kind, bearing a resemblance to the triangular lyre, which is referred to in our version under the term "psaltery." Such Athenæus supposed it to be; but Isidore maintains that it was a kind of flute or hautboy. The sackbut is mentioned in Scripture, as being used in the king of Babylon's concert; see Dan. iii. 10.

TABRET AND TIMBREL.

The Hebrew word toph, which is rendered either "tabret or "timbrel in our translation, appears to denote all instruments of the drum kind, and to have been much used in civil and religious rejoicings. It is represented in Scripture as being beaten by women. Miriam, the sister of Moses, after the passage of the Red Sea, took a timbrel, and began to play and dance with the Jewish females, Exod. xv. 20. We read also, that when Jephthah returned to his home, after his victory over the Ammonites, "his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances," Judg. xi. 34. Our own instrument called the tambourine so nearly resembles the oriental timbrel, that a description is not needed. It will be sufficient to say, that it is at the present day much used in the East; and that, as various passages of Scripture indicate it did anciently, it invariably accompanies a dance. From Psa. cl. 4, we find that the psalmist advocated the sacred dance: "Praise him with the timbrel and dance."

TRUMPET.

Trumpets are spoken of in Scripture, in connexion with the tabernacles and temples; and as those of the last temple are represented among the spoils of that building, on the triumphal arch of Titus, at Rome, we cannot be mistaken as to their form. They are there represented as long, straight instruments; a form which always has been, and still continues to be common. Such appears to have been in use in Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Josephus says of these trumpets, that they were a little less than a cubit and a half long, and were composed of a narrow tube, somewhat thicker than a flute, and ending in the shape of a bell. The invention of them he ascribes to Moses.

The trumpets of the Hebrews, in the earlier part of their history, were not used as musical instruments; they appear rather to have served the same purpose, in a civil and religious sense, as bells among Christians, and the voice among the Mohammedans. In after ages, however, it is certain that they were used in the musical choirs of David, see Psa. xcviii. 6, while they were still employed in their former service.

According to Lightfoot, the trumpets were sounded exclusively by the priests, who stood opposite to the Levites, on the west side of the altar, both parties looking towards it. The trumpets did not join in the concert, but were sounded during regulated pauses in the vocal and instrumental music. They were first blown with a long, plain blast, then a blast with breakings and quaverings, to which another long, plain blast succeeded. The priests, it would seem, never blew but three blasts, on which our author observes, in his "Temple Service," "The Jews do express these three several soundings that they made at one blowing by the words, An alarm in the midst, and a plain note before and after it:' which our Christian writers do most commonly express by taratantara; though that word seems to put the quavering sound before and after, and the plain in the midst, contrary to the Jewish description of it." This taratantara was sounded in the morning, when the gates were opened, and served to call the Levites and others to their duties, and the people to worship. The trumpets were sounded again at the time of sacrifice, and several times in the course

of the musical service. They were never sounded less than seven, nor more than sixteen times in one day; and the number of trumpets sounded were not to be less than two, nor more than a hundred and twenty. In the first instance, indeed, the Hebrews appear to have possessed only two trumpets; but the number seems to have been enlarged as the priests increased, for in Solomon's day we read of a hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets, 2 Chron. v. 12. These were made of silver, Numb. x. 2; but when the Hebrew armies encompassed the walls of Jericho, the sacred historian informs us, that the priests blew "trumpets of rams' horns," Josh. vi. 4.

The trumpet appears anciently to have been used to give the alarm in time of war. Hence, whatever tends to alarm men, in the figurative language of Scripture, is called a trumpet. Thus, the alarming declarations of God's prophets and ministers, warning their hearers of the judgments of God, and to flee from the wrath to come, is spoken of under that figure; see Isa. lviii. 1; Ezek. xxxiii. 3, 6; Hos. viii. 1.

It was a custom among the ancients, also, to summon assemblies by the sound of the trumpet. In like manner, the majestic and awful means whereby the Almighty will raise the dead from their resting place, the grave, and call mankind to his dread tribunal at the last day, is represented under the figure of a sounding trumpet. "Behold, I show you a mystery," said the apostle Paul: "We shall not all sleep,

but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed," 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52. On this passage, a learned commentator has observed:-" At the giving of the law from Mount Sinai, a great noise was heard, like the sounding of a trumpet, exceeding loud, which sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Exod. xx. 18. În like manner, at Christ's descent from heaven, a great noise (called, 1 Thess. iv. 16, the trumpet of God,) will be made by the attendant angels, as the signal for the righteous to come forth and this noise being made at Christ's command, he himself calls his voice, John v. 25. After the righteous are raised, the trumpet shall sound a second time, on which account it is here called the last trumpet: and while it sounds, the righteous who are alive on the earth shall be changed.'

THE VIOL.

The viol was an instrument played with the fingers, like the modern guitar. It was anciently used on festive occasions; hence Isaiah, denouncing God's wrath against Babylon, declares, "Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee," Isa. xiv. 11. And the prophet Amos, similarly proclaiming the punishment God was about to inflict upon the kingdom of Israel, connects the viol with vocal music; "Take thou away from me the