mind, and he felt it to be his duty to use all the means he could command to effect a reconciliation between the two countries. With this view he published, anonymously, in 1776, an additional dissertation on the war, which is regarded, by his biographer, as one of the ablest and most argumentative of all the author's political tracts." The subject was followed up in the course of the same year, in a tract directed chiefly to the religious view of the question. In September 1754 Dr Erskine was deprived, by | The subject, for some time, completely occupied his death, of one of his most valued friends, Mr John Maclaurin of Glasgow-a man whose eminent talents, and high attainments, and genuine worth, have handed down his name with honour to the present day. The loss of this eminent individual was deeply felt; but such was the estimation in which Dr Erskine was held in Glasgow, that the kirk-session of the parish, and the general session of the city, immediately sent him an invitation to occupy the place which had thus become vacant. This, however, from some cause or other, he declined, and continued every day to recommend himself more highly by his conduct, both as a Christian and a Christian minister, to the esteem and affection of his people at Culross. It was to be expected, however, that a man of such acknowledged talents as Dr Erskine possessed, would be promoted to a high station in the Church. In the autumn of 1758, accordingly, he was translated to the New Greyfriars' Church, Edinburgh; and being thus called to occupy a more prominent place than he had hitherto done, the astonishing vigour of his mind became more readily apparent. His discourses were characterised by a grasp of thought, and a clearness of illustration, which rendered him one of the most accept-❘ able preachers of his day. In the multifarious duties of a city clergyman he was most exemplary and indefatigable. Such was the decision of his character, that he would in very few cases allow any thing short of complete necessity to withdraw him from his duty. He seems to have regulated the distribution of his time by a systematic arrangement, to which he endeavoured most rigidly to adhere. In the midst of his varied employments he mixed a great deal in society; and such was the cheerfulness and affability of his dispositions, as well as the artless simplicity and kindliness of his manners, that his company was courted by all who enjoyed the pleasure of his acquaintance. As a mark of the high estimation in which he was held, he received, in 1766, an unsolicited degree of doctor in divinity from the University of Glasgow. In the minute of the Faculty which conferred it, an encomium is passed on his "undoubted probity, ingenuity, and learning." Before receiving this well merited honour, he had published a volume of Theological Dissertations, two of which had already appeared at an earlier period of his life. He had also entered with lively interest into the controversy which had for some years been carried on, with the utmost keenness, between Mr Wesley and Mr Hervey, and had published a controversial work of the latter writer, with a preface from his own pen. The preface called forth a letter to Dr Erskine from Mr Wesley, and led to the publication of an "earnest appeal" to the public from one of Mr Wesley's coadjutors. Dr Erskine did not decline the controversy, but in July 1765 he sent from the press a defence of his preface, in the course of which he discusses the subject at greater length than before. In 1767 Dr Erskine was translated to the Old Greyfriars' Church, where he became colleague to Dr Robertson, the celebrated historian. In this situation, where he was subjected to less labour than in his former charge, he continued to officiate during the rest of his life a most faithful and highly valued pastor. From the intimacy which subsisted between Dr Erskine and some of the most distinguished American divines, particularly President Edwards, he felt a deep interest in the controversy which was now beginning to arise between Great Britain and her North American colonies. He took occasion, accordingly, to publish, anonymously, from the London press, a tract, in which his views were stated with his wonted clearness and force; and some years afterwards, when the American war had actually commenced, he republished this tract at Edinburgh, with his name attached to it. Another topic, of great moment, began, at this time, to excite a considerable sensation in the public mind, particularly in Scotland. An act of parliament had passed for the relief of Roman Catholics in England, from certain disabilities and penalties; and an intention was intimated of extending the same relief to the Roman Catholics in this part of the island. Dr Erskine, who, to the end of his life, retained a constant apprehension of the growth of Popery, published, in 1778, a pamphlet in which he urged, with the utmost earnestness, the inexpediency of the proposed repeal. In the General Assembly of the following year, the subject was discussed with great ability on the part both of those who supported and of those who