دو place, to which, hitherto, we have not more than incidentally alluded, but to which we all ought to pay, before we conclude our meditations on this allegory, a more than incidental attention. We live under a dispensation, it is true, which is well and truly shadowed out under the figure of "the son of the freewoman. "The yoke is easy, the burden light'," whether we regard the doctrines or the duties, the comforts or the promises, of the Gospel. And though death, eternal death, is undoubtedly threatened, it is only as a contingent punishment, contingent upon our resolute and obstinate refusal to believe in a meek Saviour and a mild Gospel, aided as we are by so many and gracious heavenly influences and holy encouragements. But although the dispensation under which the Christian lives is spiritual, the Christian himself may not be spiritual. There was the bondage of " the son of the bondwoman," the bondage of the Israelite under the yoke of forms and ceremonies; but there is, has been, and ever will be, the bondage of sin, under which the Christian, privileged as he really is, may be sorely and bitterly brought. The bondage of sin is a bondage inherited by the whole world; inherited by Ishmael, inherited by Isaac, inherited by the Israelite, inherited by the Christian. And it is the most grievous, the most dangerous, the most difficult to be shaken off, of all bondage. And it is a bondage under which a man may even partially labour, when he worships in the Lord's house, communicates at the Lord's table, hears truth from the Lord's minister; and worships, and communicates, and hears thus habitually. And how and when may we judge ourselves to be under the yoke, more or less, of this bondage? When we do what we ought not to do, and leave undone what we ought to do. When we live in the habitual commission of any known sin, and feel ourselves unable, unwilling, unprepared to abandon it. When the principal time is spent, the best talents employed, the whole heart engaged, in the world's service. When idle amusements, evil company, profane revellings, find ready welcome and unyielding compliance, almost as soon as they present themselves. When the things a man would, those he does not, and the things a man would not, those he does. When he yields to temptations, which others resist. When he struggles with a sin, and it overcomes him. When he makes resolutions against a sin, and When he abstains from a sin for a time, cannot keep them. 1 Matt. xi., 30. but returns to it again. When the sweetest promises and sores threatenings are alike powerless as preventives. When sabbaths, sacraments, prayers, sermons, are all equally distasteful. When grace, atonement, conversion, salvation, and such like holy things, are objects of indifference, aversion, ridicule, contempt. When a serious illness, a heavy bereavement, or even a deathbed, fail to make impression on the slumbering soul. All these are signs, more or less palpable, of spiritual bondage; and as long as that bondage continues, so long is he, who wears the chain, a slave, although seeming to be free. He lives under a dispensation, even believes in a dispensation, which is to all intents and purposes a dispensation of freedom; and yet he is as perfect a bondslave as Hagar, or any other child of servitude. And would it not be well for us, in appearance the children of the freewoman, to ask ourselves, how we are situated in this respect, whether we are, in truth and sincerity, the children of the freewoman, or whether we are only so in form and appearance? The signs whereby we may know this have been stated. Let us reconsider them. Let us apply them to our several cases, and decide according to truth. Let it never be forgotten, above all, that the spiritual dispensation under which we live, leaves us, so far as sin goes, without excuse. Unlike the Mosaic dispensation, it abounds in liberal allowances, merciful helps, plain revelations, free forgivenesses, gracious promises. The believer, if he goes wrong, goes wrong with his eyes open. He has "a light for his feet and a lamp for his paths'." The life, the liberty, the glory, the adoption of the Gospel, encompass him on every side. His strongest enemy may be overcome. He has a way to escape from bondage; and the way is known to him. At a word his chains will fall off, and in heart, in will, in understanding, in power of action, he will be free. The truth will make him free. He will be guided into all truth, and will be free indeed. And having thus by repentance sighed for freedom, and thus by Christ escaped from bondage, he will triumph by the power of the Spirit, and laugh his old enemy to scorn. And "neither death, nor life, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate him from that love of God, which he will have in Christ Jesus his Lord"." 1 Ps. cxix., 105. 2 Rom. viii., 38, 39. THE FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT. 11 Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 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. 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for [this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. The more nearly we approach the anniversary of the death and passion of Christ, the more strongly marked becomes the evidence, in our Church services, of the character of the event it commemorates. This is the case here. The event commemorated on Good Friday, is the death and passion of Christ; and the tendency of the Epistle for this day is to show, how far superior that death and passion are, as a sacrifice for sin, to the ancient Levitical sacrifice. The Levitical sacrifice was a slain beast, and it “sanctified to the purifying of the flesh." It was a sacrifice for the sins of others, was in itself a sinless sacrifice, and as such, made temporary atonement. He was a But Christ was a very different sacrifice. sinless man, and he was the mighty God; and so "by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;" not by "the blood of others," but by his own blood; not "year by year continually," but once for all, "he hath obtained eternal redemption for us." Thus man atoned for man, cleansed both flesh and spirit, died for the "redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament," and procured for all “the promise of eternal inheritance." And Christ was both High Priest and sacrifice, temple and offering, and final, perpetual, allsufficient atonement. And so indirectly are we led to conclude, that on no human merits, earthly ordinances, or fleshly devices, must man depend for atonement, but simply on Christ alone. The blood of bulls and goats was insufficient, the blood of sinful man was unavailable, the profoundest human wisdom and philosophy could never invent a method of redemption. God, whose wrath was to be appeased, could alone provide the offering, and that offering was the blood of his Son. What a blessed thing it is that Christ, "a High Priest of good things to come," has actually come, and that we do not live under the dispensation which preceded his coming, when all was dark, typical, and unfulfilled; but in times of light and knowledge. Instead of a High Priest who "could not continue by reason of death'," and "had infirmity," and "needed to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, then for the people's"," we have a High Priest who is "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners;" who offered up sacrifice once for all, “when he offered up himself," and is "consecrated for evermore3." Instead of "a tabernacle made with hands," and in its nature "a worldly sanctuary," where prayer was wont to be made, sacrifice to be performed, and service to be offered, we have “ a tabernacle not made with hands, not of this building," even heaven, where Christ, having entered in once, ever liveth to make intercession for us. Instead of "the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean," continually poured out before the Lord for "the purifying of the flesh,” we have the blood of Christ, which of itself obtained eternal redemption for us. And instead of bodily purification from ceremonial uncleanness, we have our souls "cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit," and our conscience purged from dead works to serve the living God." Spirit now takes the place of form, contrition of sacrifice, substance of shadow, light of darkness, reconciliation of wrath, life of death, blessing of curse, hope of despair. 66 We need be under no apprehension now, if we will only believe. We need be in no doubt now, if we will only consult the oracles of God, and put faith in what they tell us. We need not take the trouble now of numbering the feasts and fasts and observances we have kept, if we will only strive to live, in every point, as becometh the Gospel of Christ. We need not now be wasting our time, and perplexing our thoughts, in looking for a Messiah, if we will give heed to the evidences which prove that he is already come. We need not now be mystifying ourselves with obscure types and unfulfilled prophecies and 2 Ibid. 27, 28. 1 Heb. vii., 23. 3 Ibid. 26 to 28. * Ibid. ix., 11 to 14. ill-understood ceremonies, if we will only commit our souls unto him, who as a faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, hath abolished them all, and "brought in everlasting righteousness'." Every thing necessary to salvation do we now know; every thing not necessary we need not to know perfectly. We know that we are "by nature carnal, and sold under sin." We know that, constituted as we are, we are not able of ourselves to help ourselves. We know that our sufficiency under any circumstances is of God, and of God alone, and that we shall find it, if we will only seek it, and find it in him who is the Mediator of the New Testament. We may see it in our Bibles if we will only read them; hear it from our ministers if we will only heed them; feel it in our hearts if we will only understand them; obtain a full measure of it from him who is the Eternal Spirit, if we will only ask him. Every thing then being so far now cleared up, every thing needful to know, needful to do, needful to believe, being now plainly set before us, and we no longer in the situation of great sinners, with a law exceeding strict and no deliverance at hand, let us distinguish ourselves from henceforth as a family that makes the most profitable and edifying use of such saving knowledge. And how shall we so distinguish ourselves? By flying for refuge, every one of us, to that spiritual High Priest, who has atoned for our sins, and who, having once for all "offered himself without spot to God," will be able to impute a justifying righteousness to all who come to God by him. By guarding ourselves with the present help and eternal consolation which he supplies against every enemy that can assail us, in our intercourse with the world. By making his grace contribute to peace, harmony, diligence, forbearance, and happiness, in our own little world at home. By filling that still smaller world of iniquity, our own individual heart, through the same means, with those "fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ," and so making a church, so far as sanctification goes, in that house. By joining in every prayer we offer, public or private, the name with the notion of Christ; and making every such prayer, whenever or wherever offered, the audible expression of a full heart, the expressive voice of a fruitful life. And where shall we still fly for refuge to do all these things 1 Dan. ix., 24. 2 Rom. vii., 24. |