Chapter XXIX: Part 29

Thus I have endeavoured to perform the first thing I proposed, and that was to shew in what manner I conceive of the Son of God becoming an atonement for the sins of men. Far be it from me, to imagine that every one must believe these things just after the same order, and in the same manner in which I have learned to conceive of them: Several learned and pious men have explained the manner of this atonement in another way: But they agree in the doctrine of a proper satisfaction for sin. Different persons behold the representation of these great and important things of christianity in different lights: And though, according to my measure of knowledge in the scripture, this manner of conception of the atonement of Christ seems most agreeable to the word of God, yet, I am fully persuaded, God has never made salvation to depend upon a nice exactness of sentiment about the mere order of ranging these divine discoveries, or about the precise logical relations of the sufferings of Christ, to our sins, or to our pardon. Whosoever sincerely confesses and repents of sin, and trusts in the all-sufficient atonement and sacrifice of Christ, to remove the guilt of it, has abundant assurance from scripture, that the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse him from all sin, and that the Son of God has been, and will be his High-priest, to reconcile him to God the Father.

The Recollection.—It becomes me now to reflect on what I have heard this day. The atonement of Christ is one of the chief glories, and most surprising wonders of my religion: It is the ground of my hope, it is the very life of my soul. Here I have been learning the several transactions of the great God, the Creator and Ruler of the world, with all the children of men from the beginning of their creation. The light of nature informs me in an imperfect manner, and the scripture with much brighter evidence assures me, that I was made under the law, and not born to live at random, according to the wild dictates of appetite and passion. I am informed also, my Creator has guarded the honour of his law with indignation and wrath, with pain of the flesh, and anguish of the mind, and death itself, as the penalties to be inflicted on those that break it. A law divinely wise and righteous, and a sanction of solemn and divine terror!

But, alas! I am one of the sinful guilty race of man. My very nature is corrupt, my powers of action are unholy, and I have broken the law of my God in a thousand instances. My conscience condemns me, my mouth is stopped, I am guilty before God, I lie under the sentence of his condemning law by nature, and am by nature a child of disobedience, and a child of wrath. It is a glorious instance of divine mercy and forbearance, that he has not executed the severities of his law upon me long ago: It is rich mercy and adorable patience that my flesh and spirit have not been filled with all these terrors, that I am not made as wretched as I have been rebellious.

Nor can I expect, that the great and terrible God, who sent his indignation upon angels when they sinned, turned them out of heaven, and chained them in darkness, should forgive all my infinite offences, without some reparation made for the honour of his broken law. He is a great God indeed, his majesty is tremendous, and every thing that belongs to him must have its due honour.

If I labour with all my powers to make him some recompence for my past iniquities by new obedience, I find it is impossible. The best of my righteousnesses are all defective: My holiest services want some forgiveness as well as my wilful sins. Nor can I suffer the punishment due to my iniquities, without being for ever miserable. All the doors of hope are shut against me, nor by the utmost effort and labour of my own powers, can I find a way to escape: If I am left to myself in this state, I must despair and perish. But blessed, for ever blessed be the mercy of my God, that he has sent his own Son to take flesh and blood upon him. He has sent him in the likeness of sinful flesh to become a sacrifice for sin, to sustain the sorrows which I could never sustain, and to provide a laver of his own blood to cleanse us from all sin. Lord, I humbly approach this sacred laver, to wash away the defilements of my soul.

Christ is become a sacrifice to divine justice, in the room and stead of men. And he is also our great High-priest: For he offered himself up to the strokes of justice, and the penal demands of the law of God, and thereby he hath shewn himself to be a priest of reconciliation. How adorable is this contrivance! How amazing is this love! How should sinners be surprized with a sense of this abounding grace! Here I behold the Son of God stooping down from the height of his glory, to become a mortal man, surrounded with flesh and sorrows: I behold the first favourite of heaven, the first beloved Son leaving the bosom of his Father, and the fulness of celestial joys, that he might unite himself to our feeble nature, and taste the anguish and the smart that our rebellious had deserved. I behold him forsaken of his Father, and lying under the weight and terror of some unknown discoveries and impressions of that divine indignation and wrath that was due to sinners; unknown impressions indeed, that struck the Son of God with amazement, and made his soul exceeding sorrowful even to death.

And was all this for my sins, O my Saviour; Didst thou sustain these heavy sufferings from the hand of God, that such a rebel as I might be reconciled? Yes, all this for my sins, if I am found a sincere believer on the Son of God.