opposed the repeal; and Dr Erskine afterwards published an account of the debate, prefixing to it an address to Dr Campbell of Aberdeen, who had declared himself in favour of the removal of the Roman Catholic disabilities. Anxious to do his utmost to avert what he considered an im pending evil, Dr Erskine forwarded to Mr Burke, who had brought in the bill for the relief of the Roman Catholics, a number of printed papers and sermons, containing the substance of the arguments which had been urged in Scotland, against the repeal of the penal statutes. The mind of the learned statesman, however, appears from his private letter in reply, to have remained unchanged. To whatever subject Dr Erskine directed his powerful intellect, he was not long in acquiring a thorough knowledge of it in all its bearings. This was remarkably exemplified in the astonishing facility with which, at an advanced period of his life, he acquired a knowledge of the German language. The following account of it is given by Sir Henry Moncreiff: "Lord Elliock had been much on the continent in early life, and was well acquainted with modern languages. He had an excellent library. And having been one of Dr Erskine's original associates, he was applied to by him, for the use of a German Grammar and Dictionary, at the time when he first resolved to attempt the acquisition of the German language. 66 By his Lordship's account, these books were returned, when they had not been out of his possession more than six weeks. He, therefore, naturally concluded, that they had not been of much use; and that, finding the acquisition of languages at his age, with no other help than a grammar and dictionary, a more difficult undertaking than he had imagined it, his friend had relinquished the attempt. 66 "But when Dr Erskine soon after visited him, he was surprised to find, that, so far from having given up his design, he imagined himself to have received so much advantage from the grammar and dictionary, as to be already able, without assistance, to collect the substance of a German book. "It was a matter of curiosity to see, how far a man of Dr Erskine's age, with all his industry and acuteness, could have carried this advantage, within the short space of six weeks; and being in his library, Lord Elliock produced a German book, of which he requested him to give him the satisfaction of hearing him read a few sentences. Dr Erskine had never heard another person read German, and had never pronounced a single sentence. He could not, therefore, literally comply with Lord Elliock's request. But, without attempting to pronounce any part of the original, he readily translated into English a great part of a page, in a book which he had never before seen; so as to convince his Lordship, that his grammar and dictionary had indeed been turned to good account. "With no other assistance, he was able, after six weeks' study, when he had nearly reached the age of sixty, to translate with ease the substance of a German book, to the satisfaction of a man of letters, who was well acquainted with the language. It would be difficult to give a more striking example, either of perseverance or facility, in the acquisition of a foreign tongue." The extent to which he availed himself of this new acquirement was afterwards seen in his "Sketches of Church History," which are chiefly drawn, as he himself says, from foreign writers. The first volume of this publication appeared in 1790, and the second in 1797. They contain much solid and important information, and the author had the high satisfaction of receiving most gratifying attestations to their merit from Lord Hailes and Bishop Hurd, both of them individuals distinguished alike for their talents, their learning, and their piety. He published also consolatory letters, not | original but collected, and one volume of sermons; another having been published after his death. It was his peculiar merit, however, that he kept in view not future fame but present usefulness, and, therefore, he lost no opportunity of engaging in the more immediate duties which devolved upon him as one of the ministers of a large city. To the business connected with charitable institutions he paid special attention, and in the exercise of his ministerial functions he was excelled by none of his brethren. About the age of seventy Dr Erskine's health began to decline, but he continued to officiate almost regularly in his Church, till within a few months of his death. And so vigorous were his faculties, even in the last hours of his life, that, on the night before he died, he was eagerly employed in reading a new Dutch book. While thus engaged he complained of being unable to see distinctly, and, with some impatience, asked for more candles. He went to bed about eleven o'clock, and, in a few hours, his spirit had ascended to its Saviour and its God. His death took place on the 19th of January 1803, in the eighty-second year of his age. THE JEWISH FEAST OF TABERNACLES. Leviticus xxiii. 