name of the Lord our God;

66

" for he is that

strong tower, into which the righteous runneth and is safe," † and whom the child of light, when for a time he walketh in darkness, is to "trust; "‡ for we are well assured that no confidence can be placed in any other under heaven.

This heart, this stubborn heart of stone,
Might melt beneath the flaming throne.

No; let me rather catch the sight

That moved before his eye,
When, vestured round with robes of light

Jehovah passed by:
He saw not, nor could see, his face,
But all his goodness - all his grace.

That glimpse, once caught, this stony heart

Shall break, and melt, and feel :
Saviour! that softening view impart,

And all thyself reveal:
I dare not meet the Godhead's flame;
I
may

behold Jehovah's NAME.

Jesus, in thee, as in the cleft

The gazing prophet stood,
I take my stand — of fear bereft,

Through thine atoning blood;
Thy glory — goodness — name, unite
To fill with joy my ravished sight.

TWENTY-NINTH MEDITATION.

PASSOVER.

The

MY SAVIOUR is my PASSOVER; "For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Passover was, strictly speaking, that act of mercy whereby the Israelites were spared and saved, when the destroying angel, passing through the land of Egypt, destroyed the first-born of every family not redeemed by the blood of the appointed lamb. The name was afterwards given to the feast which commemorated that deliverance; subsequently, to the sacrifice, which afforded the feast; and ultimately, to the Lamb of God, as the great antitype, to which the redemption of Israel, the commemorative feast, and the atoning lamb pointed.

and unblemished; taken, as it were, from the flock, as being of our own nature; and, like the lamb to be slain, which was taken from the flock four days before the day of sacrifice, devoting himself to his redeeming work in the fourth year before he suffered.*

I recognize my true Passover in my beloved Saviour's sufferings and death. Like the paschal lamb, he was slain "by the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel," who conspired his death. The sin of a whole guilty world raised that shout, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" + The lamb was killed by the effusion of its blood, and was then roasted with fire, without the breaking of a bone. This latter feature in the type was fulfilled by the special providence of God, who restrained the Roman soldiers from their usual barbarity; and my soul mingles joy with my tears, while I ponder the atoning agonies of my Lord, when he voluntarily "poured out his soul unto death," deliberately letting fall, drop after drop, of his most precious blood, until enough had been shed; and patiently enduring the fiery wrath of divine justice, § until, the smile of his

* Ex. xii.

+ Luke xxiii. 21.

Isa. liii. 12.

§ Ps. xxii. 14, 15.

Father's countenance returning, he knew that his atonement was accepted and finished.

Moreover, the time and place of the typical and antitypical passover were the same, at least from the time of David, between noon and sunset, " in the place where the Lord chose to put his name.

My Saviour's blood is called “the blood of sprinkling," * because, being sprinkled on my guilty soul, as the lamb's blood on the door-posts of the Israelites, my sin is remitted, and the Angel of vengeance has no authority to smite me. I am safe. It was by faith that the Israelite obeyed the law of the paschal sacrifice, and received its promised benefits. By faith let me receive the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” † and all the rich results of his death.

Lo! with thy blood besprinkled o’er,
My heart presents an open door!

Come, King of glory, enter in!
No evil conscience here has place;
All purged by blood, and cleansed by grace,

Here lurks no soul-condemning sin.