SERMON XXXVI. -demands of the condemning law, and taken away the sting of death by his atoning sacrifiée. We may now venture into thepresence of ahory and righteous God, laying fresh hold of the atonement in a dying hour by a living faith, and having our departing spirits sprinkledwith the blood of Christ. It was this very blood in the virtue of which Jesus himself was raised from the dead ; Heb. xiii. 20. The God of peace brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. It was in the virtue of this blood that he ascended and appeared before God in heaven ; Heb. ix. 12. Christ by his own blood entered into the holyplace, having obtained eternal redemption forus. Did the cursed guilt of our sins bringthe Son of God down from heaven to earth, did it smite him to death, and lay him low in the grave ? But the power of his complete atonement has broken the bonds of death and the grave ; this has broughthim back to life again, and hasraised him from earthto heaven ; and by the same blood of his cross he has opened an .effectual way for our tising from the dead, and our final admission into the place of blessedness. As Aaron the Jewish high-priest might not dare to venture into the holy of holies without the blood of expiation, so Christ our great High-priest, when he had once taken our sins upon him, might not ascend to heaven into the presence of God, till in fie language of scripture hecould carry his blood with him, till he could shew a full atonement. Now that very same blood and sacrifice which gave Christ himself a joyful admission into heaven, who was the great Shepherdand the Representative of his people, will also give everyone of his sheep a safe and glorious entrance into the presence of God. This we mayhope for with a chearful heart, when our depart- ing spirits are called away from this lower world. And for the further joy of our faith, we should remember also, that in the virtue of the same blood we shall be raised from the grave: The grave shall obey the voice of him that died 'for us ; for he has ransomed us from the power of it. Then the.soul and body of every disciple of Christ shall be introduced with divine acceptance to dwell where Jesus is, and to behold' his glory; John xvìi. 21. Reflection. " Why then art thou so terrified, O my soul, at the thoughts of dying ? Why all these sudderings of the flesh, and these agonies of spirit at the apprehensions of death and the grave ? Are the sins of thy life great and numerous ? Do they tkrong in upon thy conscience, and fill thy thoughts with tumult and terror ? Remember the time, thedark anddismal hour, when L13
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