It would prepare the person for a just reception of God's mercy. An obdurate heart would reject the promises, just as the trodden path refuses to receive the seed that is cast upon it. The fallow ground must be broken up before the seed can be sown in it to good effect
It would lead the person to acknowledge with gratitude the unbounded goodness of God. A person, unconscious of any malady, would pour contempt on any prescription that was offered him for the healing of his diseases : but one who felt himself languishing under a fatal, and, to all appearance, in- curable disorder, would accept with thankfulness any remedy which he knew would restore his health. Thus it is the peni- tent sinner, and he only, that will value the offers of mercy through the blood of atonement
Lastly, it would stimulate him to greater iviatch fulness and diligence in future. Suppose a person pardoned ; if he felt not the evil and bitterness of sin, he would be as remiss and careless as ever : but, if his heart had been altogether broken with a sense of sin, if he had groaned under it as an intolerable burthen, he would be doubly careful lest he should subject himself again to the same distress and danger : and the more assured he was of pardon and acceptance with God, the more desirous he would be to " render unto God according to the benefits received from him" ]
The reflections to which this subject will naturally give rise, are such as these :
1 . How vain is the idea of " establishing a right- eousness of our own ! "
[If the most holy actions of the most holy men, done ex- pressly according to the divine appointment, rendered the persons unclean, yea and the very sanctuary of God and the altar itself unclean, so that the washing of water and the sprinkling of blood were necessary for their purification, who are we, that we should be able so to live as to claim a reward on the ground of merit ? Let us lay aside this vain conceit, which, if not corrected, will infallibly issue in our own destruc- tion. We need one to " bear the iniquity of our holy things m," no less than the iniquity of our vilest actions : and, from first to last, we must receive " eternal life as the free unmerited gift of God through Jesus Christ"."]
2. How transcendent must be the efficacy of our
Redeemer's blood !
[All these sacrifices which were repeated from year to year could never purge the conscience of one single individual: but
m Exod. xxviii. 38. n Rom. vi. 23.