f i was legally impure, might partake of that banquet; so every one that nameth the name of Christ, must depart from iniquity;" for, without holiness, no man shall see the Lord: that, as a second passover was expressly ordained for those who were "unclean by reason of a dead body," or were "in a journey afar off;" so Christ, who was in mercy given as the second passover, was given to quicken those who were dead in trespasses and sins, and to make nigh by his blood, those "who sometimes were far off:" that, as the lamb was brought to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb; so Jesus, before his accusers, opened not his mouth: that, as the passover was at first killed before Israel Israel was delivered from bondage; so Jesus suffered before the world was "delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God:"" that, as the paschal lamb was to be eaten with bitter herbs, and with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction; so every Christian must "through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God;"" must beware of the f Numb. ix. 6. m leaven of hypocrisy," and "keep the feast, not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth"-we must confess, that all these circumstances of resemblance could not have occurred without the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, who instituted the ordinance, to commemorate the temporal deliverance, which he would immediately bring upon his people; and also to shadow forth the eternal deliverance, which should be wrought for the world, when that which was typified in the passover, should be "fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Some of these resemblances might have been accidental; some may be imaginary: but can any one believe, that all of them can have happened by chance? If this be inconceivable, we have here the finger of God. We find an ordinance commemorative of a miraculous fact, instituted long before the event took place: an ordinance, inconvenient to be observed, and too remarkable to be forgotten. It was transmitted from generation to generation for fifteen hundred years. The solemnity might be from time to time interrupted: but the remembrance Luke xii. 1. r1 Cor. v. 8. of it was retained amidst all their national calamities. Its celebration brought the scattered people of Israel from the extremities of their land: it united them in friendly societies. Their children were introduced that enquiry might be made, what mean ye by this service? As long as their city stood, even while the enemy was besieging them in all their gates, the paschal lamb was slain, and the feast of the Lord's passover kept: regarded by all as a memorial of past mercies, and, perhaps, by some as a prophetic intimation of future spiritual deliverance." At length the Divine counsels are fulfilled. Jesus Christ the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world, appears upon earth. At the close of his ministry, he partakes of the passover, and points it out as a figure of what shall be "fulfilled in the kingdom of God." His prediction is accomplished by the sacrifice of himself, the true Paschal Lamb: and soon the place, which the Lord chose to put his name there, is destroyed: and the typical passover can no longer be offered "in such sort as it was written.” x t Exod. xii. 26. X Josephus; Jewish War, vi. 9. §. 3. " Justin M. Dial. cum Tryph. p. 297. D. quotes a remarkable passage to this effect from Ezra, which he asserts to have been erased by the Jews. x 2 Chron. xxx. 5. All these circumstances could not have been brought to pass without the especial interference of the Divine power; nor predicted by Christ, without the immediate inspiration of Divine wisdom. No man could foresee, that the place of his death should be Jerusalem; because it was the place appointed for the celebration of the Lord's passover. No man could foresee, that the time of his death should be that festival, which was usually distinguished by acts of mercy; by deliverance of the captive, and setting free those who were bound: that the hour of his death should be precisely that, at which the paschal lamb was slain: that his body should be removed from the cross on the same day, as no part of the paschal lamb was permitted to remain until the morning: and that he should die upon the cross, before those who were crucified at the same time with him; and his body, consequently, remain unmutilated; in order that the scripture should be fulfilled, "A bone of him shall not be broken." The prophet, who so spake, must have been a true prophet: the doctrines, so attested, must have been given from above. II. But the comparison between the paschal lamb considered as the type, and Jesus Christ as the antitype, proves more than the general truth of the Christian religion. It proves, that the death of Christ was a real sacrifice for the sins of the world. The passover was strictly a sacrifice; distinct, indeed, from the four general kinds of sacrifice, which were instituted by the law of Moses: but, still, denominated, in the Scriptures of the Jews, a sacrifice, and an offering; and included, by the expounders of their law, among those three peculiar sacrifices which were closely allied to peaceofferings." At its first institution, it was probably sacrificed in every house by the first-born, who exercised the priestly office, until they were afterwards redeemed, and the tribe of Levi separated for the priesthood. The paschal lamb was always brought to the tabernacle, or to the temple, where it was presented, and offered up to God by the priest, although not always slain by him; its blood was sprinkled upon the altar, and the entrails Exod. xii. 27. xxiii. 18. xxxiv. 25. Deut. xvi. 2, 4, 5, z Corban.-Numb. ix. 7, 13. a See Cudworth, Discourse on the Lord's Supper, p. 10. b Numb. iii. 40...51. Deut. xvi. 5. compared with Deut. xii. 5, 6, 11, 14. 6. 2 Chron. xxx. 15, 16. xxxv. 11. See Magee on Atonement, No. 35. |