SEAM.
XXXVI.]
OF
CHRIST'S ATONEMENT.
103
V.
The atonement of Christ
is
an
argument of
pre-
vailing force
to
be
used
in
prayer,
when
we
plead
for
the
aids of
the blessed
Spirit;
when
we
ask
for
his
sacred in-
fluences
to
enlighten,
to sanctify,
or
to
comfort our
souls.
The Spirit
flows
down to
us
in
the blood
of
Christ.
Reflection,
"
Holy
Father,
thou
hast not
with
-held
thy Son
Jesus,
but
hast
given
him to
die for
me;
and
wilt
thou
not
give me
thy
Spirit
to
live in
me,
and to raise
me
to a divine
life? Even
when
I
was
dead
in
trespasses
and
sins, my
blessed Saviour
poured out
his own soul to
.
death,
that
I
might
be
recovered to
thy
favour
;
and
shall
I not
have thy image impressed
upon
me by
the
Spirit,
that I
may
appear
before
thee
in
the beauty
of
holiness
?
Shall
I
be
sprinkled
with
the blood
of
Christ,
and
have
my
errors
forgiven,
and shall
I
not
have divine
light bestowed upon
me,
that
I
may
not
wander afresh
in
the
ways
of
error
and darkness? Is
my
guilt cancelled,
and are
my
iniquities removed
by
the
great
atonement
of
the
Son
of God, and
wilt
thou not
bestow thy
sanctifying
Spirit upon
me,
to
guard
me from
renewed
guilt
and
fresh
iniquities? Lord,
have
I
not
fled
to lay hold on
the
hope set before
me
?
Hast
thou
not
forgiven
all
my
sins
?
And shall
not
the Spirit, the Comforter, speak peace to
my
soul,
and
fill
me
with
hope and
joy
in
believing
?
Wilt
thou deny
thy
Spirit
to
any
creature, for
whom
thy
Son has
poured
out
his
invaluable
life
and blood
?"
[If
this
sermon
be
too
long,
bere
is
a
proper pause.]
Hew great
and desirable are the advantages
that
we
have found
already
to be derived from
this
gospel
of
atonement?
May our souls possess and improve them
all
!
But there
are
still
more treasures
of
divine grace
to
be dug
out of
this
golden
mine
:
It
is
an
inexhausted
fountain
of
duties and
blessings.
I
proceed therefore to
point out
more
of
them
to
the
eye
of
faith.
VI.
We
should use this
doctrine
of
propitiation
for sin
by
the
death
of
Christ,
as an
everlasting spring
of
holy
love to
God the Father, and
to
his
Son
Jesus
Christ.
Great
and unspeakable
was
the
love
of God
the
Father
I
.John 4,
10.
" Herein
is
love
;
not that
we
loved
him,
but
he
hath
lOved us,
and sent
his Son
to be
the
propitiation
for
our
sins."
Great
and unspeakable
is
the love
of
Jesus
the Saviour
;
it
has heights,
and depths,
and
lengths,
and breadths in
it
which pass
our
knowledge,"
1-1
4