FEAST
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FEAST
up to watchfulness and diligence in religion ; but God hath so ordered that, when love rises and is in vigor- ous exercise, then fear should vanish and be driven awav ; for then tliej- need it not, having a higlier and more excellent jirinciple in exercise to restrain them from sin, and stir them up to their dutj'. There are no other principles which human nature is under the influence of that will ever make men conscientious but one of these two, f tar or love; and therefore, if one of these should not prevail as the other decays, God's people, when fallen into dead and carnal frames, when love is asleep, would be lamentably exposed in- deed; and therefore God has wisely ordained that these two opposite principles of love and fear should rise and fall like the two opposite scales of a balance; when one rises, the other sinks. Love is the spirit of adoption, or the childlike principle ; if that slumbers, men fall under fear, which is the spirit of bondage, or the servile principle; and so on the contrary. And if it be so that love, or tha spirit of adoption, be carried to a great height, it quite drives away all fear, and gives full assurance ; agreealde to that of the apostle, 1 John iv, 18, " There is no fear in love, but perfect lovo casts out fear." These two opposite principles of lust and hoi}' love bring hope and fear into the liearts of God's children in proportion as they prevail, that is, when left to their own natural influence, without something adventitious or accidental intarvening, as the distemper of melancholy, doctrinal i:^norance, prej- udices of education, wrong instruction, f.ilse princi- ples, peculiar temptations, etc. Fear is cast out by the Spirit of God no otlier waj' than by the prevailing of love: nor is it ever maintained l)y his Spirit biit when love is asleep" (Edwards, Worls^ N. Y. edit., iii, 56). See, on the different dispensations of grace, Fletcher, Works, iii, 175 sq. ; Stowell, On Neheiniah, lect. i ; Herzog, Real-Encj/klopcidle, v, 280, from which P-irt of this article is a modified translation.
Feast (properly r!Pl'i"0, m'shteh' , coxi), when a hospitable entertainmtnl ; and j.'H, chug, topr//, when a religious yes/;/wa/). To what an early date the prac- tices of hospitality are referable may be seen in Gen. xix, 3, where we find Lot inviting the two angels — " Turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house and tarrj- all night, and wash your feet ; and he pressed upon them greatly, and the}' entered into his house ; and he mr.de tliem a feast;" which was obviously of an impromptu nature, since it is added, "and did bake unlearensd bread, and they did cat" (Judg. vi, 19). It was usual not only tlius to receive persons with choice viands, but also to dismiss them in a similar manner ; accordingly Laban, wlien he had overtalvcn the fleeing Jacob, complains (Gen. xxxi, 27), "Wherefore didst tliou steal away from me and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, and with tabret, and with harp .'" See also 2 Sam. iii, 20 ; 2 Kings vi, 23 ; Job viii, 20 ; 1 Mace, xvi, 15. This practice explains the reason why the prodigal, on his return, was welcomed by a feast (Lidcc xv, 23). Occasions of domestic joy were hailed with feasting ; thus, in Gen. xxi, 8, Abraham "made a great feast the same day tliat Isaac was weaned." Birthdays were thus celebrated (G-en. xl, 2(1) : " Pharaoh, on his birthil.i}-, made a feast unto all his servants" (Job i, 4; JIatt. xiv, 6; compare Herod, i, 130). Marriage- feasts were also common. Samson (Judg. xiv, 10) on such an occasion " made a feast," and it is added, " for so used the young men to do." So Laban, when he gave his daughter Leah to Jacob (Gen. xxix, 22), " gatliered together all the men of the ])lace, and made a feast." These festive occasions seem originally to have answered the important purpose of serving as evidence and attestation of the events which they cel- ebrated, on which account relatives and neighbors were invited to be present (Ruth iv, 10; John ii, ]). Those processes in rural occupations by which the di-
vine bounties are gathered into the hands oi man havs in all ages been made seasons of festivity ; according- ly, in 2 Sara, xiii, 23, Absalom invites all the king's sons, and even David himself, to a sheep-shearing feast, on which occasion the guests became " merry witli wine" (1 Sam. xxv, 2 sq.). The vintage was also celebrated with festive eating and drinking (Judg. ix, 27). Feasting at 'funerals existed among the Jews (2 Sam. iii, 33). In Jer. xvi, 7, among other funeral customs, mention is made of " the cup of con- solation, to drink for tlieir father or their mother," which brings to mind the indulgence in spirituous liquors to which our ancestors were given at inter- ments, and which has not yet entirely disappeared in Lancashire, nor probably in Ireland (Carleton's Irish Peasantry ; England in the Nineteenth Century, vol. ii). To what an extent expense was sometimes carried on these occasions may be learned from Josephus (liar, iv, 1, 1), who, having remarked that Archelaus " mourned for his father seven days, and had given a very expensive funeral feast to the multitude," states, "which custom is the occasion of poverty to many of the Jews;" adding, "because they are forced to feast the multitude ; for if any one omits it he is not esteem- ed a holy person." See Entertainment.