sense, that no sinner on earth can be found to whom we may not propose all the benefits of his mediation; provided he truly come to God by faith in Christ; whereas fallen angels, and those who have died in their sins, are wholly excluded from this benefit by the very constitution of the covenant which he mediated. But all other mediators, and all attempts to approach God without a Mediator, are an affront both to the Father and the Son; even as the sacrifices, which the Israelites offered contrary to the law, were an abomination to the Lord. As, therefore, we must shortly meet our offended Sovereign at his awful tribunal; let us now avail ourselves of this inestimable appointment; and constantly approach his throne of grace, through our "faithful and merciful High Priest" and Mediator, "that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help " in every time of need."

ESSAY IX.

On the Merits and Atonement of Christ.

THE opinion that the Deity might be appeased by

expiatory sacrifices, has been very widely diffused among the human race: and the attempt has generally been made, by shedding the blood, and burning a part of the body, of some useful animal. This notion and practice seem very remote from the dictates of our natural reason; and it is extremely improbable, that they should have been the result of men's invention. We may therefore most rationally conclude, that it is wholly the doctrine of revelation, and the appointment of God, handed down by tradition, from the progenitors of our race, to the several branches of their posterity and it is certain that we meet with it in the Bible immediately after the entrance of sin. When Cain's oblation of the first-fruits of the earth was rejected, and Abel's sacrifice of the firstlings of the flock was accepted; we may naturally conclude, that the latter was presented according to the divine appointment, and that the former was not. But if we enquire into the reason of this appointment, the prac

tice of the patriarchs, and the multiplied precepts in the Mosaick law, as to this particular, we shall not easily arrive at any satisfactory solution; except we admit the doctrine of Christ's atonement, and suppose the whole to refer to him, as the substance of all these shadows. I shall, therefore, in this Essay, endeavour to explain, illustrate, and prove that doctrine, and to show its importance in the Christian religion.

The rules and general usages, respecting expiatory sacrifices under the Old Testament, may assist us in understanding the nature of our Lord's atonement, of which they were types and prefigurations.* The of fender, whose crimes might be thus expiated, was required to bring "his offering of the flock, or of the "herd, to the door of the tabernacle." The very nature of the animals appointed for sacrifice was signifi. cant: not the ferocious, the noxious, the subtle, or the unclean; but the gentle, docile, and valuable; and none of these might be offered, but such as were " without blemish," or perfect in their kind. The offender was directed to bring an offering, in which he had a property, to be presented unto God, and thus substituted in his stead for this particular purpose. He must then "lay his hands upon the head" of the sacrifice; which denoted the typical translation of guilt from him, by imputation to the substituted animal. This is generally thought to have been attended by a confession of his sins, and prayers for pardon through the acceptance of his oblation: and doubtless it implied as much, and would be attended at least with se

Heb. x. i.

cret devotions to that effect by every pious Israelite.* The blood of the sacrifice was then shed; which, being "the life" of every animal, was reserved to make atonement, and therefore was not allowed to be eaten, under the Old Testament dispensation.† Afterwards the body, or a part of it, was burned upon the alter with the fire which came immediately from heaven, both at the opening of the tabernacle-worship, and afterwards at the consecration of Solomon's temple.‡— Now who can help perceiving, that this fire represented the avenging justice of God, (who is "a consum"ing fire;") and that, when it consumed the harmless unblemished sacrifice, whilst the guilty offerer escaped, it aptly prefigured the way of a sinner's salvation, through the expiatory sufferings of the spotless "Lamb of God?" The animal's violent death, by the shedding of its blood, denoted the offender's desert of temporal death; and the subsequent burning of its fat, or flesh, showed him to be exposed to future vengeance: but then, they represented the guilt and punishment, in both respects, as translated from him to the sacrifice, which bore them in his stead. The whole ceremony concluded with the sprinkling of the blood, and in many cases the application of it to all those things that pertained to the worship of God; which evidently typified the believer's deliverance from guilt and punishment, from the sting and dread of death, and finally from death itself, from sin and all its consequences; the acceptance of his person and services,

* Lev. i. 4. iii. 2. iv. 4. xvi. 21. † Gen. ix. 4. Lev. xvii, 11ę Lev. ix. 24. 2 Chron. vii. 1-3.

and his participation of eternal life and felicity, through "Him who loved him, and washed him from his sins "in his own blood."

These appointments were varied, in divers particulars, as they respected the several kinds of sacrifices: but most of them coincided in the grand outlines here mentioned. The paschal lamb, the flesh of which was roasted and eaten, and the bodies of the sin-offerings for the congregation, which were burned without the camp, form the principal exceptions: but these variations serve to illustrate the several parts of that great subject which all the sacrifices were intended to exhibit. Even the thank-offerings and peace-offerings, though evidently typical of the believer's spiritual worship, and communion with God and with the saints; were attended with the shedding and sprinkling of the blood, and the burning of the fat, of the sacrifice on which the people feasted. Nay, the very purifications with water, (the emblem of sanctification,) the re-admission of a leper into the congregation, the consecration of a priest, and the performance of a Nazarite's vow, were, in different ways, connected with the same observances. "Almost all "things were purged with blood, and without shed

ding of blood there was no remission:"* so that this ran through the whole ritual law, and was interwoven with every part of the worship performed by the ancient church of God.

We need not be surprised, that they who overlook

*Heb. ix. 22.