are no less clearly marked. For here we see the offender transferring to his victim all his guilt ; and liberated from the judgments to which, on account of his transgressions, he had been exposed. Whatever his offence had been, we see him bringing an appropriate offering, which God had promised to accept ; and not only receiving a personal absolution on every different occasion, but annually, on the great day of atonement, having the pardon sealed on his soul, in common with every other offender in the whole nation.
Nor was he less instructed in the path of duty by this law which God had given him. The whole life of faith and holi- ness was here held forth to him. He was taught to approach his God on all occasions through a Mediator; to trust alto- aether to the blood of the sacrifice that was offered for him ; and to expect the renovation of his soul through those very ordinances by which he was reconciled to God. The water which was sprinkled on him, in conjunction with the blood, taught him, that sanctification must be sought no less than pardon, and that those who obtained remission of their sins must henceforth walk in newness of life.]
Yet, if used unlawfully, its goodness was de- stroyed—
[Many there were who relied upon the outward act which had been prescribed, instead of looking, through the act, to Him whom it shadowed forth : many also put the observance of their ceremonies in the place of morality itself; laying a great stress on some trifling matter, whilst they disregarded the weightier and indispensable duties of " judgment, mercy, and faith V Now, this was an abuse of the law, which was never intended for such ends as these. For " how could the blood of bulls and of goats ever take away sin ? " or how could sacrifice ever be accepted in the place of mercy c? To make such an use of the law as this, was to " frustrate the grace of God, and to make the very death of Christ himself in vaind." Hence God himself, when he found how the law was per- verted, spake of it in the most contemptuous termse. St. Paul also represents it as consisting of " weak and beggarly ele- ments f," and as " disannulled on account of the weakness and unprofitableness thereof8."]
Let us further consider our text, II. In reference to the law ; which, though given by God himself to the Jews,' belongs equally to the whole world —
b Matt, xxiii. 23. c Matt. xii. 7. d Gal. ii. 21.
* Isai. lxvi. 3. f Gal. iv. 0. « Heb. vii. 18.