4192 'rfis OREmsfit Or cultfst. Christ carte into the world, he saith., sacrifice and 'offering, thath of bulls and goats, thou wouldst not, for they were not sufficient, but a body hast thou prepared me; and for what end this was done, the following verses tell us, that sinners might be purified from the guiltydefilerhents of sin, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all; verse 10. Thus theblessed God, whodesigned in due time to makehis own Son an atonement for sinners, did early give some emblem- atical notices of this divine atonement to those few who were taught to understand them And in this manner he kept alive in the world the hope of some such glorious future transaction, which should be the ground-work of peace between God and men, by the appointed death and sacrifice of beasts throughout all ages, ever since he made the first promise, and gave the first hope of grace to fallen man. And indeed, all the souls that were pardoned, andall the sins that were remitted under the several ancient dispensations of Adam,Noah, Abraham, and Moses, must be referred to the vir- tue of this great sacrifice of the Sonof God, though all who were pardoned might notdistinctly know the ground of it. Him hatli God set forth to be a propitiationfor the remission of sins that are past in far distant ages, as well as for sins that are yet to come; Rom. iii. 25. His sacrifice has a most extensive efficacy, it reaches through all nations, and all ages, from the beginning of theworld to the end of it. It was this sacrifice of Christ, that gave virtue to all other institutions and rights of atonement that were appointed by God himself. . In themselves they were weak and insufficient, but they were made powerful through the blood of Christ, to speak pardon and peace in some measure, to the guilty conscience, though since Christ iscome, we hear the joyful sound of peace and pardon more distinctly. IV. Nor was this doctrine manifested only in the ancient forms of worship and sacrifice which God had ordained, but some of the noblest of the following prophecies confirm and explain the first promise, and skew that Christ was to die as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of men. I will mention only the words of those two great men, Isaiah and Daniel. By Daniel we are told, that the Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself; and the design of this is, to finish transgression, to make an end of sin, to make .reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteous- ness; Dan. ix. 24, 26. Isaiah speaksthe same thing morelargely, ' -in his liii. chapter, verses 5, 6, 10, 11.. Christ was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastise- , ment of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed: We like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord hash laid on him the iniquity of us all. _ it pleased the Lord to bruse hies, and
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