“But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people; because he brought not the offering of the Lord in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin. And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover unto the Lord; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and for him that was born in the land.” (Ver. 13, 14.) The willful neglect of the passover would argue, on the part of an Israelite, a total want of appreciation of the benefits and blessings flowing out of his redemption and deliverance from the land of Egypt. The more deeply any one entered into the divine reality of that which had been accomplished on that memorable night, in the which the congregation of Israel found refuge and repose beneath the shelter of the blood, the more earnestly would he long for the return of “the fourteenth day of the first month,” that he might have an opportunity of commemorating that glorious occasion; and if there was aught preventing his enjoying the ordinance in “the first month,” the more gladly and thankfully would he avail himself of “the second.” But the man who could be satisfied to go on, from year to year, without keeping the passover, only proved that his heart was far away from the God of Israel. It were worse than vain for any one to speak of loving the God of his fathers, and of enjoying the blessings of redemption, while the very ordinance which God had appointed to set forth that redemption lay neglected from year to year. And may we not, to a certain extent, apply all this to ourselves, in reference to the matter of the Lord’s supper? Doubtless we may, and that with very much profit. There is this connection between the passover and the Lord’s supper, that the former was the type, the latter the memorial, of the death of Christ. Thus we read in 1 Corinthians v, “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” This sentence establishes the connection. The passover was the memorial of Israel’s redemption from the bondage of Egypt, and the Lord’s supper is the memorial of the Church’s redemption from the heavier and darker bondage of sin and Satan. Hence, as every true and faithful Israelite would surely be found keeping the passover, in the appointed season, according to all the rites and ceremonies thereof, so will every true and faithful Christian be found celebrating the Lord’s supper, in its appointed season, and according to all the principles laid down in the New Testament respecting it. If an Israelite had neglected the passover, even on one single occasion, he would have been cut off from the congregation. Such neglect was not to be tolerated in the assembly of old. It was instantly visited with the divine displeasure.