stroyed, nor was he in that which belonged to its part made at all a sacrifice. But look, as the dying goat was made an atonement for sin in his way, by sacrifice in dying, so the other let go alive made an atonement in its way, namely, by carrying away the sins confessed over him into the wilderness, by means of his life. And that was transacted by confessing their sins over the head of that live-goat, after that the other goat had been offered as a sacrifice for them, that their sins being so confessed and sacrificed for, he might carry them away: ver. 9, 20, And after he hath made an end of reconciling' (namely, the sacrifice), he shall bring the live goat;' ver. 21, 22, 'And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited, and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.' Brethren, will you have the mystery of this? Our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, he is both these goats in the types, but as considered under two different notions, viz., Christ dying for sin in the first, and Christ risen, and alive, and carrying sins away into the wilderness. But you will ask, Why two such utterly differing types? Might not one have served? Brethren, the case stood thus, no one type could represent these two grand mysteries of Christ at once; and therefore God's institution was, to represent one piece of him by one type and another piece of him by another. Now, the same individual goat that was killed was not to be raised again, being a brute creature (that is proper only unto men). Hence he takes one goat that should die, to represent Christ in dying, and as such bearing our sins and punishments; and he takes another goat that lives, to represent him alive again. You find the like parallel to this in the case of cleansing the leper, Lev. xiv. There were two birds, ver. 4, one to be killed, ver. 5, and another, called the living bird, that flew away: ver. 4-7, ‘Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. And the priest shall command that one of the birds shall be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.' You read in Rev. i. 18 how our Lord speaks of himself, saying, 'I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.' You read in Rom. v. 10 what singular differing purposes these two especially serve for: that as we are 'reconciled to God by the death of his Son,' as a sacrifice, so we are 'saved by his life.' There is his death, to pay the price or ransom for our reconciliation, and there is the actual application or communication of eternal salvation unto us; and that is said to be by his life. You have the like both again, in Rom. iv. 25, 'He was delivered for our offences:' there is the dying goat; and he rose again' (and liveth) for our justification:' there you have the living goat.

Sin is done away two ways by Jesus Christ; either meritoriously, by the sacrifice of himself, in dying, as the price paid, which the Scripture everywhere speaketh of: Heb. ix. 26, Once in the end of the world he appeared, to put sin away, by offering himself, and bearing their sins,' as

6

ver. 28. Secondly, there is a taking away of sin by the actual application to us of what his death merited for us; and so Christ takes sins away when we believe and come to him for pardon. The word John Baptist hath in John i., comprehends both; Behold the Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world: the word is aige; it signifieth both, 1. To bear the guilt of them, and then John saw him bearing, and loaded with all our sins upon him, which did bring him to the tree, and caused him to die; He was made sin for us, who knew no sin.' And, 2. It signifieth to take away sins by a removal of them from off our persons; to which the Latin word tollo answers, but the Greek word aigew intendeth both. First, take the dying goat, and that is Christ, bearing the sins of many,' as 1 Pet. ii. 24, when he was crucified; ' who his own self bare our sins in his own body upon the tree.' And thus to lay our sins upon him to this end, that was God's act, and his own, in taking our sins upon him, not ours. We were not then, neither did the saints that were then alive, understand or think of it; but that was God's, and transacted between God and Christ. God was, in Christ, reconciling the world to himself;' who 'made him sin for us, and a curse, that knew no sin.' And God, says the prophet, laid on him the iniquity of us all, when his soul was made an offering for sin;' and therefore also the dying goat is called the Lord's lot.' The priest did but barely cast the lot, but it was God that disposed it to that goat; he would have him die. Nor do you read that the priest that was a-doing did confess our sins over the goat that was to die; it was a single sole act of God's. And so he bore them in his being sacrificed and offered up.

But come we, secondly, to the living goat, Jesus Christ. And he, after he hath made an atonement by his death, is yet to take our sins away by an actual justification of us. And in respect both to his sacrifice and offering up, as also for the application of it to us by faith to justify us, at and upon our believing, he is called a 'propitiation for us.' 1. In respect to that made at his death, in 1 John ii. 2, Who is the propitiation for the sins of the world.' This must be understood of him in dying; for there were many in the world, and yet to come into the world, he was made a propitiation for, who as yet believed not. But, 2.-Rom. iii. 25, Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood.' Observe here how he is said to be fore-ordained to be a propitiation, through faith on that his blood, which was afore made a propitiation on the cross. For then it is his atonement comes to be actually a propitiation to us, when we through faith come in to God and plead it, and not till then, and that in a true and real sense. This his being a propitiation in that place, must therefore be understood in the application of him to us. And we may distinguish of them thus: the one is Christ, a propitiation for us; the other, the same Christ, a propitiation to us, even in the same differing senses and respects, that the live goat and the dying goat are, in the foresaid Lev. xvi. 5, both called a sin-offering and for atonement. And now when this atonement is to be applied unto us at our conversion, and ever after, then it is indeed that the actings on our part come to be done towards the pardon of our sins: as to believe on and plead his death and blood, and also what the type instructs, viz., to come to him as he is now alive, and lives for evermore; for him to take our sins to himself and take them away from us; to lay hold on him with both hands, as it is in Lev. xvi. 21, and confess our sins over him; and until then we remain in our sins, for all that he was offered as a dying goat for

