Our passover

II No. 821 Chestnut Street

Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by

THE TRUSTEES OP THE

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION,

In the Clerks Office of the District Court for the Eastern District

of Pennsylvania.

Preface

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable. It is wise to gather instruction from the Old Testament as well as the New. These things were written for our instruction and admonition. In this volume information is drawn from various sources ; and so it is proper to make this general acknowledgement of indebtedness to others. The plan and the execution are my own, and for these I alone am responsible, while free use is made of the thoughts and the language of others, in the hope that thus gathered and presented, the work may be profitable and useful. May the instruction here given be blessed to all who read !

W. J. M.

Contents

PAGE

X Christ our Passover 7

The passover — Leaven — The sacrifice of Christ — The lamb chosen — The lamb without blemish — The lamb slain — Blood upon the door-posts — The flesh wasted — The flesh eaten — Wholly eaten or burned — All eat at the same time — Eaten in haste — All concerned — Not a bone broken — The feast to be kept — A life-long festival — The Lord's supper — How to keep the feast — What is needed — Old leaven — Leaven of malice and wickedness — Unleavened bread — Useful lessons — Hymn 7-41

III. Forgiveness Wits God

If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. — Ps. cxxx. 3, 4.

Explanations,

Job puts an important question when he asks, How should man be just with God ? And Micah adds to its interest and importance when he says, Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old ? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? But how can these justify us before God ? The question remains, How can sinners be accounted just ? How be treated as innocent ? If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, 0* Lord, who shall stand ? -But — and here is our hope — there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. There is forgiveness, because Christ our passover is sacrificed for us and the great things of the law are fulfilled in him ; yea, he has

72 OUE PASSOVEK.

answered the demands of the law for us, and hence we may be just in him.

To mark iniquities is to keep a strict account of them and to reckon with the transgressor for them according to God's holy law and on the principles of strict justice ; to reckon with the transgressor himself, and not with a surety or substitute. Should God thus mark iniquities, who, among the sons of men, could stand ? "If thou shouldest mark iniquities, that is, so consider and observe them as to reserve them for punishment and vengeance. * * * * In God's marking sin according to the tenor of the law, the case is the same with all classes of sinners. * * * * In a sin-perplexed soul, God's marking sin according to the tenor of the law, fills the soul with dread and terror. * * * * The marking here intended, implies animadversion, and punishment according to the tenor of the law. Not only the sentence of the law, but a will of punishing according to it, is * included in it. If, saith the Psalmist, thou, the great and dreadful God, who art extolled by thy glorious name Jah, shouldest take notice of iniquities, so as to recompense sinners that come unto thee according to the severity of thy holy law, what then ? It is answered by the proposal, Who can stand ? that is, none can stand No man, not one in the world, can stand or abide -the trial. Every one, on this supposition, must perish, and that eternally. * * * * Who can stand? There is a deep insinuation of'a dreadful ruin, as to all with whom God shall so deal as to mark their iniquities. — Ps. i. 5."

Who can Stand?

Who can stand ? To stand is to be justified, or acquitted. The question of the Psalmist implies that if God were to reckon with men, according to law, on the ground of merit or demerit, none could stand the trial and be justified or acquitted. All would be found guilty and be condemned. But he proceeds to say, There is forgiveness with God, that e he may be feared, implying that there is a method of reckoning with God, by which it is possible for those who avail themselves of it, to stand, be acquitted, and justified — possible for God to be just, and yet justify them that believe. " To stand, is to stand one's ground, maintain one's innocence, and perhaps in this case, to endure one's sentence. * * * * Since none can stand, our only hope is in free forgiveness — the forgiveness that we need, the only forgiveness that is available or attainable.' " There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. To fear the Lord is an expression comprehensive of his whole worship and all our duty. To this I am encouraged, saith the Psalmist, in my depths, because there is forgiveness with thee. I will abide in all duties, in all the ways of thy worship, wherein thou mayest be found.' "Fear or godly reverence is represented as one fruit and evidence of pardoned

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W7iat is here Taught,

Some profitable lessons are here taught us. Among them are these. No one can stand acquitted, or be accepted as just, on the ground of his own merit or performances, when God reckoneth with him ; hence all need forgiveness ; there is forgiveness with God ; and God should be feared, he should be reverenced and served with filial affection, because there is forgiveness with him. These lessons we should remember, on them we should meditate.

