XXVI. Without hedding of blood there is no remiffion. -Hebrews ix. 22. THE idea conveyed in this paffage appears rather fingular, till we examine its connection with the whole of the divine economy. An atonement for fin by the fhedding of blood, took place immediately after the fall. I allude to the facrifice of Abel, which was of the firstlings of his flock; and confequently was a bloody facrifice. To this, we are told, God had reSpect*; while Cain's facrifice, which was of the fruits of the field, was rejected. Through the early periods of the facred hiftory, we find the bloody facrifice ftill continued. And if we look into the customs of heathen nations, we fhall find too, that, in whatever way it got among them, it every where prevailed. Poets, hiftorians, and philofophers, all mention this mode of atone VOL. I. * GENESIS iv. 4. D D ment: ment*: infomuch, that, among the Latins, fœdus ferire (to make a covenant) literally fignifies to fanction it, by striking or killing an animal. Hav But in the Jewish church we find, as we might expect, this idea under the strongest characters. The bloody facrifice pervades indeed its whole ritual. Before the Jewish establishment, Mofes confecrated the firft covenant with blood. ing read the law to the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, and sprinkled both the book and the people. He fprinkled alfo with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the miniftry: faying, This is the blood of the Teftament which God hath enjoined unto you. In aftertimes the facrifices of the temple were abundant. Various kinds were in use: but the expiatory facrifice was by far the most frequent. The number of lambs facrificed at every paffover, almost exceeds belief. This grand and univerfal display of expiatory facrifice, plainly originating from God, when thus * We have fometimes this vicarious atonement exprefsly marked out. -pro fibra fumite fibras ; Hanc animam vobis pro meliore damus. OVID. FASTI. Lib. 6. + See HEBREWS X. 19. brought brought into one point of view, feems to be among the strongest evidences of the truth of christianity; and of its leading doctrine of the atonement: and he who does not acknowledge it as fuch, muft, I fhould think, be under fome violent prejudices, which prevent his examining it with candour, and attention. On the face of the thing it certainly appears, that all mankind have thus unwittingly been preparing the world for the great chriftian atonement. What other account can the deist give of this wonderful concurrence in a custom fo apparently unnatural? Nay, when he finds, that in many nations even human facrifices were in ufe. If he can give no account of it, let him take the account given in various parts of scripture, that the grand archetype was Chrift, who was made a facrifice for fin-let him take the account given by the apoftle to the Hebrews, that Chrift being come an high-prieft, hath obtained eternal redemption for us, not by the blood of goats, and calves; but by his own blood. For if the blood of bulls, and of goats fatisfieth to the purifying of the flesh; how much more fhall the blood of Chrift, who offered himself without Spot to God, purge your confciences from dead works to Jerve the living God*. * See HEBREWS ix. from several verfes of which chapter thefe words are taken. XXVII. Father Abraham, have mercy on me !——— may IT be matter of furprize, fays the papist, that proteftants are fo warm against the invocation of faints, when we have here an instance from our Saviour's own mouth, of a prayer to a beatified fpirit. The proteftant, in his turn, asks, whether the poetical machinery of a parable, and that too constructed on a Jewish plan*, is a fufficient foundation for a doctrine of fuch importance? Befides, what does father Abraham do? He has no power to relieve his petitioner. Where then is the argument? A wicked man makes a petition to a faint, which the faint expressly tells him he cannot grant.- You or I may make a petition to a faint. It is difregarded; but is still an argument equally ftrong. * See Dr. LIGHTFOOT's account of this parable, which he fays, is taken from the Gemara. XXVIII. Who, against hope, believed in hope.- WE have here, in appearance, a kind of con tradiction. The mind of Abraham, the father of the faithful, is represented, at the same time, as hoping, and yet abandoning that hope.-But this is a very natural picture of the human mind. Where hope has a great object in view, there will always be fear. If not fear, there will always however be that fort of timorous fluctuation, which distinguishes hope from assurance. It is thus in worldly affairs. When a great good is expected; but not yet poffeffed, there will always be an apprehenfion of losing it. It is thus too with every good man, who views the chriftian difpenfation as he ought.When he contemplates the scheme of man's redemption in all its vaftness-the wonderful means employed, and the immenfity of the views it opens-he recoils at his own infignificance; DD 3 and |