<'llnle!i round when they happened to us. Our birth-day, our wedding-day, a.re thus made domeRtic festivals. Similarly, a. na.tion commemorates the l>ay of its Indcpen- dcnc-e, or the three glorious de.ys of its Revolution, or the day on which its a.nnics g&im><I a great e.nd crowning vict,ory. It is ree.ROna.ble that the practice thus este.blishC1l t<ll(luld be followed e.l!o in the Church of God, e.nd the days on which great spiritual l,lessinw or deliverances were granted to it kept in remembrance by some e.pproprie.te e.nd peculiar observe.nee. The Jews kept three great festive.ls, to which afterwards two others were added, e.11 of them more or less commemorative. The Pe.ssover com.memo- rau,d the pas1,ing over of the houses of the Israelites by the destroying angel and th11 h8.8ty flight out of Egypt; the feast of Pentecost commemorated, a.ccording to Jewish tradition, the giving of the le.w; tabernacles recalled and perpetuated the dwelling in tenti; in the wilderness; Purim, the deliverance from the me.lice of He.man; the Dedi- cation, that from Antioohus Epiphanee. And Christian festive.ls are of a similar character. Advent commemorates the approach, and Christmas the birth, of Christ, Epiphany his manifestation to the Gentiles, Easter bis resurrection from the dead. Ascension-day his ascent into heaven, Whitsuntide the coming of the Holy Ghost. "Saint,;' days," as they are called, commemorate the entrance into fine.I bliss of those whose names they bear. All the greater, and almost all the lesser, festivals of the Christian Church are commemorations, days appointed for perpetuating the remem- brance of events dear to the Christian heart e.nd deeply interwoven with the Christian life. It follows the.t- I I. FESTIVALS ARE TIMES OF sPmITUAL JOY. There are some to whom religion seems altogether a. melancholy thing. Religious persons they suppose to be dwellers in perpetual sadness, gloomy, ascetic, dull. cheerless, miserable. But this is altogether a mistake. Holy joy is continually required of men a.s a duty in the Bible. "Rejoice evermore," says the great apostle of the Gentiles (1 Thess. v.16); a.nd a.gain," Rejoice with them that do rejoice " (Rom. xii. 15). "0 be joyful in the Lord," is a constant cry of the Psalmist. Our Lord bade us " rejoioe a.nd be e:rceeding glad," even when we a.re persecuted, e.nd assured us that" our joy no me.n ta.keth from us." There may be a sobriety in Christian joy which distinguishes it from the fitful, feverish, a.nd excited joy of the world; but it is joy-true joy-nevertheless. And for this joy no times are so fitting a.s festival times. "This is the da.y which the Lord bath made," said holy David; "I.et us rejoice and be glad in it." "Offices e.nd duties of religious joy," as Hooker not.es, "a.re that wherein the hallowing of festive.I times consisteth" (Eccl. Pol. v. 70, § 2). The set services of religion on festival days take a. tone of gladness beyond the common; and the " psalms and hymns and spiritua.1 songs" suited for such occa- sions are of a still more jubilant type. Then especia.lly do the precepts hold-" Rejoice in the Lord,"" Serve the Lord with gladness," "Show yourselves joyful unto the Lord ---sing, rejoice, e.nd give tha.nks." Ill. FF.STIVALS SHOULD BE TlllEB OF THANXBGIVDIG. Nothing is more remarkable in man than his deadness, e.nd dulness, e.nd a.pa.thy in respect to a.11 that God ha.s done for him. Warm gratitude, lively thankfulness, real heartfelt devotion, a.re rare, even in the best of us. Festive.ls are designed to stir and quicken our feelings, to rouse us from our deadness, to induce us to sha.ke off our apathy, and both with hm,ri, and voice glorify God, who bath done so great things for us. Festive.ls bring before us vividly the special Divine mercy which they commemorate, and at the same time present to our view the beneficent side, so to speak, of the Divine nature, and lead w; to contemple.t.e it. God is 88llffitwlly love ; " he declares his Al.mighty power moat dtuf/.y in showing mercy a.nd pity" (Collect for Eleventh Sunday after Trinity). Festive.ls remind us of this. We lose the advantage of them wholly if we do not stir ourselves, on occasion of them, to some real outpouring of love a.nd thanks to him who granted us the blessing of the time, a.s well a.s every other blessing, and every "good and perfect gift" of which we have the enjoyment. . IV. FESTIVALS SHOULD BE THIES Ol" BOUNTY. When the soul of a m.a.n is glad, a.nd penetrated with the sense of God's goodness e.nd mercy towards tt, the heart na.tura.lly opew; itself to a con!!ideration of other men's needB and necessitie~. Being glad itself, it would fain ma.k.e others glad. Hence, in the old world, great OOC11oSions of joy were always occasions of le.rgess. The Israelites were commanded to remember the stranger, the fatherless. and the widow at the time of their festivals (Deut. xvi. 14); and the practice ~r,. xxm. 1-10.] THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 207
WAS to "send portions" to them (Neh. viii. 10; F.Hth. ix. 22). We shall rlo well to imitate their liberality, and to make, not Christmas only, but each festival seasou 11 time of" sending portions" to the poor and needy.