The First JLesspn,

The first lesson to be learned by us from the words of the Psalmist is, that no one can stand acquitted by the law of God, or be accepted and justified on the ground of his own merit or performances, when God reckoneth with him. If thou, Lord,- shouldest mark iniquity, Lord, who shall stand ? Not one !

What the Scriptures Teach,

Not one! So the Scriptures teach. Thus Job says, If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? Isaiah says, speaking as well of man's moral disease as of the corruption and misery of the Jewish state, The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in it ; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores; they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. And Paul, in Romans, quoting from several scriptures, says, There is none righteous, no, not one : there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre ; with their tongues they have used deceit ; the poison of asps is under their lips : whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness : their feet are swift to shed blood : destruction and misery are in their ways : and the way of peace have they not known : there is no fear of God before their eyes. Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Rom. iii. 9-20. None can stand. Not one !

What Men Confess.

No, not one! So the best men confess. Says Job, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear ; but now mine eyes seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Moses, under a deep sense of his unworthiness, exclaims, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips. And Isaiah, when favoured with a heavenly vision, said, Woe is me, for I am undone ; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips ; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Paul declares, For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing; and he exclaims, in view of his unworthiness, wretched man that I am ! The holiest men in all ages have been most sensible of their depravity. They have had the clearest views of the desperate wickedness of their own hearts, and the entire demerit of their whole lives. The nearer the saints have approximated the moral image of their Maker, the more conscious have they been of their moral deformity ; the nearer they have advanced towards perfection, the more sensible have they been of their imperfections. Like Paul, they have esteemed themselves less than the least of all saints ; renounced all self-dependence, and relinquished for ever all hope of justification on the ground of their own merit or performances. They see nothing in themselves for which they can hope for divine acceptance. - With David they exclaim, If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, Lord, who shall stand ? Not one !

Reason,

No ; not one ! Reason corroborates and confirms the Scripture and the confessions of the best men. The light of nature teaches us something of the power, wisdom, and goodness of God. Reason in fers that a being possessed of infinite wisdom, goodness, and power, would not leave his works imperfect ; he would not create a world filled, as this is, with natural and moral evil ; natural and moral evil would have, originally, no place in the works of a

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Being possessing infinite wisdom, goodness, and power. These perfections God evidently possesses, if at all, in an infinite degree. Of course, all the works issuing from his hands must be very good. But how do we see them now? Both natural and moral evil abound. Man, the master-piece of divine workmanship, is subject to evils numberless and unspeakable. And why ? Because he is not as God made him! Reason, as well as revelation, teaches us that man is fallen ! He is not as he once was : he is a sinner ; he is fallen ! And I ask, how can a fallen being, as man evidently is, stand acquitted, on the ground of his own performances, when God reckoneth with him ? The very fact that he is fallen and depraved, precludes the idea of justification on the score of merit. If fallen, as experience, and observation, and Scripture, and reason prove, he is destitute of merit ; he has nothing but his sinfulness and misery to commend him to God, and cannot stand when God marks iniquity against him, and deals with him according to the tenor of his law. That law demands constant, perpetual, and perfect obedience. A single failure exposes to its curse. No subsequent obedience can atone for a single past transgression; and as all have transgressed, all are condemned; and who then can stand? Not one!

The Second Lesson.

No ; not one ! Hence all need forgiveness. This follows, of course. If all are sinners and condemned ;

7 * if no one can stand acquitted by the law of God, on the ground of his own merit or works, when God reckoneth with him ; then, of course, all need pardon. There must be some way of forgiveness devised, some way of justification other than by works, or all are lost ! Every one !

