wrought for them in that night which was for ever "a night to be remembered."

But secondly, The passover was an anticipative type; that is to say, it showed or figured forth, in all its observances, things that were to come.

By the bondage of Pharaoh and Egypt into which the Israelites had been born, was shown forth the slavery of Satan and sin under which we are all by nature enchained.

Satan, as the prince of this fallen world (John xiv. 30, xvi. 11), claims us as his slaves. As soon as we are born, we go astray, speaking lies (Rom. iii. 10, &c.), and showing too plainly that we are bound by the fetters of sin which daily become faster and more enthralling.

How are we to be delivered?

In four passages of Scripture wherein this bondage is described, the means of our deliverance are pointed out:

"Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin. If THE SON shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed " (John viii. 34, 36).

Being

"Ye were the servants of sin. made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift

of God is eternal life through JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD" (Rom. vi. 17, 18, 22, 23).

"The law of the Spirit of life in CHRIST JESUS hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. viii. 2).

Again, speaking of gross backsliders and renouncers of the faith, St. Peter writes :-" While they promise themselves liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse than the beginning" (2 Peter ii. 19, 20).

In all these passages we are clearly told that it is through the Lord Jesus Christ that there is to be deliverance from the twofold bondage of sintwo-fold, because, in the first place, as God hath said of His heavenly Canaan, "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth," the chains of our guilt keep us back from any title to that blessed inheritance; and because, in the second place, the service of Satan is a hard and bitter one, as was that of the toiling Israelites in Egypt.

How, then, is it that Christ delivers us?

Here is the answer:

"CHRIST OUR PASSOVER is SACRIFICED for us."

The whole weight of the salvation of the world rests on that word SACRIFICED. In the old Jewish times, men were directed to bring animals-lambs, bullocks, kids, or doves-to the tabernacle or temple, there to be slain as sacrifices; that is to say, they acknowledged their sins to be worthy of death, but brought these harmless animals to be slain instead of them, thus transferring their own punishment to them.

Such a sacrifice was the Paschal Lamb. Neither it nor any other sacrifice could of itself be regarded as able to remove the guilt of sin by bearing God's anger instead of the sinner. But it was ordained to typify or show forth a holy and spotless Substitute, who should be chosen by God as the Victim to bear the punishment of all sin for those who would believe that He had died in their stead. The pious Jew who brought his sacrifice to be slain well knew that the blood of bulls and of goats could not take away sin. But he looked on, on to the fulfilment of the promise made from the foundation of the world, and believed that the true LAMB OF GOD who should appear, would make an atonement for, or bear the punishment of the sins of all mankind. So he offered up his lamb in that faith, and as a figure of Him that was to

come.

The sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb was observed with many additional ceremonies distinctly from

other sacrifices, being, as we have seen, a memorial of the deliverance from Egypt, as well as a figure of the Saviour, Christ.

Let us now examine more particularly into its typical meaning, as shown forth to us in the Scrip

tures.

And firstly, and more generally, as in a measure with all sacrifices, so very specially with this, it was planned by God to satisfy Himself. No upright behaviour on the part of the Hebrews had anything to do with their deliverance from death. No exertions of their own could have averted the

stroke of God's anger. If any family in Israel had neglected to sprinkle the blood upon the doorposts, the fact of their being Israelites would not have saved them. On the other hand, the most timid and frightened of their nation, no matter how alarmed, was safe, once the blood was there. Why was this? Look to God's own words:

....

"I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt," . . . . but "when I see the blood, I will pass over you." God had, so to speak, agreed with Himself that the blood should be the means of each man's preservation from His own righteous judgment.

And it was so because there was thus foreshown the plan of our salvation from the death which is our due as sinners, born in bondage to sin. God's

law says, "The soul that sinneth it shall surely die." He cannot break this word. He cannot say, "I will take no notice of this sin;" but as all have sinned, the sentence of condemnation comes upon all.

But now is the love of God made manifest; for while we were yet sinners, Christ died for, or instead of us. God so loved the world, that though, from the infinite holiness and justice of His own nature, He could not remit the sentence of death, He gave His own Son to bear our punishment in our stead, to die on the cross, that we who deserved death should go free, and that thus a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world having been offered, all who believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

It was said by one who had found the peace of thus believing that Christ's death released us from the sentence of our sins, "That word instead saved my soul." If we thus believe that Christ our passover was sacrificed in our place, we understand, as from no other proofs, how great is the holiness of our God which would not allow Him to leave the smallest transgression of His law unpunished, how great the love which prompted Him to deliver up His only Son to bear the infinite punishment of our sin, so that, although we like sheep have gone astray, "the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquities of us all." When He sees the blood of Christ sprinkled on our hearts—that is,