196 THE ATONEMENT OF efiRIST MANIFESTED. CD /SD. V. righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of Godt : But evenat that time there was " forgiveness with God, ".in the view ofChrist; for even David speaks with much freedom in the xxxii. Psalm, and elsewhere, of the pardon of sin. . It was also through this blood of the Lamb slain, that Solomon was pardoned his many heinous and grievous sins; i. e. the Lamb of God" slain in the view of the Father, as an atoning sacrifice " from the foundation of the world ;" And through the same blood God forgave the repeated crimes of Manasseh the king, who had filled Jerusalemwith slaughter ; and all the saints, and all the kings, who had ever been sinners, and were saved, it was in this view " the blood of the Lamb ;" always sup- posing trust in the mercy of God, together with sincere repentance, and return to God, was found at the same time. Blessed Jesus, how early and how extensive was this salvation through thy blood,, even before it was ac tually offered ! 6. The gospel of the salvation of sinful man was con- trived and ,appointed by the great God, in this view of. Jesus, " the Lamb of God," the great expiatory sacrifice; slain from the foundation of the world ;" And it is for this reason that the doctrine of thisatonement for sin by sacrifice, runs through all the parts and forms of religions which God early appointed in the world, and the several religions which man, under the divine appointment of God, ever practised. Heb. x. le-18. Where there is a particular account given of the covenant of grace, from the language of the prophets. " This man after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, for eversat down on the right-hand. of God; for by One offering, he hath per, fected for ever them that are sanctified.; whereof the HolyGhost also is.a witness to us ; for after he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws in. their hearts, and in their minds will I write them ; and We translate this word forgiveness, as though it were 14E615", r. emis- sion, but the word is mtpsms, which properly signifies the passing by of , sin ; that is, that God did not actually punish them : Though the Coc, cenan writers do not make ajust inference from -thisi that therefore no sins were pardoned under the Old Testament,. but merely, the punishment of them delayed or neglected.
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