These views may prepare the reader for con sidering the doctrine of the Great Teacher ' on the subject of loans. It is found forcibly expressed in Luke's Gospel (vi. 34, 35) : If ye lend to them ot whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again : but love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again ; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest ; for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.' The meaning of the passage is distinct and full, unmistakeable, and not to be evaded. He commands men to lend, not as Jews to Jews, but even to enemies, without asking nr receiving any return, after the manner of the Great I3enefactor of the Universe, who sends down his rains and bids his sun to shine on the fields of the unjust as well as of the just. To attempt to view this command in the light of reason and experience would require space which cannot here be given ; but we must add, that any attempt to explain the injunction away is most unworthy on the part of professed disciples of Christ ; and that, not impossibly at least, fidelity to the behests of Him whom we call Lord and Master would of itself answer all doubts and remove all misgivings, by practically shewing that this, as every other doctrine that fell from His lips, is indeed of God ( John vii. r7).—J. R. B.
LOCK. S,13,n ; xXeiOnov, sera (Neh. 3, 13, 14, 15 ; Cant .v. i)• Details of the mode ol fastening gates and doors in the East have been already given [DooR ; KEv]. The locks are com monly huge clumsy things of wood (Dr. Thomson, Land and Book, p. 317, speaks of one to a castle door, which,with its key, was almost a load for a camel), of which the accompanying sketch shews the nature. They consist of a bar (a) hollowed at one end to admit the key (6), and passing horizon tally through a groove (e) in a strong piece of wood (a) attached vertically to the inside of the door, into a hole in the door-post. In (d) are a number of movable metal pins (e) corresponding to holes drilled in the bar (f) into which they drop, and render it fast (fig. 2). The key (b) is a flat piece of wood with the same number of fixed metal pegs Cc) projecting from its upper surface, which when introduced into the end of the bar (as in fig. 3) raises the movable pegs (e), and allows the bar to be drawn back. These locks are placed on the in side of doors of gardens and courts, and sometimes even of inner rooms. A hole is cut in the door to allow the arm to be introduced to insert the key, which explains Cant. v. 4. The locks being easily picked, are sometimes, as an additional safeguard, plastered over with clay, on which a seal is im pressed (cf. Job xxxviii. 14).—E. V.