Enquire now, O my soul, dost thou believe in Christ? Hast thou seen thy heavy guilt, and thy danger of eternal death? Hast thou been weary and heavy laden with a sense of thy past iniquities? Hast thou been pained at thy heart under the present power of indwelling sin: And hast thou fled for refuge to the hope set before thee in the gospel? Hast thou joyfully received Jesus the Saviour by faith in his blood? by a living and active faith? Hast thou committed thyself to him, to be delivered from the reign of sin, as well as from the condemnation of it? Then mayest thou join with the blessed apostle, and speak in the language of faith, _He loved me, and gave himself for me_? Gal. ii. 20.

Let me meditate again the sorrows and agonies of my dear, my adored Redeemer. Infinite agonies and sorrows, beyond all the powers of language. Is my heart made of stone, that it can hear such an history and not melt within me, have I no tender part within me to bleed at the rehearsal of such anguish, and such love? Blessed Jesus smite the rock of my heart, and let it pour out new streams of repentance and affectionate gratitude. I was dead, and the Son of God gave himself up to death, in order to raise me to life again. I was a traitor and an enemy, and he hath sustained the arrows of the Almighty to reconcile me to his Father, and turn away his infinite indignation. My great High-priest has offered up himself a bloody sacrifice for me, that my guilt might be forgiven, and cancelled for ever.

Think, O my soul, study, contrive, speak, what wilt thou render to the Lord for such astonishing condescension, and such unexampled grace. How wilt thou show thy inestimable value of his atonement? What does he require of thee, but to keep those garments clean, which he has washed in so rich a fountain as his own blood? And shall I ever wilfully indulge the practice of sin again, and return to my old defilements? Shall I ever consent to break the law of my God? Have I not seen the dreadful nature and dismal effects of it, in the agonies and death of my dearest Lord? What shall I do that I may never sin more? Lord, I cannot preserve myself from the fatal infection, while I dwell in a world where sin reigns all around me, in a world that lies in wickedness; and while I am so nearly allied to flesh and blood, where folly, vice, and sin run through every vein to my heart. Jesus, I commit myself afresh to thy care, thou wilt save the soul that thou hast purchased at so dear a rate; thou wilt accept and save a returning penitent. Here I devote my life, my self, my flesh and spirit, and all my powers to thy obedience, and the purposes of thy glory for ever and ever: My soul looks up to thee with an eye of humble confidence, and my faith and hope rest on thy everlasting love. _Amen._

HYMN FOR SERMON XXXIV.
_The Atonement of Christ._

How is our nature spoil’d by sin!
Yet nature ne’er hath found
The way to make the conscience clean,
Or heal the painful wound.

In vain we seek for peace with God
By methods of our own;
Jesus there’s nothing but thy blood
Can bring us near thy throne.

The threat’nings of the broken law
Impress our souls with dread:
If God his sword of vengeance draw,
It strikes our spirits dead.

But thy illustrious sacrifice
Hath answered these demands;
And peace and pardon from the skies
Come down by Jesus’ hands.

Here all the ancient types agree,
The altar and the lamb:
And prophets in their visions see
Salvation through his name.

’Tis by thy death we live, O Lord:
’Tis on thy cross we rest:
For ever be thy love ador’d,
Thy name for ever blest.

Footnote 34:

Every circumstance that aggravates any crime, must aggravate it in a
degree proportionable to that circumstance; otherwise we could never
determine what is the degree of this aggravation, nor adjust the
punishment in proportion to it. On this account, if the crime he
committed against God, an infinite being, the guilt must be infinitely
aggravated.

Footnote 35:

I grant, 1. That their continual persistence and obstinacy in sinful
practices, may naturally render them continually miserable; and 2.
This continued obstinacy may also, in a legal sense, merit continual
new punishment. And perhaps, on these two reasons, the actual eternity
of hell may be justly supported. But unless we suppose every wilful
rebellion against the infinite Majesty of God, to have also a sort of
infinite evil in it, I do not see that everlasting chains, and eternal
fire, are a proper deserved punishment, legally due to their first
rebellion, that is, to one act of sin.

SERMON XXXV.
_The Atonement of Christ._
ROM. iii. 25.—Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation——

Having explained the manner in which Christ is a propitiation for sin; I come in the second place to propose some reasons to evince the truth of this doctrine, namely, That God hath ordained his Son Jesus to be our propitiation or sacrifice of atonement. And here I shall proceed by degrees, from some apparent probabilities, to more evident and convincing proofs.

I. The first reason I shall give for it is this, that an atonement for sin, and an effectual method to answer the demands of an offended God, is the first great blessing which guilty mankind stood in need of: but the powers of nature could never procure it, nor could the light of reason ever shew them how to obtain it: Now it is the design of the gospel of Christ to supply the wants and deficiencies of guilty nature, that is both impotent and blind; it is to introduce an effectual reconciliation between God and sinners; it is to point out an atonement to them, answerable to their guilt, which they wanted, and to discover a solid foundation for peace. This is done in the death of Christ.

