from different parts thus often meeting together. It tended to keep up attention to the services, and may be considered as typifying the gathering of all the people together to Christ, and into his Church, from all parts of the world, under the Christian dispensation. These assemblies appear to be alluded to, Heb. xii, 23.

The first of the great festivals was the PASSOVER, instituted to remind the Israelites of their deliverance from

Egypt. A full account of this festival is given in Exod. xii, 3-28. It was called the feast of unleavened bread, because no leavened bread was to be eaten during the seven days it lasted, to remind the Jews how their fathers left Egypt in haste, Deut. xvi, 3. Even now, before the passover, the Jews examine their houses very scrupulously, to be sure that not a morsel of leavened bread remains within their walls. It used to be customary, and perhaps may be so still, to leave a few crumbs in a corner, which, when found, were cast out of the house with some ceremony; thus the minds of the young children were impressed by the peculiar observance required. Perhaps this has succeeded to the custom of encouraging the children to ask the meaning of the sprinkling of the blood on the lintel and posts of the houses, Exod. xii, 26, 27. It has been already remarked, that leaven is spoken of as an emblem of malice, hypocrisy, and sensuality: see 1 Cor. v, 7, 8.

The passover was very strictly observed. The number of persons who resorted to Jerusalem at this time was very great, as already stated. The inhabitants gave free use of their rooms to the strangers. An instance of this is in the case of our Saviour, Mark xiv, 13, 14; many might be accommodated in temporary erections. The rabbins assert that none ever said on this occasion, "I have not found a bed in Jerusalem to lie on." The beds in the East are merely small mattresses, little better than a piece of cloth.

In later times, several observances were added to the passover, beyond the simple observances directed in Exod. xii. The manner of celebrating it when our Lord was on earth appears to have been as follows, though it is not certain that all the ceremonials were universally observed :

1. The males of the family or company, consisting of not less than ten, and sometimes twenty, met together in the

evening, when they washed their hands and feet, and placed themselves at table in the reclining posture then customary. In earlier times they ate the passover standing, with their staves in their hands, as about to begin a journey, Exod. xii, 11; latterly they reclined at this, as at other meals, to indicate that they had been brought into the promised land of their rest. A cup of wine, mixed with water, was presented to each guest, over which a blessing was pronounced, "Blessed be He that created the fruit of the vine!" The lamb, some unleavened bread, and bitter herbs were then placed on the table, as appointed by the law, also other articles of food. The principal person distributed pieces of the paschal lamb, with unleavened bread, until all the lamb had been eaten. The paschal lambs had been killed in the temple, with observances instituted for the occasion, and then, being taken to the respective houses, were roasted on spits made of pomegranate wood. Every person present was bound to eat to the size of an olive at least. 2. After this first repast they again washed their feet, and replaced themselves at table, to eat the second course, or repast, consisting of bitter herbs, with a kind of sauce made of bruised palm-branches, and berries or raisins, mixed with vinegar. This sauce was thick; it was called "haroseth," and was considered to represent the tempered clay from which their forefathers made bricks during their bondage in Egypt. Another cup of wine was taken. The master di

vided the bread into two parts, and laying one part aside, covered with a napkin, he then blessed the other and distri buted it, saying, "Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, the King of the whole world, in the eating of unleavened bread." 3. He next took the reserved part from the napkin, and divided it into as many portions as there were guests. At that time, or some think at a rather earlier period, one of the youngest of the company asked the meaning of this rite, Exod. xii, 26: "And it shall come t pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? Then ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.' The master answered by repeating the hagadah, or "showing forth." "This is the bread of affliction, which our fathers ate in the land of

affliction. Let him that is hungry come and eat the passover; let him that hath need come and eat the passover; for this passover is our Saviour and our refuge." Or, he explained the symbolical meaning of the different dishes and observances, expounding from Deut. xxvi, 5, “ A Syrian ready to perish was my father," etc. Then taking the cup, he first tasted it himself, and presented it to each, saying, "Blessed be thou, O Lord our God, King of the world, who hast created the fruit of the vine!" This third cup was usually called the cup of blessing. The apostle refers to it, 1 Cor. x, 16, "the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?" See also Psa. cxvi, 13. 4. The whole ended with taking a fourth cup of wine, and singing the 113th and five following Psalms of praise and thanksgiving, of which the 118th, the last, is peculiarly significant of the coming of Christ. These were called the great Hallel, or Hallelujah.

