MANDRAKES. Certain plants called '77 dudaim, are spoken of in Genesis 30. 14-16, and in Canticles 7. 13, as being gathered at the time of the wheat harvest, and as yielding a pleasant smell. The ancient translators, like our own, have generally considered mandrakes to be intended, and this seems by far the most likely; but some modern commentators render the word "flowers," or "fine flowers," while others endeavour to fix what flowers, but differ among themselves, some naming lilies, violets, or jessamines; Calmet rejects flowers, and understands the citron to be spoken of because it has a pleasant smell, (Cantic. 7. 13;) while others of this class name figs, mushrooms, the fruit of the plantain or banana, or melons.

Hasselquist, the pupil and intimate friend of Linnæus, supports the view of mandrakes being here intended: speaking of Nazareth in Galilee, he says, "What I found most remarkable at this village was the great number of mandrakes which grew in a vale below it. I had not the pleasure to see this plant in blossom, the fruit now (May 5th, old style,) hanging ripe on the stem, which lay withered on the ground. From the season in which this mandrake blossoms and ripens fruit, one might form a conjecture that it was Rachel's dudaim. These were brought her in the wheat harvest, which in Galilee is in the month of May, about this time, and the mandrake was now in fruit."

The Mandrake.

The mandrake (Alropa Mandragora of Linnæus,) is a plant with a long taper root in the form of a parsnep; this root extends three or four feet in the ground, and is sometimes single, but often divided into two or three branches, probably according to its age. Immediately above the crown of the root rises a circle of leaves, as in the lettuce, which they much resemble, except in the colour being of a darker green. This tuft of leaves is at first erect, but when they attain their full growth, they spread open, and lie upon the ground. They are more than a foot in length, and in the middle are four inches broad, growing narrow towards both ends. Among these come out the blossoms, which are of a purple colour in Palestine; the fruit attains the size, and is of the shape of a small apple, and, Mariti says, of a most agrecable odour. "Our guide thought us fools for suspecting it to be unwholesome. He ate of it freely himself, and it is generally valued by the natives as exhilarating their spirits." Notwithstanding some variation from the preceding statements, it would appear to be the fruit of this mandrake, or of some very similar plant, which Burckhardt describes as a strange thing. Travelling during the month of May in the neighbourhood of Jebel Heish, he observes, "The Arab who

accompanied me presented me with a fruit which grows wild in these parts, but which is unknown in the northern parts of Syria, and even at Damascus. It is of the size of a small egg, of the colour of the tomato or love-apple, of a sweet agreeable taste, and full of juice. It grows upon a shrub about six inches high, which I did not see, but was told that its roots were three or four feet in length, and presented the figure of a man in all its parts. The Arabs call the fruit jerabouh."

From the supposed resemblance of the root of the mandrake to the human figure, many superstitions were formerly connected with it: it was looked upon with dread, and the pulling of it up was said to be attended with great danger; the person who gathered it was to stand to the windward, and after drawing three circles round it with a naked sword, was to dig it up with his face looking to the west. It was also popularly believed that when plucked up by the roots, violent shrieks were heard; and it was then looked on as a kind of talisman, securing luck to the owner. The victories of Joan of Arc, the maid of Orleans, over the English, were by them attributed to the possession of a mandrake root. Many tricks were resorted to to render it something like the figure of a man. Mountebank doctors used to carry about fictitious images, shaped from the roots of briony and other plants cut into form, or forced to grow through moulds of earthenware, and offered them to notice as mandrake roots. They were fabled to grow under the gallows, and it was seriously inculcated that he who would take up a mandrake plant ought, in common prudence, to tie a dog to it for that purpose, to avoid the fearful doom which would assuredly befal him if the deed were done by his own hand. In such a case the dog dies on the spot; when its struggles have drawn out the root then the owner may take it with impunity. These strange ideas are not European, nor of modern date, as similar notions are entertained by the Orientals of the mandrake, and it is probable that this plant is intended by Josephus in describing the root baaras, of which he relates many wonderful things; among others, the mode of taking it by the help of a dog. Its use, he says, was for the expulsion of evil spirits, who could not endure its smell. To this baaras he also ascribes a luminous property, the colour of flame, and flashes like lightning at night, and this statement has received confirmation from a modern traveller. Eugene Roger has a chapter, "De la prodigieuse plante de Baras," in which he speaks of a plant noticed by him about a league from the Cedars of Lebanon, on the road to Damascus. He says they began to be noticed in the month of May, when the snows have disappeared. Himself travelling with three Maronites saw five or six of these plants, which at night shone with a light like that of a candle, but had no luminous appearance by day. Determined to make an experiment, he and his friends took three leaves from three different plants, and wrapped them up in their pocket handkerchiefs; but from the time they were separated from the parent plant they lost their luminous properties. His three friends then enclosed three of the plants with the fillets of their turbans, intending to root them up with proper care in the morn ing; but to their great astonishment, the plants and even the leaves in the handkerchiefs had, by that time, disappeared. The Maronites referred the whole affair to demons and magic, but Roger inclines to the opinion that the plant, in a certain stage of its growth, becomes replete with a bituminous humour. Calmet thinks that the luminous appearance of the plant may be accounted for by supposing that glow-worms find something attrac tive in the plant. The Arabs call it Serag-al- Ashrob, or the devil's candle. How far these particulars re

