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    Article CLASSICAL THEOLOGY.—XVI. Page 1 of 2
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Classical Theology.—Xvi.

CLASSICAL THEOLOGY . —XVI .

JMXDQX , SATURDAY , MARCH 31 , 18 U 0

VI . —CERES A 2 i D AUGUST—( COimJTOED . ) IN some parts of Central Italy the first reaping * , commonco towards the end of June , a Aveek or two earlier than in the immediate vicinity of-,-Rome . As soon as a fow of the adjoining unhedged fields are cut , a floor for the threshing or treading corn is prepared , such as ive read of in the

Scripture , where the ox was not to he muzzled , ancl such as is described in the Georgics . A piece of ground in the highest ancl driest part of the field is sot apart , cleared smoothed Avith tv hoc , and carefully swept . If the crop is not heavy it is threshed with the flail , but if otherwise it is trodden out by cattle , generally horses ; it is then winnowed

by the method of screening , or by means of sieves on the spot , and is thou ready to be stored . In conclusion , there is usually music and dancing , and a feast of cakes , made of flour , honey , and oil , called ciambelli , ivith others named piszi , composed of bailey meal and no deficiency of salt ; there is a plentiful supply of wine , but rare indeed is the

madness or folly of inebriation among these light hearted peasantry . Should the harvest be anything like abundant , it is the rule , seldom excepted , to reserve a large sheaf for an offering to some favourite or guardian saint . Agreeably ivith . this custom , ive read in Leviticus of the oblations of the meat and firstfruit offeringsand of the frankincense

, thereof , ancl the SAveet savour unto the Lord . "When any ¦ will offer a meat offering unto the Lord , Ms offering shall be of fine flour , and he shall pour oil upon it , and jmt frankincense thereon ; If thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baked in the oven , it shall be unleavened cakes of fiue flour mingled with oilor unleavened wafers anointed Avifch oil .

, Every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season Avith salt ; neither shalt thou suffer the salt ofthe covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering : Avith . all thy offerings thou shalt offer salt . Ancl if thou offer a meat

offering of thy firstfruits unto the Lord , thou shalt offer for the meat offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn , even corn beaten out of full ears . " Of the sheaf , as of the firstfruits , Ave shall 'find a corresponding mention in the same book ( Levit . xxiii . 10 ) . " When ye be come into the land ivhich I give you , and shall reap the harvest thereof , then ye

shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your liarvest unto the priest . " In like as ivell as in unlike manner the pagans offered the firstfruits to Ceres ancl their agrestial deities . A modern lady travelling in Italy , ivith charming eloquence ancl observation , lias g iven a description of some of the ceremonies Avhich she Avitnessed respecting the plentiful harvest

and the reserved sheaf ; ofthe latter she says— "The reapers carry it along ; the officiating priest meets them ; a prayer of dedication is repeated , and the sheaf is placed before the altar of the saint in her chapel . We hacl the pleasure of seeing the little church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in this way adorned ; whether it be the remains of pagan ritesov

, the natural expression of pious gratitude , acting alike under different IHAVS ancl in different ages , our senses Avere sufficiently gratified , and ive Avere too well pleased to make any deeper inquiry , The Indian girl , ivhen her father or lover is at sea , sends her rush boat laden Avith an offering of spices and appropriate flowers , to some god or goddess of the isles . "

"We have seen , " she continues , "tho poor Hindoo place his cocoa nut ancl his palmful of rice before Ms household deities . We read of the elegant offerings of odorous flowers and fruits made by Catullus to the rural guardians of his vineyard ; but none of these have p leased us so much as the substantial and consecrated sheaf iven bthe Christian Polese to the

Mag y donna delle Grazie . " We are told in reference to the relig ious worship of others with whom we do not perhaps agree ( for ive alloAv the meaning in reference to the Egyptians , and the leagues ancl covenants Avith the Canaanites , a broader extension ) , in

Classical Theology.—Xvi.

