the immaculate Lamb of God should come into the world, and shed his blood, and put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; and this brings me to my

Second head; 'under which I purposed to consider the time when this fountain was opened-here said to be a particular day. And this was certainly the day when the Redeemer suffered and bled upon the cross, which, being fixed and unalterable in the decrees of the most high God, they who lived before Christ gave himself an offering for sin, were saved by faith in him, as we are since he was offered: for the merits of his sacrifice looked backward as well as forward, and like as the sun sends out light in every direction, so did the efficacy of our Lord's sacrifice. It communicated its cleansing qualities as well to those who lived before as to those who lived since Christ made his soul an offering for sin. But nevertheless there was a day, a precise determined time for his offering. Christ was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, slain typically in every sacrifice; but in the fulness of time he came, and was really slain, and the day of his sufferings was the day when the fountain for sin and for uncleanness was opened, which is clearly determined by the context: for in the foregoing chapter the prophet is speaking of an extraordinary mourning in the land of Israel, and he introduces his description: with these words: "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, and they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced." These words are applied by an infallible expositor to our Lord's being pierced upon the cross: for St. John says, "when the soldiers came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs, but one of them with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came out blood and water; for these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled-a bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith-they shall look on him whom they have pierced." From hence it is evident that the

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fountain was opened on the day of Christ's sufferings here pointed out by this distinguishing mark, namely, the soldiers piercing his side, from whence there flowed blood and water. When this fixed day was come, and Christ had suffered whatever the hand and counsel of God had determined before should be done to him, then his blood had an all-cleansing virtue. What he once shed was for ever meritorious. It was so absolutely perfect that he need not shed it any more. The sacrifice of that one day was suffi cient to satisfy all the demands of law and justice; "so that Christ need not offer himself often, as the high-priest entered into the holy place every year with the blood of others; for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world; but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Once the just suffered for the unjust, and the blood which he shed on that day had such an infinite cleansing virtue as to make scarlet-crimson sins as white as snow. ends for which he bled could not possibly be defeated: for he was God and man united in one Christ, and the one Christ merited infinitely by the shedding of his most precious blood, and it was indeed shed as abundantly as if it had flowed from a fountain. From the time that his agony and bloody sweat began in the garden until he expired on the cross, he was a bleeding victim, wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities. When he was buffetted and scourged, when he was crowned with thorns, and their sharp points were struck into his head by the barbarous soldiers, when the cross was laid upon him, and the weight of it opened his wounds and made them bleed afresh, when the nails went through his hands and feet, and he hung for six hours bleeding upon the cross- -then was the most precious blood shed, which is the only fountain to wash away sin and uncleanness. Sinners, consider the great need you have of this fountain, and the inestimable love of Christ, who opened it for such as you are. He calls

"Is it

upon you, he entreats you, to view him as he hung bleeding upon the cross in his bitter passion. nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there he any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger This is his earnest request to you who are passing by and minding other things. He would have you to stop, to lay aside all other concerns, and to employ your thoughts upon his unparalleled sufferings. O hearken then unto him! Look upon this man of sorrows. View him tormented, bleeding, dying, and then ask your heart, why does the innocent Lamb of God thus suffer? Was it not that there might be a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness? And how then are you affected with the shedding of that blood which can cleanse from all sin? If grace be stirring in your hearts, you will mourn with a godly sorrow for your sins, which occasioned his bitter sufferings; as it is written in the chapter before the text, "I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication, and they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first born." As tender parents are affected with the death of an only son and of a first born, so shall the holy mourners in Sion be affected with the wounding and piercing of Christ. They shall be in bitterness not only for his death but for the cause of it. Their sins were the betrayers and murderers of the Son of God, and it is their constant language, "my sins pierced Christ with a thousand sorrows in the day of his suffering, while he was wounded for my transgressions, and bruised for mine iniquities; and yet, vile ungrateful wretch that I am, daily am I piercing him with my sins, and making his wounds bleed afresh." Whoever can speak these words feelingly will mourn after a godly sort, and will know how to value that precious blood which

has merit and efficacy to save him from his base ingratitude, as well as from his other sins. He will look upon every one of our Lord's wounds as a fountain opened for the purifying of sin and uncleanness; for every sin is of a polluting nature, and wants cleansing. Nothing can be so loathsome in the eyes of an holy God as sin. A leper covered over with sores and ulcers is not more offensive in our sight than he that is defiled with the leprosy of sin is in the sight of God. He is not only of purer eyes than to behold it, but he also rejects the sinner for it, as filthy and abominable altogether: and he will be rejected for ever, unless he be convinced of the defiling nature of sin, and desire to be cleansed from its pollution. When these desires come from the Holy Spirit, he will strengthen them, until the sinner, being justified by the blood of Christ, be made clean and righteous altogether. But this point comes more particularly to be treated of in the

Third place, under the consideration of the wonderful property of the fountain mentioned in the text -it could cleanse and take away the pollution of sins of the deepest dye. The fountain is the blood of Jesus Christ, which is able to cleanse from sin by the divine ordinance and appointment. The ever blessed Trinity have given it an almighty power, in order to its answering all the purposes of cleansing; and therefore it is called by the apostle "the blood of the everlasting covenant," because the eternal Three entered into a covenant, and by an eternal purpose decreed to bring many sons unto glory, through the obedience and blood-shedding of Jesus Christ. He being a person in the Godhead co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, undertook, as their representative, to obey the law for them, and to suffer the penalties, to shed the blood, and to die the death which they deserved, and thus to satisfy all the demands which his Father's justice had upon them. The Father accepted him as their substitute, and was well pleased with them for his sake, even before he came in the flesh;

and when he did come in the fulness of time, he reconciled his Father to them by his life and death; and when he said upon the cross, "it is finished," then the blood of the everlasting covenant made a full and perfect atonement for their sins. Of this there can be no doubt, because he arose from the grave in a public character, as the first fruits of the dead, and because he afterwards ascended up on high, to give gifts unto men, and according to his most true promise he gave his royal gifts, even to the rebellious. He sent them the Holy Ghost, the comforter, whose part of the covenant it was to awaken sinners, dead asleep in sin, to convince them of their guilt and danger, and to bring them to the blood of sprinkling to be made clean. When the Holy Spirit thus graciously stirs up and disposes them to be cleansed in the fountain which was opened for sin and for uncleanness, why should not they instantly make use of it? The fountain can cleanse them. It is almighty to cleanse from all sin. The holy, blessed and glorious Trinity have covenanted to give an infinitely purifying virtue to it. Although Jesus alone shed his blood, yet the Father covenanted to accept it, and the Holy Spirit covenanted to apply it, and to make it effectual to the sinner's heart; so that the whole Trinity have appointed it to be an infallible cleanser. And let troubled consciences remember, that the divine virtue and almighty power of the Godhead will now work with the blood of the everlasting covenant to make it effectual for every end and purpose for which it was shed: yea, even the Father's justice, from which they had most to fear, is as much bound to save those who seek to be cleansed by the blood of Christ as his mercy for infinite justice has been satisfied with the shedding of this blood. All its demands have been fully answered, and justice and mercy are now alike engaged to receive those sinners who come to Jesus to be made clean. Think of this, thou afflicted soul, tossed with doubts and fears, and not comforted. Why cannot that blood satisfy thy con- ́