the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths.'

We are wishful to see the ordinances of religion better attended. They might be and ought to be more largely attended both week-day and Sunday.

The spirit in which the feast was kept is noticeable. -It was not a hollow, heartless, perfunctory observance of the festival. There was very great gladness.' Some commentators connect what is said about Joshua with this gladness. Never since his day had the feast called forth such rejoicing. Ordinarily it was a season of joy, corresponding in some respects with our harvest-home festivals. Dr. Edersheim, in his well-written work on 'The Temple and its Services,' speaks of it as 'the most joyous of all festive seasons in Israel.' To be glad at the Feast of Tabernacles was a duty, a prescribed duty, as clearly a commanded duty as to dwell in booths. And ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days' (Lev. xxiii. 40). They did so on the present occasion. 'There was very great gladness.' Nor was this an empty mirth. It was joy for past mercies to them personally, and for past deliverances of sovereign grace to their forefathers. It was a joy that comported with the daily reading of the Scriptures, and was fostered thereby. Also day by day from the first day unto the last day he'-Ezra we suppose is meant -'read in the book of the law of God.'

Need we repeat that joy is an element of the Christian faith and life? The Christian, it is true, has graver views, than had the Jew of old, of life's purpose, and responsibilities, and perplexities; but he has also a fuller joy. As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.'

'All deep religion,' says Maclaren, 'ought to be joyful, and all strong religion assuredly will be.' May yours be both deep and strong, that you may 'rejoice evermore.' Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.'

The Feast of Tabernacles lasted seven days, from the fifteenth of the month to the twenty-first inclusive. In addition, the law enjoined an eighthday solemnity. The first day of the feast and also its Octave or Azereth were to be days of "holy convocation," and each "a Sabbath," not in the sense of the weekly Sabbath, but of festive rest in the Lord, when no servile work of any kind might be done.'-'The Temple, etc., by Dr. Edersheim, Pp. 234-35.

Referring to this Octave or eighth-day solemnity, and its offerings; 'the same with those appointed for the Feast of Trumpets, and the day of atonement,' it has been remarked; 'the solemnities of the month thus terminated, as a whole, with the same sacrifices with which three weeks before, they had been introduced; and the Day of Atonement, even though succeeded by the rejoicings of the

Feast of Tabernacles, thus left its impress on the whole month.'- Speaker's Com.: Numb. xxix. 35-38.

Too many festivals have nothing to do with religious exercises. Others begin under sacred auspices, but do not invariably close as they begin.

Will the unsaved remember that the feast of Gospel blessings is spread out before them, and that unless they come and partake of it, the hunger of their souls will never be stayed, nor their thirst quenched. To this feast you are again invited. All are welcome. Make no excuse or delay. 'If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.' These are the words of Jesus; and they were spoken at the Feast of Tabernacles, and on 'the last great day of the feast.' They express-oh how graciously! His power and willingness to meet the case of every child of sin and sorrow. He can do so, and He alone. Come to Him, and you shall find 'His every word, His every promise true.'

X.

National Contrition.

'Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.'-NEH. ix. I.

IN this ninth chapter we have a manifestation of national penitence. It was marked by several interesting features to which we wish to call your attention in this discourse.

'Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting.'

As far as it means the mere abstaining from food, fasting may, or may not be, a religious act. It is not an act of this kind when a man goes without food simply because he cannot get it. This involuntary abstinence from food, or from sufficient or better food, may, however, as in the case of the prodigal son, have the effect of bringing about a penitential frame of mind. You sustain some great loss, a crushing blow falls unexpectedly upon you, and for the time being you are unable to eat. You have no desire for food. Don't trouble

me with it,' you say; 'I cannot eat it.' This is not necessarily a penitent fast. The language may be similar to that which a true penitent might use, whose sense of sin constrains him to forego his usual meals, or deprives him of appetite. The language may be much the same as his, but the speaker's state of heart be very different. You sustain a loss, we will suppose, which takes away your appetite, yet leaves you a prey to revengeful feelings. Instead of crying, 'God be merciful to me a sinner'! you may only see yourself a victim of the sins of others, and be led by what has happened to harden your heart more and more against both God and man.

Look at another case. A man may fast day after day, and week after week; forty days or more he may fast, and religion have nothing whatever to do with it; and we might add, and science and common-sense but little to do with it. It may be nothing more than a dangerous feat. On the other hand, you may fast but a few hours, and doing this from a religious motive, and with a view to religious ends, be greatly benefited thereby.

As respects the fast spoken of in this chapter, it was of a distinctly sacred character. It was instituted by a people to whom fasting, as a religious rite, was a well-known duty, and itself took the form of such an observance. Let us notice some particulars of it.