his first and second advent will more strongly appear, and the authoritative injunction respecting the observance of that feast ivill be more fully accounted for. Could we make up our minds to this point, it must be confessed it would throw great light on the passage before us ; because this feast would then have the same direct reference to Christ as is unquestionably found in the other two. But of his spiritual reign there can be no doubt : and that being then more glorious than ever, and over both the Jewish and Gentile world in one collective body, it may well be regarded as a renewal of his presence upon earth, and an accomplishment of the prophecy before us.
But there is yet further reason for supposing the conversion of the Gentile world to be the immediate subject of this pro- phecy: for the feast of Tabernacles was expressly called " the feast of in-gathering1;" and therefore it might well prefigure that second advent of " Shiloh, to whom shall the gathering of the Gentiles bem." And, in fact, the whole current of pro- phecy seems to determine the point: for "at that period shall many people and strong nations come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem ; and ten men out of all languages of the nations shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you11."]
Having endeavoured to throw light on my text as a prediction, I shall now proceed to notice it, II. As a command, to be obeyed in all ages —
Beyond all doubt, that which is so authoritatively required of the whole world at a future period, must, in spirit at least, be required of the Church in all ages. Now, the spirit of the ordinance plainly in- culcates,
1. A grateful remembrance of past mercies —
[This was indisputably one great end of the feast, as it was originally established: "Ye shall dwell in booths seven clays ; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths ; that your generations may know, that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt0." In that state they were exposed to the want of every necessary of life, and to numberless dangers, both from men and beasts : yet were they preserved by the continued care of their Heavenly Protector. And have not we, also, similar mercies to recount ? With respect to our bodies, what
1 Exod. xxiii. 16. m Gen. xlix. 10.
n Zecb. viii. 22, 23. See also Isai. lx. 10 — 14. and lxvi. 13.
0 Lev. xxiii. 39 — 43.