with Peter, James, and John, and the whole blessed company of those who are saved by the blood of the Lamb, shall we, if we trust and love Him here on earth, all meet to part no more.

"Master," said Peter, "it is good to be here." Should we not all say the same? "But what must it be to be there!”

XIV.

THE TABERNACLE FEAST.

JOHN vii. 1-39.

A Great and Solemn Feast. What does it mean? - Picture of a Jewish Boy and his Father. - Natural Questions. The Harvest-home. Remembrances of the Wilderness. - Dependence upon God. -A Solemn and Wonderful Service. The Joy of the Water-drawing.Jesus speaks. What it is to Thirst. The Thirst of the Soul.-Leading others to Christ.

THIS subject carries us away to the great city

of Jerusalem, as it was in times long past, and to the day of a great and solemn feast. The streets are crowded with people, for it is God's command that all the male persons above twelve years old from the whole country, who are able to travel, shall come up to the great city to worship him. On the flat house roofs, and in every spot that is clear of buildings, and along the top of the city walls, and in the fields and hills round about, may be seen numberless booths, made of great branches of trees, set skillfully together, so as to form little tents or huts, very. shady and pleasant for summer-time.

In these booths the people sit, and talk, and sing, when the temple services of the day are over. It is the Feast of Booths, or of Tents, or, as the chapter says, of Tabernacles, which is only a longer name for the same thing. But why is such a festival kept? Why are the people there, away from their homes? What do all the services mean?

We may imagine a young lad, just twelve years old, who has come up to Jerusalem from some pleasant home in the country for the first time in his life. Day after day through the week he has looked upon the busy, happy scene. The green booths, now beginning to fade, have been a wonder to him. He has longed to know all the meaning of the temple worship. When he has watched the crowds mingling in the streets, he has often been ready to ask why they were all there. And now, on his way to the house of God again, he suddenly says to his father at his side, "Tell me, father, if you please, why this feast is kept?

"It is by the command of the God of Israel, my son."

"But what does it all mean ?

"Why, many things. It is our harvesthome, you know. Do you not remember how

we all rejoiced, the very day before we started on our journey, when the last grapes were thrown into the press, and we all danced upon them and sang while the red juice ran over our feet, and flowed into the vat below? Our corn, too, was all gathered, and the ripe olives, full of rich oil. Do not you remember that I said how grateful we ought to be to God, who had given us such plenty, and how we ought to remember the poor, and help them?"

"Yes, father; but what has that to do with this feast here in Jerusalem ? "

"I will tell you. In the book of the lawmay He who gave it be blessed!

it is written, • Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine: and thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates. Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose: because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.""

"What beautiful words!" says the child. "I understand now, I think, why everybody seems so glad. But you have not told me why the people have put up these booths to live in?"

"Do you not remember, my child," asked the parent, "that you have often heard how our fathers, long ago, lived for forty years in a country where there were no harvests? The song of the reaper was never heard in those days, and there could be no joys of harvest-home."

"I know," interupted the lad, "you mean the great and terrible wilderness?"

pre

"I do. Then, as you have heard, the children of Israel, being without settled homes, were obliged to live in tents or booths. But God served them. Their daily bread came down from heaven, and men did eat angels' food. Water from the rock flowed for them once and again. God supplied their wants; and he wishes us, my child, to think of this. We must not suppose, even now, that we have the harvest just because we sow and reap, and plant the olive-yard, and train the vines, and crush the grapes. No; we do all these things, but it is God who still gives us food by means of them. He is as near and as mighty now, and we are as dependent upon Him, as when our fathers did eat manna in the wilder