66 As therefore the person of God's eternal Son sanctified his assumed humanity, so, from hence, was derived all its efficacy, and made it availing to the putting away of sin for evermore. And, moreover, his person bare his body and soul, when offered as the sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour, and not the cross whereon it was stretched, and from which suspended. The creation of his hands (such was the cross whereon he was crucified), could add or supply no aid to its Creator -such was Jesus! His strength to do, suffer, and die, was wholly his own. This was therefore the expression of his own personal strength, "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father" (John x. 17, 18). The greatness and virtue of this one great sacrifice are displayed by God the Holy Ghost, not only on account of its super-excellency over all the other sacrifices, under the law, in effecting, by one oblation, the perfection of all that are sanctified; but, moreover, as corresponding with the type-in that part of the burnt offerings was to be eaten by the priests, as their portion, and theirs only, with their families, as is evident from what is written, Do ye not know, that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?" (1 Cor. ix. 13). And again, Jehovah said to Aaron, “Behold, I have also given thee the charge of mine heave-offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; unto thee have I given them, by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever. This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire every oblation of theirs, every meat-offering of theirs, and every sin-offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons (Numbers xviii. 8, 9). This we learn also from the text, "We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve in the tabernacle. They who served in the tabernacle had a right to eat what was theirs by prescription; but such had no right, as Levites, and after their immunities, to eat at the New Testament altar-Christ. Opposed to such, our Apostle says, "We have," &c., -i. e., we have Christ-he is the gospel altar and gospel sacrifice; and, as he was food for Jehovah's wrath-his devouring fire-so he is rich and sumptuous food for them that are sanctified by himself, according to the Scripture record, "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate" (Heb. xiii. 12). Of the sacrifices, under the law, those who might eat had only part of the sacrifices allotted to them; and of the sacrifice, on the great day of atonement, none could eat; for, as the whole was anathematized devoted, so was it entirely consumed by fire. : The privilege of the redeemed, under the Gospel, in their use of Christ is unlimited. That which alone could satisfy Jehovah can give satisfaction to the enlightened and convinced sinner-even a whole Christ. Neither the soul nor conscience can be satisfied with less. As all that Christ is, as the Christ of God, he is of God the Father, so he is designed by the same God, to be for the use and benefit of the elect-not only generally, but distributively or individually. Not oniy, therefore, shall the whole Church of Christ, whose names are written in heaven, possess a whole Christ as their inalienable portion, but the same boon is the common privilege of every believer, whatever the degree of his faith. It is his privilege to live and feed on all that Christ is. Of such our Apostle says, "For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. v. 7, 8). This is what is announced here- for surely of believers he speaks-those that believe by grace, whose faith is God's work and gift, springing from the love of God shed abroad in the heart by God the Holy Ghost. And all who thus believe are alike qualified to use Christ; we do not say, all as extensively use Christ; we speak simply of the interesting fact-their unconditional privilege, from union to their great Head. All do not enjoy-nor use to the same extent-the light of the sun, still the sun itself is no less; and the whole habitable world, with every individual inhabitant, from man, the highest part of God's fair creation, to the meanest and most diminutive creature that crawls the earth, has this sun to shine for his benefit. So is a full and a whole Christ the portion and food of all his members. All he is, he is for them; and all he has, is for them. All he does is for their good. And, as in all his relations, he is theirs, both by grace and faith, so inter multa alia, he is not only the altar, but sacrifice of that altar, and sacrificial and spiritual food for their sanctified souls. Believers under the Gospel stand for the priests and Levites under the law: and, as of the latter, the Apostle asks, “Do ye not know, that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?" (1 Cor. ix. 13); so it comprehends the privilege of believers (who are all priests, as said Peter, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light "(1 Peter, ii. 9), that as they wait upon, they partake of Christ as their ordained support; that, whereby the life-spiritual communicated to them, is perpetually maintained, through faith in the Beloved. Speaking of this, Jesus declares, "As the living Father," &c. As Christ here speaks of his union and communion with the Father, so also of both these, which his members bave with him, as their glorious and blessed Head, "and gave him to be the head over all things to his body the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all" (Epb. i. 22, 23). The apostle evidently designs to exhibit Christ, as made use of by his people, as spiritual food for their souls, or in any other way that is profitable for them. As what he denies is, any Levitical liberty to eat at the New Testament altar-for that qualification was but outward and temporal 66 -so he establishes the right of all that are manifestly in Christ, by faith, to partake of and live upon him, as their continual feast. Jesus, thus bruised and prepared, is wholesome food for their souls, as we learn from his own lips, 'My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed" (John vi. 55). Emmanuel, made sin and a curse, for his elect, is indeed in their saving apprehension of it, "meat indeed and drink indeed." It is not true that this living on Christ is confined to the Lord's supper, but is what is their continual privilege in the daily use of Christ, and is comprehended in the petition taught by the Lord Jesus himself, "Give us this day our daily bread" (Matt. vi. 11). As the Apostle denies the right to priests under the law to eat at this altar, so by implication he declares the right of believers; and this is a birthright. In addition to which, they have the right, as priests, whom the Lord himself ordains; and as such he makes all believers, as said Peter, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" (1 Peter, ii. 9). This using of the Lord Jesus is alone in the way of believing; and, as it must ever be, that in proportion to the degree of faith, believers use him; so, where there is no faith, whatever may be persons' profession, it is an empty