
THE Paschal feast is the emblem of the Christian life. The Blood is ever  speaking to God for us; though we see it not, God sees it, and hears its  prevalent plea. We in the meanwhile are called upon to feed in faith daily,  hourly, on the flesh of the Son of Man, according to His own command. In all  Christian life, even in its hours of greatest rapture, there must be a touch of  the bitter herb.
We can never forget the cost of our redemption. - Even  in heaven, in the full realization of its' bliss, whenever we catch sight of the  print of the nails in His hand, we shall remember the agony and bloody sweat,  the cross and passion, and eat the feast with the flavor of the bitter herb. How  much more on earth, where we are so constantly requiring the efficacy of His  precious death!
There will always be the memory of our sinnership. - We  cannot forget our unworthiness and sin. He has forgiven; but we cannot forget.  Ah, those years of rebellion and perverseness before we yielded to Him; and  those years of self-will and pride since we knew His love l They will sometimes  come back to us, and give us to eat of the bitter herb.
Moreover, there  must be the constant crucifixion of the self-life. - We can only properly feed  on Jesus, the Lamb of God, when we are animated by the spirit of self-surrender  and humiliation, of death to the world and to the will of the flesh, which were  the characteristics of His cross. Deep down in our hearts, the drinking of His  cup and being baptized with His baptism, will be the touch of the bitter herbs  in the feast. But "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be  compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."