iniquity, make an end of sin, and bring in an everlasting right- eousness^:" yea, he was prophesied of as " a fountain that should be opened for sin and for uncleanness^:" and John, who was more than a prophet, pointed him out as that very Lamb of God, that should take away the sins of the worlds. Now what can be the meaning of these passages? how are they applicable to Christ, if they do not mark out his atone- ment? and what truth is there in such representations, if we be not to seek remission through his atoning blood ?]
If salvation be not by blood, the decorations of the Apostles, yea, and of Christ himself, are far more likely to mislead, than to instruct the xvorld —
[Christ expressly told his Disciples, that his " blood was shed for the remission of sins*^." And the Apostles uniformly declare, that God purchased the Church with his own blood'; that our reconciliation to God'', and our justification before him', together with our complete redemption"*, are by blood, even by the blood of Christ, that spotless Lamb". Is this the way to teach men that they shall be saved by their works ? Must we not utterly despair of understanding any thing they have said, if we are not to expect salvation by the blood of Christ ?]
The Apostle's assertion being thus fully established, we shall,
II. Improve it —
The death of Christ has an aspect upon every thing that relates to our souls.
But not to enumerate many points, let us reflect on,
1. The evil of sin —
[We are assured that not one sin could have been for- given without shedding of blood. Nor was it the blood of bulls and of goats only that was necessary, but the blood of God's dear Son, even of Jehovah's Fellow: what then must sin be, that required such a sacrifice? We behold the evil of it in the miseries that are in the world ; and still more in the torments of the damned : but most of all do we see its malig- nity in the sufferings of the Son of God ; without which not the smallest transgression could ever have been expiated. Let
e Dan. ix. 24, 26. f Zech. xiii. 1 . e John i. 29.
h Matt. xxvi. 28. • Acts xx. 28.
k Eph. ii. 16. Col. i. 20. > Rom. v. 9.
ra Eph. i. 7. Rev. v. 9. " 1 Pet. i. 19.