Symbolism Of The Mosaic Worship.

declaimcrs arc not very familiar , has observed that there is no Atheism if a presiding mind is in any fashion whatever recognized — -an assertion the force of which would range from extreme anthropomorphism to extreme pantheism . Berkeley is thc most eminent philosopher his Church has had , and he is here as wise as he is charitable . The tendency of paganism was never to deny God ; it was not , perhaps , even to identify God and the Universe ,

neither were the ethical attributes of Deity entirely disregarded . AVhat paganism bowed down to was life intense and immense , without any pedantic severance between the material and the spiritual . Of materialism in the ordinary sense the pagans had no conception . Now in Mosaism thc ethical attributes of Deity swallow ii ]) the rest . Jehovah is the inexorable and omnipotent avenger ; his wrath is kindled against the workers of iniquity ; if

he pardons , it is not to penitence alone , there must also be purification . Thc people arc in covenant with Jehovah through purity : and by thc slightest offences , hy offences involuntary and accidental , the purity can be lost , and must by sacrifice and self-denial lie regained . If , however , purity and purification had been inculcated with dogmatic curtness and legal aridity , few would have listened or obeyed .. But symbol intertwining with symbol from the tabernacle , the sublime centre of thc symbolic , compelled at ( he same time that it adorned obedience . If tlie foremost and

fervent aim ol Mosaism had been to proclaim and vindicate the unity and spirituality of God , it would have dispensed as completely with symbols as Mahometanism long afterwards . A naked dogma , with a naked scimctar behind as argument ; such was Mabometaiiism . But for good and for evil such simplicity of faith and such directness of propagandism were unexampled . Mosaism has often been treated , aud especially by its best friends , as if it

had been only a Mahometanism of an earlier ancl grander kind . But besides that Mahometanism was in its very essence a proselytising force , while Mosaism strove exclusively to bulwark its existence from the contagion of foreign and fatal customs and ideas , an honest glance convinces us that , though thc unity and spirituality of God were implied in an exalted estimate of God ' s ethical attributes , they never held the chief place in thc Mosaic

precepts and delineations . The guiding thought of Moses was as lofty as it was persistently pursued , ffe saw that it is what is godlike in the worshipper that renders the worship godlike . lie , therefore , began from below , where others had begun from above . The worshipper consecrating the worship communicated to the object of worship a transceudant elevation and an ineffable holiness . ' That morality , even the most heroic and unstained , signalfy differs from holiness , is a consoling truth to many a humble

believer . But what the humble believer seldom suspects is , that while morality is always the straightcst line between two points , holiness demands a vast array of symbolical instruments . A symbol must mark every stop in his path toward ideal perfection . Words are so often used carelessly , and indiscriminately , that it is difficult fo convince men how completely arc religion , piety , and holiness unlike . Reli gion is deeper than piety ancl holiness , and for he most

( part more comprehensive . Piety is the feeling of awe extending to all human relations . Holiness is the abhorrence of sin and pollution , with the perpetual yearning and the strenuous attempt to grow into thc image of thc Highest . Egypt of old and Europe in the middle ages were religious ; Rome iii its early centuries was pious . Till recently the great Protestant nations were moral . The Hebrews alone have been holy ; aud well , therefore , has Palestine been called the Hol

y Land . As the name indicates , holiness clamours for continual ' healing ; it is the attainment of strong , passionate , imaginative natures , that have a tragic and overwhelming consciousness of guilt . Por those the purgatorial Jiang , to be salutary , must be accompanied by outward atonement . Hut what will even the outward atonement avail unless , towering higher and hi gher , the dwelling of thc archangels seems ever far off to the pilgrim of God , yet near enough to tempt him on ?

¦ 'Moses had not to deal with a dull or docile race . Tbe race was gifted , had fiery passions , was prompt to anger , but prompter to tenderness ; above all , it was fiercely turbulent . In thc anguish of its remorse , however , Moses had a mighty engine , and to this mighty engine lie brought vigour as mighty . He compelled thc Hebrews to tremble at thc fury of Jehovah ' s anger before revealing to them the oracles of Sinai . Yet fear can seldom be more

than a momentary restraint . After fear came hope : the hope of that home for the children whieh had been the home of the fathers . To raise that home when conquered into the state , Moses offered laws marvellous for their wisdom , still more marvellous for their abounding pity . But the state to be gained by the toils and sufferings of the desert was to be sacred to God as its giver , its creator . Still this was not enough ; there was to be something much more than what has loosely been called t-heocvatical

