We must also feast upon the flesh of this great Sacrifice, in token of the full confidence which we have in our safety through him, and as the means of deriving fresh supplies of strength from him. How strongly has our blessed Lord him- self inculcated this truth ; " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you*^." We must eat it indeed, " with the bitter herbs" of repentance, and " with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth ^." But we must eat it as " a feast," yea, as " a feast of fat things ^ ;" and we shall then find it a source of all needful strength unto our souls ^.]
We shall then find in him the same security — [Of all the first-born that belonged to Israel, the destroyer *' touched not" so much as one. And who ever perished, after
^ 1 Cor. v. 7. ^ Rom. viii. 1. '^ Isai. xxxii. 2.
d 1 Cor. iii. 11. Gal. v. 2—4. ^ John vi. 53— oG.
f Exod. xii. 8. with 1 Cor. v. 8. e Isai. xxv. 6.
•' Isai. xxv. 4.
E e2
having fled to Christ for refuge, and sprinkled their souls with his atoning blood ? In what instance did the destroyer ever overlook the sign, or the sign prove an ineffectual guard against his uplifted arm ? If Christ be " a propitiation for the sins of the whole world," and his blood be able to cleanse from all sin, then may all trust in him as " able to save them to the uttermost ; nor shall any one that trusts in him be ashamed or confounded world without end."]
Here then we see, in a striking point of view,
1. In what an awful state they are who neglect the Gospel of Christ !
[The people of Egypt, unconscious of the impending judgment, or unconcerned about it, retired to rest as secure as usual. But at midnight, when they were all asleep, it came upon them; so that " there was a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt : for there was not a house where there was not one dead*." In that instance the cry was amongst the survivors. But amongst ourselves, when persons are sum- moned to their great account, there is no apprehension excited, lest they should have fallen as monuments of God's wrath. We mourn the loss of them as relatives ; but as for the vengeance that may have seized them in the midst of their security, we think not of it. But of the thousands that are daily swept away, how fearful is the doom of the generality ! What shrieks, what cries are uttered by them on their first entrance into the presence of their God ! Could we but hear one of them, O how would it pierce our inmost souls ! Yet, if we did hear it, our terror would operate with no more abiding effect, than did that of the Egyptians ; who no sooner found that the Israelites were " entangled in the land," than they pursued after them with the most vindictive wrath to destroy them. But, beloved, know that the judgments of God will be executed, whether ye believe it or not. Your presumptuous security will avail you nothing. What did it avail the ante- diluvian world ? Did not the deluge come the very same day that Noah entered into the ark ? and did not all experience the fate which they had been warned to expect ? Yes ; every day and hour brought it nearer to them : and in like manner " your judgment also lingereth not, and your damnation slumbereth not''." Awake then from your slumbers, ye foolish virgins, ere the Bridegroom come : and as ye know not at what hour he will come, lose not another in fleeing from the wrath to come, and laying hold on eternal life.]
2. How happy and secure they are who truly believe in Christ !