504 PRACTICAL USES OF CHRIST'S ATONEMENT. " But remember, O my soul, that if thou sin wilfully against this gospel, that is, if thou abandon this grace, and re- ject it utterly with contempt and opposition, after thou hast received the knowledge ofthe truth, there remáiiieth no moresacri- ficefor sin, but a certainfearful lookingforóf'judgment andfiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries; Heb. x. 28, 27. This scriptureseems to stand like a divine engine, charged with vengeance and eternal death, and pointed not only against the primitiveapostates, but against some of the profane infidels and scoffers of our age, who have renounced, reproached, and ridiculed the gospel which they once professed. Remember also, that it carries in it a very dangerous and threatening ;aspect, upon those who continue to .profess the religion of the bible, butcancel out of it the doctrine of the atonement of Christ ; for there remains no other sacrifice. Have a care, therefore, O my soul, and stand at a distance from their company, who deny the propitiatory virtue of the blood of Christ ! Let themfind a better ground to build their hopes of pardon upon: But do thou: lay thy foundation on this rock, and thepowers of hell shall not prevail against it. Second doctrinalinference:How strangeand unreasonable is the doctrine of the popish church, who while they professto be- lieve the religion of Christ, yet introduce 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, theysuppose there is a fresh propitiation maclefor sin : Therefore they call it the sacrifice of the mass, and imagine that their un- scriptural representation of this holyordinance, is a real propitia-, tion, not only fdr the sins of the living, but for those that are `dead also. Whereas St. Paul assures us ; Heb, ix. 28.Christ was once offered to bear the sins of Many. Heb. x. 14. T/one offering he bathfor ever perfected them that aresanctified. Icon- fess, this practice, of theirs in the mass, looks something like a pretence of honour, to the nameand 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, alter he had offered one sacrifice for sin, for ever sat down at the right-hand ofGod;" Heb. x. 12. because his single sacrifice was all-sufficient, andneeds no repetition. But, besides this, they have many other methods of atone- ment which menperfóim, and which they add to the atonement of Christ. What are all their imposed penances, their pilgrim- ages oin bare feet, the scourgings of their own bodies, the gar-
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=