delusion. Moreover, as all sacrifices were to be offered on the altar, so on this blessed New Testament altar are the elect-the spiritually-constituted priests-to offer to God the sacrifices of praise, as is said in the 15th verse," By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name "i.e., both on and by Christ, as the Altar and High Priest. Under the law all the sacrifices were offered by the priests; and thus under the Gospel the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving are offered by Christ. These are done by Him; for by him the persons of the elect are sanctified and dedicated to God both by his blood and grace (Heb. xiii. 12; Rev. i. 5). Through him they have access (Eph. ii. 1). And, finally, he bears the iniquity of his elect's holy things, and makes them acceptable by his own merit and intercession. Rev. viii. 3, “Aud another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne." How highly important is this duty of the redeemed, in showing forth the Lord's praise; in acknowledging his glory in the redemption of the church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven, by the suffering and offering of Christ. This is indeed the reasonab'e service of the people of God, and the means of expressing their confidential dependance on the blood of Jesus; and thus fulfilling the end of their well-being, as the Lord himself has declared, "This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise "(Is. xliii. 21). He who is the object, is himself the author of this praise; and the fruit of that righteousness wrought out by the Lord Jesus, and freely revealed by God the eternal Spirit, as said our Apostle, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost (Rom. xv. 13). In conclusion, we may observe that believers should know, because they have no other altar than the Lord Christ to speak of, or call anything of human invention by this name, is derogatory to the sacrifice of Christ, and an open denial of him as the only altar; whereunto those that have been convinced of sin may at all times come, as led by the Spirit, for the expiation of their sins, and show forth the praises of him, as said Peter (1 epistle, ii. 9), "Who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." A SPIRITUAL ESTIMATE. Buy the truth, and sell it not."-PROV. xxiii. 23. THE carnal mind is Satan's counting-house, where he lays before the sinner a statement of gains and losses in the service of God or of Mammon. Like the unjust steward, he makes large deductions from the score of "How much owest thou unto my Lord?" (Luke xvi. 5), while he affixes numberless additions of his own to the list of sufferings and difficulties to be incurred in the service of Christ, making them in the judgment of sense, to overbalance those which the dear Redeemer endured when, "being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Phil ii. 8). These sufferings are put down as necessary to salvation, and needful in cancelling the sins of believers, although the deceiver knows that the Lord Jesus obtained a full discharge for all his people in that day when "his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Peter, ii. 24). After having thrown the affairs of his victims into utter confusion, this subtle accountant winds up the whole by a stratagem, "to clear the guilty," alleging that the evil must have originated with Him who alone has power to create. He then instructs his reprobate followers to meet the Judge of all the earth with the daring question, "Wherein have we robbed thee?" (Mal. iii. 8). Widely different is the estimate when the Holy Spirit brings home with power the all-important inquiry, "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. xvi. 26). Then the momentous concerns of eternity outweigh every other consideration, and the selfcondemned culprit exclaims, "Innumerable evils have compassed me about mine iniquities have taken hold upon me; they are more than the hairs of mine head; therefore my heart faileth me.' "But the blessed 66 Comforter assures him, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins" (Is. xliii. 25). Should the black catalogue of evils bring the sorrows of death and the pains of hell into the soul, still the Holy One goes on blotting out the handwriting that is against him," affixing his own seal to the promise, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death (Hos. xiii. 14). And when the Accuser presents himself, with the bill of indictment in his hand, this Almighty Friend rebukes the enemy by the word of command, "Deliver him from going down into the pit, I have found a ransom (Job xxxiii. 24). Human nature shrinks from suffering, and when this is the subject of calculation, the feeble saint cries out, "Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me, my heart within me is desolate" (Ps. cxliii. 4). The unction of the Holy One calms the troubled mind by showing that these trials are intended to yield "the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby " (Heb. xii. 11), that at most they are but goads to urge him on his way to the kingdom of glory; that he must necessarily pass through them, but should no more stay to gather them up, and encumber himself with them, than a traveller should collect thorns and briers from the wayside by which he passes. The inquirer is, moreover, instructed, that the sufferings he so much dreaded as his portion are in reality "the sufferings of Christ" (Col. i. 22), of which all the Redeemer's followers are permitted to partake, as an assurance of their fellowship with him, and as an earnest of future glory. "If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together" (Rom. viii. 17). "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him" (2 Tim. ii. 12). This fellowship is especially manifested in the moment of keenest anguish, when the feeble soul has been off his guard, the enemy has pre ́vailed against him, his foot has slipped, and his adversaries have exclaimed, "Ah, so we would have it (Ps. xxxv. 25). Then the allwise Counsellor withdraws his sensible presence, as if he went to hold a special conference with the Redeemer concerning the mournful case. Tears become the meat of the forsaken soul day and night; "he is bowed down greatly; he goes mourning all the day long" (Ps. xxxviii. 6), while the cruel taunt pursues him, "Where is now thy God?" (Ps. xlii. 3). At the appointed time the heaven is opened, the Spirit again descends, Jesus is revealed afresh to the repenting culprit; he sees "the Lamb that was slain" (Rev. v. 12), and instantly perceives that his hateful unbelief has been a spear to re-open the Saviour's wounded side. The convicted sinner abhors himself, and would willingly sit down in dust and ashes to repent, but the Spirit conducts him to thefountain opened for sin and for uncleanness (Zech. xiii. 1). His heart sickens, he thinks he could bear any punishment better than the remedy prescribed; but faith leads on, and the love of Christ constrains; his deeply wounded conscience can scarcely forbear the application of the healing balm, yet he enters the bleeding side, crying out |