Reply Obj. 10:  Under the Old Law there were seven temporal solemnities, and one continual solemnity, as may be gathered from Num. 28, 29.  There was a continual feast, since the lamb was sacrificed every day, morning and evening:  and this continual feast of an abiding sacrifice signified the perpetuity of Divine bliss.  Of the temporal feasts the first was that which was repeated every week.  This was the solemnity of the “Sabbath,” celebrated in memory of the work of the creation of the universe.  Another solemnity, viz. the “New Moon,” was repeated every month, and was observed in memory of the work of the Divine government.  For the things of this lower world owe their variety chiefly to the movement of the moon; wherefore this feast was kept at the new moon:  and not at the full moon, to avoid the worship of idolaters who used to offer sacrifices to the moon at that particular time.  And these two blessings are bestowed in common on the whole human race; and hence they were repeated more frequently.

The other five feasts were celebrated once a year:  and they commemorated the benefits which had been conferred especially on that people.  For there was the feast of the “Passover” in the first month to commemorate the blessing of being delivered out of Egypt.  The feast of “Pentecost” was celebrated fifty days later, to recall the blessing of the giving of the Law.  The other three feasts were kept in the seventh month, nearly the whole of which was solemnized by them, just as the seventh day.  For on the first of the seventh month was the feast of “Trumpets,” in memory of the delivery of Isaac, when Abraham found the ram caught by its horns, which they represented by the horns which they blew.  The feast of Trumpets was a kind of invitation whereby they prepared themselves to keep the following feast which was kept on the tenth day.  This was the feast of “Expiation,” in memory of the blessing whereby, at the prayer of Moses, God forgave the people’s sin of worshipping the calf.  After this was the feast of “Scenopegia” or of “Tents,” which was kept for seven days, to commemorate the blessing of being protected and led by God through the desert, where they lived in tents.  Hence during this feast they had to take “the fruits of the fairest tree,” i.e. the citron, “and the trees of dense foliage” [Douay and A. V. and R. V. read:  ’Boughs of thick trees’], i.e. the myrtle, which is fragrant, “and the branches of palm-trees, and willows of the brook,” which retain their greenness a long time; and these are to be found in the Land of promise; to signify that God had brought them through the arid land of the wilderness to a land of delights.  On the eighth day another feast was observed, of “Assembly and Congregation,” on which the people collected the expenses necessary for the divine worship:  and it signified the uniting of the people and the peace granted to them in the Land of promise.