The preceding particulars throw considerable light on the concise accounts of the evangelists. The events of the passover and last supper, blended together, may be considered to have occurred as follows:

When the paschal lamb was dressed, and all things were ready, Jesus reclined at table with the twelve, and, according to Luke xxii, 15, he expressed that he had earnestly desired to eat this passover with them before he suffered. Taking a cup of wine, he blessed it, and told them to divide it among themselves. When the paschal supper, or what is called the first course, was ended, Jesus rose from the table, and, to set them an example of humility, washed their feet himself; he also exhorted them against seeking who should be the greatest. Our Lord then alluded to the traitor Judas, (John xiii, 11,) gave them the encouragement of a future glorious reward, Luke xxii, 26– 30, and cautioned them all, especially warning Peter that Satan had desired to sift him.

Having replaced themselves at table to eat the second course, Christ testified more plainly than before, that one of them should betray him, and said that it was he who dipped his hand in the dish with him. Judas asking, as well as the rest, "Is it I?" Jesus answered that it was, but unheard by the rest. Then John, instigated by Peter, inquired who was meant, and our Lord told the beloved

disciple, who reclined next him, that it was the person to whom he should give a sop. After dipping the sop in the haroseth, or sauce, he gave it to Judas, who, finding himself detected, hastened from the place to put his treachery into execution.

Our Lord then took the bread which had been reserved, and blessed, and broke, and gave to the eleven disciples. Likewise he took the cup, and told them, "Drink ye all of it," Matt. xxvi, 27; showing by the words with which he accompanied these actions, that he instituted a solemn memorial of the sacrifice of his death. He concluded the whole by singing with his disciples a hymn, or the psalms already mentioned. Some principal commentators consi

der that the bread was distributed before Judas left the table, but they generally agree that he went out before the cup was given. That cup our Lord spoke of as typifying his blood, the blood of the new covenant-the grand plan of agreement or reconciliation God was establishing between himself and mankind, by the passion, that is, the suffering and death of his Son, through whom alone men can draw nigh to God.

Learned men, who have closely examined the subject, have shown that the observances of the Jewish passover were directly opposed to several ceremonies common among heathen in their idolatrous feasts. And the passover had an especial typical reference to Christ in the circumstances attending it. It was, 1. Descriptive of his person; 2. Of his sufferings and death; 3. Of the fruits of these sufferings-deliverance and freedom; and 4. Of the manner in which believers are made partakers of the blessed fruits of the sacrifice of Christ; as it is by the precious blood of Christ shed for our sins, and by that alone, that sinful man is delivered from the wrath which his sins justly deserve. This subject is discussed in works which treat upon the types, and in commentaries on the Bible.

During the passover, the sheaf of the first-fruits of the barley harvest was offered with a particular sacrifice: this is directed Lev. xxiii, 9-14. On the anniversary of this day, our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead; the apostle Paul may have had this specially in view when speaking of Christ's resurrection, 1 Cor. xv, 20: "He is become the first-fruits of them that slept."

The second great festival was the feast of PENTECOST, a Greek word, from the feast being kept on the fiftieth day after the first day of unleavened bread. In the Bible it is spoken of under several names. The feast of weeks, Exod. xxxiv, 22; Deut. xvi, 10-17; the feast of harvest, Exod. xxiii, 16; the day of first-fruits, Num. xxviii, 26, It was celebrated during the seventh week, or a week of weeks after the first day of the passover, and because on this day the first-fruits of the wheat harvest were presented with thanksgiving to God for his bounties: see Exod. xxiii, 16; Lev. xxiii, 15-21; Num. xxviii, 26-31. this day also the giving of the law from Mount Sinai was commemorated. The number of Jews who attended at the festival was very great; see Acts ii, 5-11. At this season the Holy Spirit came miraculously upon the apostles and the first-fruits of the Christian Church, Acts ii, 4, 41.

On

On this occasion, the people went up to Jerusalem in solemn processions, carrying their offerings of first-fruits; many in baskets richly wrought, and ornamented with flowers; which were solemnly presented in the temple. The sacrifices at this festival were numerous, but we need not go minutely into the particulars. In Deut. xxvi, 5-10,