4. And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God.

5. And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:

6. And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage.

We have here an account of a very interesting ceremony, upon a portion of which we have already spoken in the book of Leviticus, (xxiii. 10,) when the waving of the sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest before the Lord was commanded. But there was now a very instructive addition made to it. Besides the first fruits of the corn, the Israelites were commanded, each individual for himself, to gather the first of their ripening figs, and grapes, and pomegranates, and olives, and all their other fruits, and placing them in a basket, to carry them to the priest to offer them up as a thank-offering to the Almighty, before they began to gather for themselves. This offering was to be accompanied by a very humble avowal of their low and insignificant origin, and of the great things God had done for them. Each was to recall to mind the

situation of his banished progenitor, and to acknowledge," A Syrian ready to perish was my father;" reminding us most powerfully, when contrasted with the prosperous state in which they then were, of the language of that very ancestor himself, when, toward the close of his remarkable career, he exclaimed, "With my staff I passed over this Jordan, and behold, now I am become two bands." The Israelite was also openly to avow that the great promise of the Almighty to his nation was fulfilled, and that he was a resident in that land which the Lord had given to his forefathers. Thus proclaiming most solemnly and most publicly that nothing had failed of all that the God of truth had predicted.

7. And when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression :

8. And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:

9. And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.

10. And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God.

11. And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you.

The Israelite, in this ceremony of bringing "the first of all the fruits of the earth" unto the Lord, was not only, as we have seen, to acknowledge his poor and lowly origin, but also the great and good things which the Lord his God had done for him. He was, therefore, to recount the mercies of which he had been partaker, when brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and a stretched out arm, and to acknowledge that all he had, and all he was, came equally from God.

He was, after making this proper acknowledgment, to worship the Lord, and then to return, and rejoice with his family, in all the good things which God had given him. What a pleasing picture of family religion and domestic holiness! Never are we in so fit a state of mind, to enjoy the bounties with which God has blessed us, as when we can, and do, the most unhesitatingly refer all to Him, and delight in every, even the least of our temporal mercies, because it has come to us from the One great source of every good and perfect gift. Of how much happiness do men deprive themselves, through ig

norance of this great duty, and most blessed privilege. If the wise man could speak of the delight of "a dinner of herbs where love is," even that love which man can bear to man; with what truth may we speak with delight of the humblest abode and the most temperate meal, where the love of God is; of that gracious Being, who so loved the world that He gave his only-begotten Son, to the end that all that believe in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life: the love of that Saviour who hath first loved us, and given himself for us! Surely if " God is love," and if love will constitute the great happiness of heaven, earth must then come nearest heaven, when the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, by the Spirit which He hath given us, sanctifies every domestic pleasure, diminishes every trial, and, as it were, consecrates the first-fruits of every bounty, and every comfort, and every enjoyment, to Himself.

[Here may be read from verse 12, chapter xxvi. to the end of the chapter.]

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EXPOSITION LXI.

DEUTERONOMY Xxvii. 1-10.

1. And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day.

2. And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set up the great stones, and plaister them with plaister :

3. And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee. 4. Therefore it shall be, when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister.

5. And there shalt thou build an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them.

6. Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones: and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord thy God:

7. And thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the Lord thy God.