SERMON XXXtV. 497 scheme against this argument, or to give any tolerable account of this amazement which possessed his spirit before his enemies came near him, and of these agonies of soul which our blessedLord sustained. Surely such sorrows and suchterrors demonstrate the work of propitiation and the dreadful labour of reconciling an offendedGod and sinful man. VII. This doctrine of satisfactionfor sin by the death of Christ is declared, and confirmed, and explained at large by the apostles in their writings, when they were fully furnished for their ministry, by the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Read St. Paul's letters to the churches, and you find them abounding in such ex- pressions as these : Christ diedfor our sins; 1 Cor. xv. 3. He gave himselffor us, to redeem us from all iniquity; Tit. ii. 13. We have redemption through his blood; Eph. i. 7. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespas- ses to them. Ile was made sin; 2 Cor. v. 19, 21. And he was made a curse for us; Gal. iii. 13. He is our propitiation and atonement ; 1 John ii. 2. He appeared to put away sin by the sacrfce of himself; Heb. ix. 26. When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by his death; Rom. v. 10. He made peace by the bloodof his cross ; Col. i. 20. He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification ; Rom. iii. 25. By the righteousness of one man, thefree gift canse upon all men to justification of l e. By the obedience of one shall many be maderighteous; Rom. v. 18, 19. Now in the writings of St.Paul on this subject, we may ob- serve three things. 1. He speaks this language, when in a plain doctrinal way he is teaching the gospel of Christ, therefore these expressions of his are to be understood in thecommon sense and meaning of the words. It wouldbe a very great force and torture put upon these expressions, if we construe them only to mean, that God pro- mised forgiveness to penitent sinners byJesus Christ, as a mes- senger of grace, and that Christ died as a martyr to bear witness to this truth.- Read his epistles to the Romans, the Ephesians, the Colossians, and the Hebrews, where he treats of these sub- jects, and you will find that the apostle in his doctrine of atone- ment, means much more than this ; for he talks in a plain ratio- nal and argumentative style and method, to inform the minds of men, of the truedesign of the death of Christ, and givethem the clear knowledge of the truth. 2. He not only represents the death of Christ as our atone- ment for-sin, but he déclares this to be the great end of his ap- pearing in theflesh. Heb. ii. 14. Because thechildren werepar- takers offlesh and btood, he himself also took part of the same, xk2
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