had grown old, and were about to "vanish away." That he should have taken upon him our flesh, at the "feast of tabernacles;" have laid it down at the "feast of the passover;" and have poured out his promised Spirit from on high, on the "feast of Pentecost," can scarcely be considered as mere coincidences, but must surely be attributed to his desire to glorify in their departure, these highly important typical ordinances, and, if we may so say, mark them by an honourable interment. Perhaps to demonstrate how entirely the types had been superseded by the coming of the antitype, and to prepare the way for those far more blessed services which should arise from their ashes, and to which our Lord plainly alluded, when he said to the Samaritan at the well, "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a spirit: and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth.”*

It is lamentable to see how speedily the most symbolical portion of this deeply-interesting and beautiful festival fell into disuse; for we read in the book of Nehemiah, that after the return from the Babylonish captivity, "They found written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month; and that they should publish and

* John iv. 21, 23, 24.

proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive-branches, and pine-branches, and myrtle-branches, and palmbranches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written. So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the streets of the water-gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim; and all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Joshua, the son of Nun, unto that day, had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness." During nearly a thousand years, therefore, had this portion of the festival, so beautiful and so instructive, been neglected and forgotten.. What could have been more appropriate than thus reviving it at such a period? The Jews had just returned from their seventy years' captivity, where they had been without a house and without a home. How striking, then, to invite them to the celebration of a service, which, above all others, must have reminded them of the transitory nature of every possession here below, and of the fact that they had no abiding city here, when it called them to leave their more solid habitations of brick and stone, and to sojourn for seven days under the fragile covering of the olivebranches, and pine-branches, and myrtle-branches, of which their temporary tabernacles were constructed. Surely no spiritually-minded Israelite could dwell thus, spending his time as God had directed,

in "rejoicing before the Lord, during the seven days," without returning to his house a better man than he had left it; his heart more weaned from the things of earth, and more anxious for and desirous of those of heaven. Often as he looked upward through the covering of his little shady booth, and saw between the foliage the deep blue sky above his head, he must have been struck with the comparison of the fragility of his tenement and of himself. He must have seen that one rough blast of wind would be sufficient to overturn and destroy both, and he must have sighed for the time, when he should become, through divine mercy, the inhabitant of another and a better house, in that "eity which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." The seven days thus spent would tend materially to leaven the whole year, and happy was that true Israelite who followed out, in thought, and prayer, and holy meditation, the merciful intention of the Almighty.

May we as Christians, gladly avail ourselves of every opportunity of a temporary withdrawal from the occupations, and cares, and anxieties of life, and seek those intervals of solitude, those blessed opportunities of being alone with God, without which it is scarcely possible for the soul to attain to any high degree of spiritual existence here below, or to maintain it when acquired. May we all, according to our different stations and opportunities, cultivate this deeply-important and soul-improving species of heavenly communion; may we, even amidst life's

* Levit. xxiii. 40.

most engrossing duties, still strive to secure some time, however short or however interrupted, for this first and most important of all the means that educate the soul for God. We shall not neglect it, if we desire, at the close of life, to be enabled to say with the confidence and yet the humility of the apostle, "We know that when our earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

EXPOSITION LXIII.

CHAP. XXIV. 10-16.

10. And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp;

11. And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses; (and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan;)

12. And they put him in ward, that the mind of the Lord might be showed them.

13. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

14. Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp: and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.

15. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin.

16. And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely

be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.

The verses which we have just read are remarkable as containing an account of the first breach of the decalogue, which appears to have been committed in the congregation of Israel. The delinquent could scarcely be considered an Israelite, for although his mother was of the tribe of Dan, his father was an Egyptian. It was probably these mixed marriages, so prejudicial at all times to the truth of God, which first led to this open contempt of his name. The man then, the offspring of one of these unholy alliances, had, it appears, dared to "blaspheme the name of the Lord;" we are not told in what manner, but simply that he had profaned that holy name. A sufficient proof that he had violated the command so lately given, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." It is pleasing to find that such a sin must have been hitherto unknown, for the children of Israel, apparently astonished at such wickedness, carried the delinquent before Moses, to know what punishment so great and gross an affront to their Almighty Leader merited. Moses himself appears to have been at a loss how to treat a man thus capable of insulting his Father, his King, his God. He accordingly placed him in confinement until he should learn "the mind of the Lord respecting him." Then came the sentence of the Almighty, that the man who "had cursed," should be brought without the camp, and that those who had heard him, and were therefore the witnesses against him, should