Belf-ee.crifice of Christ wrought/or us on the cross, the self-sacrifice of Christ wrought in us by hie Spirit. II. THAT THE WHOLE SYSTEM BESTED UPON THE DAILY SACRIFICE, WHICH WA8 NEVER OMITTED, TO WHICH ALL OTHER SACRIFICES WERE BUPERADDED. Not even the triumph of the passover or the affliction of the day of atonement affected the daily sacrifice. Even so in Christ does e.11 religious life rest upon the hallowing of ea.eh day, as it comes and goes, by the blood of the Lamb. Whatever special observ- ance me.y be given to sacred days e.nd seasons, or reserved for times of special grace, yet such only is true religion which is daily renewed e.nd daily practised. And note that the daily use ta.king precedence of a.II additional observances testified -even to the Jews of the underlying equality of e.ll days e.e holy to the Lord. Since -each day we.e eeeentie.lly sacred, it followed that all distinctions of days were arbi- trary and transitory. And this was undoubtedly what St. Paul desired to see realised in the Church of Christ (Rom. xiv. 5, 6; Gal. iv. 10, &c.). III. THAT UPON THE DAILY UBE A SABBATIC UBE WAS RAISED OP WITH EXTREME CARE; .not only the seventh day of every week, but also the seventh month of every year, being made festal nnd marked by special sacrifices. This was in truth arbitrary to the Jewish apprehension, although it was mystically connected with the relation between God and the world (Exod. x.x. 11), and historically associated with the deliver- nnce from Egypt (Deut. v. 15); but it served to keep the Jew in mind of, and bring him into connection with, e.n order of things a.hove and beyond the labour and gain and profit and lose of this world. Even so, while the sacredness of the sabbatic number (in days or months or years) is vanished in Christ, yet the meaning of the number, the sabbath or rest of the soul in God, the rest from sin, from self, and from sorrow, is the dominant idea which we find in Christ first and last. This is his first invitation (Matt. xi. 28), and this his le.at promise (Rev. iii. 21). IV. THAT TO THE DAILY AND BABBATIC USE WAS ADDED THE NEW MOOlil FESTIVAL WITH GREAT HONOUR IN THE WAY OF SACRIFICES j e.nd this although the festival we.s one of ne.tura.l, and not of sacred, origin. This may have been partly from a wise -caution lest superstition should usurp what religion left unoccupied, but more because the God of grace is the God of nature, and he who made the Church made the moon to rule the night. Even so it is the will of God that all natural turning- points and periods in our lives should be consecrated by religion and hallowed with the blood of Christ; for our whole body, soul, and spirit are his. Religion does not war against nature, but takes nature under her patronage. Whatever springs naturally out of our physical and social life (not being evil of itself) may be and should be connected with relig-ious sanctions, and adorned with holy gladness as before God. V. THAT TO THE DAILY1 BABBATIC1 AND NEW MO/JN USE WAS ADDED THE OBSERVANCE OF THE THREE FESTIVALS WHICH WERE ASSOCIATED AT ONCE WITH THE FACTS OF PAST DELIVERANCE AND 01!' PRESENT PLENTY. For the passover itself, which was mainly a commemoration, also murked the first beginning of the harvest ; and the feast of weeks, which was essentially a harvest festival, recalled also the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. Even eo in Christ., besides the other elements of religion, the sancti- fication of daily life, the hallowing of natural cho.nges and outward events, the cease- less seeking for rest in God, there must be found prominently the devout ond grateful .celebration of the greo.t triumphs of redemption in the past, and of the abounding blessings of grace in the present. And note that none of these may be absent without grievous loss. The new moon feasts, which seemed so wholly secular, e.nd would not keep time with the se.bbe.ths of Divine obligation, were e.e much honoured as the days of passover. And so a religion which does not blend itself with and twine itself about the secular joys and interests of our natural life is wanting in a most important point, and is not perfect before God.
Consider again, witn respect to the orde:red sacrijices-- I. TllAT THE DAILY OFFERING, WHICH NEVER VARIED, WAS ONE LAMB. Even so the Lamb of God is the one sacrifice, el,; r~ 81111-t1:I,;, by which each day is sanctified-a continual burnt offering ncceptable to God. II. THAT THE LAMB WAS OFl'ERED BOTH MORNING AND EVENING. Even 80 the Lamb .of God was in 11 manner doubly offered: in purpose IUld will "from the foundation of 384 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [CHS. XX\'IIt., XXIX.