us. And this is the thing that I have aimed at and made way for, in telling you this long story out of the Old, and the mystery out of the New Testament. The priest, we see, did confess over this live goat; and therein the high priest performed the people's part, for it was done in a way of confession, and that act in no sense must be ascribed to God, in his laying our iniquities upon Christ. He confessed not them for us. So then we, when we would be saved and forgiven, must perform that part, and come and confess our sins over Christ, the live goat. God the Father hath done his part in sacrificing his Son, and Christ, the dying goat, hath done his part in purchasing our pardon; but he as the living goat must do another, and that is, both to cause us to come to himself, and lay both our hands upon him, and confess it was God's part to lay our sins upon him; but it remains to be our part to lay our sins upon him, by confessing them over him and afore him to his Father, now he is alive for the pardon of them. Look into the type, in Lev. xvi. 21, 22, it is most express: Aaron, at the 20th verse (mark well), when he had made an end of reconciliation (that is, when he had done his work, belonging to that of the goat to die, killed him, and then sprinked the blood); Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, and send them away into the wilderness. And he shall bear them away into a land not inhabited, and he shall let them go alive into the wilderness.' The mystery of this I take to be, that after the reconciliation made for us by Christ in his death, which was done without our knowledge, he then rose again, and is alive to justify us. But then we must come to him, acknowledge, as the priests did, and confess them in their names, all the sins of all the people of Israel, of what kind soever. And then this live goat carries them away into the wilderness.

If you demand the mystery there of the answer, it is a like expression to that in Micah vii. 10, that he will cast our iniquities into the depth of the sea.' What is thrown thither never rises more; as that roll into Euphrates, to signify Babylon, should never rise again. Heaven is not indeed a wilderness, to which place our live goat is ascended; but it is in the utter taking away of sins, and hiding them for ever, so as never to be found or remembered, which is here aimed at. And so Christ takes sins away, and carries them into that oblivion and forgetfulness, as none can find them, never to be remembered more,' as the Scripture speaks.

The issue which I drive at is, as to exhort you hereupon, when you come more solemnly to converse with Jesus Christ in the holy of holies, or with God through him, not only at your first conversion and faith on him, but when you come setly to pray, especially on great occasions, to lay hold on Jesus Christ with both hands (as it is in this type), that is, with all your might; and then to confess all your sins particularly over him, as the high priest did over the head of the live goat, who by his resurrection and ascension into heaven, is escaped from death and wrath for sins; and in confessing them, transfer them from off yourselves, and implore him to take them upon himself; discharge yourselves of them, by desiring him to take them, who knows what to do with them, not now to suffer for them; he hath done that once perfectly for ever; but to carry them away to an utter forgetfulness, and to be thy advocate to God to remember them no more; seeking of God not to impute thy sins to thee, but to him that was made sin, that thou mayest be made the righteousness of God in him. And so to * Qu. The mystery thereof, I answer?'-ED.

make an exchange with Christ; he to take thy sins, and to bestow his righteousness upon thee instead thereof.

And secondly, To make use of this notion to help them over one difficulty, which those, whose judgments are that Christ died not for all men intentionally, may, or perhaps do sometimes meet with, in their coming to Christ. They must not, nor ought to, come to him now to die for them; that is past and over, and were vain and blasphemous. Nor yet can they assuredly say and believe that Christ died for them, and bore their sins in particular. And although that declaration Paul makes, brought home to the heart, that Christ came into the world to save sinners,' he speaks indefinitely sinners, and all sorts of sinners, even the greatest, for he saved me, says he there; though this be a sufficient ground to draw a sinner that sees himself lost utterly, and sees Christ with a spiritual eye, as John v., to come to him; yet if this course in the way of believing that I have now urged be well weighed and made use of, it may conduce to ease the heart much more, as to any such stick and demur in his coming to Christ. For though I cannot plead that whilst he was a-dying, he had my sins for my particular laid upon him by God, yet now he is alive again, I may, as now I have been instructed, come in my own person to him, and lay my hands upon him to be the live goat for me, and confess all these my particular sins to him and over him, and also unto God and before God,

