Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in your ignorance: but as he who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. 1 Pet. i. 13-16, with Lev. xi. 44.

Now unto the Lamb, who was slain, and hath redeemed us out of all nations of the earth; unto the Lord, who purchased our souls for himself; unto that Friend, who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood; who died for us once, that we might die unto sin; who rose again for us, that we also might rise; who ascended for us into heaven, to prepare a place for us and to whom are subjected the angels, and powers, and dominions, to him be glory at all times, in the church which waiteth for him, and in that which is around him, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen.

DISCOURSE VI.

THE ALTAR OF BURNT-OFFERING.

EXODUS xl. 10.

And thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt-offering and all his vessels, and sanctify the altar; and it shall be an altar most holy.

THE known antiquity and frequency of vicarious sacrifice, would seem clearly to imply, first, the common origin of mankind: for, if the various tribes and nations now peopling the earth sprang not from a common parentage, how comes it to pass that, so far as our present research and information extend, sacrificial offerings should obtain among all the divisions of the human family?—The same antiquity and frequency of vicarious sacrifice show also by implication the original condition of mankind: that it was one of purity and blessedness: for why, otherwise, should life be substituted for life, and the innocent be allowed to suffer in the place of the guilty? They, moreover, manifest a kind of innate sense or feeling in men's bosoms of the necessity of some expiatory sacrifice, which sacrifice should at once be available for all, and co-extensive with the admitted want, misery, and sinfulness of our common nature. And, lastly, we think that in that felt necessity of man

kind, assuming the necessity to be supplied with a suitable provision for its urgent and immediate need, the universal prevalence of sacrifice foreshows a glorious issue to the existing circumstances of the world, namely, the eventual reconciliation of all things unto God by Jesus Christ. Col. i. 20.

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A striking and beautiful illustration of this at-onement of all things with God, is found in the conduct of the priesthood in the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah: They brought forth the he-goats for the sin-offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them and the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar to make an atonement for all Israel; for the king commanded that the burnt-offering and the sin-offering should be made for all Israel. 2 Chron. xxix. 23, 24. Thus, whether typically or really, the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation, to reconcile withal, in the holy place, Lev. vi. 30; and when the mediation of the great High Priest shall have been fully accomplished, it will be seen and admitted by all created intelligences, that God truly was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, but causing them to meet upon their devoted Surety, and at the same time constituting all his chosen people the righteousness of God in him. 2 Cor. v. 19-21. How great will be the favour to bow a willing and a grateful knee to this exalted Lord, rather than the constrained and reluctant homage of a judgment convicted but not conciliated!

It may seem to some persons a question more curious than profitable to ask, Whence came the skins wherewith the Lord God clothed Adam and his wife previous to their expulsion from the garden? Gen. iii. 21. They

might possibly, we think, be skins of creatures slain in sacrifice to the Divine justice and if so, then would our fallen parents receive a gracious intimation of the method whereby the righteous God would pardon the offences of mankind, and re-admit the violators of his law to fellowship and communion with himself again. Thus from the beginning, the Just One dies either in figure or in fact for us unjust ones, in order to bring the children of the promise, successively, throughout their generations, to the bosom of God's forgiving love, 1 Pet. iii. 18: and thus, moreover, it is clearly showed that without shedding of blood there can be no remission of sin. Heb. ix. 22. Natural amiability; intellectual greatness; moral worth; or 'much wordly reputation on account of any other adventitious things, can never clothe our spiritual nakedness. A garment so pure, so perfect, must be found that even the gaze of absolute Omniscience itself may discover no flaw therein and where save in the works and death of Christ shall this garment of salvation be obtained?

This manner of furnishing habiliments to our first parents receives additional probability from the nonmention of the Divine appointment of sacrifice subsequent to their expulsion from Paradise, and antecedent to the slaughter and consumption by fire of Abel's lamb. God testified of Abel's works that they were good, Heb. iv. 9 this would have been impossible but for some gracious principle whereof the works might flow: hence do we read, By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, or a justified man with God. Now, faith, or that act of the understanding and of the mind, which we call belief, must have relation to testimony and what testimony could Abel have believed

so deferentially and so beneficially, in reference to his offering, as a Divine communication respecting the appointment and the continuance of vicarious sacrifice? Cain presented certain fruits of the ground, in proud, self-righteous disregard of the Divine injunction, and thereby missed the benediction which his brother found. But, even Cain, subsequently to the Divine rejection of his offering, might have found forgiveness had he sought it in the suggested way: for it was said unto him, If thou doest not well (in the matter probably of his recent offering) sin lieth at the door, Gen. iv. 7: that is, a lamb lieth at the door: go and offer it in faith as a sinoffering, and shalt thou not be accepted? or, as the word accepted is marginally rendered, Shalt thou not share the excellency of thy brother's blessing? Thus it is clear, a Lamb has been slain, not only in the will and purpose of the eternal Father, but also in the faith and dependence of every child of God, from the foundation of the world. Rev. xiii. 8. The blood of this all-wondrous victim does indeed speak better things than that of Abel, Heb. xii. 24; whether by the blood of Abel we are to understand his own blood shed by the murderous Cain, or the blood of his atonement shed in holy faith by himself. The former cried for vengeance on its fratricidal shedder; the latter could only mystically take away the offerer's sin: whereas, Jesus, in the very article and agony of death exclaimed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do: and the blood of Jesus Christ really and effectually cleanseth us from all sin. Oh yes this is the sacrifice of nobler name than any which preceded or could follow it.

The earliest notice of an altar we find on record, is that which was built by Noah after the subsiding of the waters of the deluge. Gen. viii. 20, 21. Thereupon