MANDRAKES

specting the baaras may have reference to the mandrake we do not undertake to determine; but it seems probable that the baaras of Josephus is the plant mentioned by Roger under the same name, and that it is a species of the mandrake.

MANEH, Л was a weight, which, according to 1Kings 10. 16, compared with 2Chronicles 9. 16, amounted to a hundred shekels. Another account is given in Ezekiel 45. 12: "Twenty shekels, five-andtwenty shekels, fifteen shekels shall be your maneh." According as the words "and" or "or" may be conjectured between the single propositions, a maneh would consist either of sixty, or of three different weights of twenty, twenty-five, and fifteen shekels.

The Chaldee paraphrase thus explains the matter:"The third part of a maneh contained twenty shekels, the silver maneh twenty-five shekels, the fourth part of a maneh contained fifteen shekels, and the whole maneh sixty shekels." Professor Jahn says, "During the captivity of the Jews, and after their return, they made use of the weights and measures of other nations. Ezekiel accordingly mentions foreign manehs of fifteen, of twenty, and of five-and-twenty shekels." Cocceius and Michaëlis think that a triple maneh is referred to; a great maneh of twenty-five shekels, a middle maneh of twenty, and a small one of fifteen. There are other explanations offered, but it is difficult to determine which is least open to objection.

MANGER, parvη. (Luke 2. 7,12,16.) This word, rendered "manger" in our version, has given rise to considerable discussion. It is generally stated that the Orientals do not feed their cattle in mangers, and the word is therefore supposed rather to refer to a stall for cattle than a feeding-place; and it seems from the accounts of travellers that the stables in Eastern countries form the customary lodging of men as well as animals.

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In the article CARAVANSERAI we have given some particulars of what St. Luke refers to by the term катαAvμa, or “inn.” A modern writer observes, Many caravanserais are without stables; the cattle being accommodated in the open area. But the most complete establishments have very excellent stables, in covered avenues, which extend behind the ranges of the apartments, that is, between the back walls of these ranges of building, and the external wall of the khan; and the entrance to it is by a covered passage at one of the corners of the quadrangle. The stable is on a level with the court, and consequently below the level of the buildings, by the height of the platform on which they stand. Nevertheless this platform is allowed to project behind into the stable, so as to form a bench to which the horses' heads are turned, and on which they can, if they like, rest the nose-bags of hair-cloth, from which they eat, to enable them to reach the bottom, when its contents get low. It also often happens that not only this bench exists in the stable, but also recesses corresponding to those in front of the apartments, and formed by the side walls, which divide the rooms, being allowed to project behind into the stable, just as the projection of the same walls into the great area forms the recesses in front. These recesses in the stable, or the bench, if there are none, furnish accommodation to the servants or others who have charge of the beasts; and when persons find on their arrival that the apartments usually appropriated to travellers are already occupied, they are glad to find accommodation in the stable, particularly when the nights are cold, or the season inclement."