having his Christ by him present in the view of my faith. And that I may lay all my sins upon him with this end and aim, joined with the most vehement implorement of him, that he will freely take the guilt of them off from me, and carry them into a land of non-remembrance, as into a land not inhabited, and therefore never to be found, and to mediate with his Father, to pass an act of oblivion upon them, and remember them no more. And I may be sure and certain, that I am warranted thus to confess and lay my sins upon him, to the end that he should carry them away; and that this is an act, as now to be performed by me and him. And I may now come to him to do it for me in my particular. And my faith needs not proceed here upon an indefinite ground, that should any way admit of a scruple, whether I am the person that he intends or no; for I am, and every humbled sinner is, now absolutely and definitely required to do all this for his own salvation, and for his own particular. And this admits no doubtfulness at all, nor requireth a certain resolution first to be had by us, that God laid upon Christ at his death his iniquities. And it is a great relief and help to the exercise of our faith, and an infinitely gracious dispensation of God, to ordain such a type, as after was left for us to perform this part, in a way of our coming to Christ, after this manner; to become a propitiation and atonement for us in particular, through faith in his blood. That God, I say, hath left us so certain a way and course for us to put in practice; and in the practice and exercise of it, confessing our sins with mourning and brokenness of heart, that therein we shall certainly find Christ, and God through Christ, take away our sins thereupon. And this, this performance upon the day of atonement, teacheth us to do.

Exercise faith for the forgiveness of all thy sins. This that day's practice doth for our comfort in a special manner instruct us unto; for it was that which those days' sacrifices were ordained for; that whereas they had particular sacrifices appointed for particular sins, as occasionally they were committed, for which they were to bring a trespass-offering to the priest, and he by offering his sacrifice for him, made an atonement; and the promise was, it should be forgiven him; of all which you read in Leviticus, the 4th, 5th, and 6th

chapters: yet, notwithstanding these, as also that there were daily sacrifices, twice a-day (of the intendment of which afterwards), the expiation on this day was singularly appointed for a general pardon of all sins at once, passed unto the end of that year; for that outward, typical, legal atonement signified no further, there being, as the apostle says, a new remembrance of sins every year, so as they were forgiven by the year, as we say, and yet universally. All which I shall demonstrate in the close of this head.

But I find it necessary for me to speak first of the intent and scope of those particular atonements for special sins, because that will give some light towards the clearing that universal atonement of this day. And also the knowledge thereof will conduce to the comfort of believers, and to the direction of the faith of believers, in case of occasional sinnings.

CHAPTER IX.

Of occasional sacrifices for particular sins.-Their intendment then, unto

us now.

Now, as touching those particular sacrifices for occasional sins, we find how that there were some special sins that were excepted, and left out from having atonement made for them by those kind of sacrifices; as, namely, murder, adultery, and blasphemy. And this hath occasioned a great stumbling to some men, lest their being types of gospel proceedings in pardoning, the sacrifice of Christ's blood should not extend to such sins as these, but the same exception should now continue. Now, to solve this, and to clear up the matter of our universal pardon, which is now the thing I drive at, the first inquiry must be into the ground of difference then made; what that should be, that there should be no occasional sacrifice for those sins, was appointed. Some have founded the difference to lie in this, that murder and adultery, &c., being sins apparently against conscience and special light, and therewith committed with consent of will, deliberately, and upon that ground no atonement; and that those other sins, for which expiation was made by sacrifice, were only sins of ignorance; and that that was the reason why those of murder, &c., were excluded from atonement.

Thus some have deemed, because that at the entrance of those commands and prescriptions for such particular sacrifices, in Leviticus, chap. iv. God seems to limit them, for which such atonements were to be made, unto sins of ignorance, as the general rule about them is in ver. 2, 'Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them.' But yet that that was not the ground of that difference, it is manifest; in that in chap. vi., there is the same provision of expiation made for sins against conscience, and deliberately and willingly committed. As in case of a man's having had goods of another man's, or some other matter committed to his trust; or of a man that had violently stole, or taken anything from another; and the person entrusted having so defrauded his neighbour, did besides utterly deny any such thing to have been committed to him, and so added a lie to his theft, which alone was against knowledge; yea, and yet more wickedly had superadded oaths to those lies and denials, forswearing himself;-here were sins sufficiently against manifest light of conscience, and a whole