PARCHMENTS

the exportation of which was prohibited for a time by one of the Ptolemies, gradually supplanted it in foreign countries, and came at length to be almost exclusively employed for legal and other works where permanency was desirable, but the comparative cheapness of papyrus, although accompanied by a less degree of durability, long maintained it in common use. See WRITING AND WRITING MATERIALS.

PARE HER NAILS. This expression occurs in Deuteronomy 21. 12, in reference to female captives taken in war: "Thou shalt bring her home to thine house, and she shall shave her head and pare her nails." The margin has "or suffer to grow," which is, as Roberts observes, “I doubt not the true meaning. This woman was a prisoner of war, and was about to become the wife of the man who had taken her captive. Having thus been taken from her native land, having had to leave her earliest and dearest connexions, and now to become the wife of a foreigner, and an enemy, she would naturally be overwhelmed with grief. To acquire a better view of her state, let any woman consider herself in similar circumstances. She accompanies her husband or father, to the battle; the enemy becomes victorious, and she is carried off by the hand of a ruthless stranger. Poignant, indeed, would be the sorrow of her mind. The poor captive was to 'shave her head' in token of her distress, which is a custom in the East to this day. A son on the death of his father, or a woman on the decease of her husband, has the head shaved in token of sorrow. To shave the head, is also a punishment inflicted on females for certain crimes. The fair captive, then, as a sign of her misery, was to shave her head, because her father or mother was among the slain, or in consequence of having become a prisoner of war. It showed her sorrow; and was a token of her submission. But this poor woman was to suffer her nails to grow, as an additional emblem of her distress. That it does not mean she was

to pare her nails, as the text has it, is established by the custom of the East, of allowing them to grow when in sorrow. The marginal reading, therefore, would have been much better for the text. When people are performing penance, or are in captivity, or disgrace, or prison, or are devotees, they suffer their nails to grow; and some may be seen, as were those of the monarch of Babylon in his sorrow, like birds' claws, literally, folding round the ends of the fingers, or shooting through the backs of their hands."

PARENTS, a name appropriated to immediate progenitors, as father and mother, whose duties towards their offspring are plainly set forth in the Scriptures. The duties of parents to children relate to their health, their maintenance, their education, and morals. As to their maintenance, it is the duty of parents to provide everything for them that is necessary until they are capable of providing for themselves. They, therefore, who live in habits of idleness, desert their families, or by their negligent conduct reduce them to a state of indigence and distress, are violating the law of nature and of Revelation. (1Tim. 5. 8.)

In respect to their education and morals great care should be taken. As it relates to the present life, habits of application, prudence, labour, justice, contentment, temperance, truth, benevolence, &c., should be formed. Their capacities, age, temper, strength, inclination should be consulted, and advice given suitable to these. As it relates to a future life, their minds should be informed as to the being of God, his perfections, glory, and the method of salvation by Jesus Christ. They should be

catechised; allured to a cheerful attendance on Divine worship; instructed in the Scriptures; kept from bad company; prayed with and for; and above all, a good example set them. (Prov. 22. 6; Eph. 6. 1,2.)

Under the Mosaic law, the cursing of parents, that is, not only the imprecation of evil on them, but probably also all rude and reproachful language towards them, was punished with death, (Exod. 21. 17; Levit. 20. 9;) as was likewise the striking of them. (Exod. 21. 15.) An example of the crime of cursing a parent, which is fully in point, is given by Our Lord in Matthew 15. 4-6, or Mark 7. 9-12; "where," says Michaëlis, "he upbraids the Pharisees with their giving, from deference to human traditions and doctrines, such an exposition of the Divine law, as converted an action which by the law of Moses would have been punished with death, into a vow, both obligatory and acceptable in the sight of God. It seems, that it was then not uncommon for an undutiful and degenerate son, who wanted to be rid of the burden of supporting his parents, and in his wrath to turn them adrift upon the wide world, to say to his father or mother, Korban, or Be that Korban (consecrated) which I should appropriate to thy support; that is, Everything wherewith I might ever aid or serve thee, and of course, everything which I ought to devote to thy relief, in the days of helpless old age, I here vow

