admits redemption under any modification, such matters cannot be subject of enquiry. But, even to our imperfect apprehension, some circumstances of natural connexion and fitness, may be pointed out. The whole may be considered, as a sensible and striking representation of a punishment, which the sinner was conscious he deserved, from God's justice and then, on the part of God, it becomes a public declaration of his holy displeasure against sin, and of his merciful compassion for the sinner; and on the part of the offender, when offered by or for him, it implies a sincere confession of guilt, and a hearty desire of obtaining pardon: and upon the due performance of this service, the sinner is pardoned, and escapes the penalty of his transgression. This we shall find agreeable to the nature of a sacrifice for sin, as laid down in the Old Testament. Now is there any thing in this, degrading to the honour of God; or in the smallest degree inconsistent with the dictates of natural reason? And in this view, what is there in the death of Christ, as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind, that may not in a certain degree, be embraced by our natural notions? For, according to the explanation just given, is it not a declaration to the whole world, of the greatness of their sins; and of the proportionate mercy and compassion of God, who had ordained this method, whereby, in a manner consistent with his attributes, his fallen creatures might be again taken into his favour, on their making themselves parties in this great sacrifice: that is, on their complying with those conditions, which on the received notion of sacrifice, would render them parties in this; namely, an adequate conviction of guilt, a proportionate sense of God's love, and a firm determination, with an humble faith in the sufficiency of this sacrifice, to endeavour after a life of amendment and obedience? Thus much falls within the reach of our comprehension on this myterious subject. Whether in the expanded range of God's moral government, some other end may not be held in view, in the death of his only begotten Son, it is not for us to enquire; nor does it in any degree concern us to know. What God has been pleased to reveal, it is alone our duty to believe. One remarkable circumstance indeed there is, in which the sacrifice of Christ differs from all those sacrifices, which were offered under the law. Our blessed Lord was not only the Subject of the offering, but the Priest who offered it. Therefore he has become not only a sacrifice, but an intercessor; his intercession being founded upon this voluntary act of benevolence, by which he offered himself without spot to God. We are not only, then, in virtue of the sacrifice, forgiven; but in virtue of the intercession, admitted to favour and grace. And thus the Scripture notion of the sacrifice of Christ, includes every advantage, which the advocates for the pure intercession, seek from their scheme of redemption. But it also contains others, which they necessarily lose by the rejection of that notion. It contains the great advantage of impressing mankind with a due sense of their guilt, by compelling a comparison with the immensity of the sacrifice made to redeem them from its effects. It contains that, in short, which is the soul and substance of all Christian virtue-HUMILITY. And the fact is plainly this, that in every attempt to get rid of the Scripture doctrine of atonement, we find feelings of a description, opposite to this Evangelic quality, more or less to prevail: we find a fondness for the * No. XLV. opinion of man's own sufficiency, and an unwilling ness to submit, with devout and implicit reverence, to the sacred word of Revelation. : If, now, upon the whole, it has appeared, that natural reason is unable to evince the efficacy of repentance: if it has appeared, that for the purpose of forgiveness, the idea of a Mediatorial scheme is perfectly consistent with our ordinary notions: if it has appeared, that Revelation has most unequivocally pronounced, that through the mediation of Jesus Christ, the son of God, our redemption has been effected: if it has appeared, that Christ is declared to have effected that redemption, by the sacrifice of himself for the sins of mankind if it has appeared, that in the Scripture meaning of sacrifice for sin, is included atonement for transgression : and if it has appeared, that the expression has been applied to Christ, in the plain and literal sense of the word, as the propitiation of an offended God: I trust we are sufficiently fortified; against the Deist, who denies the DIVINE MISSION; against the Socinian, who denies the REDEEMING MEDIATION; and against the modern rationalizing Arian, who denies the EXPIATORY SACRIFICE of Christ: in short, against all, who would deprive us of any part of the precious benefits, which, as on this day, our Saviour died to procure for us: against all, who would rob us of that humble feeling of our own insufficiency, which alone can give us an ardent, and animating faith, in the death and merits of our blessed Redeemer. DISCOURSE II. HEBR. ix. 22. And without Shedding of Blood is no Remission. ON the last commemoration of the awful subject of this day's observance, it was attempted in this place, to clear the important doctrine of Redemption, from those difficulties, in which it had been artfully entangled, by the subtle speculations of the disputatious Deist, and of the philosophising Christian. The impotence of Reason to erect the degraded sinner to an assured hope of the sufficiency of repentance, pointed out to us the necessity of an express revelation, on this head: that revelation, in announcing the expedient of a Mediator, was seen to fall in with the analogies of the Providential economy: the Mediatorial scheme was shewn to have been accomplished, through the sacrifice of the only begotten Son of God; and this sacrifice to have been effective to the expiation of the sins of the whole human race. What the peculiar nature, and true import of this sacrifice, are; and in what sense, the expiation effected by it, is strictly to be understood, it is my purpose on this day to enquire. And as, on the one hand, there is no article of Christian knowledge, of deeper concern; and, on the other, none that has been more studiously involved in obscuVOL. I. 7 rity; I trust, that you, my young Brethren, will not refuse your patient attention, whilst I endeavour to unfold to your apprehension, the genuine, because the Scripture, interpretation of that great sacrifice, whereby we are redeemed from the power of sin, and have received the promise of an eternal inherit ance. In the mode of enquiry, which has been usually adopted on this subject, one prevailing error deserves to be noticed. The nature of sacrifice, as generally practised and understood, antecedent to the time of Christ, has been first examined; and from that, as a ground of explanation, the notion of Christ's sacrifice has been derived: whereas, in fact, by this, all former sacrifices are to be interpreted; and in reference to it only, can they be understood. From an error so fundamental, it is not wonderful, that the greatest perplexities should have arisen, concerning the nature of sacrifice in general; and that they should ultimately fall, with cumulative confusion, on the nature of that particular sacrifice, to the investigation of which, fanciful and mistaken theories had been assumed as guides. Thus, whilst some have presumptuously attributed, the early and universal practice of sacrifice, to an irrational and superstitious fear of an imagined sanguinary divinity; and have been led, in defiance of the express language of Revelation, to reject and ridicule the notion of sacrifice, as originating only in the grossness of superstition: others, not equally destitute of reverence for the sacred word, and consequently not treating this solemn Rite, with equal disrespect, have yet ascribed its origin to human' invention; and have thereby been compelled, to account for the divine institution of the Jewish Sacrifices, as a y No. XLVI. * No. XLVII. |