A few easy reflections of natural conscience, will acquaint all the thinking part of men that they are sinners, that they have offended the great and glorious God who made them: And those that have read the histories of mankind, and have surveyed distant nations and past ages, have found this to be almost the universal enquiry of men, “What shall we do to pacify the anger of that God, against whom we have sinned?” The heathen world had an awful notion of the vengeance of heaven. Hence arose endless forms of superstition: How many long and costly ceremonies, what painful and bloody rites of worship have been invented and practised by men, to make some compensation for their crimes? All the craft and contrivance of their priests, could never have prevailed with the bulk of mankind, to take such yokes of bondage upon them, if there had not been something in natural conscience, which wanted an atonement and peace to be made with heaven, from a sense of their own guilt.

The prophet Micah introduces this general language of an awakened conscience, _Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, or bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings?—Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?_ Micah vi. 6, 7. Alas! All these are vain and fruitless proposals: But the gospel makes the enquiring conscience easy, when it proposes the blood of the Son of God, appointed by the Father as a satisfactory offering for the sins of men: This is what the guilty world wanted, but could never find out. This the gospel hath revealed and set in an open light.

And indeed, if the great God who is offended, did ever send down a Peace-maker to reconcile heaven and earth, it is very reasonable to suppose that he should answer the universal cry of nature distressed with guilt; and that he should furnish sinful creatures with such an atonement for sin, and such a solid foundation for their acceptance with himself, as might fully satisfy their reason and their awakened consciences. And this is no where to be found in so evident and complete a manner, as in the death of Christ.

II. The very first discoveries of grace, which were made to man after his fall, implied in them something of an atonement for sin, and pointed to the propitiation which Christ has now made; Gen. iii. 15, &c. The first appearance of grace was the promise given that the _seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent_, that is, he should abolish the guilt, mischief, and misery that sin and the tempter had introduced: But in order to do this, the woman’s seed must have his heel bruised, must sustain some personal sufferings.

Immediately after this, sacrifices of beasts were instituted[36] as a type and prefiguration of some future glorious sacrifice and atonement that should be made to God for the sins of men. Now it is the very notion of an expiatory sacrifice, as I have shewn before, that some creature is provided to stand in the room of the original transgressor and to bear his guilt and suffer punishment in his stead, that thereby the transgressor having his guilt taken away, may be delivered and saved. And when Adam was ordered to put a beast to death which had not sinned, in order to worship or honour God by it, and when he found that he himself who had sinned, was not put to death, it was not hard for him to understand that the beast was put to death in his room and stead: And it is not unlikely that God told him so.

Let us consider further, that it is exceeding probable, when the _Lord God made coats of skins for Adam and his wife_; Gen. iii. 21. these were the skins of the beasts that had been put to death in sacrifice: And thus God made it appear to them, that their nakedness was covered, and the shame of their guilt removed, by a blessing derived from the beasts that were slain. The skins of the sacrifices being put upon their bodies, might abate something of their former fear, and encourage them to appear before God, who were terrified a little before, at the thoughts of their guilt and nakedness. Their deserved death was transferred to the sacrificed animal; and the skin of the animal sacrificed, was transferred to them as a covering for their guilt and shame. These are no obscure intimations of benefit and safety to be derived to sinners, from some atonement to be made for sin.

If we will hearken to St. Paul, he explains the first promise, when he says, Heb. ii. 14. that _Christ took flesh and blood upon him, that he might, by his own death destroy the devil, who had the power of death_, or had introduced it into the world. Here the Saviour’s heel was bruised, and the head of the serpent broken; nor can it be well supposed, how the death of Christ should destroy the works of the devil, but by making an atonement for the sins of men; for which sins divine justice had put them under his power or tyranny.

I will not presume to say, that Adam himself could read so much gospel as this in those first words of promise; or that he knew in so explicit and distinct a manner, the designs and ends of a sacrifice, when God taught him the practice: Yet it is very probable, that the great God condescended to give a much farther explication both of the first words of comfort concerning the seed of the woman, and of his own appointment of sacrifices, and of the reason of them, than Moses has written, or than we who live at this distance of time can ever certainly know.

III. Suppose what I have yet offered, be too obscure a foundation for this doctrine, yet let us consider that the following train of ceremonies, which were appointed by God in the Jewish church, when he separated a peculiar people to himself, are plain significations of such an atonement for sin as our Lord Jesus has made, and they confirm the meaning of the first institution of sacrifices.

I will grant indeed, that many of the ceremonies of the Jewish church, had also some other intendments, _viz._ To distinguish the nation of Israel from the Gentile world, and to keep them in subjection to God, who was their political head or king, as well as their God, to preserve them as a nation in his favour, and restore them when they had offended him as their governor and king: But a few considerations will give us sufficient evidence, that these are mere subordinate designs of God in the Jewish law, and especially in his institution of the ceremonies of atonement and priesthood.

