the Sabbath in commemoration of the work of creation— they offered sacrifices to typify the great work of atonement, which was in the fulness of time to be accomplished, by the sufferings and death of the Lamb of God; and beyond this we have no account of any further ritual of worship observed among them.

The close of the first or patriarchal, and the opening of the second or Jewish dispensation, with the whole intervening period, were marked by a general apostacy or forsaking of the true God for the corruptions of idolatry. Sabaisin, or the worship of the sun, moon, and starshero-worship, or the apotheosis of departed kings, warriors, legislators, and other distinguished personages, who were exalted to the rank of gods-or Pantheism, under which every object of nature, even the lowest and vilest, were worshipped,-every where prevailed among the nations. From the midst of this all-engrossing ignorance and idolatry, God was pleased to call A'braham, and to promise that from his race the Messi'ah should spring, and that thus in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. With the exception of the rite of circumcision, and the circumstance of withdrawing him from the land of his birth, we find no special rule of life imposed upon A'braham or his immediate descendants. The ritual observed by A'braham, I'saac, and Jacob, appears to have had much of the simplicity of the patriarchal dispensation; and it was not till their seed had multiplied to a great nation, and begun to be corrupted with the idolatries of the nations around them, that the law, with all its rites and ceremonies, was erected as a barrier to resist the encroachments of superstition and idolatry; to preserve and transmit from age to age, the knowledge and worship of the true God; and above all, to prepare the world for the coming of Christ-and the introduction of that more perfect and abiding dispensation which he was to establish. By the covenant established at Sinai, a three-fold institute was presented to the people: first, the Moral Law contained in the Ten Commandments, and designed to teach, not only the Israelites, but all mankind, the duties which they owe to God and to one another; secondly, the Ceremonial or Ritual Law, embody

ing a typical representation of the great truths of salva tion; and lastly, the Civil or Political law, regulating the administration of temporal affairs, and drawing a line of demarcation around the Jewish nation, which seemed effectually to separate and distinguish them from every other race.

But whilst the moral law was designed to be of universal and perpetual obligation, the ceremonial law, being merely an adumbration or shadow of the Gospel, was designed to be temporary. All its various oblations had an evident typical reference to the sacrifice of Christ, and the atonement made by his blood for the sins of the world. Even the reverence shown for the temple, as the place where Deity was manifested, and to which the tribes went up; and towards which the Israelite, wherever he sojourned in a foreign land, still turned his face, while he offered up his private devotions, was a recognition of the honour and confidence due to the great Mediator, through whom alone our prayers can find acceptance with God. The office and duties of the high-priest, particularly on the great day of atonement, when he entered into the Most Holy Place, not without blood, has been so fully applied to Christ, by the inspired writer of the epistle to the Hebrews, that we cannot find a more instructive description of the design and uses of the Jewish dispensation, than in that magnificent epistle, on this and the other subjects which it embraces. The Paschal Lamb was, in so many respects, typical of the Lamb who taketh away the sins of the world, that even the most incredulous must be astonished at the minuteness to which the similarity extends. The Church in the wilderness constitutes so vivid and picturesque a representation of the progress of believers towards the eternal world, the pilgrims towards the spiritual Ca'naan, that nothing can be more pathetic, nothing more instructive, and nothing more fitted, at once, to afford both warning and encouragement, to beget distrust in ourselves, and confidence towards God.

With regard to the Political Institutions of the Jews, we shall only remark, that, the distinct allocation of the land to particular tribes and families, to whom it belonged in perpetuity-the institution of the year of jubilce, when

a general release took place, both of individuals who had been reduced to a state of slavery for debt, and also of property which had been alienated-the payment of tithe, for the maintenance of the tribe of Le'vi, and the general support of religion and education-the laws respecting ceremonial purity, and the constant attention required to prevent the violation of them; the necessity of males and heads of families repairing to Jerusalem three times a-year to worship at the public solemnities:-these, and a variety of others, were designed to make the Jews more exclusive and less disposed to mingle with the inhabitants of the surrounding states, than, perhaps, has ever been the case with any other nation. In short, the design of the whole Law-moral, ceremonial, and political-was ultimately one and the same. It was to reveal Christ as the object of faith to all who lived under it. It was also to prepare for the Gospel dispensation, and in some sense to constitute a foundation on which this great and glorious superstructure might be erected. The Ceremonial Law lost its significance when the object which it prefigured was accomplished by the death of Christ. The Political Law also ceased to be binding, when the Jews ceased to be a separate and independent nation. But the Moral Law continues to be of universal and everlasting obligation, because the duties which the creatures of God owe to him, and to one another, can never have an end. This seems to have been indicated by their being written by the finger of God himself on the two tables of stone, whereas the civil and ceremonial laws were only communicated to Moses, to be delivered by him to the children of Israel.