Tavernier, speaking of Aleppo, states that, "in the

caravanserais on each side of the hall for persons of the best quality there are lodgings for every man by himself. These lodgings are raised all along the court, two or three steps high, just behind which are the stables, where many times it is as good lying as in the chambers. Right against the head of every horse there is a niche with a window into the lodging chamber, out of which every man may see that his horse is looked after. These niches are usually so large that three men may lie in them, and here the servants dress their victuals.” If we understand the word to signify "a manger," with Campbell and others, then we are to consider that the Orientals have no mangers but feed their cattle from hair bags; a fact which led Bishop Pearce to entertain the notion that the infant Jesus was cradled in such a bag. Though the Greeks and Romans fed their horses differently from the Orientals, it cannot be shown that even they had any such mangers as ours; they employed either nose-bags or vessels of stone or metal. The word "manger" may therefore more properly be considered as signifying an eating place, the thing to eat from, that is, the place to which the horses' heads were turned when they ate, or on which the thing from which they ate rested while they did eat. See Bethlehem,

MANICHEANS or MANICHEES, the name of a sect of heretics founded in the latter part of the third century by Mani, Manes, or Manichæus. Being a Persian or Chaldæan by birth and educated among the Magi, he attempted to combine their doctrine with the Christian system, or rather, attempted the explication of the one by the other. Dr. Lardner, so far from considering Mani and his followers as enthusiasts, as some have done, thinks they erred on the other side, and were rather a sect of reasoners and philosophers than visionaries and enthusiasts. St. Augustine was for some time among this sect; but it was not pretensions to inspiration, but specious and alluring promises of rational discoveries, by which Augustine was deluded, as he particularly states in his letter to his friend Honoratus. So Beausobre remarks, "These heretics were philosophers, who having formed certain systems, accommodated revelation to them, which was the servant of their reason, not the mistress."

Mani, according to Dr. Lardner, believed in an eternal self-existent Being, completely happy and perfect in goodness, whom alone he called God, in a strict and proper sense; but he believed also in an evil principle, or being, which he called Hyle, or the devil, whom he considered as the god of this world, blinding the eyes of them that believe not. (2Cor. 4. 4.) God, the supreme good, they considered as the author of the Universe; and according to St. Augustine, they believed also in a consubstantial Trinity, though they strangely supposed the Father to dwell in light inaccessible, the Son to have his residence in the solar orb, and the Holy Spirit to be diffused throughout the atmosphere, on which acconnt they paid a superstitious and perhaps an idolatrous reverence to the sun and moon. Their belief in the evil principle was no doubt adopted to solve the mysterious question of the origin of evil, which, says Dr. Lardner was the ruin of these men, and of many others. As to the Hyle, though they dared not to consider him as the creature of God, neither did they believe in his eternity; for they contended from the Greek text of John 8. 44, that he had a father. But they admitted the eternity of matter, which they called darkness; and supposed Hyle to be the result of some wonderful commotion in the kingdom of darkness, which idea seems to be borrowed from the Mosaic chaos. In this commotion darkness became mingled with light,

and thus they accounted for good and evil being so mixed together in the world. Having thus brought Hyle, or Satan, into being, they next found an empire and employment for him. Everything, therefore, which they conceived unworthy the fountain of goodness, they attributed to the evil being, particularly the material world, the Mosaic dispensation, and the Scriptures on which it was founded. This accounts for their rejecting the Old Testament; they received, however, generally the books of the New Testament, though they objected to particular passages as corrupted, which they could not reconcile to their system.

On the seventh chapter of Romans, Mani founded the doctrine of two souls in man; one the source and cause of vicious passions, deriving its origin from matter; the other, the cause of the ideas of justice and right, and of inclinations to follow those ideas, deriving its origin from God. Considering all sensual enjoyments to be in some degree criminal, the Manichees were enemies to marriage, though at the same time, knowing that all men cannot receive this saying, they allowed it to the second class of their disciples, called auditors; but by no means to the perfect or confirmed believers. Another absurd consequence of believing the moral evil of matter was, that they denied the real existence of Christ's human nature, and supposed him to suffer and die in appearance only. According to them, he took the form merely of man; a notion that was afterwards adopted by Mohammed, and which necessarily excludes all faith in the atonement. Construing too literally, that flesh and blood could not inherit the kingdom of God, they denied the doctrine of the resurrection: Christ came, they said, to save the souls of men, and not their bodies. No part of matter, in their estimation, could be worthy of salvation. In many leading principles they thus evidently agreed with the Gnostics, of whom they may be considered a branch. See GNOSTICS; MAGI.

