they carried the custom with them, though its purpose was lost and forgotten. But the whole is contained in the law given by Moses to the Israelites. It could not be mistaken, when the priest laid his hands upon the head of the creature intended for an offering, and made confession of sin over the head of the sacrifice; thus prefiguring what was afterwards to be more fully explained, how the Lord had laid on one the iniquity of all.3 By the ordinances of the law, various animals were used in sacrifice; but none so constantly as the lamb. One was offered up in the temple every morning, and another every evening: and on the sabbath, two. But it was the rite of the Passover which most evidently and remarkably typified that full and perfect sacrifice and satisfaction for the sins of all men, which was consummated upon the cross. The lamb slain as the passover was to be without blemish. So was Jesus without spot of sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. The lamb was to be "of the first year;" so Christ was cut off in the prime of his days, and slain by such a death, that, as was ordered in the killing of the passover, "not a bone of him was broken." The lamb was to be slain by the "whole assembly of the congregation of Israel." So it was on the principal festival of the year that "counsel was taken against Jesus to put him to death:" and the whole people made it their own act, by exclaiming, "Crucify him! crucify him!" "His blood be on us and on our children!” 4 Num. xxviii. 3-10. 6 See 1 Pet. i. 19. 2 Lev. xvi. 21. 3 Isa. liii. 5 Exod. xii. 3, &c. And as in the manner of the sacrifice all was similar, so was the effect the same. The blood of the lamb sprinkled on the door-posts of the houses preserved the people of Israel from the messenger of destruction. And so the blood of Christ, sprinkled, as it were, upon the heart, is designed to exempt the sinner from the stroke of divine justice, and save him from "the bitter pains of eternal death." Thus was atonement made to the justice of God: who, in mercy to man's ruined and helpless state, has covenanted to receive the blood of one instead of the blood of many, and to be reconciled to the penitent offender for the sake of his dear Son. Here, then, is the sense in which we behold Jesus as the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world: taketh away the sin which is laid upon him by the faith of the penitent offender. The words of the Baptist show that he possessed the key of that mysterious worship which God had established in Judæa, and that he was empowered to disclose its meaning, hitherto concealed. He points to Jesus, and exclaims, Behold the Lamb of God. And behold, in him, the person so long prefigured by the sacrifices of the law. Behold the one righteous, designed in the counsels of God as a substitute for many sinners. Behold the true Paschal Lamb, who is offered for us, to take away the sin of the world: who by his death shall destroy death, and by his rising to life again shall restore to us everlasting life. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Thus it was, that Christ, by the sacrifice of the cross, fulfilled the law: explained the meaning of those sacrifices which the Jews had offered year by year con C tinually; and removed the need of any further, any future sacrifice. The title of Jesus, as the Lamb of God, was addressed to the conscience of the Jews. The Jews acknowledged-it was part of their religion to acknowledge-that the blood of bulls and goats, i. e. of the sacrifices offered by the law, were means of expiation and purification. That which before was reckoned impure and unholy, became clean, was freed from its defilement, when sprinkled with the blood or ashes of the sacrifice. Yet what could these effect, considered in themselves? It was not possible that the blood of bulls or goats could take away sin. What then could these ordinances mean, except as prophetic types of something to come hereafter? types of blood to be hereafter shed, and sprinkled, not externally on the body, but inwardly on the conscience? This indeed may well purge the heart from sin, by the testimony which it affords to the guilt of sin. Christ's blood, the blood of "that Just one," was shed "for the unjust." And as the person under the law, when conscious of defilement, came for purification to the blood of sprinkling: so the man who is sensible of the stain of sin which defiles him, takes by faith the blood of the cross, and prays that it may atone for his guilt, as if his own blood had been shed. No doubt, there are mysteries attending the whole of this dispensation, which we shall vainly attempt to solve. But we perceive its wisdom by its effects; and see how "the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, may purge the conscience from dead works, to serve the living God." 998 71 Pet. iii. 18. 8 Heb. ix. 14. 9 Pardon so obtained warns whilst it absolves. Sin is a heinous thing, if without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Sin is shown to be the ruin of the soul, if only the blood of the Son of God could save the soul from the condemnation of sin. So that the conscience, purged from the guilt of past dead works, is also delivered from the love or practice of sin: cleansed from all unrighteousness, to serve the living God, as the proper business of his creatures. The believer knows and feels that Christ died for him; that without Christ he himself was dead; and that, being raised from the death of sin by the propitiation made, the victim substituted for him, he is no longer his own, but under obligation to devote his life to the service of the Redeemer. These are the cords by which the Gospel binds its disciple to obedience. It is not like a mere ordinance, which must be performed, but conveys no moral to the heart but constantly affirms the truth, that "God commendeth his love towards us, in that whilst we were yet sinners, Christ died for us: "1 and that such love must be repaid by all the obedience which he requires, and all the service which it is in our power to pay. 9 See St. Paul's argument, 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. : VI. PURPOSE OF GOD IN THE GOSPEL. JOHN iii. 16—19. 16. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 66 NICODEMUS, a man of authority in Jerusalem, had sought Jesus, under an acknowledgment that he was a teacher sent from God." Jesus takes the opportunity of declaring the purpose on the part of God, for which he had been so "sent." It was a purpose of mercy. He had been sent to an idolatrous world-a world which had become idolatrous, because men had not "liked to retain God in their knowledge." came to a nation which had misused the privileges it enjoyed, had rejected the counsels of God, and despised his reproofs and yet he came not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He brought an offer of reconciliation; and his first message was He |