unto God. A most abominable vow indeed, and yet some of the Pharisees pronounced on such vows this strange decision; that they were absolutely obligatory,

and that the son who uttered such words was bound to abstain from contributing in the smallest article to the use of his parents, because everything that should have been so appropriated had become consecrated to God, and could no longer be applied to their use, without sacrilege and a breach of his vow. But on this exposition, Christ not only remarked, that it abrogated the fifth commandment, but he likewise added as a counter doctrine, that Moses, their own legislator, had expressly declared, that the man who cursed father or mother

deserved to die." See CORBAN.

PARLOUR, y aleyath. (Judges 3. 20.) The words in the original, thus rendered, imply an upper chamber of coolness," no doubt such as are still found in the mansions and gardens of the East, to which the owner retires to enjoy a purer air and more extensive prospects than any other part of his dwelling commands, and where he usually takes his siesta during the heat of the day. It is kept as a strictly private apartment; no one entering it but such as are specially invited. See HOUSE.

PARMENAS, Hapuevas, is mentioned as one of the first deacons of the Church of Jerusalem. (Acts 6. 5.) From his name he would appear to have been one of the Hellenistic Jews, and he is claimed as a bishop and a saint by the Greek church, but nothing certain is known about him.

PARTHIANS, IIapoot. These are mentioned in connection with the Medes, among the devout men who were at Jerusalem when the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostle. (Acts 2.9.) The country from which they came, Parthia, was situated with Media on the west, Hyrcania on the north, Aria or Ariana on the cast, and the desert of Carmania or Kerman on the south, and corresponds to the modern provinces of Khorasan and Irak, on the south of the Caspian Sea.

The Parthians were celebrated for their mode of fighting by flight and shooting their arrows backwards. Their

The history of this most solemn of all the Jewish festivals is related at length in the twelfth chapter of the Book of Exodus, from which we select the following verses as explanatory of its celebration:

"In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one-and-twentieth day of the month at even." (v. 18.) "Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses; for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.” (v. 15.) "They shall eat the flesh [of the lamb] in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it." (v. 8.) "And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat in haste." (v. 11.) "Ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood [of the slain lamb] that is in the basin." (v. 22.)

“And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses." (T. 26,27.)

It was ordained that the month of the coming out of Egypt (Nisan) was to be the first month of the sacred or ecclesiastical year; and on the fourteenth day of this month, between the two evenings, that is, between the sun's decline and its setting, or rather, according to our reckoning, between three o'clock in the afternoon and six in the evening, at the equinox, they were to kill the paschal lamb, and to abstain from leavened bread. The day following, being the fifteenth, reckoned from six o'clock of the preceding evening, was the great feast of the passover, which continued seven days, but only the first and seventh days were peculiarly solemn. The slain lamb was to be without defect, a male, and of that year; if no lamb could be found, they might take a kid. They killed a lamb or kid in each family; and if the number of the family was not sufficient to eat the lamb, they might associate two families together. With the blood of the lamb they sprinkled the door-posts and lintel of every house, that the destroying angel, at the sight of the blood, might pass over them. They were to eat the lamb the same night, roasted, with unleavened bread and a salad of bitter herbs. It was forbidden to eat any part of it raw or boiled; nor were they to break a bone, but it was to be eaten entire. If anything remained to the day following, it was to be thrown into the fire. (Exod. 12. 46; Numb. 9. 12.) Those who ate it, were to be in the posture of travellers, having their loins girt, shoes on their feet, staves in their hands, and eating in haste; this last part of the ceremony was but little observed after the night when they came out of Egypt. During the whole eight days of the passover, no leavened bread was to be used; and the obligation of keeping the passover was so strict, that whoever should neglect it was condemned to death. (Numb. 9. 13.) But if any persons were prevented from arriving at Jerusalem in time for the feast, either by any uncleanness contracted by touching a dead body, or by the length of the journey, he was allowed to defer his celebration of the passover until the fourteenth day of the following month, in the evening. (Numb. 9. 10-12.) As differences or mistakes might very easily arise from their manner of determining the new moon, (see MONTH; MOON,) there must always have been danger of discrepancy as to the precise time of commencing the passover. Such a discordance might easily arise between the rival and hostile sects of the Pharisees and Sadducees; and

