[It is not merely of his Messiahship that the prophets speak: they enter fully into every part of his character, and work, and offices. There is not any thing which we are con- cerned to know respecting him, which is not revealed in the Old Testament. The revelation of him is indeed less clear than in the New Testament, but not a whit less glorious. When the true sense of the different passages is ascertained, there will be found truths, of which the superficial reader has no conception.
Our blessed Lord says, " Search the Scriptures ; for they are they that testify of me." And if we would fulfil that duty with care and diligence, and with earnest prayer to God for the teachings of his Spirit, we should find in the Scriptures an in- exhaustible mine of wealth, and be enriched by them with all " the unsearchable riches of Christ^."]
2. What loss they sustain who receive not its testimony !
[It is a lamentable fact, that the generality of Christians are looking out for some other offering to present to God, in order to effect their reconciliation with him. Every considerate person will sometimes put this question to himself, " Where- with shall I come before the Lord ?" And the ignorant con- ceit of Balak is that which then presents itself to his mind ; " Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old ? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" But if men read even the Jewish Scriptures with attention, they might see how erroneous such views were, and how vain such hopes. They would see that the new covenant, which has been ratified by the blood of Christ, prescribes a very different method of acceptance with God : they would see that the one offering of Christ is a sufficient propitiation for the sins of the whole world, and that all attempts to add to it are vain. Dear brethren, believe, I pray you, the witness of the Holy Ghost on this all-important subject. " Make not God himself a liar," as St. John expresses it, by denying or doubting this record. Be assured that he will not deceive you. If this were the testimony of a fallible man, you might well question it : but when Prophets and Apostles, all inspired by the Holy Ghost, concur in it, you should embrace it with your whole hearts, and rely upon it with your whole souls.]
3. How exalted are the privileges of every true believer !
c Prov. ii. 1— G.
2311.1 ACCESS TO GOD THROUGH THE VAIL. 3oS
[All who are interested in the one offering of Christ upon the cross, are " perfected for ever." God has cast all their sins behind his back into the very depths of the sea. He has not only forgiven, but, if I may so speak, has forgotten, all their sins. They are blotted out as a morning cloud. True it is, that they still need the application of the same blood to their consciences, because they are yet compassed with in- firmities, so that even their holy things need to be cleansed from the iniquity that cleaveth to them. They are like persons who have been washed in a bath ; they are clean every whit ; yet need they to wash their feet, because they contract defile- ment in walking even from the bath^. But as to all their former sins, they are altogether blotted out of the book of God's remembrance. Yet let it not therefore be supposed that they should be forgotten by us. No : they should be ever before us as a ground of humiliation, though not as a ground of fear: and the more assured we are that God is pacified towards us, the more should we lothe ourselves ; and pant the more to " be sanctified wholly, in body, soul, and spirit."]