The old man ceased, and departing, left Helon alone, who remained till near the ninth hour, when the evening-sacrifice began; and he hastened forth, that he might not be too late for his duties. The evening-sacrifice on the sabbath was in no respect different from that on ordinary days. The priests had prepared the incense, the Levites the meat-offering; Helon arranged his own, which consisted of the other half of the tenth-deal of the epha, of which he had offered one-half in the morning. The ceremonies and sacrifices already described were repeated; the lamb was killed and its portions burnt, the daily meat-offering, the meat-offering of the high-priest, and lastly, that of Helon, were presented; incense was burnt again in the holy-place, and the seven-branched lamp lighted for the night. The drink-offering was poured out upon the altar, accompanied by the songs of the Levites, and the trumpets of the priests, and followed by the benediction, which closed the service of the day. It was about the twelfth hour. But the flame continued long after it was dark to shoot up from the altar of burnt-offering, and even through the whole night the embers continued glimmering. The consecrated vessels were restored to their places: the whole course of Malchia had been in attendance this day, as it was the sabbath, but only a sixth part of them prepared themselves for service on the morrow. When all was finished in the temple, the priests prepared their meal and then laid themselves down to rest. So closed the first day of Helon’s sacerdotal life; his heart was agitated, as it had been at his first entrance into the land of his fathers; but the sanctity of the place forbade every violent expression of his emotions. He had become more serious, it might almost be said more manly; and his joy and gratitude, instead of dissipating themselves in words, seemed to reserve their energy for action and the fulfilment of duty. A new life seemed to have begun in the temple of Jehovah. As on the following day he attended the usual morning-sacrifice, although only as a spectator, he observed a woman who was undergoing the ceremony of purification after childbirth. She had bathed herself at home, first on the seventh and afterwards on the fortieth day, and she now brought to the temple a burnt-offering and a sin-offering—a lamb of the first year for the former, a turtle-dove for the latter.[74] The priest sprinkled her with the blood of the sin-offering, and she was purified, and praised the Lord, who had done great things for her, had preserved her own life, and had given a son into her arms. Helon beheld the ceremony with profound attention. The old man approached him, and after the rites of the morning-sacrifice were ended, turning to Helon, said to him, “Son of Adam, remember that for thee, too, a mother once offered a sin-offering and a burnt-offering.” ----- Footnote 74: Lev. xii. -----