upon him and he will preach to you, he will be your minister, and secretly manifest to you his love and grace; he will set you at liberty from all trials, and find a way for you to escape in all temptations, and be your present help in the time of trouble. I have proved him and found him thus to me, and I heartily recommend you to him, that you also may be his witnesses, and rejoice in your good Minister and Lord, who is only worthy to receive blessing, and honour, and glory for ever.

Amen.

DISCOURSE XXIX.

THE GREAT SACRIFICE.

HEB. IX. 26.

Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

THE antients differed very much about the author of this epistle, and though the most believed it to be St. Paul's, yet there are others who think it was wrote by Barnabas, and some few by St. Luke.

Most of the christian churches receive it as the work of the former, but whoever was the writer, it is certain that we have not a more blessed part of the holy scriptures than this, and which is, as it were, a key to the whole Mosaical dispensation.

Whoever reads it, must see that the intent of the whole is, if possible, to remove what stumbled and offended the Jews in the person of our Saviour, and to prove out of the law and the prophets, and also out of the Psalms, that the Messiah should be God Almighty, that he should become man and die for his people, and by invincible arguments out of the Old Testament, is proved that all the sacrifices, offerings,› priesthood, laws and worship, ordained from the times of Moses, were all but shadows of Jesus Christ, and the great sacrifice of his own body offered once. for all.

1

This is the aim of the whole epistle, and the language of the author throughout, betrays an earnest desire of the salvation of the Hebrews, or Jews, to whom it is dedicated; and also the Holy Ghost intends thereby to give us light into the offering of the Lamb of God, and to inspire us with the certainty of his priesthood and power to absolve from sin, that we might come to him and be saved, and be firm and eternal followers of this great Apostle of our profession, whose sacrifice is our hope and glory to all eternity.

If I speak of this text in order, then I must

1st, Shew who he is that appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

2dly, What is meant by his appearing.

3dly, What the apostle would have us understand by his having come "now in the end of the world."

4thly, To shew how he hath "put away sin by the sacrifice of himself;" and to this head belongs the doctrine of his priesthood.

Lastly, I will shew what benefits we now receive through the sacrifice of Christ, and in what sense we are priests to him upon earth, and attend to him in quality of servants, about his altar.

Of the first head I shall speak but a little in this place, because the chief matter which now must be considered, is the doctrine of his offering up his own self to put away sin; but so much is needful to say, though I have often repeated it in many other discourses, and which can never too

much

much be preached, that this Person of whom the whole epistle treats, as well as all the scripture, is Jesus Christ the God of all the earth, the Lord from heaven, and who is very and essential God equal to the Father, and his express image and substance, and the same with the Holy Spirit in the blessed Trinity from everlasting and to everlasting JEHOVAH. This has an unshaken foundation in the Bible, and if any word in that book be true, then is this doctrine true, that Jesus the Son of Mary, who died upon the cross, in the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, at Jerusa lem, is the Son of the living God. Amen. Be it Amen and Amen.

So.

But what is meant in the second place by his appearing, since God often appeared; and we read frequently all through the prophets, how the Lord appeared to them, and they saw his similitude, and spoke with him face to face? The weight of this expression does not then he herein, that he has ap peared, though that really is amazing and awful, that the invisible and incomprehensible Jehovah has often spoke and appeared to his servants and church; but this is now to be understood, that this last time, he has appeared in the mean form of a servant, and as a man. When he appeared for merly, he did it in the form of an angel, or sometimes as a king sitting upon his throne with all his hosts adoring at his right hand and at his left hand, with the seraphims covering their faces with their wings before him, and crying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord: and at other times, as the Antient of Days, reverend and full of majesty with ten thousand times ten thousand ministring to him; and often only in a pillar of fire, in a cloud, iu glory, in great light, &c. But now he who reared the noble arch of heaven, and built the

house

house eternal, appears in the form of a carpenter, and he who made all things, and was before all beings, appears in the form of a new-born babe, and is found in a manger. He that was and is the immortal and unchangeable, appears in the form of sinful flesh lower than the Father, lower than the angels, lower than any man, the very scorn of men and the outcast of the people. And wherefore has he so humbled himself? why has he so appeared? For the suffering of death. When sin abounded and reigned in the world over all flesh, and none in heaven or earth, or under the earth could help or deliver man out of his cursed and perishing condition, or make a sacrifice for sin or offer up an atonement and make reconciliation, he that sat upon the throne, said, "Lo! I come!" in the body of his flesh, he said, "I will do thy will, O my God!" I will lay down my life and die, and be offered up as a lamb for my sinful people, and so will end all mischief, and make peace; hence he is called, "The Lamb slain from the foundations of the world;" and hence properly he merits that title, "The Lamb of God."

But what are we to understand by that part of the text," he has now appeared in the end of the world?" for this is the third thing to be spoken of.

The fathers even before Christ, and much more since his incarnation, have divided the world into three parts: The beginning of the world was from Adam until Moses, and this was about two thousand years. In this time every father was priest to his own family: and though sacrifices were offered, and prayers made to the Lord, the divine service was not so regulated as that all should be the pattern perfectly of that which was to come. In this time God spoke to the Fathers by visions, by dreams, voices, and in sundry kinds of man

ners;