The tenets of the Manichees spread widely in the East, and many sects branched out from them, one of which, the Paulicians, being transported as heretics and rebels from Asia to the borders of the Danube by the emperor Constantine Copronymus, continued to exist in that quarter for several centuries, and introduced their doctrines into Italy and the South of France; indeed the Waldenses and Albigenses are by popish writers stigmatised as Manichæans, but as regards them, this is a mere calumny, though such principles certainly prevailed in their time and in their neighbourhood.

MANNA, man; Sept. μavva. The Israelites journeying in the wilderness were supported by a constant provision of manna, a substance whose real nature (a miraculous supply from heaven,) seems to have been altogether forgotten by the many learned commentators and travellers who have expended their useless, if not pernicious labour, in attempting to find its parallel among the exudations or insect secretions common to many trees in warm climates at the present day. According to Exodus 16.15, the name proceeds from the particle of interrogation man, signifying What? and so the Septuagint understands it. The verse might more properly be rendered thus, as is done by Dr. Boothroyd: And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, What is it? for they knew not what it was," and therefore could not give it a name. Moses immediately answers the question, and says, "This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat." From Exodus 16. 31, we learn that this substance was afterwards called man, probably in commemoration of the question they had asked on its first appearance. It was

certainly nothing that was common to the wilderness, for it is evident that the Israelites never saw it before. Moses says, (Deut. 8. 3,16,) "He fed thee with manna which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know,” a fact supported by a pot of it being laid up by the ark after the miraculous supply in the wilderness had ceased. The Psalmist also says, "He had rained down manna upon them; and had given them of the corn of heaven." (Psalm 78. 24.)

A modern writer well observes, "The notion that any species of vegetable gum is the manna of the Scriptures is so totally irreconcileable with the Mosaic account, that, notwithstanding the learned names which may be cited in support of the conjecture, it cannot be safely admitted as any explanation of the miracle. It is expressly said that the manna was rained from heaven; that when the dew was exhaled, it appeared lying on the surface of the ground, a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost, 'like coriander seed, and its colour like a pearl;' that it fell but six days in the week, and that a double quantity fell on the sixth day; that what was gathered on the first five days became offensive and bred worms if kept above one day, while that which was gathered on the sixth day kept sweet for two days; that the people had never seen it before, which could not possibly be the case with either wild honey or gum arabic; that it was a substance which admitted of being ground in a hand-mill or pounded in a mortar, of being made into cakes and baked, and that it tasted like wafers made with honey; lastly, that it continued falling for the forty years that the Israelites abode in the wilderness, but ceased on their arriving at the borders of Canaan. To perpetuate the remembrance of the miracle, a pot of the manna was to be laid up by the side of the ark, which clearly indicates the extraordinary nature of the production. In no one respect does it correspond to the modern manna. The latter does not fall from heaven, it is not deposited with the dew, but exudes from the trees when punctured, and is to be found only in the particular spots where those trees abound; it could not therefore have supplied the Israelites with food in the more arid parts of the desert, where they most required it. The gums, moreover, flow only for about a month in the year; they neither admit of being ground, pounded or baked; they do not melt in the sun; they do not breed worms; and they are not peculiar to the Arabian wilderness. Others have supposed the manna to have been a fat and thick honey dew, and that this was the wild honey which John the Baptist lived upon; a supposition worthy of being ranked with the monkish legend of St. John's bread, or the locust-tree, and equally showing an entire ignorance of the nature of the country. It requires the Israelites to have been constantly in the neighbourhood of trees, in the midst of a wilderness often bare of all vegetation. Whatever the manna was, it was clearly a substitute for bread, and it is expressly called meat or food. The abundant supply, the periodical suspension of it, and the peculiarity attaching to the sixth day's supply, must at all events be admitted as preternatural facts, and facts not less extraordinary than that the substance also should be of an unknown and peculiar description. The credibility of the sacred narrative cannot receive the slightest addition of evidence from any attempt to explain the miracle by natural causes. That narrative would lead any plain reader to expect that the manna should no longer be found to exist, having ceased to fall for upwards of three thousand years. As to the fact that the Arabs give that name to the juice of the tarfa, the value of their authority may be estimated by the pulpit of Moses and the footsteps of Mohammed's camel.

