418 
RURAL HOURS. 
cent of our money each ; the Roman coin mentioned in the orig- 
inal being in value one cent and a half of our own copper, and 
two sparrows were sold for one of these, or, as St. Luke tells us, 
five sparrows were sold for two farthings. Sparrows are sup- 
posed to have been used in the temple for the ceremony of puri- 
fying from leprosy, and were sold for that purpose. This rite 
was a singular one : two birds were required ; one was killed with 
peculiar circumstances, the living bird dipped in its blood, and the 
blood then sprinkled seven times on the leper, after which the 
priest " shall pronounce him clean, shall let the living bird loose 
into the open field." The flying away of the live bird, with 
the blood upon him, is supposed to be a type of the Atonement, 
like the scape-goat driven into the wilderness with the curse for 
sin on his head. Singular and obscure as some of these old Jew- 
ish rites appear to the happier Christian, nothing can be more 
clear than that each became of high import and dignity from the 
moment it was appointed by Divine authority ; and if no common 
sparrow falls to the ground without our Father in heaven, cere- 
monies expressly ordained by Him, in which the humblest birds 
were employed as a means, must have been of grave importance, 
and blessed effect to all who faithfully kept them. It has been 
supposed, that after healing the leper, as recorded by St. Matthew, 
chapter viii., our Lord was pleased to order the man he had mi- 
raculously cured, to fulfill this same ceremony, when he bid him 
"Go show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift commanded by 
Moses." 
The sparrows of this continent differ more or less from those 
of the Old World, although, as a common, humble bird, their 
character is very similar. The European sparrow is, at times, mis- 