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such a difference, it has been conjectured, did exist at the time that Our Lord celebrated the passover with his disciples, one whole day before the Pharisees offered their paschal sacrifice. Sacrifices peculiar to this festival were to be offered every day during its continuance; but the first and last days were to be sanctified above all the rest, by abstaining from servile labour, and holding a sacred convocation. (Exod. 12. 16; Levit. 23. 7,8.)

On the tenth day of the month Abib, the master of a family separated a ram or a goat of a year old, (Exod. 12. 1-6,) which he slew on the fourteenth day, between the two evenings, before the altar. (Deut. 16. 2,5,6.) The priest sprinkled the blood upon the bottom of the altar; but in Egypt, when the event occurred which was the origin of the passover, the blood was sprinkled on the post of the door. (Exod. 12. 7.) The ram or the kid, which was properly called D pasach, waoxa, or protection, was roasted whole with two spits thrust through it, the one lengthwise, the other transversely, crossing the longitudinal one near the fore legs; so that the animal was in a manner crucified. Thus roasted, it was served up with a salad of bitter herbs, 08 mirarim. The ceremonies practised at the eating of the paschal supper were nearly the same as those observed by the Jews at the present day, and which are related in their books. These ceremonies were exemplified in part in the last supper of Our Saviour, where mention is made of blessing the bread and wine, which is likewise prescribed in their books. (Matt. 26. 26.) No sacrifices being permitted out of the land of Judea, the dispersion of the Jews has necessarily caused an alteration in this part of the commemoration; but as there was no occasion to make any change in any other part, there is at least strong reason to believe, from the narratives in the Gospels, that in the days when Our Lord partook of it, the mode was the same as that now in use among the Jews in England. This we shall therefore proceed to describe.

corn.

The word y hhamitz, has properly a wider signification than is generally attached to that of "leaven,” by which it is rendered in our authorized version. Hhamitz signifies the fermentation of corn in any shape, and applies to beer, and to all spirituous liquors distilled from While, therefore, there are four days in passover week on which business may be done, being as it were only half-holydays, a Jewish distiller or brewer must suspend his business during the whole time. About the time of harvest, the pious Jews, who keep a watchful eye over their less scrupulous brethren, go often into the fields to watch the first ripe wheat; and no expense is spared to get in a sufficient quantity as quickly as possible, wherewith to bake the unleavened bread the ensuing spring. This is carefully kept in a dry place, lest any moisture should fall upon it and cause fermentation. About three months before Easter, the Jews in different towns hire a mill, for which the Gentile proprietors generally make them pay a large sum of money. They take a whole week to clean it, so that the least mark of the old flour is not to be seen, and then have their own wheat ground. The flour is sold at the rate of fourpence per pound to certain bakers, who are to bake it when made into cakes, and as these cakes are expensive, (costing six-pence or seven-pence per pound,) the poor are supplied with them by the charity of the rich. It is considered that eight pounds' weight are quite sufficient for each grown person. Every Jew who has a seat in the synagogue, whatever the amount of his seat-rent may be, pays two shillings in the pound as a tax towards the passover cakes, and about six weeks before the passover a box is placed at the entrance of the synagogue, when every Jew who has it not in his power to procure pass

Some individuals of the Western churches agree in this opinion, excepting that they suppose unleavened bread to have been used on the evening of the 13th day of the month Abib, and that consequently the Saviour, in instituting the Eucharist on that evening, made use of bread of that kind.

