AGA STATE AND ORDINANCES OF THE CHURCH [EXERC. XIX.
for that opinion, doth indeed overthrow it; for it is abundantly evi- dent that God in his laws doth directly, on all occasions, command the contrary to whatever was in practice of this sort among the nations. So that Maimonides well observes, that the reason of many of their institutions cannot be understood without a due considera- tion of the superstition of the neighbouring nations.
Those four sections must be these that follow. The first is Deut. vi. 4—9, “Hear, O Israel: The LorD our God is one LorD: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart :” and so onwards, as before. The second is Exod. xiii. 1-10, “ And the Lorp spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto me all the first-born, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it ismine. And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the © Lorp brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten. This day came ye.out in the month Abib. And it shall be when the LorD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebu- sites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LorD. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lorp did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lorp’s law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LorpD brought thee out of Egypt. Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year.” The third is from the 11th verse of that chapter unto the end of the 16th: “And it shall be when the LorD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as he sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, that thou shalt set apart unto the LorD all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the Lorp’s. And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the first-born of man among thy chil- dren shalt thou redeem. And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LorD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: and it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LorD slew all the first-born in the land of Egypt,
SECT. 21.] BEFORE THE GIVING OF THE LAW. 465
both the first-born of man, and the first-born of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LorD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the first-born of my children I redeem. And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the Lorp brought us forth out of Egypt.” The last is Deut. xi. 13-21: “And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments, which I command you this day, to love the Lorp your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and then the Lorp’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the hea- ven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lorp giveth you. Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lorp sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.” 21. Because in all these places there is mention made of these “frontlets” or “memorials,” therefore do they take them out for this use. And these are to be written on parchment, made of the skin of a clean beast, on the side next the flesh, prepared with a pronuncia- tion of a form of words, both in the killing of the beast, and in the delivery of the skin unto the dresser and to the writer. When they _ are written, they are wrapped up in small rolls, and so worn upon their foreheads and left arms, being so rolled and made up that none of the writing might be seen. And great art is required in the making of these tephilin, which few amongst them attain unto. Hence Fagius tells us a story of a master amongst them in his days, who sold many thousands of these phylacteries unto his countrymen, which had nothing in them but cards; which served their turns well enough. ‘Their masters, also, are curious in describing what part of the head they must be applied unto,—namely, the fore part from ear to ear; and the hand must be the left hand, whereby yet they will have the arm above the elbow to be understood; and when they ' must be worn, namely, by day, not by night, on the week days, not on the Sabbath, and the like worthy speculations, The benefit also VOL, XVIII. 30