of that visitation of Providence which is here re- | ferred to. engulphs. On it rushes with unaistinguishing and resistless speed, passing by none upon its course, pitying none, sparing none. From the infant at the mother's breast to the old man in se the mighty mass of waters. And hence the scenes of domestic distress which follow upon such a visitation are of no ordinary kind. There you see the husband lamenting for the desire of his eyes, or the wife left a widow, or parents bereaved of their children, or children made fatherless, or motherless, or orphans; and you hear a wail raised, like that from the land of Egypt on the night of the slaughter of the first-born, when there was not a house in which there was not one dead. 3. There is this other peculiarity in the ravages of a flood, like that which is here supposed, viz., that in its progress it is irresistibly powerful. It is this feature in the case which makes a sudden inundation one of the most appalling disasters with which humanity can be afflicted. Until it has spent its strength, man feels himself to be entirely powerless. So long as the fury of the torrent lasts, human skill and human prudence are altogether futile. And surely such a sight is well fitted to teach proud man, in these days of scientific eminence and splendid enterprise, that there are things in nature which he never can master. Man has taught himself to do much. He can traverse the pathless ocean he can rise as on wings to the sky-he can move with incredible velocity over the surface of the earth, and penetrate deep into its bowels-he can explore the wonders of the starry heavens he can subdue the violence of fire, and arrest its progress,—but let him endeavour to stop or restrain some raging flood, and it will mock his utmost efforts, and only fume and rage the more. On it speeds its rapid course, heedless of all intervening obstacles; and while thus advancing like a giant refreshed 1. The destruction caused by a flood is sudden. And this is a circumstance which adds, in no small degree, to the terrors of such a scene. No-|cond childhood,-all, all meet and are mingled in thing impresses more powerfully than contrast; and no contrast surely can be greater than the calm evening quiet of home, or the peaceful slumbers of night, invaded by the sudden inroad of a torrent of waters, foaming as if in fury, and roaring for their prey. And it is impossible to conceive of any circumstances more affecting than those, in which so many families in this place were thus overtaken by this dire calamity. It is the last night of the closing week, when the bustle and toils of other six days are over, when in wellregulated Christian families the scene has been renewed, which has been so touchingly pourtrayed by one of the greatest of our poets, and the collected inmates have, in sweet converse, been anticipating the repose and peace of another Sabbath day. Many have already retired to rest, the industrious, but now weary labourer, the little child, overcome with the fatigues of what is to him the most toilsome of days the day of play; these, and many others, are locked, as if secure, in the arms of sleep, but it is a sleep out of which they are doomed never to awake in this world, for ere they are aware of their danger, they have slept the sleep of death; others are engaged at the close of the busiest night of the week in counting their gains, when in a moment they lose their all here, and their soul is required of them; others, perhaps, forgetting the Master's solemn admonition, are allowing themselves to be overcharged with surfeiting or drunkenness, and so that night -that awful night-comes upon them unawares. It is the very scene so graphically described by the lip of truth: "As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days of Noah, they were eating and drink-with new wine, or a hero rejoicing to run a race, ing, marrying and giving in marriage, (that is, entirely engrossed with the affairs of this present life,) and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Now, if you combine together these different man be. In that night there shall be two men in ideas, viz., that a flood presents the image of cerone bed; the one shall be taken and the other left. tain destruction-that in its approach it is sudTwo women shall be grinding at the mill; the one den-in its ravages indiscriminate-in its proshall be taken and the other left. Two men shall be gress irresistible, you will perceive with what in the field; the one shall be taken and the other propriety it is here employed as an emblem of left. Watch therefore; for ye know not at what death. Is a flood destructive? Death is dehear your Lord shall come, whether at even, or at struction as to the body, and if the soul be unmidnight, or at cock-crowing, or in the morning." pardoned and unholy, death is everlasting destruc2. The destruction which is caused by a flood tion to both. Is a flood sudden in its approach? is as indiscriminate as it is sudden. Wherever And how seldom does death