The Bible.

All must be lost! Every one! So the Scriptures teach. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; of course, all need pardon and justification, and without it, they must perish. And if they cannot be pardoned and justified on the ground of works, how can this be accomplished ? How can they be forgiven ? The following verses teach us : All have sinned and come short of the glory of God ; being justified freely — not by works, not by anything done by us, nor for anything done in us — freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus : whom God hath set forth, or foreordained, as the margin reads, to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness : that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. How much stress is, in the Scriptures, laid upon the forgiveness of sins as essential to the peace and happiness of man ! It is essential to his peace with God and to peace in his own heart. It is necessary to his life as well as to his peace. He needs forgiveness that he may glorify God and enjoy him, that he may be happy and useful, that he may have hope, peace, and joy. Thus is it written, There is no peace to the wicked; and, let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. And how frequently is forgiveness promised as an unspeakable blessing! Thus, — I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud, thy sins; return unto me, for I have redeemed thee. Thus what man needs is the richest blessing which God can bestow, for it includes, or brings with it, all others ; and without the blessing of forgiveness, he is and must be miserable, for he is a sinner, and sin is the parent of misery.

All need forgiveness; all, every one!

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Confessions.

Yes, all need forgiveness; all, every one! All men confess their need of pardon. So general is the consciousness of guilt and ill-desert, and the expression, in some way, of the desire of forgiveness, that it may be termed an universal sentiment. It is almost as widely diffused as is the human race. All men, with few and rare exceptions, are sensible of their fallen condition ; all desire pardon ; and in some way, all corxfess their need of forgiveness. The sacrifices and penances, the self-inflicted tortures and self-immolations of the heathen, are but so many confessions directly in point. The same may be said of Catholic rites and Mohammedan superstitions. And many of the religious forms and external moralities and generous acts of nominal Christendom spring from the same source. And the cry of the penitent is for mercy and pardon. The publican prayed, God be merciful to me a sinner ! Every prayer is a confession of guilt, and a plea for the remission of sins. The Saviour himself has taught us to pray, Father, forgive us our debts — our sins — as we forgive our debtors. The holiest pray for pardon ; they ask for forgiveness ; they plead not their merits before God, for they have none to plead; they say, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. All being sinners, all need forgiveness. If the best men confess their need of forgiveness, the awakened sinner feels it with oppressive weight.

He is convinced of his sins by the Spirit of God, and cries, wretched man that I am ! He is burdened with a sense of his unworthiness, and cries, What must I do to be saved? Can I be forgiven? How can this burden be taken from my heart? Is there forgiveness with God? Is there forgiveness for me? Yes, all need forgiveness, many confess it, but m few feel it as they should. It is not until convinced of sin by the Holy Spirit of God that men truly feel their need of being forgiven. But when the Spirit brings the truth home to their hearts and convinces them of their sin and misery, then they begin to feel as before they never felt, that they must be forgiven or perish. Sin then appears an infinite evil. Good deeds they have none. They blush to think of merit. Sin is their burden. They loathe and abhor themselves on account of sin ; and they feel and confess that it would be just in God to leave them to perish for ever — to mark their iniquities and condemn them to eternal death. They cannot stand before him. Their sins are not only their burden, but their grief and their abhorrence ; and crushed beneath the mighty load, sad, sorrowful, repenting, they cry, What must we do ? How can we be forgiven ? How delivered from sin ? Is there forgiveness with God ? Thus a sense of sin prepared Adam for the promise of the woman's seed : and a sense of sin prepares men for the announcement of mercy through Jesus Christ. Not till we feel lost by sin are we ready to be saved by faith in the Son of God.

The Third JLesson,

But whether we feel it or not, we are sinners, and need forgiveness. Then is there forgiveness ? What question can be more important for us as sinners ? Is there forgiveness ? Yes, there is forgiveness witji

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God. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, Lord, who shall stand ? But there is forgiveness with thee.