The cause of Revelation has less to fear from the assaults of open infidels than from such ill-judged attempts of sceptical philosophers, to square the sacred narrative by their notions of probability. The giving of manna was either a miracle or a fable."

Perfectly coinciding in these remarks, we may yet notice the statements of some modern travellers. Speaking of the Wady el Sheikh, to the north of Mount Serbal, Burckhardt remarks, "In many parts it was thickly overgrown with the tamarisk, or tarfa, the Hedysarum alhagi of Linnæus. It is the only valley in the peninsula of Sinai where this tree grows at present in any great quantity; though small bushes are here and there met with in other parts. It is from the tarfa that the manna is obtained; and it is very strange that the fact should have remained unknown in Europe till M. Seetzen mentioned it in a brief notice of his tour to Sinai, published in the Mines de l'Orient. This substance is called by the Arabs mann, and accurately resembles the description of the manna given in Scripture. In the month of June it drops from the thorns of the tamarisk upon the fallen twigs, leaves, and thorns, which always cover the ground beneath the tree in the natural state: the manna is collected before sunrise, when it is coagulated, but it dissolves as soon as the sun shines upon it. The Arabs clear away the leaves, dirt, &c., which adhere to it, boil it, strain it through a coarse piece of cloth, and put it into leathern skins; in this way they preserve it till the following year, and use it as they do honey, to pour over their unleavened bread, or to dip their bread into. I could not learn that they ever made it into cakes or loaves. The manna is found only in years when copious rains have fallen; sometimes it is not produced at all. I saw none of it among the Arabs, but I obtained a small piece of the last year's produce among the Arabs in the convent [of Mount Sinai], where having been kept in the cool shade and moderate temperature of that place, it had become quite solid and formed a small cake; it became soft when kept some time in the hand; if placed in the sun for five minutes, it dissolved; but when restored to a cool place, it became solid again in a quarter of an hour. In the season at which the Arabs gather it, it never acquires that state of hardness which will allow of its being pounded as the Israelites are said to have done, in Numbers 11. 8. Its colour is a dirty yellow, and the piece which I saw was still mixed with bits of tamarisk leaves; its taste is agreeable, somewhat aromatic, and as sweet as honey. If eaten in any considerable quantity it is said to be slightly purgative. The quantity of manna collected at present, even in seasons when the most copious rains fall, is trifling, perhaps not amounting to more than five or six hundred pounds. It is entirely consumed among the Bedouins, who consider it the greatest dainty which their country affords. The harvest is usually in June, and lasts for about six weeks. In Nubia, and in every part of Arabia, the tamarisk is one of the most common trees; on the Euphrates, on the Astaboras, in all the valleys of the Hedjaz and the Bedja, it grows in great plenty. It is remarked by Niebuhr, that in Mesopotamia manna is produced by several trees of the oak species; a similar fact was confirmed to me by the son of a Turkish lady, who had passed the greater part of his youth at Erzerum, in Asia Minor; he told me that at Moush, a town three or four days' distant from Erzerum, a substance is collected from the tree which produces the galls, exactly similar to the manna of the peninsula in taste and consistence, and that it is used by the inhabitants instead of honey." Lieutenant Wellsted, in his Travels in Arabia, (1838,) has also given us some particulars of the tamarisk tree:

