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CHRIST OUR PASSOVER

“For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast.” 1 Cor. 5:7,8

The Passover feast lasts seven days with the Jews, commencing this year March 31 and ending April 7, and typifies perfect and everlasting purity and joy to all who partake of the Lamb slain. Paul teaches that as Christ our passover [lamb] is slain, so many of us as have by faith partaken of his imputed merit should henceforth continually rejoice before God and feast upon the truth, putting away completely all leaven of sin; malice, hypocrisy, etc.

The death and eating of the Passover lamb was with Israel the cause or basis for the “Passover Feast” which lasts a week. The lamb was slain the day preceding the feast week, and was the type of Jesus’ death. Hence the anniversary of the crucifixion this year [Jewish time] will be March 30, between noon and 3 o’clock P.M.; and the evening before, viz., the Sunday evening March 29 (the same day by Jewish time, their day beginning at 6 o’clock in the evening) between 6 o’clock and 10 o’clock, was the time spent in killing, preparing and eating the Passover supper, and after it the supper of bread and wine, representing our Lord’s body and blood broken and shed for us, which he here introduced to his disciples as thereafter taking the place of the literal lamb; these emblems being representative of himself the antitype—”The Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.”

When the Lord, after giving the disciples the bread and wine as emblems of his body and blood, and telling them to partake of them, said, “This do in remembrance of me,” (Luke 22:19,) we understood him to teach that henceforth the Passover anniversary should be commemorated not by eating the typical lamb, but by partaking of these emblems of the anti-typical lamb. Not in remembrance of the deliverance from Egyptian bondage, but in remembrance of our deliverance from the bondage of sin and death. The anti-type should be recognized as begun in every sense.

And when the Apostle says, “As often as ye do this ye do show the Lord’s death till he come,” we understand him to teach, that as often as this anniversary is observed [at its yearly recurrence] we should thus show the Lord’s death as the basis of all our joy, purity and hope. Nor do we understand the words “till he come” to limit us and make its present observance improper, since the evident meaning is—until the Lord’s kingdom shall have come, and he shall have called you to share with him the new wine (the joys, rights and privileges of the divine nature), in that kingdom. See Mark 14:25, Luke 22:16.

For the sake of our many new readers, we mention that it has for some years been our custom to “do this” “as often” as its anniversary recurs; preserving so far as possible the simplicity of the early church and of the first occasion as instituted by our Lord. The Church in this city will meet at our usual place, the “Upper Room” of No. 101 Federal street, Allegheny City. We shall, as heretofore, welcome all who are the Lord’s disciples—all who appreciate the broken body and shed blood, to meet with us, that we may together commemorate our ransom.

We cannot all meet here, but we can all meet with our Lord, and in the communion of heart we shall have fellowship one with another and with our Head and with our Father, while realizing that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. Where two or three are met in Jesus name, the Head will be present and a blessing ensue.

As we break the bread which represents our Lord’s body, let us not forget that by his appointment we are now members of His body, and as such are to be broken also. As we drink of the emblem of his sacrificed life by which we are justified, let us not forget that we are called to share the cup with him, thus partaking in symbol of his death. By his grace we shall indeed drink of his cup and then share his glory. Matt. 20:22,23.

It is to this, the Apostle refers in 1 Cor. 10:16-18. Those priests who ate of the sacrifice, were the ones which did the sacrificing and whom the sacrifices represented. “The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion [sharing] of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion [sharing] of the body of Christ? For we being many, are one bread [loaf] and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread [loaf].” Let none partake thoughtlessly of the emblems but with attentive, earnest hearts let each endeavor to realize not only his share in the benefits resulting from Jesus sacrifice, but also as a result, his share afterward with Jesus in sacrifice.

Our meeting will be at 8 o’clock at the location mentioned above, Sunday evening March, 29.

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— February, 1885 —