tuai for usc : for, if he had needed any atonement for himself, he never could have procured reconciliation for us d — ]
2. For the people —
[" All the people of the congregation" were considered as sinners ; and for all of them indiscriminately was the atonement offered. None were supposed to be so holy as not to need it, nor any so vile as to be excluded from a participation of its benefits.
But here again we are reminded of the superior excellency of the Christian dispensation. For though, among the Jews, the atonement was offered for all, it did not suffice for the removal of guilt from all : it took off the dread of punishment for ceremonial defilements ; but left the people at large, and especially all who had been guilty of presumptuous sin, under the dread of a future reckoning at the tribunal of God. " It could not make any man perfect as pertaining to the con- science6." The very repetition of those sacrifices from year to year shewed, that some further atonement was necessary1. But under the Gospel the reconciliation offered to us is perfect : it extends to all persons and all sins, in all ages, and quarters, of the world. No guilt is left upon the conscience, no dread of future retribution remains, where the atonement of Christ has had its full effect g : there is peace with God, even " a peace that passeth all understanding :" He " perfects, yea, perfects for ever, all them that are sanctified11."]
3. For " the sanctuary itself and the altar" — [Even the house of God, and the altar which sanctified
every thing that was put upon it, were rendered unclean by the ministrations of sinful men. The very touch or presence of such guilty creatures communicated a defilement, which could not be purged away but by the blood of atonement. The high- priest, even while making atonement for the holy place, con- tracted pollution, from which he must wash himself, before he could proceed in his priestly work1. In like manner, the person who led away the scape-goat into the wilderness, and the person who burnt the sin-offering without the camp, must wash, both their persons and their clothes, before they could be re-admitted into the campk. What an idea does this give us of the corruption of human nature, when even the most holy actions, performed according to the express appointment of God, were, by a painful necessity, the means and occasions of fresh defilement !
From the atonement required for the sanctuary we learn, that heaven itself, so to speak, is defiled by the admission of
c 1 John iii. 5. 2 Cor. v. 21. d Heb. vii. 26—28.
c Heb. ix. 9, 10. f Heb. x. 1—4. e Heb. ix. 14.
11 Heb, x. 14, 17, 21, 22. ! ver. 24. k ver. 26—28.