of God was perfectly innocent in himself, but as he stood in our room and place, he was, the greatest of all transgressors. Saith the apostle, 2 Cor. v, 21. He hath made him to be sin for us that knew no sin, that ave might be made the righteousness of God in him. 5thly, This debt that Christ owed to the law, as our surety, was brought upon him by the surest way, of blood-shedding; the surest way of dying in the world, is when all the blood in the body is shed; and our Lord died by this violent sort of death, blood-shedding: our Lord's blood was shed. If people regard only the Jews, and Pilate, and the soldiers that stood round about him, and look upon them as the only persons concerned in the shedding of Christ's blood, if they look no higher they can see no good at all in this blood-shedding.

Whensoever you think and read of onr Lord's blood being shed, there are two things that should always be in your eye. 1st, Who was the highest author of it. 2dly, What were the blessed ends of it. The highest author of it was the justice of God; this cup, bitter as it was, was the cup that his Father gave him to drink. His Father's hand was in it; The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? šaith our Lord, John xviii. 11. Christians, in looking on Christ's death, should learn to see these two things; to see the Father slaying his Son Christ Jesus, and to see our salvation springing up from his death: Who his own self, saith the apostle, 1 Pet. ii. 24. bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin, should live to righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. Where is our faith that should see this? I cannot tell whether there was any faith so active at our Lord's death, as to believe and rejoice on this account. Here is the justice of God taking a true sacrifice, and we shall be saved by the virtue of it; the believing thief bid fairest for it of any; the very disciples knew it not at that time, though they knew it well afterwards.

3dly, What is the sprinkling of this blood of Christ thus shed? You understand what the sprinkling the typical blood of the sacrifices was; it was the natural blood of a poor beast that was sacrificed, sprinkled by the hands of the priest en the altar and on the mercy-seat: But what is the sprink

ling of this blood of Jesus? The sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ is nothing else but this, the spiritual application of its power and virtue. It is an old doting dream of the Antichristian party, to make a great deal of noise about the material blood of Christ; it is probable that the natural blood of Christ sprinkled the garments of many of his murderers, who were never a whit the better for it; and that the earth drank it in, like the blood of another man; but the spiritual heavenly virtue of it is quite another thing. This is what we are to speak to, what the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ is that is, wherein was this virtuous blood applied. 1st, This blood of Jesus Christ sprinkled the altar of justice, at which it was shed for atonement and propitiation. I say, the blood of Jesus Christ sprinkled the altar of justice; that is, the power and virtue of it made satisfaction to the justice of God for sin it was a satisfaction to justice and the law, for an atonement for all his people. The law and justice of God shed this blood, and the virtue of it satisfied both. Eph. v. 2. It was a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour to God; so that justice had no more to crave, and sin had no more to oppose: for he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, Heb. ix. 26. He was offered to bear the sins of many, ver. 28. and by bearing of sin he took it away, so that from the day our Lord died, sin shall never be a powerful impediment in the way to heaven to a believer in Christ; and the reason is, because Christ has condemned sin, as the apostle discourses at large; Rom. viii. 1, 2, 3. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk`not after the flesh, but after the spirit: for the law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death: for what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. 2dly, The sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, that is, the power and virtue of it, reaches heaHeb. ix. 12. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us; ver. 24. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the

ven.

presence

This

of God for us. Sirs, when we say that Christ entered into heaven with his own blood, it would be a foolish thing for any body to imagine that our Lord ascended into heaven in a state of infirmity, and in that weakness of flesh in which he died; no, our Lord Jesus was glorified, and he went in glory to glory. But Christ's entering into heaven with his own blood, was an allusion to the high priest's entering into the holiest of all with the blood of the sacrifice, and points forth to us the virtue of the blood of Jesus Christ, making heaven patent to us, like a victorious head, opening the door to all that were to follow through faith in him. 3dly, The sprinkling of the blood of Jesus is upon the new covenant. the apostle to the Hebrews speaks of, chap. ix. 15. For this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the transgressions that were under the first Testament, they which are called might receive the promise of an eternal inheritance. Christ's blood, I say, sprinkled the new covenant, it was the seal of it; it was sprinkled on it, if I may so say, to seal it, (as the blood of the sacrifice was called the blood of the old covenant, so the blood of Christ is called the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.) Oh that believers would learn to know what the promises are, and learn to read the promises well, and look well on them. We look upon the promises thus: This is God's word, and this word of God holds forth great blessings to me, and these blessings I very much need, and therefore, I pray upon the promise; and all this is well done: Aye, but when do ye see the promises sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ? That is a work for your faith; every promise in the Bible, the blood of Christ is upon it, to seal it, to purchase the blessings contained in it, and to secure the performance of it to every one that believes. 4thly, and lastly, The virtue of the blood of Christ is sprinkled upon believers, upon their persons and upon their consciences. Of this the apostle to the Hebrews speaks, chap. ix. 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God? And this is what we should seek to feel. What Christ did to justice is a matter of faith; the satisfaction that his blood gave to justice: what Christ doth in heaven by the virtue of

