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BEFORE CHRIST 1490.

6.

30 And whatsoever soul ings, every thing upon his it be that doeth any work day:

BEFORE CHRIST 1490.

39.

ch. 20. 3, 5, in that same day, a the same 38 f Beside the sabbaths Numb. 29. soul will I destroy from of the LORD, and beside among his people. your gifts, and beside all 31 Ye shall do no man- your vows, and beside all ner of work it shall be a your free-will offerings, statute for ever through- which ye give unto the out your generations in all LORD. your dwellings.

↑ Heb. rest.

b Exod. 23.

16. Numb. 29.

12.

Deut. 16. 13.
Ezra 3. 4.

Neh. 8. 14.

39 Also in the fifteenth

g

16.

32 It shall be unto you day of the seventh month, a sabbath of rest, and ye when ye have gathered in « Exod. 23. shall afflict your souls: in the fruit of the land, ye Deut. 16. 13. the ninth day of the month shall keep a feast unto the at even, from even unto LORD seven days: on the even, shall ye † celebrate first day shall be a sabbath, your sabbath.] and on the eighth day shall

33¶ And the LORD be a sabbath. spake unto Moses, say

ing,

h

40 And ye shall take Neh. 8. 15. you on the first day the

34 Speak unto the chil-+ boughs of goodly trees, + Heb. fruil. dren of Israel, saying, 'The branches of palm trees, and fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days

Zech. 14. 16. unto the LORD.

1 Esdr. 5. 51. John 7. 2.

the boughs of thick trees,
and willows of the brook;
and ye shall rejoice before Deut. 16. 14,
the LORD your God seven
days.

35 On the first day shall
be an holy convocation: ye 41 And ye shall keep it
shall do no servile work a feast unto the LORD seven
therein.
days in the year. It shall
be a statute for ever in
your generations: ye shall

36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by

Numb. 29. fire unto the LORD: on celebrate it in the seventh

35. Neh. 8. 18. John 7. 37.

month.

1

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the eighth day shall be an
holy convocation unto you;
42 Ye shall dwell in 'Neh. 8. 14.
and ye shall offer an offer- booths seven days; all that
ing made by fire unto the are Israelites born shall

+ Heb. day of LORD: it is a solemn dwell in booths:

[blocks in formation]

2 Chron. 7. 9. no servile work therein. tions may know that I Ps. 78. 5, 6. [37 These are the made the children of Israel feasts of the LORD, which to dwell in booths, when I ye shall proclaim to be holy brought them out of the convocations, to offer an land of Egypt: I am the offering made by fire unto LORD your God.

the LORD, a burnt offering, 44 And Moses "declared "ver. 2. and a meat offering, a unto the children of Israel sacrifice, and drink offer- the feasts of the LORD.

PRAYER. LET US PRAY, that we ever delight in the contemplation of the plans of Providence, which begin with the past eternity, embrace the present time, and extend to an infinite future; that we reject every system of opinion which banishes an ever-acting Deity from the government of His own world; that our duty to God be our happiness, and our happiness be our duty; that while we set God always before us, we more especially commemorate the seven principal acts of His mercy, which relate personally to us all—our creation on the Sabbath; the redemption on Good-Friday; our resurrection at Easter; our sanctification at Whitsuntide; the flight of time on the New Year'sday; our future judgment on our birthdays; and the hope of resting with Christ on the return of the festival of the Nativity of our Lord; that we may dwell in Christ, and Christ may dwell in us for ever.

66

O IMMORTAL GOD, who hast mercifully granted to Thy creature man the powers of intellect, which demonstrate to him in the hours of his thoughtfulness the possession of a nature which never dies, and which is capable of improving for ever and ever in the knowledge, and, therefore, in the love of Thee; give us, we pray Thee, such grace, that we be not guilty of rejecting the holy revelation of Thyself, Thy works, Thy will, Thy ways, which Thou hast been mercifully pleased at 'sundry times, and in divers manners," to bestow upon the intellectual and reasoning man. Enable us, we pray Thee, to remember in all our mental pursuits, and in all our aspirations after the more perfect knowledge of Thee, that we are not created for this world alone; but that progression, and not perfection, is the law of the mind and soul which Thou hast created; and that what we know not now, in the generation in which we live, we may know, and shall know hereafter, in the improvement and in the progress of the soul, which is immortal. Let no vain speculations, no short-lived difficulties, drive us from the conviction, that Thou didst impart Thy will to man, as man was able to receive it; but let Thy revelation be at once the guide to our feet in our way to a better life; and the lamp of our path in our wanderings through the theories of science, the mysteries of the past, the controversies of the present, and the anticipations of the future. When we reflect on the past, may we see God the Creator ordering all things according to His own pleasure; obedient neither to necessity, nor chance, nor fate, nor destiny, nor to any other power, than His own will and His own most wise decree. When we reflect on the present, may we believe that the same God, who created the world, still rules the world He made; that the greatest are not exempted from His government, nor the least exempted from His care; and that the Providence which hangeth the earth upon nothing, which upholdeth the sun in the firmament, and the moon in its orbit; which feedeth the raven, and clothes the flower with beauty and fragrance; must, and does, and will ever continue to govern us. May we obey Thy will; and trust where we cannot trace; and walk by faith, and not by sight. When we reflect on the future, may we be comforted by the remembrance, that the blessedness of immortality will compensate the Christian for the afflictions of mortality; that sorrow is the beaten road to heaven; and that the Captain of our salvation was perfected through sufferings. So may we set God always before us. So may we have no God but One-the omnipresent, and the omniscient God; the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Before Him may we ever walk, in humble obedience to His will, and in the lowly admiration of the greatness of His power, and all the wonders of His dominion. The longer we live, the more may we know Thee, and the better may we serve Thee. In

