The world of external nature is but the mirror which reflects to us what interests our feelings in the world of man. Helon had never looked on the beauties of nature with so true a relish for them, as now that they gave him back the image of his own fond hopes and gay imaginations; nor had he ever felt so deeply the impression of her awful scenes, as now when they harmonized so well with the trembling anxiety which chastised his hopes. On their return to the house they found all busy with preparations for the solemnity of the circumcision of Selumiel’s grandson, which was to take place on the following morning. At the third hour accordingly of the next day, a large company assembled in Selumiel’s house. Besides the two witnesses, who must be married persons of either sex, ten men were necessary, in whose presence the circumcision was to take place, and besides these had been invited the heads of all the courses of priests who lived in Jericho, the elders and the friends of Elisama. The family remembered the command of God to Abraham, when he spoke to him, and said, “This is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you, and thy posterity after thee: every male child among you shall be circumcised, when he is eight days old; and the uncircumcised male child shall be cut off from his people, because he hath broken my covenant.”[91] ----- Footnote 91: Gen. xvii. 9. ----- The rite was performed in the largest apartment of the house, and by the hand of the grandfather, in the presence of the whole assemblage. When the child was born and had been washed, rubbed with salt and wrapped in swaddling-clothes, the father had placed it on his bosom, as a sign that he acknowledged it as his own. He now fetched it from the apartment of the mother, who had been purified, by bathing, from the impurity of the first seven days after childbirth, and brought it to the room where the company was assembled. A psalm was sung, alluding to the covenant which God had made with his people Israel, and then the song of Moses after the deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The rite was then begun; in the midst of it, the father of the child said, “Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, king of the world, who hast sanctified us by thy precepts, and commanded us to enter into the covenant of Abraham.” Those who stood around replied, “Lord, as thou hast permitted this child to enter into the covenant of our father Abraham, grant also that he may enter into thy law, into the marriage-state, and into good works.” Selumiel then laid his hand upon the child’s head, and asked the father what its name should be. The name was commonly derived from the circumstances under which the child was born or circumcised. The father, in honour of the guests from Egypt, who were then present, replied, “His name shall be called Mizraim.” The grandfather then prayed, “O Lord our God, God of our fathers, strengthen this child and preserve him to his parents. His