ordinance and connection ; as indeed , when we have said that a state is thcocnitical , we have said absolutely nothing . God had been thc leader ofthe Hebrews , and , after having led them victoriously through every peril , he was to sojourn in their midst . Thc heaven was his abode , and above its remotest sphere was his sanctuary . Yet , if the sky was his throne , the tabernacle was to be his shrine , whereto the Israelites were to draw near with bowed

heads and contrite hearts . The tabernacle , however , would have lost its most pregnant meaning if it had not reminded each Israelite that he was also himself to be a tabernacle of the Lord—a tabernacle in which there was to lie a court for hallowing every day duties , a holy place for adoration and sacrifice , and a most holy place , for something infinitely diviner than cither sacrifice or adoration . " In the symbolism of the Mosaic worshiit is onlignorance

p y that can find thc details trifling or thc prescriptions minute . Swedenborgian silliness and Rabbinical subtlety may indispose us to symbolism altogether . But if wc recognize thc worth and beauty of symbolism , we shall in vain seek iu the Mosaic symbols for one superfluous enactment or one superstitious idea . If this seems a bold statement , wc ask the sceptic what thc solemn and majestic architecture of the middle ages would have been without

symbolical inspiration , and whr . t its remains would now be without symbolical interpretation ? Thc Cross introduced a new . symbolism , with which , however , it incorporated the old . If the temple assumed the form of a cross , there was still the same fidelity to sacred numbers , to certain sacred principles and features , as iu the temples of antiquity . It was from tiie cloisters that thc great brotherhoods of artists in the middle ages came

forth , and thc secrets ivhich they held so strictly were mainly symbolical traditions . Some of these , . in somewhat dilettante mode , Freemasonry treasures and transmits . Few have suspected , when gazing at a Masonic procession , how much , strangely transfigured , of the grey f ' orcworld was there ; few have known that thc homage to Solomon among Freemasons is a tribute to the symbolism embodied iu his temple , and thereby to a move ancient sj-mbolism , thc history of which can never be written . But , dilettante as Freemasonry may seem , or may really be , wc owe it

gratitude ii it is the sanctuary , or can be the herniencut , of a single symbol that ever deepened man ' s reverence for thc universe and for things divine . The gratitude will perhaps grow warmer when we reflect that thc symbolism of thc middle ages corresponded to a symbolism vaster , richer , nearer thc dawn ol civilization , than that of Greece and Rome . Thc symbolism ol the Papal Church liad always the lineaments of that Church ' s

Roman ancestry . Commanding as Rome itself when Rome was greatest was the Church ' s ceremonial ; but thc symbolism , i ! impressive and suggestive , was not opulent or sublime . Outside of the Church , however—at least , apart from it as an organized institution—thc fecund and profound Oriental symbolism survived . In mystical sects , in illuministic fraternities , in astrological hantasieswc discover its hut what prodiious

p , presence ; g labyrinths of the undiscovered are behind , into which , if wc enter , wc hear no voice and behold no form , yet feel the warm breath of the Holy Spirit . " Truly , the symbolism of the middle ages , as a grand Oriental fact , is as much unknown and unregarded as that of thc Mosaic worship , with which it has such intimate and living affinity . Symbolism is as eternal as it is necessary . It is not altogether

from moral causes , though perhaps chiefly from these , that iv particular system of symbolism decays . But what , after long travail of thc soul , assumes a religious shape finally becomes a simple artistic feat and phenomenon , whereupon " it loses its meaning , art having no vitality in itself , and being wholly worthless when divorced from religion . In the Mosaic worshi p symbolism degenerated rapidly , i ' rom the very prcdoininencc of " the "

ethical idea and purpose . The thought that every Hebrew-was to be a tabernacle of the Lord was too stupendous for human weakness . The chosen hind of the Holiest ancl of Holiness maddened into a scene of scarlet harlotries . And when Sorrow had rebuked the abomination and the iniquity , Pharisaism ruled where holiness had once flourished . But what Hebraic symbolism could not accomplish Hebraic prophctism achieved . - And let us be cheered by the faith that , if symbols change and die , the prophets of God are invincible . Well for the workfwhen symbols the most poetic and prophets the most earnest arc harmonies . "

Duo . I- ' . STHAXIIE ( well known as tin .- contractor I ' ,,,- the supply of refreshments at the Crystal Palace ) lias announced a benefit festival at that gigantic establishment , on the 2 Stli instant . AVe understand that lie has invited the children of bo _ li our schools to enjoy a day's recreation at his expense , and wc have little doubt that so liberal an offer will be accepted ,