First Consideration.—The Jewish ceremonies are often represented as types or figures of gospel-blessings by the apostle Paul; 2 Cor. iii. Gal. vi. Col. ii. Heb. vii, viii, ix, x. The levitical ceremonial rites were but the letter, of which the gospel of Christ is the spirit or meaning: Those were but as a veil to cover the good things of the gospel; they were but weak and poor rudiments or elements of learning, to lead us into the knowledge of gospel-blessings. “The law was our school-master to bring us to Christ. They were but a shadow of things to come, whose substance or body is Christ; They served but to the example and shadow of heavenly things: that is, the things of the gospel: They were a figure for the time present; a shadow of those good things to come, which the Holy Ghost signified by them.” The great end of these Jewish ceremonial appointments in the sense of this inspired writer, was, that they should stand but as types and figures of things under the gospel; as emblems of the various offices of the Messiah that was to come, and eminently of his priesthood and propitiation. Now the substance is superior to the shadow.

Second Consideration.—This is more evident still, if we consider that many of the defilements which were to be removed by these sacrifices and purifications, were of an external and corporeal nature, which, considered in themselves, were generally innocent as to moral guilt, and did not want such sort of bloody purgations[37]. Thence we may reasonably infer, that these external defilements of the body, did typify and represent the moral and sinful pollutions of the soul: and consequently, that the external and corporeal forms of atonement and purgation were chiefly designed as types and figures of the blood of Christ, which was a real propitiation for the sins of the soul.

Third Consideration.—The most exact and happy resemblance and conformity, between the method of atonement by the priesthood and sacrifice of Christ, and the appointed rites of the levitical priesthood and atonement, very naturally leads us to suppose, that one was designed to figure out and foretel the other; especially since the scripture gives us such frequent hints of it. The great God, to whom all his own works are known from the beginning of the world, had the sacrifice and priesthood of his Son Jesus ever in his eye, when he ordained the Jewish forms of atonement. He kept in view Jesus the high-priest, who was hereafter to enter into heaven in the virtue of his own blood, when he appointed Aaron to go into the holy place, the figure of the true, with the blood of the yearly expiation. He kept in view the merit of Christ’s death, which was to be applied to our souls and consciences by faith, when he appointed the people to be sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifices: And therefore the blood of Christ is called the blood of sprinkling; Heb. xii. 24. And when he ordained the morning and evening lamb for a continual burnt-offering, he pointed, though afar off, to the Messiah, the Lamb of God, that must take away the sins of men.

These resemblances might be shewn in a multitude of other instances: but I cannot omit this one, _viz._ As the killing of the beast was designed to hold forth the violent and bloody death of Christ, the great sacrifice; so the burning of the flesh and entrails on the altar by that divine fire, which was always kept alive there, and which was kindled at first from heaven, seems plainly intended to foretel those sacred divine impressions of the indignation of God due to sinners, which were to be made upon the holy soul of Christ himself, _when it pleased the Father to bruise him, and put him to grief_: For the indignation of God is often represented by fire.

We must not imagine therefore, that these levitical ordinances were first in the design of God, as proper statutes for the Jewish nation, and then that the Son of God came into the world, and passed through such special scenes of life, death, and resurrection, merely in order to copy out these Jewish ordinances: But we must conceive the Son of God, first designed as our great Atonement and High-priest on earth, and in heaven: And in the view and foresight hereof all those levitical ordinances were given to the Jews as figures and emblems, to give early notice before-hand, of the blessings of the great Messiah. Surely the atonement of the Messiah, which was to be a real relief for the guilt of all nations, was of much more importance, and held a higher rank in the ideas and designs of God, than the mere ceremonies given to a single nation.

If it should be objected still, that those Jewish rites have been plainly proved by some learned men to be political services done to God as their King and Governor, for he dwelt in Jerusalem as their king, and kept his court among them in the tabernacle and the temple. I answer:

1. This may very well be granted as an inferior and subordinate design of God: For the consideration of God, as the civil or political ruler of the Jewish nation, is much inferior to the consideration of him as the Creator, and the Lord of the souls and consciences, not only of the nation of Israel, but of all mankind, who were to derive benefit from the sacrifice of Christ. The supreme intent and meaning of any constitution, does by no means destroy those which are subordinate. It may be allowed also:

2. That the sacrifices duly offered, did make a real and proper atonement for the political guilt of the Israelites in the sight of God, considered as their peculiar king, and continued them in his political favour, or restored them to it, after some breach of the Jewish laws. This seems to be the sense of the apostle, Heb. ix. 13. _The blood of bulls and goats sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh_, as well as of many expressions in the books of Moses. And yet these same sacrifices might make a typical atonement for their moral guilt in the sight of God, considered as their God, that is, as the Lord of conscience, and the God of the souls of men: And all this with a direct aspect upon the sacrifice of Christ, the great and real atonement that was to come: And indeed, the next words; Heb. ix. 14. intimate so much, _How much more shall the blood of Christ purge your consciences from dead works?_ that is, from works of sin which deserve death in the sight or judgment of God, considered as the supreme Lord of souls and consciences.

These sacrifices, I say, could make but a typical atonement for moral guilt in the sight of God, considered as their God; for it is sufficiently evident to any thinking mind, that it _was not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin_, as committed against a God; Heb. x. 4. And therefore the Jews themselves, when they had offered their chief sacrifice of yearly expiation, had not so clear, so full, and so satisfactory a peace in their consciences, as the gospel of Christ bestows on christians; The apostle says, verse 1, 2. _The comers thereunto were not made perfect_; for if they had _the worshippers once purged, would have no more conscience of sin_, or sense of guilt. _Wherefore, when Christ came into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering_, that is, _of bulls and goats, thou wouldst not, for they were not sufficient, but a body hast thou prepared me_; and for what end this was done, the following verses tell us, that sinners might be purified from the guilty defilements of sin, _through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all_; verse 10.

Thus the blessed God, who designed in due time to make his own Son an atonement for sinners, did early give some emblematical notices of this divine atonement to those few who were taught to understand them: And in this manner he kept alive in the world the hope of some such glorious future transaction, which should be the ground-work of peace between God and men, by the appointed death and sacrifice of beasts throughout all ages, ever since he made the first promise, and gave the first hope of grace to fallen man.

And indeed, all the souls that were pardoned, and all the sins that were remitted under the several ancient dispensations of Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses, must be referred to the virtue of this great sacrifice of the Son of God, though all who were pardoned might not distinctly know the ground of it. _Him hath God set forth to be a propitiation for the remission of sins that are past_ in far distant ages, as well as for sins that are yet to come; Rom. iii. 25. His sacrifice has a most extensive efficacy, it reaches through all nations, and all ages, from the beginning of the world to the end of it. It was this sacrifice of Christ, that gave virtue to all other institutions and rights of atonement that were appointed by God himself. In themselves they were weak and insufficient, but they were made powerful through the blood of Christ, to speak pardon and peace in some measure, to the guilty conscience, though since Christ is come, we hear the joyful sound of peace and pardon more distinctly.

IV. Nor was this doctrine manifested only in the ancient forms of worship and sacrifice which God had ordained, but some of the noblest of the following prophecies confirm and explain the first promise, and shew that Christ was to die as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of men. I will mention only the words of those two great men, Isaiah and Daniel. By Daniel we are told, that the _Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself, and the design of this is, to finish transgression, to make an end of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness_; Dan. ix. 24, 26. Isaiah speaks the same thing more largely, in his liii. chapter, verses 5, 6, 10, 11. _Christ was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed: We like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.——It pleased the Lord to bruise him, and_ _to put him to grief, and to make his soul an offering for sin.—By the knowledge of him shall he justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities._ How exceeding plain and strong is this language to support my doctrine, and how exceeding hard to construe it to any other sense!

It may not be amiss to subjoin the witness of John the Baptist, who was more than a prophet, and the very fore-runner of the Messiah; John i. 26. _Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world._ Now a Lamb takes away sin in no other way than by dying as a sacrifice. Thus our blessed Redeemer who, once in the end of the world, appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, as a great High priest, was, as it were, ushered into his office by a long train of types and prophecies: All these went before him, that when his great sacrifice was offered, it might not seem a strange thing, but might be more easily received by all the world, who stood in so much need of him, and to whom the tradition of sacrifices had been conveyed from Noah; and especially by the Jews, who had so much notice of him before, by more express revelations beyond what the heathens could learn by their broken traditions of sacrifice.

V. Our Saviour himself, among the rest of his ministrations as a prophet, taught us the doctrine of atonement for sin by his death, and that in these three ways:

1. He did speak of it, though but sparingly, in plain and express language to his own disciples in private. Mat. xx. 28. _The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many_: And this he spoke a little after he had foretold his sufferings, his crucifixion, his death, and his rising again the third day.

2. He preached this doctrine publicly to the multitude in parables and figures of speech; John vi. 51. _The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you_: Which can signify nothing but his dying as a propitiation for sin, that we might live by our feeding upon his sacrifice, or partaking the benefit of it. John xii. 24. _The hour is come that the Son of man must be glorified. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit._ Verse 32. _If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me: This he said, signifying what death he should die._ His being lifted up on the cross should draw many souls to him as their way to the favour of God. Once he spoke it in a little plainer language, in public; John x. 11. where he represents himself as the _good Shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep_.

3. He taught the same doctrine both in types or emblems, and in plain language, just before he died, at the institution of the holy supper; Luke xxii. 19. _He took bread—and brake it_, saying, _This is my body which is given for you_. And of the cup he said, _This cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you_; or as St. Matthew expresses it, _This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many, for the remission of sins_. These things put together, make it evident that Christ himself taught this doctrine.

Objection. But it will be said, How can we suppose that this doctrine of atonement by the death of Christ, should be so considerable a part of the gospel, if our blessed Redeemer, the great Prophet of his church, spoke so seldom of it in public, and that in so obscure a manner?

Answer 1. This doctrine of atonement for sin by his death, and the acceptance of it with God the Father, could not be so well preached in public till he died, and rose again; for his death was the foundation of this atonement; his resurrection and his ascension to heaven were the proofs of its being accepted of God. Now it was divinely wise and proper for our Lord not to preach such doctrines too freely in public to the multitude, till these events should appear in the world. If he had spoken all these things, concerning himself it would have probably amazed and confounded the common people, and raised their rage or their ridicule; so ignorant and so full of prejudice as they were in that day.

2. If Christ had publicly and plainly preached up the atonement of his death, he must thereby have foretold openly that he must die as a sacrifice; and this might have had very ill effects on the malicious Jews, either, 1. To provoke them to kill him, before his hour was come, and pretend that they only obeyed his own prophecy and commission when they put him to death: Or, 2. They might lay hold on him, and keep him prisoner without killing him, to endeavour to falsify his prophecies of his death, and thus attempt to make void his doctrine of atonement.

It is true, God, by his immediate influence on the wills of men, could have prevented these effects: But it is not the manner of God’s conduct in providence to answer and accomplish his own predictions by such immediate, divine, and over-ruling restraints upon the wills of men, if it may done otherwise. And therefore indeed, the prophecies, and especially such as are accomplished in the same age in which they are spoken, are usually given forth in metaphors and parables, that men may not so clearly and perfectly understand them, and that God, in his moral government of the world, may not be constrained to go out of his common and ordinary methods, in order to bring these prophecies to pass.

3. It is evident, from many expressions in the evangelists, that it was not the design of Christ, in his own life-time, to publish the grace and glory of the gospel, in so clear, so distinct, and so complete a manner, as he designed to have it published by his apostles after he was gone to heaven. The design of his own public ministry was rather to prepare the way for the setting up of his own kingdom in the world, than to set it up in the full glory of it in his own person. According to this view of things, his preaching was formed; _Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand_; Mat. iv. 17. That is, the gospel state approaches, or hath approached to you. The prayer he taught his disciples stands on the same foot, wherein they are instructed to pray, _Thy kingdom come_; Mat. vi. 10. Therefore when he spake to the multitude, of the special glories of his gospel, and especially of his atoning sacrifice, it was generally in parables; and when he instructed his disciples more particularly in private, he gave them but hints of it, and told them that they should publish these things upon the house-tops after the Son of man should rise from the dead, but not before.

Even just before his death, his own disciples themselves could not bear many things that he had to teach them; John xvi. 12. These things were reserved therefore for the forty days communication with them after his resurrection, when he spake with them _of things pertaining to the kingdom of God_; Acts i. 3. and more especially for the teachings of his own Spirit, which he poured out upon them after he went to heaven. By these means they were more completely furnished for their ministry, and learned the doctrines of the gospel, in a more perfect manner than ever our Lord himself taught them in his life-time. Thus it appears that though Christ was the founder of a new religion among men, yet there is good reason to be given, why he did not teach plainly and publicly some of the chief doctrines of this religion, during his own life on earth, _viz._ because these doctrines were built on his death, his rising again, and ascending to heaven, which events were then unaccomplished[38].

Thence we may infer, as we pass along, that if we would learn the plainest and fullest account of the gospel of Christ, it is not enough for us to consult merely his public sermons, or the histories of his life, which are called the four gospels, but we must read carefully the writings of the apostles after he went to heaven; for, during the life of Christ, neither did he preach, nor did the apostles themselves learn this gospel in the complete extent and glory of it. But this is only an inference by the way.

[This is a proper pause in the middle of this sermon, when it is read in families.]

Let us proceed to the next reason to prove that Christ was a propitiation for our sins in his death.

