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ETERNAL REDEMPTION

OBTAINED FOR THE CHURCH,

IN THE ENTRANCE OF CHRIST ONCE INTO THE

HOLY PLACE, BY HIS OWN BLOOD.

"Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood."

REV. V. 9.

"Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of

Jesus."

HEB, X, 19.

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PREFACE.

IN bringing before the villagers, who assemble together, under the Lord's unction for divine worship, the following sermon for their perusal, I would very earnestly and affectionately, as they enter upon it, beg of them to seek for grace, that they may have a true scriptural sense of the vast interest the redeemed of the Lord have in the weighty contents.

The Holy Three in One, having made the church their own, by covenant relations, in the ancient settlements of eternity; each glorious person hath not only revealed himself in those distinct characters of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but hath manifested such personal acts of grace in each towards the church, that, while the very acts themselves prove that all are, from one and the same, in the undivided essence of GODHEAD; the church can and doth, while blessed with a true spiritual apprehension of divine things, mark and distinguish in them the Father's love, the Son's grace, and the Spirit's fellowship. We shall do well, if led by the Lord, and drawn by the Lord, to his throne at this time: we very earnestly desire and obtain, each for himself, the blessed revelation of these soul-comforting truths!

I would say, both for myself and you; Our God; who hath in thine infinite condescension formed thy church, and taken all the members of it into covenant relations to thyself, vouchsafe at this time, in the perusal of this discourse, as instrumental in thine hand, to bless it to our spiritual enjoyment. Give us to see that our God and Father, having chosen the whole church in Christ before the foundation of the world, they are thereby his own elect, in whose everlasting welfare, not only for themselves, but for thine own glory thou art engaged: for thou hast said, " this people have I formed for myself, they shall shew forth my praise!" And no less may we be led to discover, through the same divine teaching, that when thou, our glorious Lord, "entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us by thy blood;" it was because we are thine own! For we remember thine own most gracious words, when thou saidst, "Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so thou wert our Saviour!" And as thou, Almighty God the Spirit, makest the bodies of thy people thy temple, and hast called them "the temple of the living God, saying, I will dwell in them, and walk in them!" here we have the threefold cord, that cannot be broken. Lord, cause every new born and redeemed child of God before thee this day, in the full assurance of faith, to know this, and say with the church of old, God, "even our own God, shall bless us." Amen.

SERMON XXIII.

ETERNAL REDEMPTION OBTAINED FOR THE CHURCH, IN

THE ENTRANCE OF CHRIST ONCE INTO THE

HOLY PLACE, BY HIS OWN BLOOD.

HEB. IX. 12.

By his own blood he entered in once, into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

THERE is somewhat very blessed in these words; "his own blood." Thus defining the acts of our most glorious Christ, and the offerings of our most glorious Christ, as his own. All is personal; and indeed, there is of necessity an identity, a personality, which forms the character of all beings and all things. Even Jehovah in the unity of the divine essence is revealed to the church in that sublime description which distinguisheth him from all creatures he hath made by his identity; and as possessing in that unity of GODHEAD a trinity of persons. Hence those wonderful Scriptures: "Hear, O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord." (Deut. vi. 4.) "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these Three are One." (1 John v. 7.) And when these sacred truths of the Holy Scripture are brought home by an unction from above, and engraven in the heart, they create a joy unspeakable and full of glory!"

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But we go on to observe, that from those divine revelations, which had not God himself taught us we never could have known; we are farther instructed

that this Almighty God, in his trinity of persons, hath in a marvellous way and manner, and infinitely beyond the comprehension of our present finite capacities to grasp, made himself over in covenant relations, and declared, that he hath formed and constituted the church for himself. Moses sang this great mystery many ages since in his love-song, being taught it by the Holy Ghost. "For the Lord's portion (said he) is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance." (Deut. xxxii. 9.) And we find the same precious declaration in the Psalms. "For Jehovah hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.” (Psalm cxxxv. 4.) It is a blessed thing for a regenerated and redeemed child of God to say, and when he is taught it of God he will say, "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup; thou maintainest my lot!" (Ps. xvi. 5.) But it is a far greater thing when the Lord saith that we are his. For this is the cause, the other is the effect. "The Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation; here will I dwell, for I have desired it." (Ps. cxxxii. 12.)

And what endears it yet more is this, namely, that it is all personal. It is God the Father which hath made his people his own. "Of him the whole family in heaven and earth is named." (Ephes. iii. 15.) And

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no less hath God the Son made the church his own. For thus we read: "Thy Maker is thine husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the holy One of Israel: the God of the whole earth shall he be called." (Isa. liv. 5,) And of God the Holy Ghost, the Lord Jesus himself hath testified when he said: "He dwelleth with you and shall be in you.” (John xiv. 17.) And Jehovah in his trinity of persons sets his almighty seal to those soul-refreshing truths, when by his servant the prophet speaking of his Israel he said, "I am their inheritance, and ye shall give them no possession in Israel, I am their

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possession." (Ezek. xliv. 28.). And as a man lives. upon his substance, his property, his heritage, in earthly things, so spiritually the church lives upon the Lord. And as the glory of Jehovah in his trinity of persons is in the pleasure of his people; so he draws a revenue of praise from them, which he condescends to call his portion. And in the upper and, brighter world, when he hath brought them all home to himself, and made them everlastingly holy, and. everlastingly happy in himself; such an effulgence of glory will be reflected back upon Jehovah in his trinity of persons from their blessedness, as shall be "to the praise of the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus!"

I pause for the moment just to remark, that if those divine truths were realized, and lived upon day by. day in the minds and hearts and consciences of the Lord's people, so as to become the habitual frame of their walk and conversation; what a source of spiritual joy would it continually open! And, if added to this habitual frame, the gracious Lord, in the manifestations of the Holy Three in One, should sometimes and not unfrequently let in upon the soul, the renewings of his love; and give his people to possess enlarged and enlarging views and apprehensions of Jehovah in his trinity of persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as "our home and dwelling-place in all generations:" such effects would follow, as for the season would lift the soul in meditation above the confines of time, and bring her into the suburbs of heaven. We should by faith see ourselves as entering our possession, before the Lord comes to take us home to dwell there. All which are founded in the everlasting love and manifestations of grace from the personal acts of covenant love in the holy Trinity to the church in Christ; and which is opened to us in that distinguished part of it, of our glorious Lord, described in the

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