My present business is to open and apply the oblation of Christ ; the efficacy and excellency whereof is excellently illustrated, by a comparison with all other oblations, in the precedent context, and with a singular encomium commended to us in these words, from the singularity of it * It is but one offering ; one not only specifically, but one numerically considered ; but once offered, and never more to be repeated : for Christ dieth no more, Rom. vi. 9. He also commends it from the efficacy of it ; by it he hath perfect*, ed it, i. e. not only purchased a possibility of salvation, but all that we need to our full perfection. It brings in a most intire, com- plete and perfect righteousness : all that remains to make us per- fectly happy, is but the full application of the benefits procured by this oblation for us. Moreover, it is here commended from the extensiveness of it ; not being restrained to a few, but applicable to all the saints, in all the ages and places of the world : for this indefinite, tliem tliat that sanctified, is equivalent to an universal, and is as much as if he had said, To all and every saint, from the beginning to the end of the world. Lastly, He commends it from its perpetuity ; it perfects for ever ; that is, it is of everlasting effi- cacy : it shall abide as fresh, vigorous and powerful to the end of
* Christ's offering is not only one in kind, but in number, because there can be bo other offering of him but by means of death, and therefore the distinction be- tween a bloody and unbloody sacrifice is false. Trelcat. Jnstit. p. 79.
«ERM. Xlf. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 155
the world, as it was the first moment it was offered up. All runt into this sweet truth :
Doct. That the oblation made unto God by Jesus Christ, U of unspeakable value, and everlasting efficacy, to perfect all them tJtat are, or shall be sanctified, to the end of the world.
Out of this fountain flow all the excellent blessings that believers cither have, or hope for. Had it not been for this, there had been no such things in rerum natura, as justification, adoption, sal- vation, &c. peace with God and hopes of glory, pardon of sin, and divine acceptation : these and all other our best mercies, had been but so many entia, rationis, mere conceits. A man, as one saith, might have happily imagined such things as these, as he may golden mountains, and rivers of liquid gold, and rocks of diamonds : but these things could never have had any real existence extra rnentem, had not Christ offered up himself a sacrifice to God for us. It is " the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered up " himself without spot to God, that purges the conscience from " dead works," Heb. ix. 14. that is, from the sentence of con- demnation and death, as it is reflected by conscience, for our works sake.
His appearing before God as our priest, with such an offering for us, is that which removes our guilt and fear together : " He * appeared to put away sin by fche sacrifice of himself," Heb. ix. 29. Now, forasmuch as the point before us is of so great weight in itself, and so fundamental to our safety and comfort, I shall en- deavour to give you as distinct and clear an account of it, as can consist with that brevity which I must necessarily use. And there- fore, reader, apply thy mind attentively to the consideration of this excellent Priest that appears before God, and the sacrifices he offers, with the properties and adjuncts thereof; the pe?~son before whom he brings, and to whom he offers it ; the persons for whom he offers ; and the end for which this oblation is made.
First, The Priest that appears before God with an oblation for us, is Jesus Christ, God-man : the dignity of whose person digni- fied, and derived an inestimable worth to the offering he made. There were many priests before him, but none like unto him, either for the * purity of his person, or the perpetuity of his priest- hood : they were sinful men, and offered for their own sins, a3 well as the sins of the people, Heb. v. 3. " but he was holy, harm- " less, undefiled, separate from sinners," Heb. vii. 2. He could stand before God, even in the eye of his justice, as a lamb without
* So oblations were offered up in a pure vessel, Isa, lxvi. 20. Eaten,
156 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. XII.
spot. Though he made his soul an offering for sin, " yet he had " done no iniquity, nor was any guile found in his mouth," Isa. liii. 9, and indeed his offering had done us no good, if the least taint of sin had been found on him. They were mortal men, that H continued not by reason of death," Heb. vii. 23. but Christ is " a Priest for ever," Psal. ex. 4.
Secondly, The oblation or offering he made, was not the blood of beasts, but his own blood, Heb. ix. 12. And herein he trans- cended all other priests, that he had something of his own to offer ; he had a body given him to be at his own dispose, to this use and purpose, Heb. x. 10. he offered his body :" yea, not only his * body, but his " soul was made an offering for sin," Isa. liii. 10. We had made a forfeiture of our souls and bodies by sin, and it was necessary the sacrifice of Christ should be answerable to the debt we owed. And when Christ came to offer his sacrifice, he stood not only in the capacity of a priest, but also in that of a sure- ty : and so his soul stood in the stead of ours, and his body in the stead of our bodies. Now the excellency of this oblation will appear in the following adjuncts and properties of it. This oblation being for the matter of it, the soul and body of Jesus Christ, i therefore,
1. Invaluably precious. So the apostle styles it, 1 Pet. i. 19. " Ye were redeemed npudt ai'tan, with the precious blood of the *< Son of God :" and such it behoved him to offer. For it being offered as an expiatory sacrifice, it ought to be equivalent, in its own intrinsic value to all the souls and bodies that were to be re- deemed by it. And so it was, and more also: for there was a redundancy of value, an overplus of merit, which went to make a purchase for the redeemed; as will be opened in its place. So that, as one rich diamond is more worth than a thousand pebbles : one piece of gold, than many counters ; so the soul and body of one Christ, are much more excellent than all the souls and bodies in the world,
And yet I dare not affirm f, as some do, that by reason of the
* Bilson and Feverdentius affirm, that Christ only offered up his body, not his soul, upon this weak ground, that if he had offered up both, he had not offered one, but two sacriffces. Against whom the learned Parker, in his excellent book de descensu, urgefh my text, and thus frees it from that corrupt gloss. He says, fine reasoning this ; as if the whole burnt-offering had not been one sacrifice, because it was made
up of many parts. Christ's sacrifice is called one, not by opposing his body to hi*