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to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the trans

followers spreading over the world; called by his name, happy in his love*.

gressors.

12 At last He who died and rose

again and ascended into heaven for us, shall come as a mighty conqueror; leading captivity captive, and bringing his redeemed with him. His triumph shall be the recompense

of his humiliation.

Easter Even.

MORNING. ZECHARIAH ix.

1 The trouble foretold shall rest-or settle-upon Damascus, and upon Hadrach, one of the cities of Syria.

3 The wit of the wisest, and the wealth of the richest, cannot prevent calamity.

1 THE burden of the word of the LORD in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the LORD. And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise. And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. Behold, the LORD will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with firet. Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. 6 A foreigner shall bear rule. bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of

6 And a

5 These cities of Philistia had looked to receive succour from Tyre. Their expectation therefore thus frustrated brought only shame.

The faithful followers of Jesus Christ are, even here, justified in their fidelity: for he is their Saviour, having removed their iniquities; and, hereafter, he shall see in them, when glorified, the fruit of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. They will be his glory and his crown. + Alexander the Great destroyed the city by fire.

the Philistines. And I will

7 The cruel and shameful practices

take away his blood out of of the Philistines shall cease.

his mouth, and his abomi

8 The angels of God, like an armed host, encamp around to defend his Church and people. Blessed be a truth so comforting!

nations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite. And I will encamp about mine house because of the because of him that army, passeth by, and because of him pressor shall pass through them seen with mine eyes. 9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem behold, thy King and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon

a colt the foal of an ass. 10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the

that returneth: and no opany more: for now have I Well therefore may the prophet call upon the Church to rejoice *!

cometh unto thee: he is just,

10 The Messiah's kingdom being not of this world, it was to be extended not by carnal weapons.

horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. 11 As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.

12 Turn you

11 By the merits of the Saviour's atonement we are delivered from the pit of misery and death.

12 Repent and turn to Christ, and God" will abundantly pardon."

to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee; 13 when I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece,

and made thee as the sword of

13 My Gospel shall first be preached by my servants, the sons of Judah : afterwards the learned among the Gentiles shall aid in defending my cause, and extending my kingdom. They also shall be as an arrow to

my bow +.

a mighty man. And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning and the Lord GoD shall go with whirlwinds of the

shall blow the trumpet, and south. 15 The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they

15 What encouragement is this to God's anxious ministers now! He

The prophecy was exactly fulfilled by our blessed Lord. (Luke xix. 30.)

Judah was as the bow, Ephraim as the arrow.

shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine: and they shall

the all-present, the all-powerfulHe defends them here, and hereafter will give them a bright crown of

glory which fadeth not away.

be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar. And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land. "For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.

17 As their warfare should end in victory, so victory would be followed by peace and plenty; the reapers would find full sheaves, and the grape-gatherers, full vintage.

EVENING. EXODUS xiii.

1 How can we enough admire the provident mercy of the Almighty, who, by the minute and peculiar regulations which he enjoined his people, so preoccupied their time and thoughts, as necessarily to withdraw them from much intercourse with the neighbouring idolatrous na

tions.

2

1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine. And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten. eame ye out in the month Abib. And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall

Having spared the first-born in Egypt, God naturally demanded the dedication of them to himself, as a perpetual memorial of his gracious goodness, and an abiding proof of his people's gratitude.

This day

6 May the seventh day be blessed to me! It is indeed a day of holy rest and repose from care-a day of peace after strife, of joy after sorrow; emblem of eternal rest and bliss in heaven.

no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.

14 How pointedly God enjoins upon his people to give their children & religious education. Knowledge without religion is no blessing. (ver. 8.)

And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD's law may be in thy mouth for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt. Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year. And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as he sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, that thou shalt set apart unto the LORD all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the LORD's. And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem. 14 And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage and it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem. And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt. And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: but God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. 19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you;

17

17 If troubles come for religion's sake, let me never go back to the world that worse than Egyptian bondage.

19 A pious regard for the dead is thus strikingly sanctioned. We reverence the dust which, through Christ, shall once again live; for "though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."

And they took their journey

and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the

21

wilderness. And the LORD

went before them by day in a

21 Lo! the Holy Ghost thus ever companieth with God's people no

1

pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and

by night and by day; a defence and a glory. It is the Shechinah which

shall be with us "alway-even unto

the end of the world."

night: he took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

Monday in Easter-week.

MORNING.

ye

EXODUS XVI.

AND they took their journey 1 The desert of Sin extended from from Elim, and all the con- Elim to mount Sinai. Its name was gregation of the children of derived from the city Sin in Egypt. Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: 3 and the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full for have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in ; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt: and in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD: and what are we, that ye murmur against us? And Moses said, This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are

3 Thus it too often is with us all. When troubles come for the Gospel's sake, are we not apt to look back to the world, and long for its broad and restraints of religion, weary of her easy way? Impatient of the holy calm and sober duties, no more rejoicing in her peaceful and unambitious hopes, our hearts would fain freedom from care, when, alas! it again deceive us with the prospect of would prove only freedom from safety.

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