552 THE SACRIPTCE OP CHRIST. taught to draw near to God in prayer by the blood of Jesus, in this new and living way which he has consecrated for us ; Heb. x. 19, 20. He hasbeen taught to askforgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ, or for his sake ; Eph. iv. 32. and to trust, in the bloodof Jesusas a propitiationwhich cleanses from all sin ; Rom, iii. 25. 1 John i. 7, 9. The prophets, the apostles, and the Son of God himself seem all to conspire to teach him this lesson, and to have pointed out to him this hope and refuge. What tremb- ling and terrors will it bring into his conscience, and how will it shake his soul off from her solid and peaceful foundation, when he shall be told that the death of Christ made no proper atone- ment for sin, and that his hopes which were' built upon it were all vain and groundless, forthat the language of the scripture must be construed quite to another meaning. It was under the influence of this sacred truth, that he had arrived to a stability of peace, and attained to a considerable degree of holiness arising from the love of a forgiving God, and a suffering Saviour. He could not but believe what St. John told him, that if we confess our sins, and walk in the light of holiness, God is faithful and just toforgive us our sins, and theblood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all unrighteousness ; 1 John i. 7, 9. He believed the lesson St. Paul taught him, that Christ was set forth fora propitiation for sin byfaith in his blood ; Rom. iii. 25. and his encouragement to hope for pardoning mercy upon such a found- ation, was much stronger and more effectual to relieve his guilty fears, while the blood of. the Son of God appeared in scripture as a medium of atonement for the sins of men. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of a humble andbelieving penitent, when God will justify upon this foot.? Who shall condemn when Christ has died to procure pardon But he is quite confounded if this hope be vain. The humble christian has been taught to rejoice in life and in death with these words upon his lips, and the sense of the love of, God has been shed abroad in many a heart by faith in a dying Saviour, who has madepeace by his own blood. This has kind- led through all the powers of a good man a warm and ingenuous love to God and Christ ; to God, who sent his own beloved Son to die as a sacrifice for his sins, and to Jesus Christ who loved him, and gave himself to death for him : And this love rising from a sense of the death of Christ for his salvation has richly abound- ed unto all the duties of holiness.. Gratitude to aRedeemer who bath died in his stead, hath constrained him to spend his life to his honour, . as 2 Cor. v. 15. He diedfor all, that they who live should not live to themselves, but to him who diedfor them. But what agonies, and what new amazement must overwhelm the spiritof such a pions man when he is informed that neither Paul nor John are to be understood in this sense, and that Christ
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