CHAPTER II. PREPARATION FOR THE JOURNEY. EXOD. xii. 1-14. HEN the Israelites were on the point of Wemerging from bondage they were commanded to celebrate a religious feast, which was the origin of that ever-after solemnly observed and important festival called 'The Passover.' The occasion and manner of this feast is fully described in the passage before us, and the posture in which they were to partake of it is particularly noted in the 11th verse. The great miracle which eventually compelled Pharaoh to dismiss the children of Israel from his territories was the destruction of the first-born of all the Egyptians. A destroying angel was commissioned to execute this judgment, and to enter every house of the Egyptians at midnight, and slay the first-born, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon.' The Israelites were to be spared this infliction; but in order that they might escape the general destruction, each family was commanded to take a lamb without blemish, a male of the first year: this lamb they were to kill in the evening, and take of the blood, and strike it on the two side-posts and on the upper door-post of the houses; they were then to eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and in this manner were they to eat it, with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and staff in hand; and they must eat it in haste. When, therefore, the Lord passed through to smite the Egyptians, and when He saw the blood on the lintel and on the two side-posts, the Lord passed over the door and would not suffer the destroyer to come into their houses to smite them. Thus they escaped that plague, and were at the same time prepared for their immediate and final departure from that land of their captivity. Hence we have two distinctly marked points in which the story of the Israelites allegorizes the spiritual history of the sinner seeking a heavenly country. I. The first of which is this. Before the Israel ites could escape the terrible calamities of Egypt, they must comply with the pointed for their deliverance. method divinely ap They must carefully select the lamb; they must slay it; they must sprinkle the blood; they must eat the flesh. Now all this required faith on their part; and their compliance would show that they believed that the threatened judgment would come-that unless they had the sign of the slain lamb on their door-posts, they would suffer with the Egyptians in the coming calamity; that by adopting the divinely appointed means, they might securely rest in their houses without fear of harm; that God would fulfil His promise that He would not suffer the destroying Angel to enter their dwelling, and that He would overrule all these momentous events to their ultimate complete emancipation. Their faith, then, in all these particulars, would be tested and proved by their ready acquiescence, and by their prompt and strict employment of all the means devised by the Almighty for their deliverance. And it is remarkable, that although the children of Israel on many other occasions showed themselves very imperfect, C gwan amung men where we must be saved?” Ant to ve nt any perceive, that I Christ Jesus has become e anchor of vacum u ulem that Dey Em, e irs and my sacstatury evidence we ran gre n nur bang really n arnest in seeking sivation is hinted the eye sui, Lord, what vuidest ou have me to * Now what are these requisites, without which f us can be delivered from wrach? They correspond with those which were enjoined Israelites. For like as God forewarned His he approach of the destroying angel, so |