Forgiveness with GoUt*

Forgiveness with God ! This is a glorious truth ! Nothing of this is known from the light of nature. The volume of nature, with all its vastness, sublimity, and beauty, speaks not a word of forgiveness. It spea^ks of the depravity of man, but leaves us all in darkness respecting a way of recovery from sin and ruin. It teaches us the need of forgiveness ; it teaches the impossibility of acquittal on the ground of works or merit ; but in all its contents, it has not a line like this, There is forgiveness with God ! The Scriptures alone contain this blessed intimation; and it is an intimation so far above the teachings of reason, that it would scarcely be creditable if the Bible did not reveal it. We should bless God for this truth, so intimately connected^ with our necessities as sinners ; and if for no other reason, we should love the Bible because it says there is -forgiveness with God. Hence it is that the awakened begin to search the Scriptures as soon as they begin to pray and to ask for the way of life. The Bible alone can solve their doubts and relieve their perplexities ; and it can do this because it alone reveals the way of salvation — forgiveness with God I

The light of nature does not, but the Bible does, reveal the glorious and astonishing truth, that there is forgiveness with God— forgiveness even for the chief of sinners— forgiveness with him that he may be feared, and plenteous redemption that he may be sought unto. It sets Jehovah before us as the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth ; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, without a satisfaction to his justice, or if they continue impenitent and unbelieving, for he is just. And yet the mercy of the Lord enclureth for ever. And says Daniel, To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have sinned against him. There is forgiveness with God.

The Way of Forgiveness*

Forgiveness ! But it would be of comparatively little moment for us to know that there is forgiveness with God, if we were left in ignorance of the way in which the benefit may be secured. Let the mariner on the stormy deep be informed that there is safety in port, and what would that avail him, had he no compass by which to direct his tempest-tossed bark into the desired haven ? Tell the burdened sinner there is forgiveness with God, and what will that avail, if you tell him not how he may approach Jehovah acceptably and find pardon and peace ? The Bible does not leave us in darkness here. Light shines from the sacred page on the sinner's pathway, directing him to the cross of Christ. The Bible points out the way of forgiveness. It tells us how iniquities may be blotted out, and the sinner stand acquitted and justified and accepted and saved. Its teachings here are divine. No other book teaches like this. The reckoning here revealed is Crod's own arithmetic — reckoning with a substitute in the sinner's stead. The method of pardon ' and salvation here revealed is above human invention ; it came from God : he is its Author. This mode of reckoning is all his own. The plan of salvation developed in the Scriptures is so unlike every other, so far transcending human genius, so honouring to God and so abasing to man — so wise, so good, so unique — that the Book which contains it must have been written by inspiration of the Holy Ghost % Were there no other argument for the inspiration of the Scriptures, this alone is sufficient to establish their claim to divine inspiration. They came from God.

The Scriptures not only teach us the possibility of forgiveness, they also point out the way. It is by faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ pur passover, the Lamb slain. They reveal a peculiar method of reckoning — God's method — reckoning with a Surety or Substitute, marking the iniquities of the sinner against the Substitute, or placing them to his account, he bearing the penalty, and the sinner being acquitted, forgiven, justified, and accepted, on the exercise of faith in him. The Surety paying the debt by the sacrifice of himself; and all who by faith avail themselves of the sacrifice thus made are forgiven. The Surety makes atonement and pays the debt, and all who believe in him, are, on the exercise of faith — their acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Saviour — acquitted and stand justified before God. So that, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus there is forgiveness with God.

What Christ has done.

