90 THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. [SERM. xXXV. and the obscure language of prophecy, must have their true light cast upon them by this doctrine. This is the clue to guide us into the mysteries and deep things of God, which lay hid under the vails for so many ages.' The great apostle St. Paul shews us how to penetrate and unfold all the ancient dispensations, by the doctrine of the Son of God coming into the flesh, by his dying as a sacrifice for sin, by his rising and ascending to heaven, by his appearing there as a priest to intercede for sinners in the virtue of his sacrifice, and by his sitting there as a king, to reign over all things for the salvation of his peo- ple, whom he has purchased with his own blood. THE RECOLLECTION. What a variety of supports has this blessed doctrine of our reconciliation to God by the atoningdeath of Christ? What a train of arguments to confirm it are drawn down from the very first entrance of sin into the world? Guilty nature urges us on to enquire after such an atonement,- and the bible reveals it to us in a long succession of types, promises, and prophecies, in narratives and plain instructions, in darker or brighter discoveries from the beginning of mankind. If I forsake the gospel of Christ, and his atonement for sin, whither shall my guilty conscience fly to find a better relief? This is the doctrine that supplies the chiefest wants of a guilty creature, and the chief defects ofnatural light and reason. Nature shews me no way to recompense thejustice of God for my innumerable sins. Nature shews me nothingwhich God will accept in the room of my own perfect obedience, or in the room of my everlasting punishment. If I leave thee, O Jesus, whither should I go ? Thy sufferings are the spring of my hope of pardon, and my eternal life depends on thy painful and shameful death. I see and I obtain in this gospel of atonement all that the heathen world laboured for in vain, bymany wild in- ventions, and painful superstitions. The anger of the God of heaven is pacified by the sufferings of Jesus his Son. Omy God, let my soûl never run back to infidelity and heathenism, and rove abroad among the foolish in- ventions of men, in quest of any other methods ofatone- ment. The blood of Jesus is all myhope. Here I see the gracious promises of ancient times ful-
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