those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and

being provided for, there would be

no need of any more sacrifices; the

in their minds will I price of our redemption being paid,

write them; and their

sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. ver.

14-18.

Mediator; then was full expiation made for the sins of the whole world. Any farther offering for sin, after that, would not only be needless and unmeaning, but virtually a denial of the only and all-sufficient sacrifice of the Son of God. The ritual ordinances of the law were thenceforth to be abolished, and the hopes of the faithful were to rest directly and solely upon the atonement of the cross.

The subject which we have been considering, of the all-sufficient sacrifice with which Christ has entered for us into the heavenly sanctuary, is, in contemplation, a most interesting one, and in practice most important. The application made of it by St. Paul himself in the chapter before us may be divided into two parts: it comprises, first, an invitation to draw near to God; secondly, an earnest admonition to persevere in the faith.

In the first place, then, we have to consider briefly the Apostle's invitation to draw near to God.

In his natural state man cannot draw nigh unto God. As an offending creature, laden with guilt, the divine presence is full of terror to him; as a sinful creature, prone to iniquity, he finds no attractions even in infinite perfection. There is no access to the Father excepting by the Son. But by him (praised

2

be the divine mercy) the glorious God is accessible to fallen man: yea, so abundant is the reconciliation obtained for us by Christ, that we have not merely access, but boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. When he died on Mount Calvary, the veil of the temple, which concealed the holy of holies, was rent in twain; and that sacred place, the worldly symbol of heaven, became open and accessible : whereby was intimated to us the

conse

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath crated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high-priest over the house of God; ver. 19— 21.

new and living way into the celestial sanctuary, which our Lord had at that very moment consecrated for us by his sacrifice on the cross, through an infinitely more costly veil, that is to say, through his own immaculate flesh, which had concealed for awhile his divine majesty, but through which, when wounded and torn for us upon the cruel cross, the mercy of God beamed forth in all its fulness, to encourage our approach to the glory of heaven. Nor is this all. Christ has, as we have said, rent in twain the veil which separated us from the mercy-seat. He rent in twain upon the cross that veil of flesh which, before he became man, stood between us and our God. And now, the veil being removed, we may, by faith, behold him in the true holy of holies, a High-Priest over the house of God, ever pleading our cause, and able, by his presence, to complete our salvation :—to deliver us entirely from guilt, from sin, and from sorrow. By his death and mediation he is the truth, the way, and the life, the one and only true way to life eternal.

22.

By this way, then, this new and living way, let us draw near with a true heart, honestly confessing to God our sinfulness, and sincerely Let us draw near with a true heart,—ver. desiring his favour: then will there be afforded to us, through Christ, abundant access to peace here, and hereafter to glory. The pardon of sin is in Scripture connected with sincerity of heart: "Blessed," saith the Psalmist, "is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." We must deal truly with God, if we desire his forgiveness. We must not attempt (what is, in fact, impossible) to deceive him by a mere show of religion, nor yet by indulging only in vague and verbal confessions of our iniquity, nor again by striving to appear better before him than we really are. By such a course we may fatally delude ourselves, but cannot deceive God. Let us draw near, then, not only with outward reverence (although that is indispensable), nor only with solemn confession and prayer, (although these too are necessary); but, in addition to these, let us draw near also with a true heart; cordially desiring the mercy which with our lips we implore, feeling in our breasts the sinfulness which in words we acknowledge; not content with styling ourselves, in the general, miserable sinners, or bemoaning in the mass our natural corruption, but calling to mind, soberly and carefully, our particular offences and individual propensities to evil. shall we really feel our obligations to Christ's atonement, our need of his mediation; then shall we draw near to God, as Israelites indeed, as guileless Christians, with true hearts, and not only with our lips.

Then

To such only can this new and living way, through the crucified flesh of the Son of God, be really acceptable. They who feel their own particular sinfulness, can alone either appreciate its value or understand its meaning.

The true heart, then, with which the Apostle exhorts us to draw near to God, implies a sincere desire of the divine forgiveness, with a feeling, yet sober consciousness of our need of it, and, I may add, an unfeigned intention, by God's grace, to forsake our sins: in one word, it is the heart of the truly penitent; of those who know their sins, who lament their sins, and do all they can to forsake their sins.

But some one, perhaps, may say, How can we who are by nature corrupt, and by habit, it may be, offenders against God, how can we draw near to God? Where shall we find the power? I answer-The power is conveyed in the command. God himself calls you in his holy word; he bids you draw nigh; and therefore, assuredly, he puts it in your power to do so. An allwise and gracious God could not invite us to do what he knows to be impossible. It were a cruel mockery of our misery, with which it were blasphemy to charge our God. When Christ directed the man with the withered hand to reach it forth, did he allege his inability, and complain that our Lord commanded what was impossible? Had he done so, his hand would have continued in its withered state. But he was wiser and humbler, than thus proudly to plead his own weakness in opposition to an express invitation of mercy. This must also be our course in regard to the weaknesses and disorders of the soul. Where the invitations of God's word are clear and general, it is pride

I

alone which raises difficulties from our own corruption. We look too much to ourselves, instead of humbly and thankfully depending upon him who invites us, to enable us to obey the invitation.

As God then, by his Apostle, has mercifully called us to him, let us draw near, if any be afar off, and if any be near, let

-in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. ver. 22.

us draw nearer still, in full assurance of faith, with an entire and complete dependence upon the mercy of God in Christ, upon the willingness of the Almighty to pardon and receive us, as well as upon the abundant sufficiency of our Lord's atonement to make a way for us to the divine favour. Let us draw near, I say, in faith; not trusting in any fancied innocence of our own, nor yet in the sufficiency of our penitence to expiate our offences, but trusting for pardon of our sins, and acceptance even of our services, solely to the blood of Christ; having by faith our hearts sprinkled, as it were, with that precious blood, and thereby delivered from the sense of unpardonable guilt and helpless frailty, which would otherwise drive us from our Maker's presence. The dependence of every Christian on the atoning blood of Christ for acceptance with God is strongly set before us, at our very first admission into the Christian Church, in the holy sacrament of baptism. We had then our bodies washed, or, if not washed, at least sprinkled (which in its emblematical purport is equivalent) with pure water, to signify that sprinkling from an evil conscience of original and actual guilt, which we need in our hearts. This is the very thing, I say, signified and pledged to us in our baptism,