But to be more particular. Consider what has been done to open the way for the forgiveness of sins and to secure this blessing to all them that believe. Jesus' Christ took the sinner's place, his law-place, and was made a curse for him ; he suffered for him and in his stead, and thus atoned for his sins. By his obedience, sufferings, and death, he has made an atonement for his sins, and brought in an everlasting righteousness for his justification ; and now ascended, he ever liveth to intercede. Thus it is written, Christ suffered for us. He died for the ungodly. He was made a curse for us ; who, his own self, bare our sins in his own body on the tree. He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. On him was laid the iniquity of us all. He who knew no sin was made to be sin- for us, a sin-offering — the bearer of our sins — that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He is the propitiation for our sins. He is offered to men in the gospel as their Saviour. When they believe — receive and rest upon him — they are forgiven and accounted righteous. They are not only acquitted and forgiven, but they are treated as innocent, as if the righteousness of Christ were theirs. This is the way God forgives; thus there is forgiveness with God. Christ has died ; and the sinner has but to believe in Jesus Christ, and he is forgiven, justified, saved: — and to believe in Christ is to credit the testimony of God concerning him and to receive and rest upon him alone for salvation ; it is to trust in Christ for pardon and eternal life. Now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Rom. iii. 21-28.

How God Forgives .

We should ever remember that God forgives only through Jesus Christ. It is because of his atonement, because he is the propitiation for our sins, that God can be just and yet justify him which believeth in Jesus. Hence it is that forgiveness is so frequently spoken of in connection with the name, office, and work of Christ the Mediator, and the shedding of his blood. Repentance and remission of sins are preached in his name. Luke xxiv. 47. There is salvation in no other. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sin. Acts v. 31. Through him is preached the forgiveness of sins. Acts xiii. 38. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. His blood cleanseth from all sin; and without shedding of blood is no remission. Hence the atoning blood of Christ is the only ground of hope. There is forgiveness with God, but it is only through Jesus Christ, and because he has died and now lives. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by him. Reject him, and there is no pardon, no hope. Reject him, and you are lost. Receive him, and you are safe. Receive IrirQ, and pardon and eternal life are yours. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish!

" His is the name that calms our fears, That bids our sorrows cease; 'Tis music in the sinner's ears, 'Tis life, and health, and peace."

Yea, he is our peace, having destroyed the enmity by the blood of his cross, and reconciled us to God by his death.

Invitations and Hntreaties*

Burdened sinner, Jesus has died! He says to you, Come unto me ! Go to him with "a broken and contrite heart. Receive him. Give yourself to him, saying :

" Here, Lord, I give myself away, 'Tis all that I can do !"

And this is all he requires. This is the way to peace, the way of salvation. Believe in Jesus; cast your burden on him, and you shall be forgiven and saved. Convinced of your sins and penitent, go to Jesus Christ, give yourself to him, and then live to his glory. This is the evidence you are to give that you ^do truly close in with the offered mercy — a life of obedience to Jesus Christ. Believing in him is the way of life ; obeying him is the evidence you are to give to the world that you do believe. As a believing sinner, you shall be forgiven ; as a forgiven sinner, you must fear God and keep his commandments, for there is forgiveness with him, that he may be feared, feared reverently and obediently, for that fear which is the offspring of the hope of pardon, is the bosom companion of love to God and man.

Forgiveness! Then there is hope! Burdened, weary, and heavy-laden sinner, look up! Behold the Lamb of God! He came to take away your sins; he can give you rest. Believe in him, and you shall have peace. How many have found him precious to their souls ! They have come to him in their distress, and have gone on their way rejoicing. They have found there is forgiveness with God, and they have cried with the spirit of children, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth ! Yes, there is forgiveness with God through Jesus Christ ; and if you feel your sins to be a burden, you may hope in his mercy.

The Fourth Wesson.

There is further instruction here. We are also taught the design and result of the scheme of mercy which infinite wisdom and goodness devised for the pardon and restoration of fallen man: there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared — to the intent thou mayest be feared, for this very purpose. If there were no hope of forgiveness, there could be no pity in this world, there could be no genuine repentance, no filial obedience, no reverential worship of God. All would be blank despair, hardened sinfulness and bitter remorse. Earth would be hell ! There is forgiveness, that there may be pity, reverence, love, obedience. God should be feared — feared in every proper sense — because there is forgiveness with him. But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.