VII.] THE MEDIATION OF CHRIST. 291
SO obtains redemption. And the apostle, in the 10th chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, disputes at large this difference be- tween the typical sacrifices and the sacrifice of the blood of Christ. He tells you those were " offered year by year," and could "never make the comers to God by them perfect," or acquit them from sin, for then they " should have had no more conscience of sin," being once purged ; but now, saith he, " there was a remembrance made again of sins every year," verses 1-4 If sin had been taken away, there would have been no more conscience of it ; that is, no such conscience as upon the account whereof they came for help unto or healing by those sacrifices, — ^no more conscience condemning for sin. Conscience judges according to the obligation unto punishment which it appre- hends upon it. Conscience of sin, — that is, a tender7iess to sin, and a condemnation of sin, — still continues after the taking of the guilt of it away; but conscience disquieting, judging, condemning the person for sin, that vanisheth together with the guilt of it : ^ and this is done when the sacrifice for sin is perfect and complete, and really attains the end for which it was instituted. And if any sacrifice for sin whatever do not completely take away that sin for which the obla- tion is made, and the atonement thereby, so that no after-charge might come upon the sinner, it is of necessity that that sacrifice be renewed again and again. The reason the apostle gives of the repe- tition of the legal sacrifices is, that they made not the comers to them perfect ; that is, as to the taking away of their sins, and giving them entire and complete peace thereupon. All this, the apostle in- forms us, was done in the sacrifice of Christ: Verse 14, "By one offering he hath for ever perfected" (or made perfect that work for them as to this business of conscience for sin) "them that are sanc- tified." His one offering perfectly put an end to this business, even the difference between God and us upon the account of sin; which if he had not done, it would have been necessary that he should have been often offered, his sacrifice having not obtained the complete end thereof That the efficacy of this sacrifice of his cannot depend on anything foreign unto it shall be declared afterward; also, that the necessity of our faith and obedience, in their proper place, is not in the least hereby impaired, shall be manifested. That they may have a proper place, efficacy, and usefulness, and not be conditions whereon the effects of the death of Christ are suspended, as to their communication unto us, is by some denied ; how weakly, how falsely, will then also appear. Now, this Christ doth for all that are sancti- fied, or dedicated, or consecrated unto God (which is almost the perpetual sense of that word in this epistle), in and by that offering of his. And this the apostle farther confirms from the consideration of the new covenant with us, ratified in, and whose effects were pro-
' Rom. V. 1.
292 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAI P.
cured by, the blood-shedding and offering of Christ : Verse 1 7, " Thei ve sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Saith God " Upon the account of the offering of Christ, there is an end of tlij* '-he business and that controversy which I have had with those sanctifie' id ones; and therefore let them, as to this, as to the making satisfac- he tion for sin, trouble themselves no more, to think of thousands othe rams, or the like, for there is no more offering for sin required," Mil to vi. 6, 7. And on this foundation I may say there doth not remaijUy, any such guilt to be reckoned unto believers as that with rega;. yet thereunto God should forsake them utterly, and give them ovt^ost unto everlasting ruin. And this is the sum of the apostle's discourse in that chapter, as it looks upon the matter under present consider- 'Jr ation : That sacrifice which so taketh away the sins of them for », whom it is offered as that thereupon they should be perfect, or per- fectly acquitted of them, and have no more conscience (which is a judgment of a man's self answering to the judgment of God con- cerning him) of sin, so to judge him and condemn him for it as not to have remedy of that judgment or condemnation provided in that sacrifice, — that, I say, doth so take away the guilt of sin as that it shall never separate between God and them for whom and whose sin it was offered ; but such was the sacrifice of Christ : ergo, etc. 1 The reason of the consequence is clear from the very form of the I proposition, and nothing is assumed but what is the express testi- \ mony of the apostle in that and other places.
So Dan. ix. 24. The design in the death of Christ is " to finish ' the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconcili- ation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness." Christ makes an end of sin : not that there should be no more sin in the world, for there is yet sinning to the purpose, in some respect much more than before his death,^ and there will be so to eternity, if those j under the ultimate sentence may be thought to sin; but he makes ' an end of it as to the controversy and difference about it between God and them for whom he died, and that by making reconcilia- tion on the part of God, atoning him towards us^ (which atonement we are persuaded to accept), and by bringing in for us a righteous- ness which is everlasting and will abide the trial, which God will certainly accept.' Now, when God is satisfied for sin, and we are furnished with a righteousness exactly complete and answering to the utmost of his demand, whence can any more contest arise about the guilt of sin, or the obligation of the sinner unto punishment that from the justice and law of God doth attend it? This also the apostle urgeth, Rom. viii. 34, " Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died." He argueth from the death of Christ to the ablation or y removal of condemnation for sin, because by his death he hath " made / » Ilcb. vi. 4-6, X. 26-31. » Rom. v. 10. » Isa. xsvii. 3-5, xlv. 24, 25.