death was to be to sinners all over the world. The safety which the blood of the passover-lamb had provided for Israel, His blood was to provide far more abundantly for all that believed in Him.

Let us never forget the sacrificial character of Christ's death. Let us reject with abhorrence the modern notion that it was nothing more than a mighty instance of selfsacrifice and self-denial. It was this no doubt;-but it was something far higher, deeper, and more important than this. It was a propitiation for the sins of the world. It was an atonement for man's transgression. It was the killing of the true passover, through whose death destruction is warded off from sinners believing on Him. "Christ our passover," says St. Paul, “is sacrificed for us." (1 Cor. v. 7.) Let us grasp that truth firmly, and never let it go.

NOTES. LUKE XXII. 1-13.

1.-[Which is called the passover.] Let it be noted that this expression shows that St. Luke wrote his Gospel specially for the benefit of the Gentiles. Such an explanatory phrase as this would not have been used, if it had been written for the Jews. 2.-[Chief Priests and Scribes sought how, &c.] Burkitt remarks on this verse, As general councils have erred, and may err fundamentally, both in matter of doctrine and practice, so did this general council at Jerusalem, consisting of Chief Priests, Doctors and Elders, with the High Priest for their president.”

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[Feared the people.] The dread of public opinion is curiously shown here, as well as in the famous case of Herod desiring to kill John the Baptist, and yet afraid. Well-directed public opinion is one of God's most powerful instruments for controlling tyrants and oppressors, and keeping the world in order. 3.-[Then entered Satan into Judas.] Calvin remarks on this exexpression, "Though Satan drives us every day to crime, and reigns in us, when he hurries us into a course of extraordinary wickedness; yet he is said to enter into the reprobate when he takes possession of all their senses, overthrows the fear of God,

extinguishes the light of reason, and destroys every feeling of shame."

4.-[The Captains.] These were not Roman officers. They were commanders of the Jewish guard of the Temple.

5.-[To give him money.] Quesnel remarks, "It is avarice and the desire of earthly riches, which generally lays open the hearts of ecclesiastical persons to the devil, as it did that of the apostle. They deliver up the key of their hearts when they deliver up themselves to this passion."

6.-[He promised.] The Greek word so rendered, is translated in every other place where it is used in the New Testament, thank," or "confess." Hammond thinks that it indicates 'promising with great professions of thankfulness and gratitude.” 7.-[The day...when the passover must be killed.] There is a difficulty here which has occasioned much speculation among com

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mentators.

The difficulty is this. Our Lord appears to have eaten the passover one day in the week, and the Jews his enemies to have eaten it on another.. He ate the passover on Thursday Evening, while we are distinctly told that the next morning early “they went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the passover." (John xviii. 28.) The law was distinct that the passover was to be killed the evening of the fourteenth day, and eaten that night. Why then did our Lord and the chief priests and Scribes not eat the passover at the same time? How is this to be explained?

1. Some think that our Lord kept the passover on the right and lawful day, but the Jews on the wrong one. They think that the Jews kept it on the wrong day, because of some tradition they had adopted, or because their time, on the lawful night, was entirely occupied with taking Christ prisoner, and preparing for His trial. This last view is that of Chrysostom and Eusebius.

2. Pearce says, that "in the days of Jesus, the number of Jews assembled to eat the passover was exceedingly great, and that from necessity they took the liberty of eating the passover on any hour before the second evening, or fifteenth day.”

I offer no opinion on the difficulty beyond the two following remarks.

For one thing, I think it noteworthy that at the original appointment of the passover, the command is distinct to kill the lamb in the evening, but not equally distinct to eat it immediately. On the contrary, it is only said "they shall eat the flesh in that night.” (Exodus xii. 8.) May it not therefore be possible, that when the chief priests would not go into the

judgment hall at the "early hour," mentioned by St. John, they seized the opportunity to eat the passover, before the day broke, and so kept within the letter of the law?-Our Lord would then, in that case, have eaten the passover at the beginning of the night, and his enemies at the end of it.

