South, shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven-millions of them shall bend with immortal rapture before Him who sits in the midst of the throne, whose praises their royal Psalmist hymned, and whose glory their inspired prophets proclaimed-millions of them shall cast their immortal crowns before the Majesty of the enthroned and adored Immanuel, and with their glori. fied brethren from every age of time, and every region of the globe, unite through all eternity in THE SONG OF MOSES AND THE LAMB. APPENDIX. ON THE JEWISH MODE OF RECKONING TIME. THE division of HOURS was unknown to the more ancient Jews; and the earliest mention of them in the Bible, occurs in the prophecies of Daniel. (Dan. iii. 6—15.—v. 5.) Afterwards, the Jews computed the hours of their day, from six in the morning, until six in the evening; their first hour being seven, their second, eight, &c. The night among the Jews of the Old Testament, was divided into three watches, the length of which probably varied according to the seasons of the year. (Ps. lxiii. 6. xc. 4. Lam. ii. 19. Judges vii. 19. Exod. xiv. 24.) Among the Jews in the time of Christ, the night was divided, according to the custom of the Romans, into four watches-the first, from six o'clock to nine-the second, from nine o'clock totwelve -the third, from twelve to three-and thefourth, from three to six. The DAYS, among the Jews were computed from evening to evening, according to the ordination of Moses. Thus the Sabbath commenced at six o'clock on our Friday evening, and continued until six o'clock on our Saturday evening. Seven of these days constituted, as with us, their WEEK. The Hebrew MONTHS were lunar; and consisted alternately of twenty-nine and thirty days. The month originally commenced with the actual appearance of the new moon. After their dispersion, to fix the be ginning of their months and years, they adopted the Metonic Cycle of nineteen years, which they use to this day. In this cycle, there are twelve common years, consisting of twelve months; and seven intercalary years, consisting of thirteen months. There were two kinds of YEARS among the Jews, the civil year, and the ecclesiastical year. The civil year commenced on the fifteenth of our September, upon the supposition that this was the date of the creation of the world. The following were the names of its months :Tisri, equal to part of Marchesvan, Chisleu, September and October. April and May. May and June. Thammuz, Ab, July and August. Elul, June and July. August and September. The ecclesiastical year, began in March, and its commencement was commemorative of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. The names of its months were Nisan or Abib, equal to part of March and April. April and May. In order to accommodate the lunar to the sola years, and that their months and festivals might always fall at the same season, the Jews were accustomed, a often as it was necessary, to add a whole intercalary month, which was called the second Adar. It is to be observed that since the composition of the Talmud, the Jews have been accustomed to reckon their years from the creation of the world. |