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30th, Sunday. I asked my uncle to-day to 

 explain to me the nature of those three feasts at 

 which all the Israelites were enjoined to attend in 

 the course of the year ; the feast of Unleavened 

 Bread ; the feast of Weeks \ and the feast of 

 Tabernacles *. 



"Feasts," he replied, "were appointed to com- 

 memorate those great events with which the 

 existence of the Israelites, as a separate people, 

 was identified ; they also afforded opportunities 

 of giving general instruction, of expounding the 

 law, and of keeping up a useful connexion 

 between the distant tribes, by meeting each 

 other at stated times in the holy city. The 

 first and most ancient of feasts, you know, was 

 the Sabbath, a day of general rest, in memory of 

 the creation ; and there was also a Sabbatical 

 year of rest every seven years ; and a jubilee 

 year every seven times seven years. The feast 

 of Atonement took place in the seventh month ; 

 the feast of Trumpets celebrated the first day of 

 the year ; and in after times feasts were insti- 

 tuted on the restoration of the Temple, and on 

 the deliverance of the Jews from Haman's plot. 



"But of all the annual festivals, the three 

 about which you inquire were the most sacred 

 and important. The feast of Unleavened Bread 

 was only another name for the feast of the 

 Passover. It lasted seven days after the Paschal 

 * Deuteronomy xyi. 16, 



