Secondly, as the New Year day is the first of the ten penitential days, we sound the cornet as a proclamation to admonish all to return to God and repent. If they do not so, they at least have been informed, and cannot plead ignorance. Thus we find that earthly kings publish their decrees with such concomitant, that none may say, "We heard not this." Thirdly, to remind us of the law given on Mount Sinai, where it is said, "The voice of the cornet was exceeding loud." To remind us also that we should bind ourselves anew to the performance of its precepts, as did our ancestors, when they said, "All that the Lord hath said will we do and obey." Fourthly, to remind us of the prophets, who were compared to watchmen blowing the trumpet of alarm, as we find in Ezekiel, "Whosoever heareth the sound of the cornet and taketh not warning, and the sound cometh and taketh him away, his blood shall be upon his own head; but he that taketh warning shall save his life." Fifthly, to remind us of the destruction of the Temple and the fearsome sound of the battle-cry of our enemies. "Because thou hast heard, oh my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war." Therefore when we hear the sound of the cornet we should implore God to rebuild the Temple. Sixthly, to remind us of the binding of Isaac, who willingly offered himself for immolation, in order to sanctify the Holy Name. Seventhly, that when we hear the terrifying sound, we may, through dread, humble ourselves before the Supreme Being, for it is the nature of these martial instruments to produce a sensation of terror, as the prophet Amos observes, "Shall a trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not to be terrified?" Eighthly, to remind us of the great and terrible Day of Judgment, on which the trumpet is to be sounded, as we find in Zeph., "The great day of the Lord is near, and hasteneth much, a day of the trumpet and of shouting." Ninthly, to remind us to pray for the time when the outcasts of Israel are to be gathered together, as promised in Isaiah, "And it shall come to pass in that day, the great trumpet shall be sounded, and those shall come who were perishing in the land of Assyria." Tenthly, to remind us of the resurrection of the dead, and our firm belief therein. "Yea, all ye that inhabit the world, and that dwell on the earth, when the standard is lifted upon the mountain, behold, and when the trumpet is sounded, hear!" says the prophet Isaiah. Therefore should we set our hearts to these seasons, and fulfill the precept that the Bible commands us, as it is written:-- "And the Lord commanded us to do all the statutes ... that it might be well with us at all times." THE DAY OF ATONEMENT The hearts of all who fear God should tremble with the reflection that all the deeds of the creature are known to the Creator, and will be by Him accounted to them for good or evil. God is ready at all times to acknowledge true penitence; and of repentance there are seven degrees: