by a general assmbly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven. When GoD pro

When

posed to deliver his people from the bondage of Egypt, he called Israel his son, his first-born. This adoption seems, therefore, to be referred to here; and as Israel was holiness to the Lord, the first-fruits of his increase, so all whom He begetteth by the word of truth, are a kind of firstfruits of his creatures, first-fruits to GoD and the Lamb, redeemed from among men, and in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God. we see the Almighty blot out the name of the disobedient Israelite from the book that he has written, and observe the contrasted statement of the covenant which succeeded to the accomplished law, it will follow, that the name of every man of every nation who is faultless before GOD, is written up in the records of Him, in whom (as the first-born of every creature) the adoption of every creature is comprised; and consequently, the retrospective adoption of all who had obtained a good report through faith, may well be looked for in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the founda

tion of the world. Here, then, we may hope to meet our first repentant parents; the father of an emerging world; the father of the people of GOD; the lawgiver of that people; together with all who believed in the promises, and in that law which vanished only in its own completion.

But we are not only associated with these selected subjects of the first covenant, we are now brought into the presence of GOD the Judge of all; not the judge of one people only, but of all the earth; before whom shall be gathered all nations, and because of whom all kindreds of the earth shall wail; but before whom his faithful people shall stand accepted, and who, no longer under the accusation of Moses, judging by the law all who have sinned in the law, but judging the world in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained, and who was on the third day perfected by sufferings, unites us also to the spirits of just (or rather justified) men made perfect; by whom the promises were not received, to the end that they without us should not be made perfect.

Such is the language of the Apostle, who thus makes our constancy in the faith of the

gospel the source of that perfection, which, having been deferred to the gathering together of all things, will then accrue to its stedfast followers; not as individuals, but as fellowservants, who, having been in every age partakers of the sufferings of Christ, now in the final revelation of his glory, when the everlasting doors are opened, come to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant. Not to Moses, the typical mediator of a temporary covenant, which only pointed to those means of grace and immortality which it could not itself supply, but to Jesus, who for this cause is the mediator of the new and better testament; that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance; to Jesus Christ, who through the suffering of death is now crowned with glory and honour, that He, by the grace of GoD, should taste death for every man, and as a merciful high-priest, obtain, by the offering of his own blood, eternal redemption for us.

To this sanctifying sacrifice are we comewe are come also to the blood of sprinkling, and

hear the mighty satisfaction pleaded in our be half. Instead of the voice of Abel's blood which cried from the ground to GOD, and called down a curse upon his brother's head, the blood of the cross speaks better things, repeals the curse, atchieves the subjugation of sin and death, and vanquishing the enemy, alone compasses our peace, procures our access, and by its eternal mediation effects our reconciliation unto God.

With what unlimited gratitude, with how profoundly-solemn a dedication of our whole souls, must we therefore adore that Mercy, which, having appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, now appears in Heaven before GOD for us; and as a High Priest over the house of GOD, having purchased remission of sin, has given us boldness by faith to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus. With angels and arch-angels, therefore, and with all the company of Heaven; with the elders, who under. the persuasion of faith embraced the distant promises; and with those first-fruits unto GoD and the Lamb, the accepted servants of God in all the tribes of the children of Israel; let us also, who constitute the great and happy mul

titude which has been washed, and sanctified, and redeemed to GoD, by the blood of the Lamb, out of every people and nation, having now attained to the continuing city of the living GOD, unite our uplifted voices, and ascribe to GOD, and unto the Lamb, which stood on mount Sion, and is in the midst of the throne, salvation and blessing, thanksgiving and glory, and honour, for ever and ever. Amen.

Thus we see that the Apostle, in vindicating the claims of Christianity against the zealots of the law, does it not by dividing the two dispensations, but by resolving them into parts of one compacted whole. The law was in general a shadow of good things to come, and each specific institution had its correspondent reality in the gospel. Without shedding of blood there is no remission; by the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ our sins are obliterated, and remission is offered to all men. The introductory type conferred a claim to the benefits of its counterpart performance; and when they are, as here, conferred upon the faithful subject of the law, we find the great Leader of our salvation still figured by the paschal type which pre