give warning? or if the flood spreads, it leaves some traces of its ra- warnings be given, how seldom are they undervages. In this respect, indeed, like that death, stood, or heeded, or improved? Men will still whose fit instrument we have seen it to be, it has whisper to themselves" Peace and safety!" at no respect of persons or of property. It will en- the moment when swift destruction is upon them, ter kings' palaces as readily as the hovels of the even while their Maker is changing their countepoor; it will assail the crowded streets and densely-nance and sending them away. Is a flood indispeopled lanes of a city equally with the lonely tenants of the sequestered vale. And it is no less indiscriminating as to the victims whom it the puny mortals who stand trembling beside the mighty rushing waters, are made to feel their utter impotence against the terrible works of God. criminate in its ravages? And whom, then, does death spare? What age, or sex, or condition, or character? Is it the young? Why then yonder infant's grave? Is it beauty? Why then is that once blooming face now covered with ashy paleness, and wherefore are those once bright and sparkling eyes now glazed, and fixed, and motionless? Is it the rich? Why then that gorgeous train of mourners, as if designed to give lustre to death, and splendour to the grave? All lie down indiscriminately in the same dust, and the same worms revel on them at their pleasure. Finally, is a flood irresistibly powerful? And what mortal can vanquish death? What man hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit, or what man hath power in the day of death? Who of the children of Adam was ever discharged scatheless in that war? With the same ease with which he casts forth the beggar on the dunghill, he consigns the many-crowned emperor to the burial-place of his fathers. No bribe can corrupt-no power can stay him. He is a king-the king of terrors! But though death be the inevitable lot of all, yet, blessed be God! there is another aspect under which it may be viewed, and according to which, instead of being a destroyer, it becomes the harbinger of eternal life and peace. The flood of death, however dark and dismal in the prospect, does, in the end, gently waft the Christian to the shores of bliss. And, surrounded as we are with such scenes of human misery and human mortality, what better can we do than simply set before you yet again the Gospel of the once-dead, but now ever-living One, which will impart to the souls of believers, in circumstances the most trying to flesh and blood, "everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace?" When the enemy shall come in like a flood,-what enemy it matters not, be it guilt, or temptation, or depravity, or Satan, or the world, or affliction, or persecution, or death,-when the enemy shall come in like a flood, suddenly, impetuously, and, as it might seem, irresistibly, then the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against it. He will suggest the word of promise, "Surely in the floods of great waters, they shall not come nigh unto thee:" and shall not faith reply, "Thou art my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance?" Shall not faith sing, "The floods have lifted up, O Lord; the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea than the mighty waves of the sea?" Shall not faith shout, "The Lord sitteth upon the floods; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever. The Lord will give strength to his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace!" Amen. SUFFERINGS OF THE CREW OF THE VIEWFORTH BY THE REV. J. THOMSON, One of the Ministers of Dysart. THE departure of a whale ship is, to a reflecting mind, a solemn event. The circumstance of so many human beings leaving their families and homes, to which they may never return, and encountering the dangers of the deep, is well fitted to lead all who are interested in their spiritual welfare to serious consideration, and dispose them to lift up their hearts to God, in prayer, on behalf of these mariners. Would that this duty were suitably attended to! I deem it of much importance, also, that the feelings awakened by such an event be laid hold of by those ministers of whose congregations seamen form a part, that they may address to them a parting word, on the things that belong to their peace, and commit them to God, ere they enter on the scene of their perils and privations. I have been led to this remark by what was experienced by the pious portion of the crew of the Viewforth. On the eve of their departure, they were addressed from these words, "The Lord is at hand." And, truly, the Lord was at hand, not only to inspect their conduct, and to keep alive on their also to hear their prayers, to sustain their faith, and minds a sense of their dependence and responsibility, but animate their hopes, amidst the great and accumulated evils which it was their lot to endure; and, finally, to work out for them a deliverance as marvellous, I do believe, as any recorded