gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in ONCE into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."

Then the PASSOVER " was typical of the justice of God's passing over and sparing such who are sprinkled with the blood of Christ (1 Cor. v. 7). As the destroying angel passed over the houses marked with the blood of the Paschal lamb, so the wrath of God passes over them whose souls are sprinkled with the blood of Christ. As the Paschal lamb was killed before Israel was delivered; so it was necessary that Christ should suffer before we could be redeemed. It was killed before Moses' Law or Aaron's Sacrifices were enjoined; to show that deliverance comes to mankind by none of them, but only by the TRUE PASSOVER, that Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. iii. 8; Rom. iii. 25; Heb. ix. 14). It was killed the first month of the year, which prefigured that Christ should suffer death in that month (John xviii. 28). It was killed in the evening (Ex. xii. 6). So Christ suffered in the last days, and at that time of the day (Matt. xxvii. 46; Heb. i. 2). At even also the sun sets, which shows that it was the Sun of Righteousness who was to suffer and die; and that at His passion universal darkness should be upon the whole earth (Luke xxiii. 44). The Passover was roast with fire, to note the sharp and dreadful pains which Christ should suffer, not only from men but from God also. It was to be eaten with bitter herbs (Ex. xii. 8),

not only to put them in remembrance of their bitter bondage in Egypt, but also to testify our mortification to sin, and readiness to undergo afflictions for Christ (Col. i. 24), and likewise to teach us the absolute necessity "of truc repentance in all that would profitably feed on Christ."-Cruden.

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When we add to this the fact that the high priest on earth could not see into the most holy place but once a year, and that he must then enter alone and not without blood, and under the vail which hid from us the Divine Presence, yet when Jesus was crucified that typical veil was rent from the top to the bottom; so when the flesh by which He veiled His Divinity from us was rent by the nails and the spear, a way was made by which we can have access to God; through the veil, that is to say, His flesh," as the "door" and "way" to the Father; and having become the end of the law, and "abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man so making peace" (Eph. ii. 15); which figures stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings and carnal ordinances (Heb. ix. 10), and " blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross" (Col. ii. 14), we can all now enter through Him into the Divine presence and favour, and enjoy communion with Him in the kingdom of God; enjoy in the soul the fellowship of the Spirit by a new and living way-enjoy the breaking of bread from Heaven and the New Testament in His blood-by faith take into our hearts the flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus, honour His coming, suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, intercession-honour Him as High Priest and King-honour Him as all in all. While While upon earth He told His disciples and the multitudes what this Paschal supper would be when

He would eat it new with them in the kingdom of God. He ate it with them the last time under the Law, and would give them His very flesh and blood to eat under the Gospel, and He would make that Supper become to them spirit and life. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me" (Rev. iii. 20).

Christ's flesh broken and blood poured out on Calvary applied by the Spirit to the conscience and the soul, as we receive them by faith as spiritual food, become our life. We are taught to expect from His spiritual table a supply that never fails, a well of living water springing up into everlasting life. He that eats will never hunger. We are instructed to pray that His kingdom, which is within us, may come, and His will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven, and that He will give us day by day our daily bread, which is our communion bread.

Paul says to the Corinthians (1 Cor. x. 16, 17), "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, being many, are one bread, and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread." And again (1 Cor. v. 7, 8): "For as Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, let us keep the feast; not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice or wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

But more need not be added. I think the teachings of our Lord fully sustain me in accepting the Spiritual Supper here brought out so very clearly in the New Testament, as the Supper our Saviour had in mind when He said, "I will no more drink of the fruit of this vine until that day when I shall drink it new with you in my kingdom." "I will not any more cat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of

God.' "I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God shall come."

This Supper affords a perpetual supply to all His saints; and since the vail, that is to say His flesh, is rent, we are not content with once a year, once a month, once a week, but pray for a daily, hourly, constant supply, according to our need. We can eat this Supper with Him alone, or in companies. His life and love circulate from one to another-and the whole family of believers are blessed together around the communion table. His stores are inexhaustible. His love and compassion are rich as heaven.

I have now given what I understand to be the Type and the Antitype. The first ended when our Blessed Lord cried out upon the cross, "IT IS FINISHED!" and gave up the Ghost. The Antitype was fully brought in when they were baptised with the Holy Ghost, and the spiritual heavens were opened to us all, and the Holy Spirit dispensed that grace which brings salvation to all.

It now remains to be shown what interpretation should be made of the feasts which are noticed in the New Testament, and of the usages of the Roman and Protestant churches of our day. Joseph John Gurney has written very ably on this subject, and I would invite the attention of the reader to his instructive and learned Essays on Baptism and the Supper.

Bloomingdale, United States.

BARNABAS C. HOBBS.

(To be concluded next Number.)

ON SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POETRY
OF COWPER.

"O thou sculptor, painter, poet,
Take this lesson to thy heart;
That is best which lieth nearest ;
Shape from that thy work of art."
LONGFELLOW.

IN harmony with the spirit of our motto, Cowper thus writes to his young relation John Johnson, on the occasion of some verses being submitted to his criticism:

"Remember that in writing perspicuity is always more than half the battle. The want of it is the ruin of more than half the poetry that is published. A meaning that does not stare you in the face is as bad as no meaning, because nobody will take the pains to poke for it."

We do not judge of an artist by comparison with one who works in a different sphere and proposes to himself a higher or more remote ideal; but we estimate the painter, or the poet, by his success in realising that to which he aspires. The essential requisite is that he be a true artist, a real poet, possessing that indescribable power which we call genius, giving to his work an element of beauty, or of grandeur, altogether apart from the production of the mere copyist.

It is needful, then, that a poet's true position should be understood, and in the case of Cowper it is well indicated by his own canon. With an entire freedom from affectation, he ever seized the nearest theme as the best. He was neither metaphysical nor visionary, but not the less a poet, with a measure of the "vision and the faculty divine," while steering with TRUTH as