blood was not upon his house, the destroying angel would certainly have come in. It is with respect to this that the apostle speaks of Moses, Heb. xi. 28. Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. "Through faith he kept the passover:" What an unlikely mean was this (but by God's appointment) that the sprinkling of a little blood upon the doors, should be a preservative against the destroying angel! but it was a mean of God's appointment, and by faith they used it, and the blessing followed.

2dly, The next sprinkling of blood that we find in the Old Testament, was at Mount Sinai, which was one of the most solemn appearances of God that ever was in the world: there was some abatement of the rigour and severity of the Mount Sinai dispensation, in that second visit which God made to them, and allowed them to make to him. Exod. xxiv. 6, 7, 8. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar; and he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said we will do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words. This solemn action of sprinkling the blood of the covenant, the apostle to the Hebrews describes expressly and fully, nay, more fully than it is recorded in Exodus. Heb. ix. 18, 19, 20. Neither was the first Testament dedicted without blood: for when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the lar, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the Testament, which God hath enjoined unto you: so that even in the giving of the law in that most solemn appearance of God, there was a hinting of this, that the acceptance of the people must be in the virtue of this sprinkled blood.

3dly, The next sprinkling of blood we find was in their daily sacrifices, and that was a sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifice on the altar, Lev. i. 5. And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar,

that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. An again, you find it enjoined in another offering, ver. 11: And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar: and this was in order to an atonement. Now this the Jews knew very well, for it was their daily practice for there were two sacrificés to be offered up daily, every morning and evening, besides occasional sacrifices to be offered by the people upon conviction of any sin against the law.

4thly, The most solemn typical sprinkling of blood, was that on the great day of atonement; they had one grand yearly sacrifice in the seventh month, which the apostle to the Hebrews marks, chap. ix. 7. The high-priest went alone once every year not without blood. You have a large account of this in the sixteenth chapter of Leviticus; a chapter that has a great deal more of the gospel in it than many New Testament Christians understand. There are three sprinklings of blood there spoken of: (1.) The sprinkling of the blood of the bullock for the sins of Aaron and his house, Lev. xvi. 14. And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy-seat eastward, and before the mercy-seat shall he sprin kle of the blood with his finger seven times. (2.) The next sprin kled blood was that of the goat, to whose lot it fell to be slain; for on that day of atonement, there were two goats set before the Lord alive, and the lot was cast between them, and that goat upon which the lot fell was to be slain, and the other was to escape; ver. 15. Then shall be kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and sprinkle it on the mercy-seat and before it. It was only on this solemn day of atonement that the mercy-seat was to be sprinkled with blood; for never in all the year did the high priest enter into the holy of holies but on that day. (3.) We find the sprinkling of blood spoken of again, ver. 18, 19. And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the Lord, and make an atonement for it; and he shall take of the blood of the bullock and of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about, and shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. The other goat that was left alive, was sent away

with the sins of Israel confessed over it: this deep type of one of the goats being made a sin-offering, and the other live goat being sent away with the sins of all Israel, seemed to have a clear meaning this way; the goat, that was slain, pointed forth the death of our Lord Jesus Christ; and the live goat, that carried away the transgressions of Israel, pointed to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ: For we are justified by his blood, and saved much more by his life, as the apostle's expression is, Rom. v. 9, 10. These sprinklings of blood were a great deal better known to the Jews than they can be to us: one of them was done every year, and some of them very frequently, though it is likely that the sprinkling of the blood of the paschal lamb was done but once.

Concerning all these sprinklings of blood, there are three things that you must remember and know full well; and when they are rightly known, you will the more easily understand the meaning of the apostle in these words of my text, the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. (1.) This blood that was sprinkled, was always the life-blood of the sacrifice; the blood that was shed when its life was taken away for the life is in the blood, and that blood must be shed. (2.) This sprinkling of blood under the Old Testament, was always the priest's act; the man brought his sacrifice to the altar, he laid his hand upon it, and acknowledged his sin over it, and offered the atonement before the Lord; but the priest slew it, and he only sprinkled the blood of it. (3.) All the springling of blood under the Old Testament, was for atonement and expiation; and therefore, concerning that solemn day of atonement, it is said, Lev. xvi. 30. On that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. This is expressed by the apostle to the Hebrews, chap. ix. 22. And almost all things are by the law blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission. And therefore it was needful that the blood of Christ should be shed; for all the sheddings of blood under the Old Testament were but typical of this. So much for the account that is given us in the Old Testament of the sprinkling of blood. I would now come to speak to this sprinkling in my text; the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus: and there are two things that I VOL. IV.

