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liveth to make intercession for them.' Heb. vii. 25.

Such a mode of reasoning addressed to the Hebrews, on the supposition that they had retained the least idea of the typical nature of their Temple service, was unanswerable. If the reality, of what their Law exhibited but the shadow, was actually accomplished, the use of the Law was necessarily superseded. When that which is perfect was come, that which is imperfect, according to the verdict of common sense, was of course to be done away. its reference, therefore, to the full and final accomplishment of its Ritual service in the great propitiatory sacrifice on the Cross, the whole value of the Ceremonial Law consisted. Abstracted from this, it was a formal, unmeaning, and conse quently unprofitable exhibition.

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The same idea, therefore, which gave value to the sacrifice of Abel, and accompanied the sprinkling the blood of the lamb on the door posts of those who were delivered from the destroying angel, previous to their departure from Egypt; signifying, that deliverance from the guilt

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bondage of sin, was not, according to the Covenant of Grace, to be effected, but by shedding of blood; was intended to be kept alive in the services of the Law; for the purpose of leading those who lived under it to the knowledge of that Divine Person, who "by one offering of himself hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." Heb. x. 14.

And for this reason, in allusion to the method, by which, according to the divine plan, this sanctification was to be effected," all things by the Law were purged with blood, and without shedding of blood there was no remission." Heb. ix. 22.

Now common sense might be supposed competent to have informed the Jews, that blood literally applied, must, instead of cleansing any thing, add rather to its defilement. Had they not, therefore, lost sight of the spiritual meaning of their Law, they must have concluded, that the blood of sacrifice, applied for the purpose of purgation, was the sign, but could not possibly be the thing signified. And because the life of every animal is in the blood,

blood, that on that account it was an appointed emblem of the benefit derived to the sacrificer from that promised Seed of the Woman, whose death, according to the eternal purpose, was to cleanse mankind from the defilement of sin. "The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul," Levit. xvii. 11.

According to this idea, (which prevailed in the mind of the faithful under the old Dispensation, who with Abraham looked forward to the day of Christ, and rejoiced in it in hope;) one of the names by which the Messiah is distinguished in the Old Testa-. ment, is that of the Purifier 2: the same word, which in some other passages of Scripture is translated soap: the known property of which is to cleanse and purify. Though thou wash me with nitre, and take thee much soap, n, thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord." Jer. ii. 22. And again in that striking passage of the prophet Malachi. "Who may abide the day of His coming? and who

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shall stand when he appeareth? For He is like the refiner's fire, and like fuller's Soap -Here the Messiah, under the significant emblem of a refiner's fire and fuller's soap, is pointed out in the charácter of that Divine Purifier, whose office it is, in a spiritual sense, to cleanse and purify mankind from the defilement of sin.

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In allusion to this his important character of Purifier, the saints who are described in the Book of Revelation as arrayed in white robes, are said to have washed their robes, and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. Rev. vii. 14. Garments, by being washed in blood, cannot, in a literal.sense be made white. when it is considered that Sin, in the figurative language of Scripture, is the spiritual defilement of the Soul; and that it is through the Sacrifice offered on the Cross that Man, rendered impure by the Fall, is restored to a state of purity in the Eyes of God; we can be at no loss to understand the Apostle, when he says, that "if we walk in light, the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all Sin:"-and consequently, in what sense the Robes of the

sinner are made white, by being washed in the blood of the Lamb..

Thus does the Bible, from the beginning of it to the end, direct the eye of the faithful to the same divine object of Christian hope; from Abel's offering in Paradise, through the representative service of the Law, down to the actual fulfilment of it by the personal sacrifice of Christ on the Cross; and the effect produced by that great event, in the emblematic description of the saints, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes.

When, therefore, Christ Jesus appeared in the flesh, he who was sent to prepare the way before him; in other words, to prepare the Jews for his immediate reception; described Him by his most significant title of "the Lamb of God;" "Behold (said he) the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world."-As if he had said; Behold the great Purifier of mankind. Behold that divine Person whom the Prophet has told you should be brought as a lamb to the slaughter, when it shall please his Father to make his soul

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