it sooner for the crowd. The holiest days were called e great, or the good days. Accordingly St. John ls the last day of the feast of tabernacles, the great y, that is, the most solemn as we have rendered it. uring these festivals, that part of the sacrifices which s to be eat, and the shew-bread, was divided among e four and twenty courses of priests. Criminals were -o kept till these solemn occasions, that their punishent might be a terror to others. The Jews however re not willing to put JESUS CHRIST to death durg the feast, because they were afraid this would se some disturbance among the people, who took n for the Messiah, or at least for a great prophet. hich course soever they took, they must needs have ted against their consciences; for if he was not an postor, as undoubtedly they did not look upon him one, they ought not to have put him to death, either fore, or after the feast. And if he was an imstor, they should have put him to death during the st, according to the law, Providence ordered it so, at he should suffer death at the time he did, because, ce as he was the true paschal lamb, or our passover, use St. Paul's expression, it was necessary that he ould die at that very juncture of time. As there came to Jerusalem vast numbers of people at these fesals, the Roman governors were wont to give the Jews garrison of Roman soldiers, to prevent any seditions, disturbances among the people.

It is well known that the passover was so named from e angel's passing over the houses of the Israelites, and aring their first-born, when those of the Egyptians -re to put death*. The name of passover was also

- Ibid. ver. 37.
Exod. xii. 12, 13.

• 1 Cor. v. 7. b Matth. xxvii. 65.

The Hebrew verb, from whence the word sover is derived, doth not only signify to pass from one place to other, but also to pass over, to spare, to pass without doing any harm;

the passover and nence also it is JESUS CHRIST our PASSOVER', that ml. The passover was otherwise named vened bread, because it was unlawful ort of bread, during the seven days the s name however more particularly bend day of the feast, i. e. the fifteenth We have an account of all the ceremothe passover in several places of the y may be reduced to these three heads. eating of the paschal lamb: 2. The ned bread: And, 3. Offering up to - handful of barley.

gs to be observed with relation to the id, are as follows. 1. It is to be noted, sts and particularly at the passover, umbers of victims slain from among 5, and the like*. The paschal feast of the flesh of these sacrifices, after is eaten. The first was what the guests for the lamb was symbolical, and it ny one to eat of it about the bigness y were satisfied before, or in case the gh for every one. 2. This lamb was

that which the Israelites had eaten in called the body of the passover, lo art of the paschal lamb which was was offered upon the altar; that is, vas sprinkled, and the entrails that US CHRIST manifestly alluded to

t. xxvi. 17. Luke xxi. 1.

a Mark xiv. 12. 14.
⚫ I Cor.
Mark xiv. 12. h Exod. xii.
i Lev. xxiii. 6. Mark
* Deut. xvii. 2 Chron.

Deut xvi. 8.

iii. cap. 10.

ned chagiga, i. c. rejoicing.

is expression, when he said of the bread, this is my ody; as if he had said, this is not the body of the schal lamb, which we have just now eaten, but the ody of the true lamb, whereof the other was only a gure. 3. The lamb was killed the fourteenth day of he month Nisan ", in the evening, or as the scripare expresses it, between the two evenings †. Such s could not celebrate the passover on the day appointed, pon the account of some legal uncleanness, or any her indisposition, were obliged to do it the fourteenth ay of the next month... We will leave it to the learned o determine exactly the hour when it was done. Josehus, who may justly be looked upon as a competent dge in such matters, says, that the paschal lamb was illed between the ninth hour, that it, three in the af rnoon, and the eleventh, i. e. about the setting of the n. And within this space of time also it was, that ESUS CHRIST, our true paschal lamb, was crucified". . The lamb was to be a male of the first year, and ithout blemish. The apostles often make allusion to is last quality, when speaking of JESUS CHRIST, of ne Christians, and of the church of Christ ‡. It was ith a design to know whether the lambs or kids had all e conditions required by the law, that they were enined carefully to chuse them, and set them aside some ays before the feast. 5. This sacrifice was to be offered p in the tabernacle, as long as it stood, and afterwards the courts of the temple. 6. Every particular per

m Exod. xii. 6. Num. ix. 5. Deut. xvi. 6. Josh. v. 10. + That is, from 12 or 1 o'clock, till sun-setting.

Exod, xi. 5.

n. Matt. xxvii. 46. Heb. ix. 14. 1 Pet. i. 19. Ephes. i. 4. v. 27. Coloss. i. 2. Revel. xiv. 5. In most of the Greek copies of the seventy, there e two epithets, without blemish, and perfect There is an allusion to is last word, Rom. xii. 1. the perfect will of God, i. e. the sacrifice -od requires of us, ought to be perfect.

The area of the three courts of the temple (besides the rooms and her places in it, where the paschal lamb might be offered up) contain above 435,600 square cubits, so that there was room enough for

om of the altar. When any person qualified for offering this sacrifice, by cleanness he had contracted, it was the Levites

lamb was slain, the blood sprinkled, ned upon the altar, the lamb was reon by whom it had been offered, who ace where it was to be eat. It was hould be thoroughly roasted, and not le'. The occasion of this last instiknown; the reasons that are alledged ubtedly seem too far-fetched to the readers, we therefore judge it more ignorance in this particular, than to uncertain about it. St. John assures hibition of not breaking a bone of was typical of what happened to our

lamb was thus dressed, it was eaten in all sorts of persons, free-men and l as women. It was necessary there my persons as could eat the whole erefore when the family was not large er of the house invited his friends. hat were invited to this feast, were ds, and the guests, companions or roof which JESUS CHRIST gave Juim friend or companion, was both

. Philo de Vit. Mos. 1. iii. s Exod. xii. John xix. 36.

came up to Jerusalem from all parts of the land -r, were furnished with lodgings gratis.

ell us, that they were not to be under ten, and

st and cutting, because he betrayed him after having t the passover with him.

9. It was a very ancient custom among the eastern tions to wash their feet before meals, especially when ey returned from a journey y. There were good reaons for this custom, because they commonly travelled foot, without stockings, and their shoes were open the top. Some imagine with a good deal of probality, that they were also wont to wash their feet before e paschal feast, nothing being a fitter representation the state and condition of a traveller. Slaves and can persons were commonly put to that employment, at JESUS CHRIST was pleased to perform it to his sciples, to give them an example of humility and chaty. It is however to be observed, that this was not ɔne during the paschal feast, but the night before.

10. The guests leaned on their left arms upon beds ound a table, on which was set the lamb; with bitter erbs, unleavened bread, and a dish full of a kind of auce or thick mixture, wherein they dipped the bread nd herbs. This perhaps was the dish in which Judas ipped with JESUS CHRIST, of which we read in the ospel. It was very common among the eastern nations o lie on beds when they took their meals, as is evident om sacred as well as profane history; but, as the Thaludists pretend, this posture was then absolutely neessary at the eating of the paschal lamb, as being a fit mblem of that rest and freedom, which God had grantthe children of Israel, by bringing them out of Egypt, ecause a slave doth not commonly take his meals with

y Gen. xviii. 4. xix. 2. xxiv. 32. Judg. xix. 21.

5.

*This the Jews called charosset, in remembrance of the mortar hich they had used when making bricks in the land of Egypt. They ade it at first with dates and dryed figs; but the modern Jews make with chesnuts, apples, &c. See Basnage Hist. des Juifs, Tom. 3.