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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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deceased , his true affection and his calamitous fate . When tbe days of mourning were ended , suitable presents were made to the friendly host * and Helon , Salainith and Salumiel re ^ turned from the Percea over the Jordan to Jericho . " This calamity is represented by the author as a punishment of the pride of Helon , who , according to a notion which Judaism was not unlikely to
inspire , believed his own prosperity to be a mark of the peculiar favour of heaven , and thought / that his zeal for the law , and his delight in the services of the Temple , had already advanced
him to the rank of a chaesidean , or perfectly righteous man . He is gradually recovering his composure , and learning to think more humbly of himself , when Myron , who has been wretched from the consciousness' of
the sorrow which ; he had brought on his ft'iend , seeks a reconciliation * and obtains it chiefly through the mediation of Salamith . His return is the cause of fresh calamities . Finding that it was to Salamith that he owed
kis forgiveness * he goes one evening , in ignorance of Oriental manners and the . fury of Oriental jealousy , to the Arrnon , or female apartment , to express his gratitude to her . She warns him of his danger , but before he has made good his retreat , Helon appears .
Their protestations of innocence are unavailing : Myron is contumeliously driven from the house , and Salamith , being brought before the judges of Jericho as an adultress , declares
herself willing to undergo the fearful ceremony of drinking the water of jealousy . For this purpose she is conveyed to Jerusalem . The author , though in general very remote from the modern German school of
theology , appears to have adopted the opinion « f MichaeHs , that this was intended as a trial of the power of conscience on the mind of the culprit , and that the method to which the priests trusted for obtaining the trttth , was to accumulate honrors upon her *
which nothing but the force of innocence could enable her to bear . She is led through the streets of Jerusalem , exposed tu every species of indi gnity * harassed wijth exhortations to confess bet ? crime , and at last produced , before fh « avltole people ,. to ita&e the test which the law prescribed * She heart
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fell with the most ajdmirable meekness fu&d dignity , and , having drunk the water uninjured , is declared innocent of : tbe charge . Helon , though forgiven by his wife , cannot forgive
himself for ^ the pain he has caused her ; and remains in a state of the deepest dejection , till his conscience is relieved by the sacrifices on the day of atonement . The change in him is chiefly brought about by his intercourse with the old man of the Temple , a
venerable personage , into whose mouth the author puts those interpretations of the Jewish rites and history , with reference to the expected Messiah , which he supposes to have prevailed among those who , avoiding the sectarian
tenets of Pharisees , Sadducees and Essenes , were desirous to fulfil the law without addition or diminution . By him Helon is taught the folly of his former presumptuous seU > righteousv * peas , and to consider the sacrifices of
the law as the appointed means of reconciliation with God , till the Messiah should come , to take away the sin of the people . His cheerfulness returns , and he celebrates the feast of Tabernacles , which closed the annual cycle of Jewish festivals , with more true religious feeling than any of the
preceding . On their return to Jericho , they hear that the plague has broken out , and determine all together to go to Alexandria , to aee Helon * s mother : but before they can embark at Joppa , news reaches them that sho is dead . They set out , however , and for several days have a prosperous yoyage . Myron , who has become a proselyte of the gate , is one of the
party M . The Phoenician vessel in whick they had embarked , ran swiftly along the coast , and Jamnia , Ashdod , As- » calon , Gaza and Raphia , were soon left behind . The mind of Helon was
us clear and calm as the mirror in which the sea reflected the bright blue heavens * His grief for . the death of his mother had only increased his trust in the Divine , compassion , which bad bestowed on him that perfect
peace of mind which neither in death nor life sees any thing" to fear * One morning they were watching the ~ bi > oad rsedudawn , announcing the . approach of day . All were in auwrosaal frame of mind * ; Heton * fall of trampii ! jfoy u * s relating to bis friends * as they « &t
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20 ' * HetonU Pilgrimage toJeru ** lem /* fytfc Sir ****
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1823, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1780/page/20/
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