12. In the faith of Abraham, manifested in his obedience to the call of God, resting on the promise of the blessing by Christ, and in the observation of the ordinance of circumcision, whereby they were separated unto God and united among themselves, did this people continue, without the addition of any new ordinance of wor- ship for the supportment of their faith, or enlargement of their light, or outward profession of their separation unto God, to the ex- piration of four hundred and thirty years. And this period of time proved afterwards fatal unto them, not exactly and absolutely, but
458 STATE AND ORDINANCES OF THE CHURCH [EXERC. XIX.
in some kind of proportion; for from hence unto the building of the temple by Solomon was four hundred and eighty years. The dura- tion of that temple was four hundred and fifteen years; that of the latter, built in the room thereof, somewhat above five hundred, some peculiar space being given them beyond their former trials, before their utter destruction.
13. At the expiration of the period of time discoursed on, our apostle tells us, Heb. xi. 28, that “through faith Moses kept the pass- over, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the first-born should touch them.” This was the second ordinance of common use to the church, and appropriated unto them, which God insti- tuted amongst them. The story of its institution and manner of its celebration are at large insisted on, Exod. xii.
14. The time of its institution and annual celebration is exactly noted in the Scripture. It was the night before the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt; which is thence called DY noon, Exod. xii. 42, “a night of observances” unto the LorpD; that is, wherein his institutions of this ordinance were to be observed with great care and diligence. And this night fell in directly upon the expiration of the four hundred and thirty years before limited, verses 40, 41. For the time of the year, it was inthe month 238, “ Abib,” as the Hebrews called the month of the spring which, in those eastern parts, gave blades unto the corn and other fruits of the earth, Exod. xu. 4, xxiii, 15, xxxiv. 18, Deut. xvi. 1; which afterwards, by a Chaldee name, was called Nisan, Neh. ii. 1, Esth. iii. 7; and it answered partly to our March, partly to April, beginning before or at the vernal equinox, according to the distance of any year from the embolismical year. And from hence this month was appointed to be D'WIN WN, the head, chief, or principal of the months, Exod. xi. 2; and so, consequently, the beginning of the year unto them: for before this, their year began and ended in September, upon the - gathering in of the fruits of the earth, chap. xxiii, 16; being the time, as most of the present Jews suppose, wherein the world was created. Neither yet was this change absolute unto all ends and purposes, but only as to ecclesiastical observances and feasts that depended on their distance from this of the passover; for their civil year, as to contracts, debts, and liberties, continued still to begin in September, with their jubilees, Lev. xxv. 8-10. And from that beginning of the year, most probably, are the months to be reckoned that are mentioned in the continuance and ending of the flood, Gen. vii. 11, viii. 18. See Josephus, lib. i. cap. ii. i
15. For the time of the day wherein the lamb was to be slain, it is designed to be D°D 17 }'3, “between the two evenings,” of the four- teenth day of the first month. Some of the Jews, as Kimchi, make these two evenings to be the first declining of the sun, which began
SECT. 13-16.] BEFORE THE GIVING OF THE LAW. 459
the evening or afternoon, and the setting of the sun, which closeth it; answering the ancient division of the day into morning and even- ing: so that it might be done, by this rule, in any time of the after- noon, though it always followed the evening sacrifice, at the ninth hour, or three of the clock. Others, as Aben Ezra, make the first evening to be the setting of the sun, the other the departure of all light. And the Jews have a distinction of the day, wherein they call this space of it, D.D WI 2, “ between the two evenings,” mwown p2, “between the two suns.” So they express themselves in Talmud. Hierus. Berach. cap i.: {2.7} ‘YODA DY WT Po MND Yay yor S95 nd yar pnvnd nr yoys ney nwn :mwoen;—“ All the space of time wherein the face of the east is red is called day; when it begins to wax pale, itis called between the suns,” (the same with, “ between the evenings”); “and when it waxeth black, the upper firmament being like the lower, it is night.”
16. The occasion of the institution of this ordinance is so fully and plainly declared in Exodus and Deuteronomy that we shall not need to enlarge upon it. In brief, God being about to accomplish his great work of delivering the people out of Egypt, he thought meet to conjoin together his greatest mercy towards them and his greatest plague upon their enemies. To this end he gives command unto the destroying angel to pass through the land and to slay all the first-born therein, from his who sat upon the throne unto the meanest person belonging unto the body of that nation, And al- though he might have preserved the Israelites from this destruction by the least intimation of his will unto the instrument used therein, yet, having respect unto the furtherance of their faith and obedience, as also designing their instruction in the way and means of their eternal salvation, he chose to do it by this ordinance of the passover. The form of this service is given us, Exod. xii. 27. It is called NDB, “pesach;” and the reason of it is subjoined,—for the Lorp NDB | “pasach,” passed over the houses of Israel. NDB is to pass on by leaping, making as it were a halt in any: place, and then leaping over that which is next; whence he that goes halting is called NDS, “ pisseach,” one that as it were leaps on from one leg unto the other. Some of the ancients call it “ phase,” Cheth being only not pronounced. The Greeks retain the name, but corrupt it into réoya.; and are followed by the Latins, who call it “pascha.” Hence, after the apostle had applied this feast and sacrifice unto the Lord Christ, 1 Cor. v. 7, and Christians began to eelebrate the commemoration of the passion and suffering of Christ at the time of the year when that was observed, many both of the Greeks and Latins began to think that the word was derived from réoxw, “ patior,” to suffer; as both Augustine and Gregory Nazianzen, Serm. de Pasch., do declare, who both of them refute that imagination. The general nature of