all the discoveries of science, in all the events of life, in all the collisions of society, in all the facts and deeds which day by day are added to the history of the past, may we see Thy providence, and believe Thy presence. And because Thou hast so formed the minds of man, that our best happiness is ever found in the observance of the duties which Thou hast commanded; and because the path of duty is the certain path to inward peace and blessedness; enable us, we pray Thee, to set apart from the days of the years which are so rapidly bearing us onward to the immortality before us, those portions of our time which shall ever remind us of Thy greatness in the past, of Thy mercy over our own souls at the present, and of Thy glorious promises to our immortal spirits in the future. Not only in the morning and in the evening of every returning day, may we rejoice to thank Thee for Thy goodness, to praise Thee for Thy protection, and to pray to Thee for Thy continued mercy, and grace, and love; but on the one day of the week, Thine own day, the Lord's day, may we evermore especially commemorate, as Thou hast ordained, the power which created the world, the love which redeemed the soul, and the bounteous merciful provision which Thou hast made in the Scriptures and in the Church for the spirits of those who have entered into covenant with God. O may we love the Sabbath of earth as the earnest of the better "Sabbatism which remaineth for the people of God."-When the Church on earth requires us to commemorate the death and passion of Thy Son our Lord, who redeemed us by His precious blood, and brought back for us the heaven for which we were created, with holy gratitude and with humble faith may we then remember the agony of Gethsemane and the death of the cross.-When we lift the song of praise at the celebration of the conquest over the grave, and the death of death, O by Thy special grace within us, may good desires spring up in our hearts and souls, that there be no room for any thought or any desire that shall partake of the spiritual death, which was once the curse of the soul.-When Thy holy Church shall command us to remember the outward proof of Thine inward presence with the hearts of Thy people, in the rushing mighty wind and the cloven tongues of fire; enable us to look up to the ascended Saviour. Give us grace in heart and soul with Him continually to dwell. Give right judgments to our minds, and implant the comforts of the Holy Spirit in our souls; that wisdom, peace, and happiness, may be granted to us as the earnest and the beginning of our future heaven.When the first day of the year returns, may we solemnly devote and dedicate anew to Thee ourselves, our souls and bodies; that we may in all things obey Thy blessed will.—When the return of our birthdays reminds us of the flight of time, and of our certain accountableness for the days and years, the talents and opportunities, which Thou hast committed to our trust; so may we meditate upon the way Thou art now leading us, and hast long led us through the wilderness of life—that every step of our progress may be a step towards heaven.— And that all these our prayers and supplications may not be in vain, may we so believe and welcome the birthday of Thy Son our Lord, who took our nature upon Him, that we be daily renewed by Thy Holy Spirit, and that we may so dwell in Him, and that Christ may so dwell in us, that, as He who was divine became human, we who are human may become divine. May we be changed into His image from glory to glory, till we even now, upon this earth, be made partakers of the divine nature. May we be the sons and the brethren of Christ. O be Thou our Father; for Thou art His Father! Be Thou our God. Thou art His God! Make us Thy sons. Christ, our Brother, was the Son of God. What eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart conceived of spiritual blessedness, grant Thou to us in this our day, as the token and proof that our

faith and our hope are not in vain. For that faith and hope we praise and bless Thee! O make us live more to Thy glory! O give us to die in peace! O receive our souls; that, absent from the body, we may be for ever present with the Lord! Forgive the imperfection of our language. Pardon the weakness of our prayers. Let not our aspirations be vanity--but O accept and bless us! We ask all in the Name and words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our Father, &c. of

The grace

our Lord, &c.

NOTE.

NOTE. On the sacrifices of the Jews. Lev. xxiii. 8. I subjoin here a Schedule of the Sacrifices of the Jews, compiled principally from Bishop Kidder, Preface to Commentary on Leviticus.

Sacrifices were

1. Bloody.

I. The Holocaust,, or whole burnt offering, or "burnt offering," wholly burnt, except the skin, and in some cases that also, Lev. vii. 8. A male without blemish, Lev. i. 3. 10; xxii. 19. Of five living creatures only: out of the herd, the bullock only; out of the flock, the sheep and the goat; from among the fowls, the turtle-doce, and the less, or younger pigeon.

II. Sin-offering, p, a female sometimes allowed. The offerer never partook of it but the priest did; except it were offered for himself, or for the whole congregation; in which two cases, all of it was burnt without the camp, and the blood was brought into the tabernacle, and sprinkled on the horns of the altar. Lev. vi. 30. (None of these were voluntary.)

III. Trespass offering, D, a male always, Lev. v. 6. No offering of this sort for the congregation. The blood was always put on the sides of the altar; not, as in the case of the sin offering, on the horns of the altar. Lev. iv. 7; vii. 2. (None of these were voluntary and no offerer ever partook of it; but the priest might.)

IV. Peace offering,

No fowls were offered; but a bul lock, sheep, or kid, male or female, small or great. These offerings were like the "burnt offerings" (holocausts) sometimes voluntary; but they were not " most holy;" i. e. they might be eaten by the priest, or offerer, or others, in a clean place.

2. Unbloody.

The peace offering was either for

The Mincha,, consisting of such things as are of great use to the support of life; flour, oil, wine, salt. [Sometimes the Mincha was offered by itself: and sometimes it accompanied one or other of the bloody sacrifices; and then only was wine used.] A handful was burnt; the rest remained for the sustenance of the priests. The Mincha was probably offered along with every burnt offering. See Numb. xv. 4. 7. 10.

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