ceremonial law making no provision for the expiation of pre- sumptuous sin, shewed that it could not answer the necessities of fallen manm. Hence the Apostle tells us, that the law was only a " shadow of good things to come" ;" a shadow, of which Christ was the body0. Agreeably to this, the most noted types of Christ ai'e expressly applied to him, as having in his own person fulfilled their office, and abrogated their use. The paschal lamb proclaimed to Israel, that unless their houses were sprinkled with its blood, they would fall by the sword of the destroying angel : and St. Paul says to us, that " Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for usp." Again, the lamb offered every morning and evening in sacrifice, we are told, shadowed forth the Lord Jesus Christ, as the " Lamb slain from the foundation of the world q," even that " Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world r." In a word, all the sacrifices proclaim to us this truth, that " without shedding of blood there is no remission."
Thus it appears, that neither the moral nor ceremonial law could provide us with any righteousness wherein we might stand before God ; but that both the one and the other directed us to Christ, " in whom alone all the seed of Israel can be justified, and in whom alone they must glory s."]
But it remains yet to be inquired,
III. In what way we are to be made partakers of it —
In reference to this there exist amongst us, even as among the Jews, the most fatal mistakes.
The great mass of those who feel a concern about
their souls, seek for righteousness by the works of
the law —
[As for those who really think that their own works have such an exalted merit in them, as to deserve heaven of them- selves without any reference whatever to Christ, we would fondly hope, that they are very rarely to be found amongst us. But there are two ways in which men, whilst they profess some reliance upon Christ, do in reality make their own works the foundation of their hopes ; namely, by looking for salvation by their works for Christ's sake, or by Christ for their works' sake. There are a great many shades of difference between persons who may be arranged under these two heads, and many nice dis- tinctions have been drawn in order to shew the various delu- sions which men harbour in their minds in reference to this
m Num. xv. 30. n Heb. x. 1. ° Col. ii. 17.
P 1 Cor. v. 7. i Rev. xiii. 8. r John i. 29.
6 Isai. xlv. 25.