The passover has been celebrated by the Jews without intermission since their return from the Babylonish captivity; and it is probable the mode has never been changed in any other way than by the addition or substitution of different prayers, suited to their 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 the Jews now do. The custom of dipping the bitter herbs appears to correspond 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 bear in mind 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 notice of them by St. Luke as sufficient evidence that they were used. In chapter 22. 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 for this purpose, and which is generally considered commemorative of the hidden manna. It is very probable that this might have been 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 has been seen that the last supper of Our Lord was not held on the great day of the passover, and hence a difference of opinion has arisen as to the real character of that repast. In the Western churches, the more general opinion is, that the Saviour, in his last supper, ate the passover supper; though some suppose that he anticipated the usual time by a day, that is, they suppose that he followed in this instance the practice of the Sadducees, who calculated the return of the new moon astronomically, which would bring this festival a day earlier than it would otherwise happen; this opinion Professor Jahn has shown to be inadmissible, adding, that all the

arrangements of a religious nature which had any reference to the Temple, were made in accordance with the opinions that prevailed among the Pharisees; and besides the discourse in Matthew 26. 1-19; Mark 14. 12-18; Luke 22. 7-14, is concerning the customary day of the passover. The Greek church, on the contrary,

With regard to the mystical signification of the passover, we know generally from St. Paul, (1 Cor. 5. 7,) who calls Jesus Christ our passover, that this Jewish rite had a typical reference to Him; but concerning the points of resemblance between the type and antitype, divines are not agreed. Godwin, in his Moses and Aaron, has enumerated thirteen points of coincidence; Dr. Lightfoot, seventeen; and Keach, nineteen. We may, however, certainly learn that the person of Christ was typified by the paschal lamb. The animal sacrificed at the passover was to be a lamb without blemish; (Exod. 12.5;) Christ is styled the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, (John 1. 29,36;) a lamb without blemish and without spot. (1Peter 1. 19.) The paschal lamb was to be one of the flock; Christ the Word, who was made flesh and dwelt among us, (John 1. 14,) was taken from the midst of the people, being in all things made like unto his brethren. (Heb. 2. 17.)

Some of the fruits of Christ's death also were typified by the sacrifice of the paschal lamb; such as protection and salvation by his blood, of which the sprinkling of the door-posts with the blood of the lamb, and the safety which the Israelites by that means enjoyed from the plague that spread through all the families of the Egyptians, was a designed emblem. In allusion to the type, the blood of Christ is called the blood of sprinkling. (1 Peter 1. 2; Heb. 12. 24.) Immediately upon the Israelites eating the first passover, they were delivered from their Egyptian slavery, and restored to full liberty; and such is the fruit of the death of Christ, in a spiritual and much nobler sense, to all that believe in Him; for He hath thereby He hath thereby "obtained eternal redemption for us," and "brought us into the glorious liberty of the children of God." (Rom. 8. 21; Heb. 9. 12.) The paschal lamb was ordered to be slain, and the blood was directed to be sprinkled upon the lintel and door-posts of each dwelling occupied by God's chosen people; that when the angel smote the Egyptians, he might pass over the houses of the Israelites, and leave them secure from danger; in a similar manner, by the blood of Christ alone, shed for many for the remission of sins, can the impending wrath of heaven be averted from sinful man. "Before the blood of Our Lord," says a modern divine, “ was sprinkled upon his church, we stood (as it were) without, exposed, like the Egyptians, to the vengeance of a justly incensed God; but now his precious blood-shedding, like the sprinkled blood of the paschal lamb, is our safety and defence, so that the anger of Jehovah may pass over us. The death of the paschal lamb was for the deliverance of the Levitical church; yet, if any negligent or unbelieving availed not himself of the proffered refuge, he perished undistinguished with the Egyptians; thus, likewise, the death of the Lamb of God was for the deliverance of the Christian church; but if any one claims to be a Christian in name, while yet he renounces the doctrine of pardon and acceptance through the sprinkled blood of the Messiah, he thus places himself without the doors of the church, and will be strictly judged according to his works, by a law which pronounces that man accursed who observes not with undeviating punctuality all the commandments which it has enjoined. (Gal. 3. 10.) From the creation to the day of judgment, there