CHAPTER XIX. 

 THE BLOOD OF THE PASCHAL LAMB. 



" For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians ; and 

 when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, 

 the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer 

 to come in unto your houses to smite you." EXODUS xii. 23. 



WE know that the Mosaic institutions had in the 

 first instance a special adaptation to the com- 

 mon wants and circumstances of the Israelites. The 

 law of food, the distinction made between clean and un- 

 clean animals, had its foundation in sanitary reasons ; it 

 had a primary relation to the nature of the climate, and 

 the best kind of nourishment adapted to the Jewish 

 constitution in such a climate. Bodily health, vigour, 

 and purity were doubtless the objects which the laws 

 regarding cleanliness were meant first of all to subserve. 

 And did we investigate all the Levitical laws with the 

 same object in view, we should find in like manner that 

 there was nothing arbitrary or capricious about them ; 

 that there was a reason for them in the nature of things 

 as well as in the scheme of grace. We may be sure 

 therefore that the command of God to the Israelites, to 

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