act of worship accepted? "The Lord smell ed a sweet savour, and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake.' *

At this time it pleased the Almighty to make a farther grant to men, and to permit them to make use of animal food. But in the very terms in which this grant was given, there is something particularly suited to our present subject. "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green herb have I given you all things: but flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall you not eat."+ The flesh was allowed to be eaten, but the blood was forbidden. What was the chief reason of this prohibition? A passage in the seventeenth chapter of Leviticus, where this pro hibition is repeated, expressly mentions the reason. Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood, I will even set my face against that soul, that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people." Now mark the reason: "For 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 * Genesis, viii. 20, 21. + Genesis, ix. 3, 4.

an atonement for the soul."-Hence it was, that the blood was to be regarded with peculiar reverence and awe.

Look next at the example of Abraham. In what manner did this Father of the faithful, this friend of God, conduct his religious worship? We are told, that he "built an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord."*-But especially let us notice the account of that memorable transaction, which is related in the twentysecond chapter of Genesis. Every circumstance in it strongly confirms, with respect to Abraham, the fact which I am endeavouring to establish. The command which he received to offer up his son for a burnt-offering; the preparations which he made for obeying the command; the language in which he spake to his servants; "The lad and I will go yonder and worship;" the discourse which passed between him and Isaac on the way; and lastly, the offering up of the ram caught in the thicket, for a burntoffering, instead of his son ;-these particu. lars fully prove, that Abraham was accustomed to the offering of sacrifices. The practice of worshipping God by burnt-offerings was familiar to him; a practice with which he was well acquainted.

* Genesis, xii. 8.

Such also was the manner in which Jacob worshipped God. At Sichem, at Bethel, he built an altar unto the Lord: and before his going down into Egypt, it is expressly said, that he "went unto Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.""

It is to be observed, that the instances already mentioned, happened some hundred years before the giving of the Jewish law from Mount Sinai. And in the same class we may also place the example of Job. At what time Job lived is not precisely known, but it is generally admitted that he had no knowledge of the Jewish ceremonial law; and indeed it is probable, that he lived before that law was given. Yet we find him also acting on the belief, that "without shedding of blood is no remission." For we read in the first chapter at the fifth verse, that Job offered burnt-offerings, according to the number of all his children: for he said; "It may be that my sons have sinned and have cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually."

Now let all these things be put together. Let us consider them attentively; and then say, What is the impression left upon the mind? We see Abel, and Noah, and Abraham, and Jacob, and Job; we see these * Genesis, xlvi. 1.

illustrious characters, these eminent servants of God, worshipping him with shedding of blood; with sacrifices and burnt-offerings: and can we doubt whether this way of worship were not revealed at first, by God him self? To what other cause can we so rea sonably assign the universal prevalence of sacrifices, in almost all ages and countries of the world; as to the supposition of a revelation at first given by God, that such was the manner in which only He was to be approached by sinners on a throne of mercy?

But God was pleased to make a still clearer revelation of his will in this respect, to one nation in the world. He chose the family of Abraham to be a peculiar people to Himself. He delivered them from Egypt. He brought them to Mount Sinai. He made a covenant with them; gave to them Laws, and Statutes, and Judgments; and taught them in what manner they should worship him with favour and acceptance. And how was this to be done? By sacrifices and burnt-offerings and in shedding of blood. The whole Jewish Law teaches most plainly, that" without shedding of blood is no re mission." To enter into particulars would go far beyond the limits of the present occasion; but if we turn for proof to the Book of Leviticus, we shall find, that "almost

all things, by the Law, were purged with blood." Yearly, daily sacrifices were appointed to be offered up for the people. The Priests themselves could not draw near to God without a sacrifice. Every offence was to be expiated by a sin-offering. It was not enough that the offender should confess his sin and be sorry for it; but he must bring a bullock, or a lamb, or a turtle-dove, whose blood was to be shed for an atonement. It was with blood that the book of the Law, the people, the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry were to be sprinkled : while the most dreadful threatenings of vengeance were denounced against such as despised this mode of approaching God, and presumed to worship Him in any other way. Thus every thing proclaimed the awful truth, that " without shedding of blood there is no remission."

Having thus endeavoured to establish the Fact, I now proceed.

II. To shew what the Fact, thus established, proves.

It proves most clearly, that from the first entrance of sin into the world, there has been but one way of salvation for sinners; but one way, in which they could approach and worship God with acceptance; namely, through faith in the atoning blood of Jesus