and guard. Those on whom God has conferred greater power, and who oan conse- quently see more clearly where evil lies and where danger begins, should esteem it their most sacred and bounden duty to befriend, to preserve, to save, those who are feebler and more exposed. We have our powers, no doubt, that we may take care of ourselves, that we may secure and enrich ourselves. But this is only one part, and it is quite a small part, of our duty and of our opportunity. We live to love and bless. God has made us what we are and given us what we have, for the express purpose that we may serve those who are around us, and more particularly those who are nearly related to us, by defending them when they are assailed, by timely warning against attack, by arming them for the evil hour, by encouraging them in the midst of the battle when they are distressed, by enabling them to make the most of the resources which they possess. By wise direction and strengthening companionship many a simple soldier bas been enabled, on moral as well as material fields, to fight a brave and faithful battle, and to win tb e victory and the crown. 2. To restore. "Ye who are spiritual restore such a one" (Gal. vi. 1). Here is not only a sacred duty, but a very high privilege. To win a fortune, to establish "a house" or a family, to build up a great reputation, to rise to conspicuous eminence,-this is laudable, honourable, attractive enough, or at least it may bi so. But there are things which o.re higher and better than these. And of these nobler thir.gs there are few that rank higher in the estimate of Christ or will give our own hearts deeper satisfaction in the calmer and truer moments of our life than the ad of restoration. To lead our erring brother or sister back again from the highway or the byway of evil into the road of rectitude, into the path of life,-this is emphatic- ally and pre-eminently the Christian thing to do; it is to reduce to action the Divine instruction, "As my Father bath sent me, even so send I you."-0. Ver. 21.-The moral of the Passover. This great feast, which was so solemnly though hastily inaugurated, and so solemnly and joyously renewed after a discreditable lapse (Exod. xii.; 2 Chron. xxx.), had an historical and also a religious aspect. I. lTs HISTORICAL BIGNIFIOANCE. It recalled one great event of surpassing national interest; it brought back to memory the pitiless cruelty, the blind obduracy, the false confidence of Egypt, and, at the same time, the sad sufferings and the trembling hopes of Israel. "With what solemn awe an<l yet with what thrilling expectation did their forefathers in the land of bondage partake of that strange meal I With what eager carefulness did they see that the saving blood-stream marked the lintels of the door which would shut in their dear ones I And what a morning on the morrow I What joyous congratulations in each Hebrew family when they all met, in !He and health, on that memorable march I And what terrible consternation in those Egyptian homes where the angel of death had not passed by but had struck his fearful stroke I It was the hour of Jehovah's most signal interposition; it was the hour of national redemption, They might well remember it "in all their dwellings through all their generations." II. lTs SPIRITUAL BIGNIFIOANCE. The keeping of the Passover was fitted to exert a most invaluable influence in two ways. 1. It was calculated to bind the nation together and so to preserve its unity; or, when that unity was broken, to induce a kinder or more brotherly feeling between the separated communities, and to prevent further dissolution. For nothing is a stronger tie than common sacred memories-the vivid recollection of scenes, of suff'eringe, of struggles, through which common ancestors have passed. Such memories allay ill feeling and strengthen existing "cords of love." 2. It was calculated to preserve their allegiance to their Divine Delii•erer. For the slaying and eating of the lamb in their homes: (1) Spoke to their hearts of the vast and the immeaimrable obligation under which they stood to the Lord their God; it presented him to their minds as the Lord their Redeemer, who had with a mighty hand rescued them from tyranny and oppression, and placed them in the land of plenty, in homes of Jeace. (2) Summoned them to the liveliest gratitude for such signal mercy, for such abounding and abiding goodness. (3) Charged them to live that life of purity and of separateness from heathen iniquity of which the unleavened bread spoke to them while the feast lasted (see homily in Zoe., in Lev. xxiii. 4--8). 1. It is well to sign11.lize individual, mercies; it is well, by some wise habit or institution, to call to remembrance, for renewed gr11.titude and consecration, some special cleliverance gr11.nted us by the God of our life during our past career. 2. n is well to ox. XLVI. 1-24.] THE BOOK 01!' THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 429
commemorate common, natimial favowra ; to rece.11, with thankfulness e.nd devotion, the goodness of God shown in great national conjunctures. 3. It is best to perpetuate the one great, surpe.ssing redemption of owr raCll; to join in the commemoration of that supreme event when the Lamb of God we.a slain for the sins of the world.-C.