Lectures on the Jews, by the Ministers of Glasgow.

IX. Festivals of the Jews.

THE Feasts of the Pass'over, of Pen'tecost, and of Tab'ernacles, were the three principal Festivals observed under the law; and they were times of real joy and festiv ity. As all the male inhabitants throughout the country were required on these occasions to go up to Jerusalem,

and the females also permitted to accompany them if they chose, the concourse was generally very great. These religious assemblies, besides commemorating important events in their history, also subserved other important purposes. They kept them steadfast to their religion by the view of ceremonies, and the majesty of divine service; they afforded the means of religious instruction, for the law of God was then read and explained; and they served moreover to renew the acquaintance and friendship of tribes and families, who from all parts of the country thus met three times in the year in the holy city.

The PASSOVER was instituted to commemorate the departure out of Egypt, because on the night preceding that departure, the destroying angel who slew the first-born of the Egyptians passed over the houses of the Hebrews, they being marked with the blood of the Lamb, which for this reason was called the Paschal Lamb. It was cele brated on the 14th day of the first month of the ecclesiastical year (March), and lasted seven days. A lamb, or if that could not be found, a kid, without blemish, was killed, roasted, and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The first Passover was eaten with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staves in their hands, that they might be in readiness for their journey, circumstances which were not observed in its celebration after the Exodus.

The Feast of PENTECOST was celebrated on the fiftieth day after the Passover, and was a feast of thanksgiving to the Lord, wherein they acknowledged his dominion over their country and their labours, by offering to him two loaves, as the first fruits of all their harvests. It also commemorated the giving of the law from Mount Si'nai fifty days after their departure from Egypt. The Hebrews counted seven weeks from the Passover, beginning on the second day of that solemnity, and hence called it the Feast of Weeks; but by the Christians it was called Pentecost, a name which signifies the Fiftieth Day. It was on the day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit was poured out from the ascended Saviour upon his apostles, qualifying them with miraculous gifts for establishing the New Testament kingdom.

The Feast of TABERNACLES was instituted as a memorial of their fathers having dwelt in tents for forty years during the passage through the wilderness. It was kept in the first month of the civil year (September), and lasted eight days, the first and seventh being the most solemn. During its continuance they lived in booths, tents, or arbours, constructed of the branches and leaves of trees. On the first day they cut down branches of the handsomest trees, with their fruit, which they carried in ceremony to the synagogue. Holding in their right hand a branch of a palm-tree, three branches of myrtle, and two of willow, tied together, and having in their left hand a citron and its fruit, they waved them towards the four quarters of the world, singing songs, and crying Hosanna!

These were the three great Festivals at which all the males were required to go up to Jerusalem to worship. "Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles." Deut. xvi. 16; Ex. xxxiv. 23.

Many other solemnities were observed by the Jews. The Sabbath or rest was instituted when God rested on the seventh day from the work of creation; and the precept was renewed to the Hebrews at Ma'rah, ere yet the decalogue had been given from Si'nai. It was kept from sun-set on Friday to sun-set on Saturday. The feast of Trumpets was celebrated on the first day of their civil year (September), its commencement being proclaimed by sound of Trumpet, and the day was kept solemn, all business being forbidden, and certain sacrifices appointed to be offered. There were also their new moons or first days of every month, which were also proclaimed by sound of trumpet; the law, however, did not oblige the people to rest on these days, though it appointed particular sacrifices. Every seventh year was to the Jews a sabbatical year; and we find that Alexander the Great granted them an exemption from tribute on that year, on account of the rest which they then observed. After seven weeks or Sabbaths of years; that is, after seven times seven years, the great Festival of the JUBILEE was celebrated; and during the whole year they neither sowed nor reaped.