propitiatory sacrifice,* through faith by his blood. Ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things,-but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the [sins of the] whole world. Who hath not daily need, as those high-priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, then for those of the people: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. Now once on the completion of the dispensations, he hath been manifested for the putting away of sin by the sacrifice of himself. It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but [in contrast to them] this [High Priest], when he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God.—Thus it is written, and thus IT WAS NECESSARY that the Messiah should suffer. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing !"† *Rom. iii. 25. "A propitiatory sacrifice:" ixaσThpov of course requires the supplying of its understood substantive; and though mileμa be often that substantive, here evμa is more congenial to the explanatory clause, " by his blood." V. Hutchinson in Xenoph. Anab. 1785, p. 12. Hesychius, Alberti, ii. 41. Biel Thesaur. in LXX., and above all, Schleusneri Lex. But if the ellipsis of éπíoeμa be preferred, the effect will be the same; for the sprinkling of the blood upon the mercy-seat was the presentation of the sacrifice already offered. 'Ev, corresponding to the Hebrew, requires to be rendered by, in, or with, as the subject and connexion suggest. + John i. 29. 1 Cor. v. 7. Eph. v. ii. Rom. iii. 25. 1 Pet. Presumptuous and nugatory would it be, to attempt any addition to the strength and clearness of these divine testimonies. We only desire that they may be honestly and fairly understood, according to the established and rational rules of interpretation which we apply to the text of any ancient author. 3. The plain evidence of Scripture does not require inferior aid, and the proof of our proposition is rested here. But it deserves our observation, that the providence of God has, in this instance, illustrated his word, by a striking and memorable interposition. Within a few years after the death of Christ, the offering of the daily sacrifice in the temple of Jeru salem utterly ceased; and has never been restored, Indeed, the destruction of the temple, and the irretrievable loss of the Levitical genealogies, have put it out of the power of man to offer a sacrifice according to the divine law. That law was provisional; a shadow of good things to come." Its purpose has been fully answered: and by the finger of Omnipotence its expiration is recorded on the everlasting columns of historic truth. 66 ii. We proceed to show that all the objects which the typical sacrifices represented or declared, are REALLY EFFECTED by the SACRIFICE of CHRIST. 1. It is a demonstration of the most momentous and interesting truths, respecting the PERFECTIONS and GOVERNMENT of GOD. He is here manifested as the MOST HOLY ONE, i. 19. 1 John ii. 2. Heb. chapters vii. ix. x. throughout. Luke xxiv. 46. Rev. v. 12. irreconcileable to sin, of purer eyes than to countenance evil, and in whose presence nothing that defileth shall ever stand. Had sin been pardoned and its guilt cancelled, by the exercise of sovereign will, or by an act of mere power; it might have been doubted whether the Almighty were indeed infinite in moral rectitude: it might have been surmised that sin was not so extremely odious in his sight as his word represents, nor holiness so absolutely necessary to the happiness of a rational being. But no such injurious apprehensions can be entertained by those who devoutly study the divine purity as it appears in the doctrine of Christ crucified. Sin is pardoned, but it is not palliated. On the contrary, it is branded with a deeper and more awful mark of Jehovah's abhorrence than if no interposition of grace had been vouchsafed, but the weight of vengeance had fallen on the heads that deserved it. The JUSTICE of Heaven is displayed. This perfection of the Divine Nature is, indeed, but a necessary exercise of its essential and unchanging rectitude. "Justice is goodness directed by wisdom," says the judicious Bishop Stillingfleet. The same inspired word which tells us that God is love, tells us also that God is righteous, who taketh vengeance. And the positions are in perfect harmony. It is a necessary and honourable part of the goodness of God that he sets himself against sin. It is in the sufferings of the Saviour, as a sacrifice for the sins of those whom he hath loved, so as to give himself for them, that sin is most clearly shown to be deserving of all the detes tation which the word of God expresses, and all the punishment which it denounces. The sincere Christian's abhorrence to sin is confirmed and increased, by every discovery of its intrinsic demerit; but such discoveries he makes, in the most convincing and affecting manner, in looking to Jesus, who knew no sin, yet was made sin for us; the spotless and unblemished Victim, who bore our sins in his own body on the cross. Here, too, the persevering transgressor may meditate terror; for if God spared not his own Son, when, by a constitution of wise and holy mercy, he was numbered among the transgressors, what will be the end of those, whose personal and persevering guilt equally tramples on the authority of his law, and insults the grace of his gospel? "If these things were done in the green wood, what shall be done in the dry?" The LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY of God is brought to view in its rightful honours. His law is shown to be of the most reasonable character, and of indissoluble obligation; for it is holy, just, and good. It is the expression of his own moral perfection, and he cannot permit it to be depreciated with impunity. It is the most moderate demand that can in any reason be imagined, of excellence which deserves thus to be honoured, and of dominion which requires thus to be obeyed. A lower requirement cannot be conceived, without charging God with indifference to his perfection and dereliction of his honour. What does his law demand, but that HE should be loved and honoured proportionably to his merit? More he does D not enjoin less, it would be infinitely dishonourable in him to require or to accept. The righteousness of the requirement, and the correspondent equity of its sanction, are shown forth in their just glory by the obedience unto death of Jesus the Son of God. Put under the law, he hath magnified it and made it honourable, and is become the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. The glory of eternal WISDOM is here manifested in the formation of a moral constitution, by which the guilt and punishment of sin, so far as was necessary for the purposes of sacrificial atonement, were assumed by the sinless Victim; and the worth of his obedience and his sufferings becomes imputable, on grounds of right and reason, to the sinner who is brought to a cordial acquiescence in this plan of holiness and grace. The foundation of this divine constitution is laid in a union of nature and covenant relationship, between the meritorious Sufferer and those for whom he suffers, so that a reciprocal proprietorship is made to exist. Striking resemblances to such a constitution of things are not wanting in the visible government of Providence:* and whoever has attentively considered the amount of human knowledge on the subject of cause and effect, must, I think, of necessity admit that this doctrine of a moral union between Christ and his people rests upon an unshaken foundation of philosophical truth.† Thus a way is opened for the exercise of MERCY * See Butler's Analogy, particularly Part II. chap. v. |