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would discourse on; 1st, Of the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus in itself, and then, 2dly, I would speak to the relation and respect that electing grace. hath to it; for it is said in the text, that we are elected to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus.

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1st, Concerning the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus in itself and here there are three things. 1st, I would speak of the blood of Jesus Christ, and what it is. 2dly, Of the shedding of that blood; for there could be no sprinkling of blood till it was shed. 3dly, I would speak to the sprinkling of it.

1st, The blood of Jesus Christ is the life-blood of that man Jesus Christ the Son of God (which he assumed into personal union with himself): they are but ridiculous and Popish notions that many people have of the blood of Christ. This 'blood was shed many ways; it was shed in circumcision it was shed in the garden when he was in an agony; it was shed by scourging, and shed by the crown of thorns on his head. But the blood that we mean here was the life-blood of the man Christ Jesus; that blood which is called by our apostle, 1 Pet. i. 19. The precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb with out blemish, and without spot. The same blood is called the blood of God. Acts xx. 28. Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. And therefore whoso ever they are that do deny or doubt that Jesus Christ is a true man, or deny that Jesus Christ is true God, they are not to be called Christians; call them what you will, Christians they are not; call them Pagans, Heathens, Mahometans, give them what name you will, they are no Christians that do not believe Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, and that he was God before he came into flesh, that he was truly God in the flesh, and that the Godhead remained united with the flesh as our great Emmanuel.

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2dly, How came Christ's blood to be shed? for it could not be sprinkled unless it was shed. If I may so say, as long as Christ's blood ran in his veins, it could sprinkle none. How Christ's blood came to be shed, every one, even carnal Protestants and Papists know, and can give a ready answer to it. As that Christ's blood was shed by the cruelty of barbarous people, who murdered him by nailing him to the cross,

where he bled to death in great torment, according to the nature of that violent death. But how far is this from the gospel account of it? from what Christ and his servants say of it? The Son of man, saith our Lord, Matt. xx. 28. came to give his life a ransom for many. Christ died, saith the apostle,

1 Cor. xv. 3. for our sins, according to the Scriptures. Of this Blood-shedding take these four or five things, and lay them together. 1st, That Jesus Christ the Son of God was sent into the world in the room and in the stead of his elect. He

did not come as single person into the world, but he came as a public person, representing a great many, even all that were given to him by his father; for their sakes, saith our Lord, do I sanctify myself, John xvii. 19. 2dly, By virtue of this substitution of Jesus Christ, all that the elect were in. debted for, was justly charged on him: I say, by virtue of his coming in their place, in their name and stead, all that was owing by them to the law and justice of God, was justly exacted of him; and therefore it is said, That he died for our sins, 1 Cor. xv. 3. because our sins were charged on him : if he had no relation to our sins, there could be no justice in punishing him for them. He had indeed no guilty relation to them, but he had a near and gracious relation to them: for they were debts that he undertook to pay. 3dly, This debt that was exacted of Christ, and which he paid, was for our disobedience to the law of God, and for the punishment due to us for that disobedience. The law saith, Do and live; Sin and die; and therefore our Lord's undertaking was made up of two parts, a perfect obedience to the precept of the law, and a severe punishment according to the threatening of the law, commonly called the active and passive obedience of Jesus Christ, by both which he brought in that righteousness that we are saved by. 4thly, The debt of sin being death, Christ therefore died: he owed death to the law of God; he had never transgressed it, but he bore the sins of many transgressors: He was numbered with transgressors, Isa. liii. 12. and dealt with as a transgressor, and died as a transgressor. The justice of God can slay no man, nor smite any man but for sin; it would cease to be the sword of justice if it should fall upon any that were perfectly innocent. Indeed the Son