in the page of nautical history. The Viewforth sailed from Kirkaldy on the 2d day of April, 1835, with a crew of fifty men. All on board was bustle and animation. I doubt not, however, that a pang of sorrow was felt by our brave and kind-hearted mariners as they passed along our shores, and took a last view of the scene of their spiritual privileges, and domestic comforts. Let us now follow them, as they proceeded towards the region of their great and unworthy of particular notice during the first part of their looked for hardships. They met with no occurrence voyage. I beg therefore to conduct my readers to that stage of their eventful narrative which introduces them to our view, as struggling with the formidable obstacles which opposed them, while endeavouring to push their We way to the usual fishing ground in Davis' Straits. sail, lying at an iceberg, on the north side of Hare Isfind them, on the 11th of June, in company with forty land, a position which may be easily ascertained by a reference to one of the recent charts of the Arctic Sea. While there, the ice suddenly broke up, and immediately the whole fleet was under weigh, and proceeded to Four Island Point, where their progress was arrested for a considerable time. The season, even at that early period, was exceedingly unpropitious. The ice, in immense fields, lay unbroken before them, and seemed to bid defiance to all their endeavours to advance. I quote a passage from Mr -'s journal, in proof of this statement. Aug. 31.-" These three weeks past we have been still using our endeavours to get to the north. We are now in Brodie's Bay, in company with the Jane and Middleton. I have been ashore on the top of a high hill, and saw nothing but ice. We are now completely hemmed in, and cannot move to any great dis tance. Without detailing their proceedings towards the fishing station, suffice it to say, that, by using great exerside of the Straits, northwards, until they reached a tions, they succeeded in navigating the ship, on the east high latitude. Finding it impracticable to proceed in that direction, they returned by the same tract southwards, and then turned towards the west side of the Straits, where they hoped to meet with the objects of their pursuit. But there they were doomed to experience another proof of the vanity of human expectations. On the 30th of September, they were completely beset in latitude 68° 30′, in company with the Jane of Hull, and the Middleton of Aberdeen. This is the memorable period from which we are to date the commencement of their frightful perils. And when I state, that it was not till the 30th of January the Viewforth was rescued from the alarming condition in which she was held, after the ice began to break up, through the violence of the gales of wind which raged so furiously for days and weeks together, my readers will be prepared to admit, that nothing short of the power of Jehovah could have preserved the frail bark and her gallant crew from the imminent danger to which they were exposed. That we may form some idea of the sufferings and dangers of the subjects of this narrative, let us advert to the situation in which they were placed on the 30th of September. To be frozen in at any time, or in any place, is unpleasant to the feelings of seamen. They dislike an inactive life. Give them an open sea, and an opportunity of prosecuting their avocation, and they are in their element. But the circumstances in which the crew of the Viewforth were now situated, were, even in the absence of any immediate danger, calculated to awaken very serious apprehensions. Supposing them, at this advanced period of the year, to cast a wistful look homewards, an unbroken field of ice, to the extent of about three hundred miles, lay between them and the navigable sea,-the days were getting very short, a winter of unprecedented severity was setting in,-fuel, and provision, were fast diminishing. What a dreary prospect must theirs have appeared, when, with the knowledge of these facts, they gazed on the interminable plain now stretched out before them, and saw no possibility of escape! Before entering on the painful narrative of their sufferings, it may not be uninteresting to glance at the scenery by which they were at this time surrounded, while the elements of nature were in a state of repose. Perhaps there is no place in the whole world, where the sublime and the beautiful are seen to so great advantage as in the Arctic regions. Mr thus describes a night scene, which filled his mind with wonder and delight. Dec. 2.