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"At a distance of fifteen miles from, and at an elevation of about two thousand feet above the level of the sea, I first saw the tree which produces the manna. This remarkable substance is secreted by several trees, and in various countries in the East. In some parts of Persia it is believed to be an insect secretion, and is collected from a shrub called gavan, about two feet high, bearing a striking resemblance to the broom. In the hilly district of Looristan, as in Mesopotamia, we find it on several trees of the oak species, which there, however, are of more stunted growth than those of England. From these the manna is collected on cloths spread beneath them at night, and it then bears the form of long crystal drops of dew, such as we seen on plants in England in the early part of morning. Burckhardt observes, that at Erzerum, a substance resembling manna in taste and consistence distils from the tree which bears galls, and which, with the inhabitants of the country, forms one of the principal articles of their food. These would appear to be different from the Sicilian manna used for medicinal purposes, and which botanists have considered as a vegetable gum, procured in Calabria and Sicily, and to be exuded from the Fraxinus ornus, or flowering ash. A supposition has, however, been started that this might also be the production of the aphis tribe.

"In the Red Sea, on my route to England, I met with a learned Jewish Rabbi, who had traversed much of the East, and whose travels had recently been published in India. From him I learned that on his journey through the Desert contiguous to Damascus, far removed from trees or vegetation of any kind, a substance was deposited, which, from his description, in appearance, size, and flavour, accurately resembled the manna of Scripture. This was firmly believed by him and the people of the country to have fallen there as a dew from heaven.

"I should, however, have scarcely ventured on his single evidence to narrate a story, in appearance little worthy of attention or credence, had not several Bedouins of the country, with whom I have conversed, borne testimony to the same effect; and, as being likely to lead to the knowledge of some substance with which we are at present unacquainted, it may not be considered unworthy the inquiry and investigation of future travellers. But a manna, differing in some respects from all those which I have specified, is found near to Mount Sinai, and has been regarded with peculiar interest, in consequence of its connection with one of the most striking events recorded in Scripture history. The tree which produces it here is the Tamarix mannifera of Ehrenberg, a species differing from that found on the sea-coast, and nearly related to the Tamarix gallica, but from which, beyond obtaining a greater height, and being somewhat more bushy in its foliage, it has little otherwise of importance to distinguish it. The substance produced by these trees, to which the designation of manna has been given in Europe, retains in mun, among the Arabs, the name bestowed on this food of the wilderness by their collateral ancestors, the Hebrews.

"It is found collected in small globules on the branches of the trees, and falls during the heat of the day beneath them. Whether the Sinai manna be an animal or vegetable substance, it is hoped will no longer be an undecided question, since there is not only ample proof that the exudation is occasioned by the puncture of a small species of coccus, named by Ehrenberg the Coccus mannifera, which, together with the peculiar mode in which its labours are conducted, is figured in his work; but at the period of my visit, in September, although, after the minutest inspection, no insects were visible,

yet the extremities of the twigs and branches, where they are commonly found, retained that peculiar sweetness and flavour which characterises the manna. The Bedouins collect it early in the morning, and after straining it through cloths, place it in either skins or gourds. A considerable quantity is consumed by themselves, a portion is sent to Cairo, and some is also disposed of to the monks at Mount Sinai. The latter retail it to the Russian pilgrims, who receive it with much reverence, as an incontestible proof of the event to which it refers. The Bedouins assured me that the whole quantity collected throughout the peninsula in the most fruitful seasons did not exceed one hundred and fifty wogas (about seven hundred pounds); and that it was usually disposed of at the rate of sixty dollars the woga. They regard it as a luxury, and use it for all the purposes of honey; but if taken in any large quantity, it is said to prove a mild laxative. In this respect, therefore, it bears a resemblance to the manna of commerce; but here it is only collected in seasons after heavy rains, and has sometimes been withheld for a period of seven years. From its having retained the name, and being found in such a locality, the thoughts naturally wander to the event recorded in Holy Writ; and though well pleased, could we establish a further identity with the substance there described, yet, when we are told the latter rained from heaven, was collected during six days only, and would not keep more than one, we are compelled, however reluctantly, to abandon further expectation of doing so."