42; Zechariah xvi.; John vii.; Revelations xxi. THUS we find the typical import of the Feast of Tabernacles, and its true fulfilment as the feast of the ingathering, in the latter times, when the tents being pitched, there shall not be wanting any more the Tabernacle of the Lord; and we arrive at this conclusion, by the comparison of two far distant prophets announcing the same event. For that it is the same scene that they describe, will appear evident, as we think, to any one who will observe the minute and remarkable parallelism, in many points, between John's prophecy, in the 21st chapter of the Revelation, and Zechariah's in the chapter already quoted, the 14th chapter of his book. Turn to chapter xxi. of the Revelation, and compare it with this of Zechariah, which we are now considering. Observe, first of all, what John says, Rev. xxi. 23, " The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of the Lord did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day; for there shall be no night there." Does this at all explain Zechariah xiv. 6, 7. " And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not 66 be clear nor dark;" or (margin) it shall not be clear in some places, and dark in others, "but it shall be one day that shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night: but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light." Again, (2,) Zechariah xiv. 8. And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem," is literally identical with what John says, Rev. xxi. 6., "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely;" and xxii. 1. "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." Again, (3,) Rev. xxi. 27. It is declared,“ And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." Does this not exactly tally and corrsepond with the declaration of Zechariah xiv. 20, concerning the universal prevalence of purity, down to the very commonest of any utensils and instruments employed in any service? "In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem, and in Judah, shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of thein, and seethe therein: and in that day there shail be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of Hosts." Again, (4,) Zechariah xiv. 19., "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth, and in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one," seems to harmonize with Rev. xxi. 24, " And the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it, (and its light is the Lamb); and the kings of the earth do bring their glory into it." And, lastly, Zechariah xiv. 11, "And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction," or curse, "but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited," is but expanded in the beautiful language of John, Rev. xxi. 4, " And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." These instances of agreement and identity cannot be accidental. They surely prove an identity of matter. And they warrant us in connecting, or rather require us to connect the declaration of John, "The Tabernacle of God is with men," with the intimation of Zechariah, that there is to be a Feast of Tabernacles, in which the nations, along with the inhabitants of the Holy City, are to take part. How far these magnificent predictions of the glory of the latter day are to be understood figuratively; how far we are to expect an exact literal accomplishment of all the glowing imagery in which the triumph of that blessed era, is with vivid distinctness set before us, we pretend not to determine. We would beware, however, of the too great license of fanciful and spiritual interpretation, and rather follow the wise and more humble simplicity of the great masters in prophetic lore and study, not of our own day merely, but of earlier and more masculine times. These learned and sagacious expounders, cautious in giving the reins to their imagination, when it would fill up, from slight and dark hints, the minute details of the picture, were yet bold in seizing upon its broad outline and its leading strokes; and they never doubted the literal reality, at least in its general features, of the scene spread out before them. The holy beauty of the heavenly city, and the prosperity of the people, may be, in some points, described poetically. The clear light, shining independently of sun and moon, may denote the light of knowledge—the knowledge of God and of the Lamb, not reflected from a glass darkly, but derived immediately from its source;-according to Isaiah's prophecy, (ii. 3-5,) "And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will 66 teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord." The river of the water of life, also, may refer to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on all flesh. But who can doubt that the other particulars specified, the holiness, the harmony, the happiness, that these three, at least, of the characteristics of the picture,-the stainless purity of the meanest vessels, the union of all nations, in peace, under the King, and the absence of sorrow, and sighing, and tears-are real and actual attributes of a real community of the blessed, -a community to be realized even on this earth of ours? And in that community there is to be the real fulfilment of what the Feast of Tabernacles typified and represented. The true Feast of Tabernacles is to be there. Around Jerusalem, as a centre, is to be grouped and clustered the Universal Church. On the holy land and the holy city where the King again dwells, all the tribes of the earth, all the fulness of the Gentiles are to be, for spiritual blessings, dependent. Thither they are to look for light,-thence are to flow their streams of life and gladness. All nations are to go up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, if they would be refreshed with the rivers of God's house. For, as Zechariah adds, (chap-cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the ter xiv. 17,) "It shall be, that whosoever will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, upon them also shall be the plague wherewith the Lord smiteth the heathen that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." "This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." O blessed day! O glorious festival! How wide, how boundless is its comprehensive embrace! It is a feast for all nations. Egypt herself is not excluded. Her ancient wrongs against Israel are forgotten; her treachery, her insults, her cruelty, are all forgiven. Even she may come up, or rather she must needs come up. Judah is again exalted. The Lord's mighty plan, in the selection, the providential government, the dispersion, and the marvellous preservation of his chosen people, is now, at last, unfolded and fulfilled. In millennial glory, the covenant made with Abraham is remembered. In his seed, yet once more, all the families of the earth are blessed, yes, the very families who have now, for long centuries, been reproaching, vilifying, and persecuting those whom God is smiting, but whom soon he will acknowledge, in the sight of all, as his own. The Gentiles have conspired to tread Jerusalem under their feet. All Christendom has abused the Jews, making their very name a scorn and scandal, leaving them alone, nay, hardening them in unbelief. And yet their recovery is to be the revival of the Church, and the peace of the whole world. Happy, surely, they who, by prayer, or by preaching, or by whatever means, hasten on this glad era. Happy they who know, even in their degradation, the Nobles of the earth. Happy they who speak to them the Gospel in love. Thrice happy the Church, or people, whichsoever it is to be, that is to be honoured in sending swift messengers to the nation now scatstered and spoiled, when it is to be brought as a present to the Lord of Hosts to Mount Zion.* This word of prophecy has carried us away, but not far, and we trust not unpleasantly or unprofitably, from the subject more immediately before us. We have yet two remarks to make regarding the views of this festival entertained by the Jews themselves, which will lead us to see the full meaning of a passage in the Gospel by John, to which we shall shortly refer. 1. The Jews themselves connected the observance of this feast with the glorious advent of Messiah, their ⚫ See Isaiah xviii. expounded by Horsley. Vol. I. page 69 of this work. | King, the presence of Jehovah their God among them. When they pitched their tents, it was in memory of the time when the Tabernacle of the Lord stood in the midst, and in preparation for the time when again He was to dwell among them. The very erection of their booths, was a token of their firm faith and confident expectation. Their cry, as they walked in procession, was Hosanna, save now, I beseech thee, O Lord.' And the Psalms appointed for that sacred season, the portion called by them Hallel (113-118), had respect to the Lord's returning to visit them, and bore this burden: "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord to save." But the most remarkable proof, on this point, is the fact, that when they conducted our Lord in triumph into the City, hailing him, for the time, as their King, they adopted in the procession, so far as haste permitted, the very pomp of the Feast of Tabernacles. It was not then the Feast of Tabernacles, but the Feast of Passover. Still they knew well, that when Messiah, the King, the Lord, did come, it was the Feast of Tabernacles that was to welcome and celebrate his coming. The branches of palm trees in their hands, the boughs spread on the way, their acclamations, "Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed is he that highest," these usages all belonged to the Feast of Tabernacles. The multitude, in their enthusiasm, believing, for the moment, that their King was come, deemed the Feast of the Passover superseded, and the ceremonies of another feast more appropriate. Here, as in every instance, they overlooked the necessity of the Messiah's coming first of all to fulfil the type of the Passover, as he did at that very Passover when he died a sacrifice for sin, and rose again as the first sheaf of the great crop to be reaped. But, substantially, they were right in thinking, that had he been, as they hoped, coming in glory to dwell among them, it was the Feast of Tabernacles, whose real end he would then accomplish; and our Lord, by receiving their homage at a time when he certainly meant to represent the triumph of his second coming to reign, virtually sanctions the view which we have given of the ultimate scope and meaning of this harvest festival. 2. The Jews farther connected this festival with the glorious descent of the Holy Ghost. To signify this, they had invented a ceremony of their own, which they added to the appointed forms. During all the days, and chiefly on the eighth day, the great day of the feast, they went with much solemnity to the stream, or pool of Siloam, and bringing its water in pitchers, with much rejoicing, to the Temple, they mixed it with wine, and poured it out devoutly upon and before the altar. They thus, as it was understood, expressed their prayer, that on the dry and thirsty soil the rain might be poured out; and the vulgar idea was, that as this festival was a thanksgiving for one year's abundant crop, so on it was determined the amount of propitious influence which God was to grant for the next seed-time and harvest. But the ceremony was regarded as significant of something more. The softly flowing waters of Siloam are made by Isaiah the type of the sovereignty of David's house. For addressing the ten tribes, in reference to their apostasy from that house, he uses this figure (chapter viii. 6.): "This people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly," fit emblem this of the happy reign of Emmanuel, David's son, of which these Israelites had virtually, by their rebellion, renounced the hope. These waters were thus understood by the Jews to represent the peaceful and holy blessings of Messiah's reign, especially the spiritual gifts and graces which he was to confer. Hence, in bringing their pitchers from Siloam, and pouring them out before the Lord, they were accustomed to say, that from thence they drew the Holy Ghost, and to quote, as their authority, that prediction of Isaiah, "with joy shall ye draw water from the wells of salvation." They had a tradition, that in this very ordinance, the Spirit had Deen known to descend on their prophets, and they had distinctly respect, in the ceremony of the water, to the promises of the Spirit being abundantly poured out in the day of Messiah's glory. It was at the close of this significant Feast of Tabernacles, and while the people probably were in the act of performing this unauthorised, but not unmeaning ceremony, that the Lord Jesus, as we read in John's Gospel, (chapter vii. 37,) not, as usual, walking up and down, or sitting and conversing, but standing in a conspicuous part of the temple, in the view of all the multitude, cried, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." The blessed import of this call, and this promise, it is not our present business to consider. But we may gather something from the occasion, and the manner of our Lord's proclamation. 1. The last day of the Feast of Tabernacles was the eighth, a day of holy convocation. Why it was regarded by the Jews as the great day, is not well known. In some respects it seemed to be less important than the other days, and indeed not so much a part of the feast, as a sort of supplement and appendage to it. The peculiar sacrifices appointed to be offered during the seven days were discontinued on the eighth, on which the common daily sacrifice alone was of fered; and the booths in which the worshippers dwelt during the week were also abandoned on this last day, as the ordinance, in so far as it was a Feast of Tabernacles, was now over. As a feast of ingathering, however, it was still honoured on the eighth day, by joyous processions of companies bearing branches of trees. It is said that the Jews had a tradition concerning this eighth day, that, whereas the other seven had respect to the Gentiles as well as themselves, this was peculiarly their own;-the seven days' solemnity being like a large and formal feast, for a miscellaneous assembly of strangers and servants, the eighth day's being a sort of private and confidential banquet for the king's friends. This tradition, while it marks the proud and exclusive temper of the nation, would show that they understood, as we do, Zechariah's prophecy of the Feast of Tabernacles as a feast for all the tribes of the earth; and it would account also for their esteeming the eighth to be the great day of the feast. On this last day, they performed, with peculiar state, the ceremony of drawing water, with joy, from the wells of Siloam, or, as they interpreted them, the wells of salvation. It was in the midst of this ceremony, in the course of its being completed in the temple, that Jesus arrested the assembled crowd by the proclamation. The time was, if we may judge, well chosen. The feast has once more been celebrated, and, to all appearance, with no nearer prospect, no better sense or sight of Jehovah's presence, than for many long years bygone. The tabernacles have been pitched in due and stated form, all ready for the renewal of the scene in the wilderness. But the Lord's tabernacle has not been in the midst. And now, the tents are struck, as if again in disappointment. Many a disconsolate worshipper may have mourned, and mourned all the more sincerely, the more spiritual his views were. The feast is over, and we have not found the Lord, the King. But let them stay for a little. On the very last day, their attention is called, in a way most startling,-to a humble Nazarene! They hear a voice of authority-they look, they see a present God, Surely the Lord is in this place, and they knew it not. It is Christ the King, who is even in the midst of their tents. They obey his call-they believe his promise they need to wait no longer for his coming they need to draw no more water from the cistern-they cast aside their pitchers they stay not, to waste precious time, in a typical ceremony of their own devising, when the reality, which they meant to represent, is at hand-they look beyond the ordinance to him whose presence blesses it. They have found the Lord amid the tabernacles, if not precisely in the character they expected, at least in a character most suitable. The feast has not gone by so desolate as they feared their mourning is turned into joy-and it is to them indeed a festival of gladness once more. Thus seasonable and welcome might our Lord's proclamation be to the humble worshippers at this feast, waiting for the consolation of Israel. 2. The Lord Jesus presents himself to the people as being, in his own person, the very end and object of this festival as entitled to claim it as his own-as, in truth, the very King, the Lord for whom, in the observance of it, they were waiting and longing, in expectation of whose coming to dwell among them as of old, they kept this feast of booths. He calls attention to himself as greater than this feast, as, indeed, the very Jehovah in honour of whom, and in hope of whose advent, they observed it. "Come unto me. The Lord, whom ye seek, is here. You have pitched your tents, you have erected your tabernacles, and ye overlook the tabernacle of the Lord, which is again in the midst of you. The Word-made flesh-dwells, or tabernacles among you. True, he is not yet to make his permanent abode on earth; but for a season he is with you in the tabernacle of his flesh; and in your feast of tabernacles he should be honoured and acknowledged." It is a high character, therefore, that our Lord here assumes, it is a high claim that he makes. He calls the regard of the worshippers away from the feast of God to himself. And who else might do this than He, by whom and for whom the feast was instituted; He who did at first fill with his present glory the tabernacle in the wilderness, around which the Israelites gladly, at the first observance of the feast, pitched their tents; He whose return to be the centre of a more blessed feast of tabernacles in the latter day, prophecy foretold and faith anticipated. Yes, it is none other than Jehovah God of Hosts-your King— your Redeemer, who has now pitched his tent among yours, overlooked by you; and though it be as yet only in humiliation that you can know him, still not the less is he entitled to divine, to royal honour; not the less, but all the more, since for you and your sins does he humble himself; nay, on account of that very humiliation, He claims your homage and worship,-your devoted faith. 3. For even now with him is the residue of the Spirit. He holds at his disposal those rivers of life, of which you vainly seek to draw some share from the waters of Siloam; with him alone are the true wells of salvation. True, the blessings of the Holy Ghost flow not with so full a stream as they will do when again the Tabernacle of God is with man. The Spirit is not poured out so abundantly on all flesh as he is shortly to be, by way of specimen, at the feast of Pentecost or the first-fruits of the Church, or as in the end, at the full consummation of the harvest, on the feast of tabernacles or of ingathering. Still the Spirit is dispensed in measure sufficient for the quenching of your thirst, for the satisfying of your soul. Thus Jesus claims the prerogative of giving the Holy Ghost, when he promises to the believer that rivers of living water should flow from him, even the same pure rivers of the water of life that the apostle saw proceeding in the temple of the New Jerusalem out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. For the believer is himself like the sanctuary there foretold; he is even now the temple of the living God, through the Holy Ghost dwelling in him, and sending forth from him refreshing streams of grace; and in his soul individually may even now be realized the millennial blessedness of the holy city and holy land. There is a feast in his soul now of the same kind and character with the feast that is to be then. The kingdom of God is already within him, which now, as then, is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. The same light of the Lamb, as a present Saviour, shines on him, the same water of life cheers him. He, too, has on all his members and instruments,-Holiness to the Lord, nor is any uncleanness allowed in him. The communion of God and of the saints is his, and all his tears are wiped away by the hand of a