is the chosen symbol of life. Christ's blood was poured out for men. His life was given for theirs. The blood of animal victims was worthless; the law demanded a nobler sacrifice, and Jesus puts away sin by the sacrifice of himself. It has been observed by Michaëlis, that the blood of fishes does not appear to have been interdicted. The words in Leviticus only mention that of birds and cattle; and this accords with one reason assigned for the prohibition of blood, so far as fishes could not be offered to the Lord, although they formed a significant offering in heathen religions. It is also remarkable, that the apostles and elders assembled in council at Jerusalem, to settle how far ceremonial observances were binding on the converts to Christianity, renewed the injunction to abstain from blood, and coupled it with things offered to idols. Acts xv. 29.

knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe." He also lays great stress on the fact that it was truly water, and not something like water, which issued from the wound; the pure element of water, transparent, colourless, insipid, inodorous water. These two he considers witnesses that Jesus was the Christ. Blood and water were the indispensable instruments of expiation and cleansing under the law; and the issuing forth of this mingled stream was a notification to the people, that the real expiation was now complete, the cleansing fountain set open. Many of the attempts to account for this remarkable circumstance certainly fail. A work has been published by a physician, entitled, "A Treatise on the Physical Cause of Christ's Death." He says: Agony, when intense, produces violent palpitation, bloody sweat, oppression of the chest, loud cries, and ultimately rupBLOOD AND WATER. The issue ture of the heart. Such rupture is of blood and water from the wound in usually attended with immediate Christ's side has given rise to much death, and with an effusion into the discussion. By some it has been re- pericardium" (the bag containing the garded as symbolical, the blood being heart) "of the blood previously circuthe emblem of pardon, the water of lating through the organ; which when purification. Bishop Horsley deems thus extravasated, although scarcely the issue of water altogether miracu- in any other case, separates into its lous. St. John dwells upon the fact constituent parts so as to present the with an earnest reiteration, as a thing appearance commonly called blood and so wonderful that the explicit testi-water. The immediate cause is a mony of an eye-witness was requisite sudden and evident contraction of one to make it credible, and yet of great of the ventricles, usually the left, on importance to be accredited, as a main the column of blood thrown into it by foundation of faith. When a man similar contraction of the correspondaccompanies the assertion of a fact ing auricle. Prevented from returnwith this declaration, that he was an ing backwards by the intervening eye-witness; that what he asserts he valve, and not finding a sufficient outlet himself believes to be true; that he forwards in the connected artery, the was under no deception at the time; blood re-acts against the ventricle that he not only believes, but knows itself, which is consequently torn open the thing to be true from the certain at the point of greatest distension, or information of his senses; that he is least resistance, by the influence of its anxious for the sake of others that it own reflected force. A quantity of should be believed, he certainly blood is hereby discharged into the speaks of something extraordinary and pericardium, and having no means of hard to be believed, and yet, in his escape from the capsule, stops the cirjudgment, of great importance. All culation by compressing the heart this seems to be implied in the lan- from without, and induces almost guage of St. John: "One of the instantaneous death. In young and soldiers with a spear pierced his side, vigorous subjects the blood thus coland forthwith came thereout blood lected in the pericardium soon divides and water. And he that saw it bare into its constituent parts, namely, a pale record, and his record is true: and he watery liquid, called serum, and a soft

clotted substance of a deep red colour, termed crassamentum; but, except under similar circumstances of extravasation, this distinct separation of the blood is seldom seen in the dead body." This is a plausible theory. There is, however, great force in the reasoning of Horsley.

BLOOD-REVENGE.

See CITIES OF REFUGE and AVENGER OF BLOOD. BLOODY SWEAT. In Luke xxii. 44, we read, "And, being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Some suppose that this phraseology only refers to the size of the drops of sweat. But it is clear, that the reference is to the bloody nature of the sweat. Medical testimony is supposed to corroborate the fact recorded in St. Luke's Gospel, and cases are adduced to show that persons under peculiar mental excitement have been seized with cutaneous hæmorrhage. In most of these cases, however, it has been proved to be the result of disease, and not at all an indication of the state of the mind. It is very questionable whether a case can be adduced in which the skin has been covered with blood as the result of sorrow. Sweat

allusion to the power which they should exert in the introduction of the Gospel dispensation. The word can scarcely describe their tone-and mode of preaching. It may refer to their request to Christ on a certain occasion: "Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven to consume them, even as Elias did?"

BOAR. The wild boar is considered as the parent stock of the common hog. He is a furious and formidable animal. The tusks are larger and stronger than in the tame herds. The colour is irongrey, inclining to black. His snout is long, and his ears are short. At present wild boars frequent the marshes of the Delta, and are not uncommon on the banks of the Jordan, in Mount Carmel, and in the valley of Ajalah. Dr. Pococke saw large herds on the banks of the Jordan, where it flows out of the Sea of Tiberias, and several lying among the reeds by the sea. They were frequent in the time of the Crusades. Richard Cœur de Lion encountered one, ran him through with a lance, and, while the animal was still endeavouring to gore his horse, leaped over him, and slew him with his sword. The destructive ravages of the animal are referred to in Psal. lxxx. 13.

is caused by fear and bodily anguish. Terror will whiten the hair, occasion BOAZ, agility, strength. Ruth ii. 1. momentary paralysis, faintings, con- A wealthy Bethlehemite, a descendant vulsions, melancholy, and even sudden of Judah, and through him is traced death. Sorrow only occasions the se- the regular succession of Jewish kings. cretion of tears. The case of Christ's Matt. i. 5. His conduct in the case of suffering was peculiar: there was never Ruth proves him to have been a man sorrow like his, and there is danger of of fine spirit, and of strict integrity. rendering the statement of the evan- He admitted the claim which Ruth gelist obscure, by attempts to trace had upon him as a near kinsman: out analogous cases. The circum-under the obligations of the Levitical stances must be considered by them-law, he married the poor gleaner; and selves. We are disposed to look at both the issue of blood and water from the side of Christ, and the bloody sweat in the garden, as without parallel.

BOANERGES, sons of thunder. Mark iii. 17. The word has greatly perplexed philologists. Although different derivations have been proposed, the explanation of the evangelist renders the meaning of the word plain. James and John were so called by Christ, perhaps, on account of their fervid spirit. Some suppose there is

thus became one of the ancestors of David, and also of David's Son and Lord. He was the father of Obed, and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David. The whole narrative is a beautiful picture of the simplicity and early manners of the age, when artificial courtesies had not usurped the place of natural and sincere expressions of love.

BOAZ was also the name of one of the two brazen pillars which Solomon erected in the porch of the temple, the other being called JACHIN. Boaz

BOO

was on the left, Jachin on the right. 1 Kings vii. 21. BONNET. This was the mitre worn by the priests. The high-priest's bonnet was a magnificent head-dress, formed of about eight yards of linen, gracefully arranged in circular folds. On its front was a gold plate, with those awful words inscribed, "HOLINESS TO THE LORD." Exod. xxxix. 28, 30. BOOK. The word is derived from the Gothic BOKA or the Saxon BоC, meaning a beech-tree, on the bark of which our ancestors were accustomed to write. Wood was used at a very early period as a writing-material. It was so employed in ancient Greece. In our own country, the accounts of the Exchequer were kept on pieces of wood, called tallies; the persons in charge of them were called talliers: hence the word tellers, a name given to certain persons holding office in money establishments. The ancient Jews had no books such as we possess. The materials employed were stone, brick, lead, copper, or wood; and on these, letters were engraved with an iron instrument. The earliest modes of preserving inscriptions were by engraving on a rock. See Job xix. 23, 24. The decalogue was engraved on stones. The works of Hesiod were cut on lead; the laws of Solon were carved on wood; and inscriptions were also made on bricks, which were hardened by fire.

inferior sheets. There were never more than twenty in a roll: The writing was in columns, with a blank slip between them. The paper made from the papyrus was of different qualities. The best was called after Augustus, the second after Livia, and the third Hieratica, because it was appropriated to the sacred books. Next to the papyrus, parchment was the most common material for writing upon. It is said to have been invented by Eumenes 11., king of Pergamos, in consequence of the prohibition of the export of papyrus from Egypt by Ptolemy Epiphanes. It is probable, however, that ments in the manufacture of parchEumenes only introduced improvement, as Herodotus mentions writing says, that the Ionians had been accuson skins as common in his time, and tomed to give the name of skins to books. As paper and parchment were erase or wash out writing of little imdear, it was frequently the custom to portance, and to write upon the paper or parchment again, which was then called palimpsestus. The paper or parchment was joined together so as to form one sheet; and when the work was finished, it was rolled on a staff, which was called volumen: hence volume. Sometimes the leaves were connected as in the form of modern books, and opened in the same way. In this case the sheets were fastened to rods, and these rods passed through rings, and thus formed the back of the

The most common material on which books were written by the Greeks and Romans, was thin rind of the papyrus: hence the word liber, the Latin name for book. This plant was called by the Egyptians byblos (Búẞlog), whence the Greeks derived their for a book (Bißiov). The papyrus name (from which we have the name paper) grows in swamps, to the height of ten feet, and paper was prepared from the thin coats which surround the plant. The different pieces were joined together by the glutinous water of the Nile. A layer of papyrus was laid flat on a board, and a cross-layer put over it; and being thus prepared, the layers were pressed and afterwards dried in the sun. The sheets were then fastened or pasted together, the best being taken first, and then the 97

book. The sides of such book were protected by boards. Hence we apply the term to the outer covering of our books. The oldest form of arranging the writing, which was in capital letters, and without punctuation or division of words, was called by the Greeks BOUSTROPHEDON, turning of an ox; that is, as an ox ploughs. The writ-dered to the king, and the rewards ing was generally on one side, but not always. Ezek. ii. 9, 10. Sometimes the roll was sealed. Rev. v. 1-3.