Exodus xxu . j 28 , Thou shalt not revile the gods ; be it , therefore , far from us to let drop an invidious remark on these foreign offerings to saints . But we cannot avoid observing that tho heathen did the like unto their gocls ; ancl that St . Paul and Rt . Barnabas evinced evident dismay and confusion before tho people of Lystra , AVIIO would have received them as gocls after the miraculous healing of the

impotent man who had been a cri pple from his birth but hacl risen up and Avalkecl by the force of the Spirit at the Avord of Paul . " ' For when the people saw what he had done , they lifted up their voices , saying in the sj ^ eech of Lycaonia , The gods have come clown to us in the likeness of men . And they called Barnabas-Jupiterancl PaulMercurius

, , , , because he Avas the chief speaker . Then the priest of Jupiter , which Avas before the city , brought oxen and garlands unto the gates , and would have : dono sacrifice with the ; people ; which Avhen the apostles Barnabas and Paul , heard of , they rent their clothes ancl ran in among the people , crying out , and saying , Sirs , why do ye , those things 1 We

are men of Ijjve passions with , you , ancl preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living Gocl , which made heaven , ancl earth , and the sea ., and all things that are therein : AA'I IO in time past suffered all nations to walk in their OAVU ways . Nevertheless he left not himself Avithout witnessin that he did goodancl gave us rain from

, , heaven , and fruitful seasons , filling our hearts Avith food and gladness . And ivith these sayings scarce restrained they the peojile , that they hacl not clone sacrifice unto them , "Acts xiv .

It has , we believe , of late years become a popular idea that the . Romish priests suppress as much as possible the propagation ofthe JSTOAV Testament amongst their humble adherents Ave wish fair truth to be everywhere triumphant , and should be sorry to encourage exaggeration . With respect to the Old Testament they prohibit de facto its promulgation—there can be no doubt of that ; but the whole ritual and service of

the Romish church is taken from the gospels . A Protestant may doubtless discover much relative exaggeration , and in these matter of fact clays , may be somewhat surprised at it . In saying this , we ourselves confess to a little astonishment at what Ave have seen ; but Avithout the least desire to adduce any comment of our OAVU , Ave are led here to curtail an

extract from Turner ' s Tour in Normandy . The festival pageant of the Assumption , in the Romish and Greek churches , in commemoration of the supposed miraculous ascension of the Virgin Mary into heaven , formerly held in the Archbishopric of Rouen , was established b y Des Marets , the governor of Dieppe , in 144 . 3 , in honour of the final expulsion of the English . The first master of tho " Guild of Assumption" Avas its . founder , under whoso auspices and

direction it was conducted . About Midsummer the principal inhabitants used to assemble at the Hotel cle Ville , or town house of Dieppe , where the ) r selected the girl esteemed , of the most exemplary character to represent the Virgin Mary , and six other young women to act the parts of the daughters of Zion . The honour of personating or figuring in

this holy drama AA'as greatly coveted . The historian of Dieppe gravely assures us , " that the earnestness felt on the occasion mainly contributed to tho preservation of that purity of manners and genuine piety , which subsisted in this town longer than in any other of Eranee "—non causa pro causa ! But the election of the Virgin was not sufficient ; a

representative of St . Peter was also to bo found among the clergy , ancl of the eleA'en other apostles among the ' huty . This being accomplished , on the 1 . 4-fch ( 15 th ?) of August , the implied virgin ivas laid in a tomb-shaped cradle , and early in the morning , attended b y her male and female suiteAvas carried to the church of St . Jaques . As soon as

, the lauds had been sung , the procession repaired to the master of the guild , before whoso cloor was stretched a large carpet embroidered with letters of gold , in verses , setting forth his own good qualities , ancl his love for tho hol y Mary ,

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1860-03-31, Page 1” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 28 March 2023, masonicperiodicals.org/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_31031860/page/1/.
  • List
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Title Category Page
CLASSICAL THEOLOGY.—XVI. Article 1
THE BRITISH MUSRUM SLANDER AND BRO. JOHN PAYNE COLLIER.* Article 2
THE GIRLS SCHOOL. Article 7
ARCHÆOLOGY. Article 7
MASONRY AT SMYRNA. Article 7
MASONIC LOYALTY. Article 7
ROUGH JOTTINGS ABOUT TEADITION. Article 8
ANCIENT SYMBOLISM ILLUSTRATED. Article 9
MASONIC NOTES AND QUEKIES. Article 13
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 15
BRO. PERCY WELLS. Article 15
THE MASONIC MIRROR. Article 16
METROPOLITAN. Article 16
PROVINCIAL. Article 18
MARK MASONEY. Article 18
ROYAL ARCH Article 18
KNIGHTS TEMPLAR. Article 19
THE WEEK. Article 19
TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 20
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Classical Theology.—Xvi.