Saviour's sympathy. Yes, the same Lord who is to come to the celebration of the feast of tabernacles in the harvest of the whole Church, is present with you, O believer! in a feast of tabernacles now, at the harvest of your soul. Be you, then, waiting on him, and receiving his Spirit, and gratefully presenting the ripe fruits of an autumnal richness. Be you maturing a full crop of all Christian graces, that ye may offer them, as in a festival of joy, to your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And to all, in reference to the true feast of tabernacles, we address the invitation of the Saviour: "I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." apprehend, that our blessed Lord, during the days of his earthly ministry, always manifested such a deep and tender interest in little children. He seems to have looked upon them with feelings of peculiar delight. In the course of his teaching, he drew illustrations of his doctrine from their appearance. And in the passage with which our text is connected, he appears to have experienced a personal gratification in welcoming them to his presence, taking them up in his arms, laying his hands on them, and blessing them. At the 13th verse, it is mentioned, that when certain parents brought their children to Jesus that he should touch them, his disciples rebuked them. So far, however, was the compassionate Redeemer from sanctioning, by his authority, the conduct of his disciples, that, being much displeased," he said unto them, "Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God." And as his manner was, he took advantage of the incident that had occurred, by engrafting on it a most important practical lesson, applicable to the condition, and fitted to promote the benefit of his followers in every age. He proceeded to assure those around him, that if he thus encouraged the approach of little children to his presence, it was because he beheld in them the emblem of that very character which it was the great design of his mediatorial undertaking to form in all the children of men. For we read, that no sooner had he said, "Suffer little children to come unto me," than he added, in the words of our text, " Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." What we propose, in now directing your thoughts to this declaration of the Saviour, is to illustrate some of the features of character, on account of which a little child may be fitly regarded as an emblem of that state of mind which is here described by the expression," entering into the kingdom of heaven." And, THERE is, as every one must have remarked, something peculiarly engaging and attractive in the appearance of a little child. During the years of infancy, or previously to the developement of those corrupt propensities that are inherent in every individual of our fallen race, there is to be observed, in very young children, an artlessness of manner, which presents a most refreshing contrast to that suspicious disposition which men so often manifest in the business of life. In making this remark, it is not our intention to adopt the language of those I. We would instance humility as one of the who speak of children as if they were naturally inno- distinguishing features of young children. In such cent, and who account for their subsequent wick- little ones, as being necessarily ignorant of the edness, by referring it to the contaminating in-value and importance attached to the distinctions fluence of evil example. On the contrary, we of rank, there is to be perceived no disposition to are persuaded that they are "born in sin and exalt themselves by depreciating those around shapen in iniquity," and that, " as a clean thing them; and no manifestations of that supercilious cannot come out of an unclean," so must those neglect of one class of their fellow-creatures with who are descended from Adam, by ordinary gener- the meanest and most cringing servility to anoation, be all alike the children of wrath, and, be- ther, which the competing aspirants after this cause of the spirit that worketh in them, all alike world's honours are so frequently seen to display. the children of disobedience. Still, however, we To the young child, it is of no consequence with maintain, that, during a brief period of its exist- whom he associates. The humblest menial, proence, it is impossible to look upon the sweet and vided he will only minister those little attentions placid countenance of a little child, without being by which its infant powers are delighted and impressed with the belief, that it presents a faith- amused, will be no less acceptable as a companion, ful index of gentleness and tranquillity within; than the most illustrious nobleman in the land. and that as yet no angry passions have begun to The seals of highest office in the empire, if placed rage within its breast, nor any guilty imaginations before a little child, would at once, and willingly, disturbed or polluted the exercise of its new born be parted with for the merest gew-gaw that might powers. And it is precisely for this reason, we chance to be a little more glittering; and although |