had often made itself drunk with the blood of the heathen, and had rendered his name dreadful among the nations. Nor need we wonder at the reafon of this refentment, fince it was downright difobedience to their God, and open rebel lion against their king. For the Lord had appointed by his fervant Mofes what kind of facri fices the people fhould offer, and he would accept Levit. xxii. 19. The offering shall be a male without blemish, of the beerves, of the sheep, or of the goats, ver. 20. Whatsoever bath a blemish, ye shall not offer, it shall not be acceptable for you. ver. 21. It shall be perfect to be accepted for you, there shall be no blemish therein. ver. 22. Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or fcurvy, or scabbed, thefe ye shall not offer unto the Lord. compared with Ch. i, 3. Deut. xv. 21. 17. 1. &c. From all which it appears, that the legal facrifices muft be pure and fpotlefs; yea fome of the Jewish writers tell us, that even the heifers-hair must be intirely of the the fame colour, not a hair excepted; but as this is a nicety not found in the bible, we chufe to leave it with them, and proceed to enquire, whether Jefus Chrift the antitype of thefe facrifices, in this particular correfponded with the type.

Here our enquiry will be twofold, first, Into the purity of his nature, refpecting his birth. Second, Into the holiness of his life, untill the time he was offered on the crofs. Bleffed Paul speaking of mankind in general, Eph. ii. obferves that the very elect themfelves, of whom, Ch. i. 4, he had faid, He hath chofen us in him before the foundation of the world, were like others children of wrath by nature, previous to their being quickened,

ver. i. by grace; but our glorious Jefus by a pre-n ter-natural conception in the womb of a virgin was not defiled by the common pollution, nor obnoxious when coming into the world to the penalty of fin. The old hiftorian tells us a little after the fall of our firft parents that Adam begat a fon in his own likeness. Gen. v. 3. But Jehovah in the first gofpel-promise calls the deliverer the feed of the woman, and had Eve rightly understood the neceffity of having a high-priest Separated from finners, fhe would have had little reafon to fuppofe or fay on bearing Cain. ch. iv. 1. bave gotten a man the Lord. This is that miraculous conception the prophet was sent to fupport the drooping fpirit of the king of Judah with, as a certain and infallible fign that the Lord had not caft off his people. If. vii. 14. "The Lord "himself fhall give you a fign, behold a virgin "fhall conceive and bear a fon ;" and Mary the mother of our Lord, inquifitive about the affair, Luke i. 34. "How fhall this be feeing I know not a man," receives in anfwer, "The Holy Ghoft "fhall come upon thee, and the power of the "most high shall over-fhadow thee, therefore al

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fo that HOLY THING which fhall be born of "thee, fhall be called the Son of God." Some have thought this to be one of thofe unfearchable things mentioned Prov. xxx, 19. "There be "three things which are too wonderful for me, yea four, which I know not; the way of an eagle in the air," which leaves no tract perceptible to the acuteft eye. "the way of a ferpent upon a rock," which gliding over the folid furface, leaves no impreffion on the ftubborn flint, "the way of a ship in the midst of the fea," whofe E 2. wounded

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wounded waters foon are closed when pass'd the furrowing keel. "And the way of a man with "a maid," the mighty man in the maid, i. e. fay they, the man Chrift Jefus as conceived in the virgin Mary, is a mystery profound and altogether impenetrable. But leaving this alfo, which however it may be gloffed and fuppofed to illuf trate this mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God, we dare not allow it any place in the foundation on which this truth is built; nor need we have recourfe to far fetched conjectures, or plaufible probabilities to confirm it; fince it is fettled and fixed in the undoubted veracity of the facred oracles, "for fuch an high-prieft became "us, who is holy, harmlefs, undefiled, feparate from finners, and made

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higher than the heavens, Heb. vii. 26.” 2d, That Jefus the Lamb of God was unfpotted in his life, and undeferving the imputations of blame, and the many falfe accufations with which his enemies afperfed him, and effayed to blacken his character, has a fufficient teftimony in the apoftolic writings. St. Peter fpeaking of the ineftimable price paid for the redemption of his people, i Pet. i. 18, fays, “for"afmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed "with corruptible things, as filver and gold from

your vain conversation, received by tradition "from your fathers; but with the precious blood "of Chrift, as of a Lamb without blemish," having no ftain, defect, or fuperfluity," and "without fpot." By the fame authority, it is affirmed, Ch. ii. 22. "that he did no fin, nei"ther was guile was found in his mouth," fupported by If. liii. 8. 9, " he had done no vio

"lence,

<< lence, neither was any deceit in his mouth." Agreeable to these is the apoftle John's teftimony, I John iii. 5. "he was manifefted to take away "our fin, and in him was no fin." To which alfo agree the words of the preacher to the gentiles, 2 Cor. v. 21. "He hath made him to be "fin for us, who knew no fin. From all which without attending to many other evidences yet uncalled, it appears clear as day-light, that Jefus the Saviour of the world, was fpotlefs in nature, finlefs in life, and therefore fitly answered all the types which prefigured him, and of which he was the antitype and end. The pafchal Lamb must be without blemish, Exo. xii. 5. So was the Lamb of God, as above. The daily facrifice each morning and each evening to be offered, or between the evenings, Numb. xxviii. 34, must be without spot, perfect, intire; fo the holy Jefus, Heb. ix. 14, offered himself without spot to God. Thus it appears that Jefus Christ was a perfect facrifice of immaculate purity.

Secondly, Whatever was offered in facrifice under the law must be offered willingly; God has *** not need of animal blood to enrich him, for "all the beafts of the forest are his, and the cat"tle upon a thoufand hills." Pf. 1. 10. Nor is he delighted with the "blood of bullocks and of goats." Sacrifices tho' appointed by God were only pleafing to him, as the facrifice had respect unto the Lamb of God, for in him only he hath declared himself well pleafed. Our goodnefs in no wife extendeth unto the Lord, it is enongh and what he afks from us; let him have the honour, and the happiness be ours. God would lead his people in every age to look to Je

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fus,

fus, and instructed them in every bleeding victim, that fin was too heinous and malign, to be pardoned without fhedding of blood, without the finner's fuffering, or a furety; and as their prefent and eternal peace muft flow from God reconciled; fo the facrifices which had respect unto this reconcilement, must be offered freely. Hence the Lord commanded his fervant Mofes, Levit. i. 3. "If any man of you bring an offering to "the Lord, let him offer a male without blemish, “he shall offer it of his own voluntary will, at "the door of the tabernacle." Ch. xxii. 18. 19. "Ye fhall offer it at your own will," and the witholding fuch offerings the Lord accounts robbery. Malach. iii. 8. "Ye have robbed me in

tythes and offerings." So in like manner when the Son of God comes into the world, it is a voluntary act, "facrifice and offering thou didst not "defire, mine ears haft thou opened," bored or digged, as, Exod. xxi. 5, 6. "If the fervant "fhall fay I love my mafter, &c. I will not ga 66 out free; his mafter fhall bore his ear thro' "with an aul, and he fhall ferve him for ever. Christ was an ear-bored fervant, and his heart was wholly in the work. Pf. xl. 6. The apoftle to the Heb. reads after the lxx," a body haft thou "prepared me. And lo, I come to do thy will "O God." Our Lord's own words, John x. II. are, "I am the good fhepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the fheep, I have power to "lay it down; and I lay down my life that I

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might take it again." When our blessed Saviour was oppreffed and fore amazed in the garden, infomuch that the human-nature ftaggered beneath the intollerable preffure of divine indigna