CLASSICAL THEOLOGY . —XVI .

JMXDQX , SATURDAY , MARCH 31 , 18 U 0

VI . —CERES A 2 i D AUGUST—( COimJTOED . ) IN some parts of Central Italy the first reaping * , commonco towards the end of June , a Aveek or two earlier than in the immediate vicinity of-,-Rome . As soon as a fow of the adjoining unhedged fields are cut , a floor for the threshing or treading corn is prepared , such as ive read of in the

Scripture , where the ox was not to he muzzled , ancl such as is described in the Georgics . A piece of ground in the highest ancl driest part of the field is sot apart , cleared smoothed Avith tv hoc , and carefully swept . If the crop is not heavy it is threshed with the flail , but if otherwise it is trodden out by cattle , generally horses ; it is then winnowed

by the method of screening , or by means of sieves on the spot , and is thou ready to be stored . In conclusion , there is usually music and dancing , and a feast of cakes , made of flour , honey , and oil , called ciambelli , ivith others named piszi , composed of bailey meal and no deficiency of salt ; there is a plentiful supply of wine , but rare indeed is the

madness or folly of inebriation among these light hearted peasantry . Should the harvest be anything like abundant , it is the rule , seldom excepted , to reserve a large sheaf for an offering to some favourite or guardian saint . Agreeably ivith . this custom , ive read in Leviticus of the oblations of the meat and firstfruit offeringsand of the frankincense

, thereof , ancl the SAveet savour unto the Lord . "When any ¦ will offer a meat offering unto the Lord , Ms offering shall be of fine flour , and he shall pour oil upon it , and jmt frankincense thereon ; If thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baked in the oven , it shall be unleavened cakes of fiue flour mingled with oilor unleavened wafers anointed Avifch oil .

, Every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season Avith salt ; neither shalt thou suffer the salt ofthe covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering : Avith . all thy offerings thou shalt offer salt . Ancl if thou offer a meat

offering of thy firstfruits unto the Lord , thou shalt offer for the meat offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn , even corn beaten out of full ears . " Of the sheaf , as of the firstfruits , Ave shall 'find a corresponding mention in the same book ( Levit . xxiii . 10 ) . " When ye be come into the land ivhich I give you , and shall reap the harvest thereof , then ye

shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your liarvest unto the priest . " In like as ivell as in unlike manner the pagans offered the firstfruits to Ceres ancl their agrestial deities . A modern lady travelling in Italy , ivith charming eloquence ancl observation , lias g iven a description of some of the ceremonies Avhich she Avitnessed respecting the plentiful harvest

and the reserved sheaf ; ofthe latter she says— "The reapers carry it along ; the officiating priest meets them ; a prayer of dedication is repeated , and the sheaf is placed before the altar of the saint in her chapel . We hacl the pleasure of seeing the little church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in this way adorned ; whether it be the remains of pagan ritesov

, the natural expression of pious gratitude , acting alike under different IHAVS ancl in different ages , our senses Avere sufficiently gratified , and ive Avere too well pleased to make any deeper inquiry , The Indian girl , ivhen her father or lover is at sea , sends her rush boat laden Avith an offering of spices and appropriate flowers , to some god or goddess of the isles . "

"We have seen , " she continues , "tho poor Hindoo place his cocoa nut ancl his palmful of rice before Ms household deities . We read of the elegant offerings of odorous flowers and fruits made by Catullus to the rural guardians of his vineyard ; but none of these have p leased us so much as the substantial and consecrated sheaf iven bthe Christian Polese to the

Mag y donna delle Grazie . " We are told in reference to the relig ious worship of others with whom we do not perhaps agree ( for ive alloAv the meaning in reference to the Egyptians , and the leagues ancl covenants Avith the Canaanites , a broader extension ) , in

Classical Theology.—Xvi.