—“I have just come off the deck, after enjoying a walk contemplating the moonlit scenery. The evening is most beautiful; not a cloud, or speck, is to be seen in the serene sky. It is beyond the power of mortal man to conceive the scene that now surrounds us the very land seems sunk in repose, and appears to rest more heavily on its foundations. Let a person conceive himself standing in the centre of an immense plain-let him look around him as far as the eye can penetrate, and he sees it filled with innumerable hills and hillocks of ice, whiter than marble, and of the most grotesque shapes imaginable. Such is our situation." icicles in every possible form of crystallization reflected the hues of light in infinite variety and beauty, giving the whole the appearance of being set with the choicest gems; mountains of purest alabaster hid their heads in the clouds, as if ashamed of the disorder that had so lately reigned; and innumerable ravines, stretching as far as the eye could reach, carried the thoughts to the very outskirts of creation." I can easily conceive that some enthusiastic admirer of nature, while he allows his fancy to dwell on such scenes as these, may be disposed to think that the Arctic regions, so far from being fraught with all that is unfriendly to human life, constitute a paradise of refined and varied enjoyments. And, certainly, it would be undutiful in us, while contemplating the wonderful works of God, not to acknowledge that there is not a spot in our world, fallen though it be, which does not bear some evidence of his goodness, as well as of his wisdom and power. Even in the most dreary and inhospitable climes, he has not left himself without a witness. Thus the mariner who navigates the Polar Sea, is constantly reminded, by what he beholds around him, that God is there, and that the command that bids him remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, and all the other precepts of revelation, are just as binding upon his conscience, amidst these distant regions, as when it is his lot to dwell in the land of Gospel ordinances. THE JEWISH FEAST OF TABERNACLES. BY THE REV. R. S. CANDLISH, A.M., Minister of St. George's Church, Edinburgh. Leviticus xxiii. 42; Zechariah xiv.; John vii.; Revelations xxi. THE Feast of Tabernacles, or Booths, was, in its original institution, very simple and expressive. It was one of the three great yearly festivals at which the attendance of the males among the Jews was required at Jerusalem. These were the Feast of Passover, or of unleavened bread; the Feast of Pentecost, or of weeks, or of harvest, or day of first-fruits; and the Feast of Tabernacles, or of ingathering. Each of these feasts had a threefold significancy, referring to the past, the present, and the future. They were all of them standing memorials of events of the early Jewish history; they were devout acknowledgments of the bounty of the passing year; and they were types of the better things of Messiah's better dispensation. Nor is even the season of darkness without its First of all came the Passover, in the first month of wonders. The meteors that are frequently beheld the ecclesiastical, or the seventh of the political year, there surpass in variety, and brilliancy, and gran- (for the beginning of the year was reckoned differently deur, the power of description. To give an instance: for civil and for sacred purposes,) according to our mode December 18.-" It was my first watch to-night. I of reckoning, early in April. The primary design of the went up for a moment or two on deck, and saw a re- Passover was to commemorate the signal deliverance markable phenomenon. It was pitch dark. In a mo- of the Israelites, through the shedding of the blood of ment, there was a bright luminous arch shot around the lamb, and the sprinkling of it on the door-posts, on the sky to the N. W. of W., brighter than a hundred the night on which the first-born of Egypt were demoons. I could see to lift a pin off the deck. It was stroyed. At the same time, the barley, which in Pain the form of a rainbow, and lasted about four minutes, lestine ripens much earlier than other crops, being then when it disappeared, and left nothing but darkness and ready for the sickle, a sheaf of barley harvest was offergloom. It was really a grand and imposing sight; I ed in thankfulness to Him who giveth the early and never saw any thing equal to it. Indeed, just now, the latter rain. While the paschal lamb, slain in sacriwhen we have no moon, and the sun but only a short fice, prefigured the Lamb of God, who taketh away the time, it would be a prolonged, gloomy, tedious dark- sin of the world, shedding his precious blood on the ness, if it were not for those luminous streaks that cross; and the single barley sheaf, presented as the every now and then shoot through the wintry sky." pledge of harvest, not unfitly typified the resurrection Nor must we omit to state, that the scenery during of the Lord Christ, as the Righteous One, the first-born day is occasionally no less interesting; an example of of many brethren. The seed put into the ground-that which may be given, as described in Mr -'s pub- which was sown, according to the figure of the Apostle lished journal: Nov. 2.