SERMON III.

1 PETER i. 2.

Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied, You have heard of the penman of this epistle, Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ: you have heard also the description of the parties to whom it was written, namely, to the scattered Jews in several parts of the world; and he describes them, as ye have heard, two ways: 1st, From their outward condition before the world, they were scattered strangers. 2dly, He describes them from their state in God's sight, and in this view they are described as elect, as sanctified, and as redeemed. The first part of this description, I have spoken to, Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father: a deep truth that should be firmly believed, and not curiously pryed into. This electing love and grace is the part of God the Father in our salvation.

I would now, in the next place, speak unto the part of the Son of God in our salvation, from that clause, the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. I know that this is the third thing in the order of the words, but it is the second thing in the order of nature for the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ doth necessarily precede, and go before the sanctification of the Spirit; and therefore (not only because the natural order is so, but also because of the work we have this day to do in remembering this blood of our Lord) I shall first speak to this latter part of the text, The sprinkling of the blood of Jesus.

And I would in the first place lay this before you, that the apostle Peter was a Jew, and is here writing to the Jews, who well understood the Old Testament, and knew by the apos tle's words, what this sprinkling did respect and allude to: therefore I would take a little notice of those sprinklings of blood that we find in the Old Testament; those sprinklings that were typical of our Lord Jesus Christ: and those the

apostle doth certainly refer unto in this expression, the sprink ling of blood.

1st, The first sprinkling of blood that we find in scripture,. was the sprinkling the blood of the Paschal Lamb at the first passover; for it is not certain whether ever the same practice was used afterwards. Though the Paschal Lamb was eaten for many ages after, yet the sprinkling of the blood thereof upon the threshold, I do not find by the word of God, that ever it was practised but the first time, and there was a special reason for it: the reason of that appointment 'was this; the first passover that ever was kept, was kept by the children of Israel in Egypt; and it was on the same night in which the hand of God went forth in destroying all the first-born in Egypt; the eldest in every family was slain by the angel of the Lord, and immediately on that they were delivered.

They eat the passover for their supper, and at midnight the angel slew the first-born; and immediately on that there was a cry of death throughout all the land of Egypt; and the Israelites were thrust out, and Pharaoh sent them away free. You may find the institution of this ordinance, Exod. xii. 6, 7, 12, 13. And ye shall kill it in the evening, and they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side-posts, and on the upper door-posts of the houses; for I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt; and the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. And it is again repeated, ver. 22, 23. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel, and the two side-posts, with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning; for the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians: and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel and on the two side-posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you. What a clear type was this of Jesus Christ! the sprinkling of the blood of the true passover, was declared hereby to be the only preservative from the destroying angel; so that let it be an Israelite, of what family soever he was, yet if the

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 tack 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 law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet rvool, 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. And 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 sacrifices 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 sprinkled 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 he kill the goat of the sinoffering 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 highpriest 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. fore 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 sprink'ing in my text; the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus: and there are two things that I VOL. IV.

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purged with

And there