Exodus xxu . j 28 , Thou shalt not revile the gods ; be it , therefore , far from us to let drop an invidious remark on these foreign offerings to saints . But we cannot avoid observing that tho heathen did the like unto their gocls ; ancl that St . Paul and Rt . Barnabas evinced evident dismay and confusion before tho people of Lystra , AVIIO would have received them as gocls after the miraculous healing of the

impotent man who had been a cri pple from his birth but hacl risen up and Avalkecl by the force of the Spirit at the Avord of Paul . " ' For when the people saw what he had done , they lifted up their voices , saying in the sj ^ eech of Lycaonia , The gods have come clown to us in the likeness of men . And they called Barnabas-Jupiterancl PaulMercurius

, , , , because he Avas the chief speaker . Then the priest of Jupiter , which Avas before the city , brought oxen and garlands unto the gates , and would have : dono sacrifice with the ; people ; which Avhen the apostles Barnabas and Paul , heard of , they rent their clothes ancl ran in among the people , crying out , and saying , Sirs , why do ye , those things 1 We

are men of Ijjve passions with , you , ancl preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living Gocl , which made heaven , ancl earth , and the sea ., and all things that are therein : AA'I IO in time past suffered all nations to walk in their OAVU ways . Nevertheless he left not himself Avithout witnessin that he did goodancl gave us rain from

, , heaven , and fruitful seasons , filling our hearts Avith food and gladness . And ivith these sayings scarce restrained they the peojile , that they hacl not clone sacrifice unto them , "Acts xiv .

It has , we believe , of late years become a popular idea that the . Romish priests suppress as much as possible the propagation ofthe JSTOAV Testament amongst their humble adherents Ave wish fair truth to be everywhere triumphant , and should be sorry to encourage exaggeration . With respect to the Old Testament they prohibit de facto its promulgation—there can be no doubt of that ; but the whole ritual and service of

the Romish church is taken from the gospels . A Protestant may doubtless discover much relative exaggeration , and in these matter of fact clays , may be somewhat surprised at it . In saying this , we ourselves confess to a little astonishment at what Ave have seen ; but Avithout the least desire to adduce any comment of our OAVU , Ave are led here to curtail an

extract from Turner ' s Tour in Normandy . The festival pageant of the Assumption , in the Romish and Greek churches , in commemoration of the supposed miraculous ascension of the Virgin Mary into heaven , formerly held in the Archbishopric of Rouen , was established b y Des Marets , the governor of Dieppe , in 144 . 3 , in honour of the final expulsion of the English . The first master of tho " Guild of Assumption" Avas its . founder , under whoso auspices and

direction it was conducted . About Midsummer the principal inhabitants used to assemble at the Hotel cle Ville , or town house of Dieppe , where the ) r selected the girl esteemed , of the most exemplary character to represent the Virgin Mary , and six other young women to act the parts of the daughters of Zion . The honour of personating or figuring in

this holy drama AA'as greatly coveted . The historian of Dieppe gravely assures us , " that the earnestness felt on the occasion mainly contributed to tho preservation of that purity of manners and genuine piety , which subsisted in this town longer than in any other of Eranee "—non causa pro causa ! But the election of the Virgin was not sufficient ; a

representative of St . Peter was also to bo found among the clergy , ancl of the eleA'en other apostles among the ' huty . This being accomplished , on the 1 . 4-fch ( 15 th ?) of August , the implied virgin ivas laid in a tomb-shaped cradle , and early in the morning , attended b y her male and female suiteAvas carried to the church of St . Jaques . As soon as

, the lauds had been sung , the procession repaired to the master of the guild , before whoso cloor was stretched a large carpet embroidered with letters of gold , in verses , setting forth his own good qualities , ancl his love for tho hol y Mary ,

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