-" The night was dreadful; Paul, had then born ripe grain, when Christ was raised but next morning revealed a scene of unparalleled love- from the dead, the pledge of his Church's salvation. liness and grandeur. The storm was hushed into a perfect calm, not a breath of wind stirred the air, and all around lay in delightful repose. A mantle of virgin snow covered the icy plains, hills, and valleys; Fifty days being counted from the Feast of the Passover, brought round the second feast, that of Pentecost, or of weeks, which fell on the ninth civil, or third sacred month, answering nearly to the latter part of our month of May. This feast celebrated the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, and the first establishment of the Old Testament Church among the Jews. The grain, also, being now generally matured, the first-fruits of the wheat harvest, in bread made of new corn, were solemnly presented, with a set form of thanksgiving, to God. In its typical sense, this feast of weeks had reference to the first promulgation of the Gospel, and the gathering in of the first-fruits of the Church of Christ, on the memorable day of Pentecost. Last of all, after an interval of nearly four months, in the seventh month of the sacred, or first of the civil year, about our month of September, came the Feast of Tabernacles. This feast, like the others, had a retrospective meaning. In it, " the children of Israel were commanded to dwell in booths seven days, (Levit. xxiii. 42, 43,) that their generations might know that God made them dwell in booths when he brought them out of the land of Egypt,"-himself dwelling in a tabernacle in the midst of them. These booths, as Nehemiah tells us, (viii. 15,) were commonly erected with branches of trees, on the flat tops of the houses, or on vacant spaces in the streets. Further, this feast, like the rest, was a thanksgiving for a present blessing. The harvest being now secured, and the vintage also completed, having gathered in the fruit of the land, they were to keep the feast, hence called the feast of ingathering, to the Lord, " taking to them boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees and willows of the brook, and so they were to rejoice before the Lord their God," who had now crowned the year with his goodness. It must have been a gay and gorgeous scene of nature's own pageantry, that Jerusalem at this season presented, as if the gaudy splendour of human architecture were, for the time, all superseded by the richer verdure of that more than royal beauty, in which God clothes the grass of the field-the houses, everywhere crowned with green and flourishing forest shades, springing, as it might seem, from the very roofs; the streets thronged with thick masses of foliage, tinged with all the varied and burnished depth of autumnal luxuriance, as daily processions passed endlessly along, almost realizing the fancy of the wild woods being in motion to dispossess man of the domain that seems peculiarly his own. And amid all this sudden breaking forth of the glory of Lebanon, instead of the bare stones of a closely built town, the people, fresh from the reaping of all their fields, kept a glad and grateful harvest home, blessing the Lord for all his loving-kindness, for the peace and plenty which they enjoyed in the good land which he had given them. So joyous were they on that happy occasion, that it passed into a proverb among the Jews, that whosoever had not witnessed this Feast of Tabernacles, knew not what joy was. Nor were the recollections which the solemnity brought with it, at all likely to damp their simple festive joy, or mar their relish of present blessings. They could not but feel all the more the signal privilege which they now possessed, dwelling in a country of their own, and preparing cities for habitation, sowing their own fields and planting their own vineyards which yielded fruits of increase, when they thought of their fathers, as strangers and pilgrims, pitching their tents in the dreary desert. They would remember, too, that the very appointment to pitch their tents in the desert, was itself, at the time, a special mercy to their nation, being the consummation of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, and the pledge and foretaste of all the subsequent favours which a faithful God had conferred on them. They could enter into the joy with which their ancestors-hastily driven out of Egypt, and hotly pursued and pressed by their oppressors,-after the terrors of their flight, and the wonders of their passage through the Red Sea, having just escaved the fury of their foes, and seen Pharaoh and his captains laid low, not by their own arm, but by the Lord's mighty power-would welcome and hail the breathing time allowed them, when their tabernacles were at last set down in the wilderness. Above all, it could not be forgotten, that when the Lord made his people to dwell in tabernacles, He consented to dwell himself in a tabernacle in the midst of them, and that, too, even after the signal provocation of the golden calf. On the intercession of Moses, he pardoned their iniquity, and still dwelt among them, shining on them with the light of his countenance, bringing water for them out of the flinty rock, and leading them forth by a right way. This last