For another thing, I venture to suggest, that in the passover, as well as in other things, it is highly probable that great irregularities had crept in among the Jews, and that the letter of the law was not strictly observed, but infringed in many things, on the authority of rabbinical traditions. That our Lord kept the passover at the right day and hour, I feel no doubt. I see much force in the Greek word, "when the passover must be killed." But that His enemies may have been less strict in their time of keeping it, I think highly probable.

10. [There shall a man meet you, &c.] There is difference of opinion among commentators about this man. Some think that he was a friend and disciple of our Lord, and that He knew well what Peter and John meant, when they spoke of the "Master." Others think that He was an entire stranger, and that the ease with which He received the disciples and made all the arrangements, may be accounted for by the fact, that the inhabitants of Jerusalem were accustomed to receive strange Jews, and accomodate them at the time of the passover feast. The latter view seems perhaps the more probable of the two.

Here, as in other places, we ought to note our Lord's perfect knowledge. He mentions a number of circumstances in this and the following verses, with as much minuteness and precision as if the whole transaction had been previously arranged. And yet the disciples found things exactly as He had said to them.

[Bearing a pitcher of water.] Some writers see much significance in this pitcher of water, and remind us of the many occasions where mercies are described in Scripture as having befallen some in connexion with water, and hint that there is here an allusion to the water of baptism introducing us to the Lord's Supper! I cannot see anything in the circumstance beyond a simple fact designating the man and marking him out to the disciples.

13. [They made ready the passover.] We may suppose that the following things were required, in order to make ready,— the lamb, the wine, the bitter herbs and the unleavened bread. These things being procured and placed in order, the upper room was ready.

LUKE XXII. 14—23.

14 And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.

15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:

18 For I say unto you, will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.

19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto

them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

21 But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.

22 And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed!

23 And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing.

THESE verses contain St. Luke's account of the institu

tion of the Lord's supper. It is a passage which every true Christian will always read with deep interest. How wonderful it seems that an ordinance, so beautifully simple at its first appointment, should have been obscured and mystified by man's inventions! What a painful proof it is of human corruption, that some of the bitterest controversies which have disturbed the Church, have been concerning the table of the Lord! Great indeed is the ingenuity of man, in perverting God's gifts! The ordinance that should have been for his wealth is too often made an occasion of falling.

We should notice, for one thing, in these verses, that the principal object of the Lord's supper was to remind Christians of Christ's death for sinners. In appointing the Lord's supper, Jesus distinctly tells His disciples that they were to do what they did, "In remembrance of him." In one word the Lord's supper is not a sacrifice. It is eminently a commemorative ordinance.

The bread that the believer eats, at the Lord's table, is

intended to remind him of Christ's body given to death on the cross for his sins. The wine that he drinks is intended to remind him of Christ's blood shed to make atonement for his transgressions. The whole ordinance was meant to keep fresh in his memory the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and the satisfaction which that sacrifice made for the sin of the world. The two elements of bread and wine were intended to preach Christ crucified as our substitute under lively emblems. They were to be a visible sermon, appealing to the believer's senses, and teaching the old foundation-truth of the Gospel, that Christ's death on the cross is the life of man's soul.

We shall do well to keep steadily in view this simple view of the Lord's supper. That a special blessing is attached to a worthy use of it, as well to the worthy use of every ordinance appointed by Christ, there is of course no doubt. But that there is any other means by which Christians can eat Christ's body, and drink Christ's blood excepting faith, we must always steadily deny. He that comes to the Lord's table with faith in Christ, may confidently expect to have his faith increased by receiving the bread and wine. But he that comes without faith has no right to expect a blessing. Empty he comes to the ordinance and empty he will go away.

The less mystery and obscurity we attach to the Lord's Supper, the better will it be for our souls. We should reject with abhorence the unscriptural notion that there is any oblation or sacrifice in it,-that the substance of the bread and wine is at all changed, or that the mere formal act of receiving the sacrament can do any good to the soul.