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be expected from the inspired Lawgiver, whose sublime
books start with the grand assertion, that man was made
"in the express image of God," any attempt to alter
the natural features of the " human face divine," was de-
nounced and emphatically interdicted. Twice is the com-
'"mandrnent issued—first to the whole people, " thou shalt
fcnot mar the corners of thy Beard," in other words, thou shalt
not alter the form thereof, which I thy God have appoint-
ed! Then to the Priests, with the addition, that they
should not make baldness upon their heads. It is of the
utmost consequence to recall the superstitious practice of
the Egyptian Priests, and to remember that Moses issued
this command to the Aaronites, fresh from Egypt, because
it most convincingly shews that the practice of shaving,
even when resorted to with the view of pleasing the Deity,
by an extreme degree of external purity, in approaching
His mysterious presence, was directly and most absolutely
forbidden. It is as if God had said, "What art thou, 0
man ! who thinkest in thy vain imagination that I, thy
Creator, knew not how to fashion thee ! and blasphemously
supposest that thou canst please me, by superstitiously
sacrificing what I, in my Almighty wisdom, had endowed
thee with, for protection and ornament!" And, as if to
mark the distinction more strongly, Moses enjoined in the
strictest manner every ordinary and natural method of
purifying the person.