The manna common in our druggists' shops comes from Calabria and Sicily, where it oozes out of a species of ash, from the end of June to the end of July, when the bicada appears, an insect at first sight resembling the locust, but distinguished from it by a thorn under the belly, with which it punctures this tree; the juice issuing from the wound is in the night fluid, and looks like dew, but in the morning it begins to harden. The European manna is not so good as the Oriental, which is gathered in Syria, Arabia, and Persia, partly from the Oriental oak, and partly from a shrub which is called in Persia, terendschabin. Gmelin remarks that the manna is as white as snow, and consists of grain | like coriander seeds. The peasants about Ispahan gather it at sunrise, holding a sieve under the branch into which the grains fall when the branches are struck with a stick; if the gathering be put off till after sunrise, no manna can be obtained, because it melts.

In the figurative language of Scripture, manna is the emblem or symbol of immortality. "I will give him to eat of the hidden manna," (Rev. 2. 17,) that is, the true bread of God, which came down from heaven, referring to the words of Christ in John 6. 51: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." It is called hidden or laid up, in allusion to that which was laid up in a golden vessel in the holy of holies; (compare Exod. 16. 33,34, and Heb. 9. 4.) It is in a subordinate sense only, that what dropped from the clouds, and was sent for the nourishment of the body, still mortal, could be called "the bread of heaven," being but a type of that which has descended from the heaven of heavens, for nourishing the immortal soul unto eternal life, and which is, therefore, in the sublimest sense, the bread of heaven. original manna was corruptible, and they who ate thereof died; but those who partake of this heavenly manna shall never hunger, but shall live for ever. The immortality which it procures is the portion of all the saints.

The

MANOAH, the father of Samson, was of the tribe of Dan, and a native of the city of Zorah. (Judges 13. 6-23.) See SAMSON.

MANSION, μovn, signifies an abode or dwelling. "In my Father's house are many mansions," says Our Lord, in John 14. 2. The reference is to a palace, which

contains numerous apartments.

MAN-SLAYER. See AVENGER OF BLOOD; CITIES

OF REFUGE.

MANTLE. There are various words in the original Hebrew which our translators have rendered mantle," in some cases incorrectly. In Judges 4. 18 we read that Jael covered Sisera with a mantle; here the word is simechah, which signifies more properly a mattrass, or covering; no simlah, is understood to be the wide cloak of the Orientals, rendered "garment," in our version, (Gen. 9. 23,) which also served for a bed-covering. (Deut. 22. 17.) The witch of Endor said to Saul, "An old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle;" (1Sam. 28. 14;) here the word is miel, which we have already explained under the article CLOAK. This was an upper garment or robe, and, from the description of the miel of the high priest, it was no mantle, but a second larger and longer tunic, without sleeves. It was worn by women and persons of distinction. See CLOAK; CLOTHES; DRESS.

In 1 Kings 19. 13, we read, “And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in a mantle;" and in the 19th verse of the same chapter, "So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was ploughing with six yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth; and Elijah passed by and cast his mantle upon him." Here the word in the original is addereth, which refers to a large cloak used as an outer garment, probably a hairy cloak, WW ♫8 addereth siar, as it is designated in Zechariah 13. 4, which our version renders " a rough garment;" this was the distinctive garb of the prophets.

Roberts tells us, in illustration of the conduct of Elijah, that in India “the natives use the ox for the plough, and all other agricultural purposes. It is no disgrace for a great man to follow the plough; and, generally speaking, the master is the first to commence the operations of the season. The first day is always settled by a soothsayer or a book of fate.

"Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.' By this act, Elisha was invested with the sacred office; but it is probable there would be other ceremonies, and a more pointed address and extended conversation, than that recorded in the verse. When a Brahmin is invested with the sacred office, both in the first, second, and third initiations, he is always covered with a yellow mantle, and in such a way as to prevent him from seeing any object. The sacred string is also put over his right shoulder, and worn like a soldier's belt, which indicates his office. Elisha said, 'Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And Elijah said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee? The answer of Elijah is certainly not very easy to be understood. The Hebrew has, instead of 'go back again,' 'go return;' this makes good sense, especially when the conjunction is added, 'go and return.' The Tamul version has it also in that way. The same translation has, instead of for what have I done to thee? what I have done to thee, think;' literally, 'I to thee what have done, think." I have called thee according to the Divine command; now thou askest to take leave of thy father and mother: