DISCOURSE V*, The early Appointment of the Atonement of Christ manifested. Ray. svüi. 8. The Lamb slain frone the foundation of the world. THE FIRST PART. IN order to make the sense of these words easy and plain, we must take into our counsel three other texts of the New Testa- ment : viz. I. 1 Pet. i. I8-20. " Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb, without blemish, and without spot." Ver. 20. " Who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last times for you." This shews us, that this Lamb was Jesus Christ, who was offered a sacrifice for the sins of the world, and thereby takes them away ; John i. 20. II. Acts xv. 18. " Known unto God are all his works, from the beginning of the world." And therefore this greatwork, of redeeming sinners by the death of his Son Jesus, as 1 Pet. i. 20. was also known to him. III. Rom. iv. 17. " God quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not, as though they were :" i. e. speaketh some- times of things not yet done, as though they weredone ; there- fore this Lamb is Said to be slain from the foundation of the world, because it was by virtue of his death many other things were appointed. God bath, before the foundation of the world, ordained all things that regard the salvation and recovery of man, from the ruins of his fall. Sometimes the holy scripture speaks of those things, which were originally designed and decreed, as though they were actually done, though perhaps it was many ages after- wards, before these things had any actual being. It is in this sense that ourLord Jesus Christ is said to be" the Lamb slain before the foundation ofthe world ;" i. e. hewas decreed and de- termined to be the Saviour of mankind ; and for this end he was appointed tobe a sacrifice of atonement of our sins, even " be- fore God laid the foundation of the world ;" Lph! i. 4, 5. He appeared as the Lamb slain for this purpose, and with this de- sign, in the eye of God, who sees all things in one single view, Sermons preached at Berry-street, December 1744, and 1745.
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