recollection and retrospect, as it rushed on the minds of the worshippers at this feast, must have mingled a little sadness with their mirth; especially during the later age of their existence as a nation, when the Glory having departed from the temple, and the prophetic Spirit from their teachers, they mourned an empty shrine, and, as it seemed, an absent God. Their regret in looking to the past, they naturally sought to soothe, by hope in looking to the future; and, accordingly, as the years of their desertion rolled on, and especially as the advent of their Messiah seemed to be drawing near, they probably dwelt more on the prospective, or typical, character of the festival. And in this they did well. For this feast, like the other two, had undoubtedly respect to the dispensation of the latter times, as the Prophet Zechariah not obscurely intimates in the 14th chapter of his book, to which we request our readers to turn. Let us trace the thread of Zechariah's prophecy, as we may now, by the light of the Gospel, interpret it. In chapter xiii. 7, we have a prediction which our Lord himself has taught us to apply to the circumstances of his own death. In going out to the Mount of Olives from the chamber where he ate the passover and instituted the ordinance of the supper, "Jesus said to his disciples, All ye shall be offended because of me this night, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad." Having this key furnished by the Lord himself, we proceed confidently and safely, in unlocking and decyphering this oracle. In the first clause of verse 7, we find the mystery of Christ's atoning death-the sword of divine justice, sheathed in the breast of him, who, as the eternal Son, is co-equal with the Father: "Awake, O Sword, against my Shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts." Then follows the consequence of the Lord's death in the dispersion of his followers at the time, and the persecution of his disciples afterwards Smite the Shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn mine hand against my little ones." The 8th and 9th verses we cannot help regarding as a prediction of the desolation which soon overtook the Jews. "And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God." The third part, spoken of, verse 9, as tried and refined like silver by fire, and as calling on the name of the Lord, and being called his people, may well denote those of whom the Apostle Paul speaks, when he says, "Hath God cast away Israel?" nay, this very time," even the time of their rejection, “there is a remnant according to the election of grace"-(Rom. xi. 1 and 5.)—the converted Jews to whom the Apostle Peter addresses his epistle, saying, almost in the very same words with the prophet, "For a season ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations; that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might at be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ: whom having not seen, ye love." (1 Peter, i. 6, 7.) The two-thirds appointed to be cut off and to die, verse 8, too obviously represent the multitude of unbelieving Jews, on whom the judgment of God, by the hand of the Romans, fell. 37 Following this scheme of interpretation, verses 1 and 2 of chapter xiv. may refer to the destruction of the Jews, by Titus, at the head of an army composed of men of all nations, over whom the Romans then ruled. Verse 2, "I will gather all nations against thee. And it is intimated that the numbers of the Jews, already lessened incalculably by the previous calamities and by the wasting war, should be, on the spoiling of the city, still farther reduced;-one-half going into captivity, and the miserable remnant lingering on, as outcasts in their own city. Or, we may consider the account of the Roman judgment and its devastating effects to be finished at the close of the 13th chapter, and refer the beginning of the 14th to a period yet future. We may explain it according to the not improbable idea | of the old expounders of prophecy :-that there is to be, just before the latter-day glory, a partial gathering of the Jews, still unconverted, into their own land:-that these shall recover and rebuild their city, but shall again fall beneath the onset of the great Infidel Antichristian confederacy. For it is a prevalent notion of the Fathers, that in Palestine the Infidel Antichrist is to put forth his last effort and meet with his final success, which, however, shall be of short duration,-He being then at hand, who is to consume him with the Spirit of his mouth and destroy him with the brightness of his coming. However this may be, on either view of the first two verses of chapter xiv., they leave Jerusalem a desolation, and the Jews dispersed; and it is plain, that at the 3d verse the scene is suddenly changed. The Lord arises to have mercy upon Zion, for "the time to favour her, yea, the set time is come." (Verse 3,)" Then shall the Lord go forth to fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle." The remaining part of this