inheritance, to which, having incurred a forfeiture by sin, we had lost all right and claim.”

The Jubilee may be considered as an eminent type of the redemption of the human race by Jesus Christ: it prefigures the time of release, even the dispensation of the Gospel, when all who believe in Christ Jesus, are redeemed from the bondage of sin,* repossess the favour and image of God, the spiritual inheritance of the soul. The trumpet of the Jubilee was also a significant emblem of the last great trumpet (“ for the trumpet shall sound") at the general resurrection, 1 Cor. xv, 52. "When the children and heirs of God shall be delivered from all their forfeitures, and restored to the eternal inheritance allotted to them by their fathers; and thenceforth rest from their labours, and be supported in life and happiness by what the field of God shall supply."+

During the year of Jubilee there was universal joy in the land; this prefigured and represented, as far as earthly things can represent heavenly things, the love, peace, joy, and felicity, of the kingdom of Glory, which is the eternal Sabbath.

It may be worthy of remark, that this wonderful institution is in a peculiar manner typical of the Gospel and redemption by Christ Jesus.--The sinner is indebted to the divine justice. Christ has discharged the debt, so that his sin is forgiven. The sinner who has sold himself for nought, and is become a bondslave of sin and Satan, through faith in the blood of Christ, regains his liberty, and becomes the Son of

See Isa. xxvi, 16.

+ See Parkhurst's Heb. Lex. under 3.

God. The transgressor who has forfeited all right and title to the kingdom of heaven, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, becomes an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ. Heaven, the forfeited inheritance, is restored, for the kingdom of heaven is opened to all believers.*

XIII. The Feast of Dedication.

BESIDES the annual festivals commanded by God to be celebrated, the Jews in later times introduced several fasts and festivals besides, to commemorate remarkable deliverances, and interpositions of divine providence in their behalf.

The feast of dedication was instituted by Judas Maccabæus, in commemoration of his purifying and cleansing the second temple and altar, after they have been defiled by Antiochus Epiphanes. This feast commenced on the 25th of the month Cisleu, corresponding to about the 18th of our December, and continued eight days. When Antiochus had heard that the Jews had made great rejoicings, on account of a report that had been spread of his death, he hastened out of Egypt, and, in a great rage, laid siege to Jerusalem, took it by storm, and slew of the inhabitants in three

The late pious and learned Dr. Claudius Buchanan, in his Sermon on the Mosaic Jubilee, and in the two following Sermons, has admirably illustrated the analogy between the year of Jubilee and the Gospel state and dispensation. See Dr. A. Clarke on Lev. xxv.

days, 40,000 persons; and so many more he took captives, and sold them for slaves to the neighbouring nations. Not contented with this, he profanely and impiously forced himself into the temple, and entered into the inner sanctuary: and in order to offer the greatest possible indignity and insult to the religion and house of God, he sacrificed a great sow on the altar of burnt-offerings; and broth being made by his command, of some of the flesh, he sprinkled it all over the temple, that he might defile and pollute it to the utmost. After this, the whole of the temple service seems to have been suspended for three years, great dilapidations having taken place in various parts of the building. As Judas Maccabæus not only restored the temple-service, and cleansed it from all pollution, but also repaired the ruins of it, this feast was therefore called Ta synovia, the renovation. John x, 22.

This festival was also called the feast of Lights, because the Jews illuminated their houses in testimony of their joy and gladness on this important occasion. The whole of this feast was celebrated with singing hymns and the Hallel* every day, and offering sacrifices.†

XIV. The Feast of Purim.

THE feast of Purim, or of Lots, as the word signifies, is celebrated on the 14th and 15th days of the month

Psalms cxv to cxviii, inclusive.

† See 1 Mac. iv; Josephus's Jew. Antiq. b. xii; Jewish War, b. i, and vi; Prideaux's Connect. vol. iii, p.258, Baines' Ed. 1815; Dr. Lightfoot's Works, vol, i, 979, &c.

Adar, or Ve-adar, if it be an intercalary year, corresponding to part of our February and March. It is observed in commemoration of the providential deliverance of the Jews from the cruel plot of Haman, who had procured an edict from Artaxerxes, called also Ahasuerus, to extirpate them. On this festival the whole of the book of Esther is read in the synagogues of the modern Jews. As often as the name of Haman occurs, they clap their hands, beat upon the seats, and stamp with their feet, and vociferate, "Let his memory perish."

Before the reading begins, three thanksgivings are briefly offered up: 1st, They praise God for counting them worthy to attend this sacred solemnity. 2. For his wonderful preservation of their forefathers: and, 3. For their having lived to keep another festival in memory of it. The history of Esther is always read from a Manuscript on a roll of parchment, and never from a printed book; therefore it is termed the Megillah, or roll of Esther. With maledictions on Haman and his wife, they conjoin prayers for the deliverance of their nation, and blessings on Mordecai and Esther. The book of Esther is read over twice at this festival: 1st, in the evening of the 13th of Adar, which, according to their mode of reckoning, is the beginning of the 14th; and, 2nd, on the morning of the 14th: when the reading is ended, they praise God, who pleads the cause of his people, and afterwards pronounce alternately with loud voices," Cursed be Haman. Blessed be Mordecai. Cursed be Zeresh, (the wife of Haman.) Blessed be Esther. Cursed be all the wicked. Blessed be all the Jews." This festival is a season of great rejoicings

and gaiety; alms are given to the poor, relations and friends sent presents to one another, and all furnish their tables with every luxury they can command, and their mirth and rejoicings are carried into Bacchanalian

excess.

* See Esth. iii-ix; Josephus's Jewish Antiq. b. xii; Prideaux's Connections, vol. ii, p. 331. anno 452. For some ludicrous ceremonies attending the feast of Purim, see Buxtorf de Synag. Jud. cap. 29; Stackhouse's Hist. Bib. p. 1036, note; Calmet's Dic. under Purim.