his blood, that is matter of faith; he makes intercession there in virtue of his blood: what Christ doth with respect to the new covenant, this is also a matter of faith; but the power and virtue of the blood of Christ on the conscience, is not only a matter of faith, but it is also a matter of feeling; that which we must feel ourselves, the virtue of the blood of Christ purging our consciences: therefore the apostle, in that place I last quoted, speaks of it with a How much more; how much more shall the blood of Christ do it? Surely the blood of bulls and of goats was far inferior to the blood of Christ, and the purifying the flesh was a far inferior effect to the purging of the conscience; but yet the apostle lays a stress upon this word, How much more shall Christ's blood do so? If the Lord was pleased to appoint such an ordinance, that the sprinkling of the blood of certain beasts should convey along with it a sort of Levitical cleanness, much more shall the blood of Christ have its spiritual saving gospel effect in purging and sprinkling the conscience; and this is that which gives a man confidence towards God. The law of God is backed by the justice of God, and the law of God is levelled at the conscience of a sinner; the law saith, The sinner shall die; conscience saith, I am a sinner, and I must die; it is only having the conscience purged by the blood of the sinless Son of God, that can give us confidence towards God, though we are guilty in ourselves.

A few words by way of APPLICATION.

Use 1. Learn to come to this blood of sprinkling. It is a duty, and the great privilege of true believers, expressed by the apostle, Heb. xii. 24. But ye are come to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, he is good company; well, what great thing do ye mind when you come to Christ? Ye are come to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. It is the blood of sprinkling, and it is blood that hath a voice, (blessed are the ears that can hear it!) it is only the ear of faith that can hear what mighty shouts arise from this blood of sprinkling; what great and good things it speaks for poor sinners; it speaks to God for them. A few things concerning this coming to the blood of sprinkling.

1st, You that would set about coming to the blood of sprinkling, that it may be upon you, learn to know and lay to heart your own filth and defilement. There was no sprinkling of blood but in the case of sin; the sprinkling of blood was for atonement, and the user of it was to acknowledge his sins they who are too high and too proud to own themselves to be sinners, will not be found too good to go to hell: all such shall perish., Christ came into the world to save sinners, and no man can come to him to be saved but a sinner.

2dly, You must be persuaded of this, that nothing cleanses you from sin but the sprinkling of this blood, and that this. can do it effectually. When the stain of sin is seen upon people's consciences, there are a great many wells of water that the devil and the world dig up; they think to cleanse themselves in their duties, and in their performances, their vows, their purposes, their resolutions, their praying, reading, hearing, and meditating; these are used by a great many, just as water, to wash away the stain of sin on their consciences. Vain, dangerous, wicked ways! things not wicked in themselves, but most wicked as so used. Prayer is a duty, but to put prayer in Christ's place is an abomination. All the ordinances of the gospel are things commanded us, but to use them. so as to keep at a distance from this blood of sprinkling, is to pervert them to our destruction. It is a great matter to believe firmly, that nothing but this blood of sprinkling can justify and cleanse us; and it is also a great matter to believe that this can do it effectually. The poor creature thinks it is now about seventeen hundred years since Christ's blood was shed at Jerusalem, and so it is; but what then? the virtue of it is everlasting to cleanse us from all sin. The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin, 1 John i. 7.

3dly, If you would come to this blood of sprinkling, that it may be upon you, you must adventure upon it, and place all your confidence in it, and make it your only plea for your acceptance. and justification before God. We are justified by his blood, saith the apostle, Rom. v. 9. The believer is to see his justification streaming from the life-blood of the Son of God. When a poor creature sees the holiness of God's law, and the severity of his justice, and feels a disturbance in his own con