of the book.

(Ver. 2.) The commandment to link their emancipation with a festival,
and with the calendar, is the earliest example and the sufficient
vindication of sacred festivals, which, even yet, some persons consider
to be superstitious and judaical. But it is a strange doctrine that the
Passover deserved honour better than Easter does, or that there is
anything more servile and unchristian in celebrating the birth of all
the hopes of all mankind than in commemorating one's own birth.

(Ver. 5.) The selection of a lamb for a sacrifice so quickly became
universal, that there is no trace anywhere of the use of a kid in place
of it. The alternative is therefore an indication of antiquity, while
the qualities required--innocent youth and the absence of blemish, were
sure to suggest a typical significance. For, if they were merely to
enhance its value, why not choose a costlier animal?

Various meanings have been discovered in the four days during which it
was reserved; but perhaps the true object was to give time for
deliberation, for the solemnity and import of the institution to fill
the minds of the people; time also for preparation, since the night
itself was one of extreme haste, and prompt action can only be obtained
by leisurely anticipation. We have Scriptural authority for applying it
to the Antitype, Who also was foredoomed, "the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world" (Rev. xiii. 8).

But now it has to be observed that throughout the poetic literature the
people is taught to think of itself as a flock of sheep. "Thou leddest
Thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron" (Ps. lxxvii.
20); "We are Thy people and the sheep of Thy pasture" (Ps. lxxix. 13);
"All we like sheep have gone astray" (Isa. liii. 6); "Ye, O My sheep,
the sheep of My pasture, are men" (Ezek. xxxiv. 31); "The Lord of hosts
hath visited His flock" (Zech. x. 3). All such language would make more
easy the conception that what replaced the forfeited life was in some
sense, figuratively, in the religious idea, a kindred victim. One who
offered a lamb as his substitute sang "The Lord is my shepherd." "I have
gone astray like a lost sheep" (Ps. xxiii. 1, cxix. 176).

(Ver. 3, 6.) Very instructive it is that this first sacrifice of Judaism
could be offered by all the heads of houses. We have seen that the
Levites were presently put into the place of the eldest son, but also
that this function was exercised down to the time of He