. i.-iv. p. 137-141, edit. 1680; sect. xcv.-xcviii. p. 105-109, edit. 1701. Antiq. lib. iii. cap. vii. sect. ii. tom. i. p. 140, edit. Haverc. De Apparatu Templi, cap. viii. sect. xix. apud Crenii Fascicul. Sextum, p. 146, 147. Maimon. ubi supra. § Antiq. ubi supra. |