96
THE
PRACTTÒAL
USES
DEEM.
XXXV
?.
company,
who
deny the
propitiatory virtue
óf
the
blood
of
Christ
!
Let
them
find
a
better
ground
tò build their
hopes
of pardon
upon
:
But
do thou lay thy foundation
on this rock,
and the
poWvers
of
hell shall
not
prevail
against it."
Second
doctrinal inference. How strange and unrea
sdnabie
is
the
doctrine
of
the popish church,
who while
they profess to
believe
the religion
of
Christ, yet intro-
duce
many
other methods
of atonement
for
sin, beside
the
sufferings
of
the
Son
of
God, and the atonement
Which
Jesus
has made.
Every
time they
celebrate
the
Lord's
supper, and
the
priest communicates the consecrated bread
to
his
deluded
followers, they suppose
there
is
a
fresh
propitiation
Made
for
sin
:
Therefore
they call
it
the
sacrifice
of
the
mass,
and imagine
that their
unscriptur.al
representation
of
this holy
ordinance,
is
a
real propitiation,
not
only
for
the
sins
of
the
living,
but
for those
that
are dead
also.
Whereas
St.
Paul
assùres
us,
Heb.
ix.
28.
Christ
was
once
offered
to
bear the sins
of
many.
Heb.
x. 14.
By
one
offering
he
hath
for
ever
perfected
them
that
are
sanctified.
T
confess, this
practice
of
theirs
in
the
mass,
looks something
like a
pretence
of
honour,
to
the
name
and death
of Christ;
because, they declare, the
mass
is
but,
as
it
were,
a
repetition
of
the
very
sacrifice
of
Christ
himself:
Though
that
is
expressly
contrary
to the
language
of scripture;
for
"
this man
Jesus, after
he
had
offered
one
sacrifice
for
sins,
for
ever sat
down
at
the right hand
of God,"
Heb.
x.
12.
because
his single
sacrifice was all-sufficient,
and needs
no
repetition.
But, beside
this,
they have many
other
methods
of
atonement
which
men perform,
and
which
they add
to
the
atonement
of
Christ.
What
are
all
their
imposed
penances,
their
pilgrimages on bare
feet,
the
scourgings
of their
own bodies,
the
garments
of hair
worn
upon
their
flesh,
and their multitudes
of repeated Latin
pray-
ers?
What
are
they
all
but toilsome and painful labours,
invented
by
men to make
atonement
for
the
sins
6f
the
soul?
Reflection.
"
Blessed be
the name
of
our
God,- who
has delivered
our nation
from this
bondage
óf
iniquity,
from these
foolish
yokes
and burdens
óf
superstition;
these profane dishonours done
to the sacrifice
and
atone=