VI. The terrors of soul, the consternation and inward agonies which our blessed Lord sustained a little before his death, were a sufficient proof that he endured punishments in his soul which were due to sin. These were vastly greater than the persecutions of bloody men, and the mere fears of dying: Can it ever be imagined, that the Son of God, whose virtues and graces, whose patience and holy fortitude sparkled with divine lustre in the various parts of his life, should have shewn so much natural fear, and innocent disquietude of spirit, at the mere thoughts of death by the hands of men, as if he had nothing else to encounter with? When this dreadful hour was come, and the powers of darkness were let loose upon him, _he began to be sore amazed, and very heavy_; Mark xiv. 23. He told his disciples, _My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death; He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed, that if it were possible that hour might pass from him_. He entreated his Father, _with prayers and supplications, with strong cries and tears_; Heb. v. 7. Such a terror was upon his spirits, that three times he repeated the same petition, that he might be excused if possible from drinking that cup of sorrow. The agonies of his soul pressed great drops of blood through the pores of his body, and bathed him in a crimson sweat. These cries and tears, these agonies and these sweats of blood preached the doctrine of atonement with dreadful power, and uncontested evidence. And as upon the cross, so in the garden, it is probable his Father forsook him, or hid his face from him, so that he had need of an angel to be sent down from heaven on purpose to comfort or strengthen him; Luke xxii. 43. It was here that he learned feelingly what was the curse of the broken law, what was that indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, that were due to the sin of man. Here the seed of the woman maintained a combat with that great serpent, the devil, and had his heel bruised; that is, his lower nature filled with anguish. And it is most probable, that his nature being worn out with this load of distress, was the true reason why he expired on the cross much sooner than was expected, so that _Pilate marvelled to hear that he was already dead_; Mark xv. 44.

I think it is impossible for the Socinians, who represent the death of Christ chiefly as a martyrdom for the truth of his doctrine, and an example of patience in suffering, to support their scheme against this argument, or to give any tolerable account of this amazement which possessed his spirit before his enemies came near him, and of these agonies of soul which our blessed Lord sustained. Surely such sorrows and such terrors demonstrate the work of propitiation and the dreadful labour of reconciling an offended God and sinful man.

VII. This doctrine of satisfaction for sin by the death of Christ is declared, and confirmed, and explained at large by the apostles in their writings, when they were fully furnished for their ministry, by the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Read St. Paul’s letters to the churches, and you find them abounding in such expressions as these: _Christ died for our sins_; 1 Cor. xv. 3. _He gave himself for us, to redeem us from all iniquity_; Tit. ii. 13. _We have redemption through his blood_; Eph. i. 7. _God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them._ _He was made sin_; 2 Cor. v. 19, 21. _And he was made a curse for us_; Gal. iii. 13. _He is our propitiation and atonement_; 1 John ii. 2. _He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself_; Heb. ix. 26. _When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by his death_; Rom. v. 10. _He made peace by the blood of his cross_; Col. i. 20. _He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification_; Rom. iii. 25. _By the righteousness of one man, the free gift came upon all men to justification of life._ _By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous_; Rom. v. 18, 19.

Now in the writings of St. Paul on this subject, we may observe three things.

1. He speaks this language, when in a plain doctrinal way he is teaching the gospel of Christ, therefore these expressions of his are to be understood in the common sense and meaning of the words. It would be a very great force and torture put upon these expressions, if we construe them only to mean, that God promised forgiveness to penitent sinners by Jesus Christ, as a messenger of grace, and that Christ died as a martyr to bear witness to this truth. Read his epistles to the Romans, the Ephesians, the Colossians, and the Hebrews, where he treats of these subjects, and you will find that the apostle in his doctrine of atonement, means much more than this; for he talks in a plain rational and argumentative style and method, to inform the minds of men, of the true design of the death of Christ, and give them the clear knowledge of the truth.

2. He not only represents the death of Christ as our atonement for sin, but he declares this to be the great end of his appearing in the flesh. Heb. ii. 14. _Because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he himself also took part of the same, that through his own death he might destroy the devil._ Heb. x. 5. _Sacrifices of bulls and goats were insufficient, but a body hast thou prepared me._—ix. 26. _Once in the end of the world he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself._ This was the design of his incarnation.

3. He makes the cross of Christ, and Christ crucified, to stand for the gospel itself, and glories in it; 1 Cor. i. 23, 24. _Christ crucified is the wisdom of God, and the power of God_;—ii. 2. _I desired to know nothing among you but Christ, and him crucified._ Gal. vi. 14. _God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ_: And many such expressions he uses, as though the public sermons of Christ, the example of Christ, and the duties that he prescribed, were all as nothing without the atoning virtue of his death, and his sacrifice on the cross; for all these would not save us without his dying. This is eminently the gospel.

Nor is the apostle Paul singular in declaring this doctrine of atonement, or different in his sentiments from the other apostles. You find Peter and John saying the same things in their epistles: 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. “Ye were not redeemed with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish.”—ii. 24. “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree. Ver. 21. Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.” 1 John i. 7. “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.”——ii. 1, 2. “Jesus Christ the righteous is the propitiation for our sins.” iii. 16. “Hereby perceive we the love of God, that he laid down his life for us.” Rev. i. 5, 6. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood be glory and dominion for ever. These apostles take every occasion to publish the same gospel and the same promises and hopes of salvation, by the death and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.

VIII. To sum up many arguments in one, These were the doctrines that were witnessed to the world by those amazing gifts of the Holy Ghost, which attended the gospel[39]. The gifts of tongues, the wonders of prophecy, the powers of healing and destroying, communicated to men in such a manner as the world never saw, and astonished the spectators, all confirmed the truth of this atonement which the apostles preached. These were the discoveries that were made so gloriously successful for the conversion of nations. These doctrines subdued kingdoms to the belief of them, and triumphed over the souls of men: These were the truths that changed the corrupt natures of men into virtue, piety, and goodness, that turned sinners into saints in multitudes, and raised a church for Christ in the world, in spite of all the rage of enemies, the superstitions of the priests, the learning and sophistry of the philosophers, the wild prejudices of the people, and the tyranny of princes.

The primitive christian writers who were converted to the faith, teach us these same doctrines of the grace of God, through the atonement of Christ, the pardon of sin through his blood, which had so much power over their own souls. In the faith of these doctrines, and the hope of eternal life by them, they became the glorious confessors and martyrs of a crucified Christ, and cast down the tempter and the accuser by the blood of the Lamb. This is the doctrine that has been delivered down to us through all ages of the christian church; and though the antichristian powers have mingled it with many of their superstitions, yet the gates of hell have never been able to prevail against it, so as to root it out. This is the religion which, two hundred years ago, was reformed from popish corruptions, and while our blessed reformers laboured to recover and convey it to us in its primitive glory, many of them were called to witness and seal it with their own blood.

An occasional Remark.—Since these were the truths that the last, and brightest, and best revelation of God communicated to men: since this propitiation of Christ was the doctrine which the inspired apostles taught, and in which all the foregoing revelations centre, even from the beginning of the world: It is by this therefore, that all the former and darker discoveries are to be explained; all the types and shadows of ceremonial worship, and the obscure language of prophecy, must have their true light cast upon them by this doctrine. This is the clue to guide us into the mysteries and deep things of God, which lay hid under the veils for so many ages. The great apostle St. Paul shews us how to penetrate and unfold all the ancient dispensations, by the doctrine of the Son of God coming into the flesh, by his dying as a sacrifice for sin, by his rising and ascending to heaven, by his appearing there as a priest to intercede for sinners in the virtue of his sacrifice, and by his sitting there as a king, to reign over all things for the salvation of his people, whom he has purchased with his own blood.

The Recollection.—What a variety of supports has this blessed doctrine of our reconciliation to God by the atoning death of Christ? What a train of arguments to confirm it are drawn down from the very first entrance of sin into the world? Guilty nature urges us on to enquire after such an atonement, and the bible reveals it to us in a long succession of types, promises, and prophecies, in narratives and plain instructions, in darker or brighter discoveries from the beginning of mankind.

If I forsake the gospel of Christ, and his atonement for sin, whither shall my guilty conscience fly to find a better relief? This is the doctrine that supplies the chiefest wants of a guilty creature, and the chief defects of natural light and reason. Nature shews me no way to recompense the justice of God for my innumerable sins. Nature shews me nothing which God will accept in the room of my own perfect obedience, or in the room of my everlasting punishment. If I leave thee, O Jesus, whither should I go? Thy sufferings are the spring of my hope of pardon, and my eternal life depends on thy painful and shameful death.

I see and obtain in this gospel of atonement all that the heathen world laboured for in vain, by many wild inventions, and painful superstitions. The anger of the God of heaven is pacified by the sufferings of Jesus his Son. O my God, let my soul never run back to infidelity and heathenism, and rove abroad among the foolish inventions of men, in quest of any other methods of atonement. The blood of Jesus is all my hope.

Here I see the gracious promises of ancient times fulfilled, even the first promise of mercy that was ever made to fallen man. Here I behold the accomplishment of the predictions of the holy prophets since the world began; 1 Pet. i. 11. “It was the Spirit of Christ spake in them, concerning the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow;” Gen. iii. 15. Here I see “the seed of the woman breaking the head of the serpent;” 1 John iii. 8. _The Son of God manifested_, and by his own death, _destroyed the works of the devil_. Here I behold; Dan. ix. 24, 26. the Messiah _cut off, but not for himself_. I behold him here on his cross, _finishing_ iniquity, _transgression, and sin_; and _bringing in everlasting righteousness_. I see, Is. liii. 10. _his soul made an offering for_ the _sins_ of men: And the prophets Isaiah and Daniel conspiring with the blessed apostles to point to Jesus as an all-sufficient Saviour.