1. The Sabbath was first and most important of the sacred festivals. The seventh day was so denominated from a Hebrew word signifying rest, because in it God had rested from his works of creation. From the beginning of the world it had been set apart for religious services; and by a special injunction it was afterwards observed by the Hebrews as a holy day. They were commanded to sanctify it for sacred purposes, in honour of God as their Creator, and likewise as a memorial of their redemption from slavery in Egypt.

2. The Daily Sacrifice. The sacrifices of the Hebrews were exceedingly numerous: bullocks, sheep, goats, pigeons, and turtle-doves, were the animals used by appointment of God for this purpose. "There were four sorts of sacrifices, as one alone was not sufficient to represent the adorable sacrifice of Jesus Christ."-Abbé Fleury. The sacrifices were of two general kinds; 1. Such as were offered in the way of atonement for sin; 2. Such as were designed to express gratitude to God for his mercies and blessings.

The daily sacrifice was very remarkable: it was a lamb without blemish, offered to God by fire, as an atonement for sin; one in the morning daily throughout the year, for the sins of the nation during the night, and another in the evening for their sins during the day. Before the act of sacrificing, the devoted victim had the sins of the whole nation confessed over it, by the officiating priest, and the guilt ceremonially transferred to the animal, by the representatives of the people laying their hands upon its head. It was then slain, and offered as a burntoffering for them: meanwhile the congregation worshipped in the court, and the priests burnt incense on the golden altars, making supplication for the people. the sabbath the sacrifice was double, two lambs being offered at each service, Exod. xxix. 38-42. Lev. vi. 9. Num. xxviii. 3-9.

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3. The Day of Atonement was distinguished with the most solenin annual sacrifice; at which, after the priest had offered a bullock, as an atonement for the sins of himself and his family, two goats were offered as an

atonement for the nation. The manner of the sacrifice was affecting and instructive. After the sins of the nation had been confessed over their heads by the high priest, one was slain and offered by fire, after the manner of the daily sacrifice: the other was taken, bearing the sins of the people, into the wilderness, to be seen no more, Lev. xvi. The form of confession, according to the Hebrew doctors, was, on the Day of Atonement, as follows: "O Lord, thy people, the house of Israel, have done wickedly; they have transgressed before thee; I beseech thee now, O Lord, pardon the sins, iniquities, and transgressions with which the people, the house of Israel, have sinned, done wickedly, and transgressed before thee, as it is written in the law of thy servant Moses: that in that day he shall make atonement for you, that he might becleanse you, and that you might be clean from all your iniquities before the Lord."—Godwyn.

Å form of confession at private sacrifices, is said to have been as follows: " Now, O Lord, I have sinned, I have committed iniquity, I have rebelled; but I return in repentance to thy presence, and be this my expiation.” -Dr. Outram.

4. The New Moons were observed with much solemn festivity; for which sacrifices were appointed, and the rejoicings were attended with the sounding of the silver trumpets by the priests, Num. x. 10. xxviii. 11—15.

The annual festivals were three, at which all the males of the nation, above twelve years of age, were required to present themselves before the Lord at his sanctuary, Deut. xvi. 16.

5. The Passover was the first of the annual Jewish festivals it was instituted to commemorate the wonderful preservation of the Hebrews, on the night of their deliverance from slavery, when the destroying angel slew the first-born of every Egyptian family, passing over the houses of the Israelites, their door-posts having been sprinkled with the blood of the paschal lamb, which was sacrificed in the evening. That night was the termination of the four hundred and thirty years of the sojourning of the Hebrews, from the time of Abraham, Gen. xv. 13, 14.

Exod. xii. 41, 42. It was the fourteenth day of the month Abib, answering to the beginning of our April; and which, from that event, became the chief of their months, and the commencement of their ecclesiastical year, which had not been before that time distinguished from the civil, Exod. xii. 2-18. xxiii. 15.

The passover was typical of our Saviour, and hence the apostle says, "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us," 1 Cor. v. 7. The spotless purity of his heart and life was prefigured by the paschal lamb, being without blemish. Christians are, therefore, redeemed not with "silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot," 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. As the Israelites were passed over and delivered by the shedding of the blood, and feeding upon the flesh of the paschal lamb,- -so the salvation of christians is enjoyed! by feeding, in faith, upon the flesh and blood of Christ, John vi. 52-62.

6. Pentecost is a Greek word signifying the fiftieth; this festival was so called because it was celebrated the fiftieth day after the second day of the passover. The feast of Pentecost was instituted to commemorate the giving of the law at Sinai, it being received fifty days after the deliverance from Egypt. It was called, also, the Feast of Harvest, as it was held at the close of the wheat harvest, the first fruits of which, in two loaves of fine flour, were presented to the Lord, with sacrifices, thanksgiving, and rejoicing. The public sacrifice was seven lambs of that year, one calf, and two rams for a burnt-offering; two lambs for a peace-offering, and a goat for a sin-offering, Lev. xxiii. 15—17.

It is worthy of observation, that this feast happened on the Lord's day that year in which our Saviour was crucified, when the apostles were miraculously endowed by the Holy Spirit to qualify them for establishing the kingdom of Christ, and when three thousand were at one time brought into his church.

7. The Feast of Tabernacles was held at the close of the whole harvest and vintage, Deut. xvi. 13. to acknowledge the bounty of God, in crowning the year with his

blessings. It was designed to commemorate the goodness of God in protecting the Israelites in the wilderness for which purpose during this feast they dwelt in booths formed of the boughs of trees, and in these they continued seven days, to remind them of their forefathers sojourning in the desert. The Feast of Tabernacles commenced on the fifteenth day of Tisri, which was the first month of the civil year, on the first of which a festival was held called the Feast of Trumpets, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, or of triumph and shouting for joy. It began the year; the tenth was the Day of Atonement, Lev. xxiii. 27. 34-43. Deut. xvi. 13-15.

8. The Sabbatical Year, the Jubilee or Year of Release, was every seventh year. As the sabbath day signified that the people were the Lord's, for which reason they abstained from their own work to do the work of the Lord; so the sabbatical year was intended to remind them that both they and their land belonged to the Lord. The observation of this festival consisted principally in two things. 1. In not tilling the ground or pruning the vine; whence the land was said to keep a Sabbath, Lev. xxv. 6. 2. In discharging all debtors and releasing all debts; from which it was called the Lord's Release, Deut. xv. 2-9. To remove all the fears of the timid, God promised to command his blessing upon the sixth year, that the land should bring forth the fruit of three years, Lev. xxv. 20—22. Religious instruction was to be particularly communicated to the servants and to the poor in this year of release, that the knowledge and fear of God might be preserved among the people, Deut. xxxi. 10-13.

9. The Great Jubilee, or Grand Sabbatical Year, was appointed to be held every fiftieth year, at the end of seven of the smaller jubilees. This was a year of general release, not only of all debts, but of all slaves and prisoners, and of all lands and possessions, whether they had been sold or mortgaged. This joyful period was announced in the evening after the solemn services of the day of atonement. This time was most wisely appointed; as the rich and the injured would be better prepared