prediction being still future, is not to be interpreted in detail. The attempt is rash, and can lead only to conjectures and fancies almost sure to be disappointed by the event. We may not determine the precise kind of interposition that is here ascribed to the Lord, or say Low He is to appear and conduct the warfare for his people. The particulars of unfulfilled prophecy must, for the most part, stand over for explanation till the event comes, or at least, till coming, it casts its shadow before. Meantime it is the Church's duty to give heed to the sure word of prophecy, as a light shining in a dark place, and to seize upon its broad outline, and hold fast its great principles, for the fixing of her hope and the cherishing of her desires after the Glory that is to be revealed. In general, then, we have in this chapter a plain assurance of Israel's restoration to his own land, and his old pre-eminence over the nations. And we have, moreover, the fullest confirmation of the Apostle Paul's reasoning concerning his rejected brethren: "If the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness." "If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the recovery of them be, but life from the dead?" life, new life, to the Church and to the world. The triumph of Judah is most evidently represented by Zechariah, as a new era of joy, and love, and union to all mankind. (Verse 9,) "The Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one." It is a time of peace, and of brotherly kindness. The mountain of the Lord is exalted on the tops of the mountains, and unto it all nations flow. The Jews are bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles. Jerusalem is again the centre of pure faith, the city of the Great King, the joy of the whole earth. Again is there a festival held there, a high and holy Feast. And that Feast, what is it? and who are they who celebrate it? It cannot be the feast of the Passover. For the paschal lamb, the Lamb of God, is slain long ago, and the single sheaf of barley is long ago offered--the One only Righteous has long ago risen, as the first begotten of the dead,-the first ripe grain springing from the seed cast into the earth. It cannot be the Feast of Pentecost. The first preaching of the Gospel, like the giving of the law, is long past, and the first-fruits of the Church were gathered in when Peter preached, and three thousand, pricked in their hearts, were converted. Can it be the Feast of Tabernacles? Yes, it is no other, for Israel's redemption is complete. The people have come out of bondage, they may pitch their tents in safety. And the harvest is complete, the vintage is over, the ripe grain is gathered, the red and mellow fruit is gleaned. It is the rich and full autumn of the Gospel Church. And in the holy city, the new Jerusalem, the joyous multitude may carry branches of immortal bloom throughout the streets, and raise the exulting shout of harvest home, far higher than ever Jews of old were wont to do on this festival of noisy gladness. For it is the Feast of Tabernacles now at last fulfilling the type presented in the wilderness. The deliverance is secured; the victory is gained; the enemy is overthrown; and when the tents are pitched, THE LORD AGAIN IS IN THE MIDST. For hear the prophecy of John, (Rev. xxi. 2, 3,) “I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." THE TABERNACLE OF GOD IS AGAIN WITH MEN. Well, therefore, may the Feast of Tabernacles be again joyfully kept, year by year, continually. And the whole earth is now concerned to join with Israel in keeping it, for it is the universal harvest home. Wherefore the Prophet Zechariah well says, verse 16, " And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES." To be concluded in our next. CHRISTIAN TREASURY. Love to Ourselves and Others.-Nature bids me love myself, and hate all that hurt me; reason bids me love my friends, and hate those that annoy me; religion bids me love all, and hate none. Nature sheweth care; reason, wit; religion, love. Nature may induce me, reason persuade me, but religion shall rule me. I will hearken to nature in much, to reason in more, to religion in all. Nature shall make me careful of myself, but hateful to none; reason shall make me wise for myself, but harmless to all; religion shall make me loving to all, but not careless of myself. I subscribe to some things in all, to all things in religion.-WARWICK. Faith. Faith is the sensory of the spiritual nature, the medium of contact and intercourse with the objects of a spiritual world. It is the eye, the ear, the touch, the taste, the smell, by which we see, and hear, and feel, and taste, and savour the unseen objects most nearly interesting to our souls. How easy in this view is it to account for the importance which we find attached to Faith; without it we cannot please, we cannot so much as apprehend God or a spiritual world, any more than without our bodily senses we could ascertain the properties, or so much as perceive the exist ence of the material world.-II. |