Hebrews 9
EdwardsHebrews 9:1-3
Heb. 9:1-3. Then verily the first (covenant) had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein (was) the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. And after the second vail, the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all;
Heb. 9:4
Hebrews 9:4
Heb. 9:4. Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein (was) the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
Blank Bible: “which had the golden censor] see Owen on the place p. 313 and (3) 314.”
The golden pot that had manna and Aaron’s Rod that budded] Both these represented Christ and with regard to that spiritual nourishment life and refreshment we have by Him. By the manna the children of Israel had food. By the Rod that smote the Rock once and again they were supplied with drink. Here was a memorial both of their Bread from Heaven and water out of the Rock.
Heb. 9:5-9
Hebrews 9:5-9
Heb. 9:5-9. And over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy seat; of which we cannot now speak particularly. Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service (of God). But into the second (went) the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and (for) the errors of the people: The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: Which (was) a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience:
Heb. 9:10
Hebrews 9:10
Heb. 9:10. (Which stood) only in meats and drinks, and diverse washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed (on them) until the time of reformation. Blank Bible: Owen in Loc: p. 239, 240, 241, 242. An important comment on the nature of the two dispensations occurs in Qualifications for Full Communion in which Hebrews 9:10 is mentioned.
(7.) This is just such an alteration as might reasonably be expected from what we are taught of the whole nature of the two dispensations. As the one had carnal ordinances (so they are called Hebrews 9:10) the other a spiritual service; (John 4:24) the one an earthly Canaan, the other a heavenly; the one an external Jerusalem, the other a spiritual; the one an earthly high priest, the other heavenly; the one a worldly sanctuary, the other a spiritual; the one a bodily and temporal redemption (which is all that they generally discerned or understood in the passover), the other a spiritual and eternal. And agreeably to these things, it was so ordered in Providence, that Israel, the congregation that should enter this worldly sanctuary, and attend these carnal ordinances should be much more a worldly, carnal congregation, than the New Testament congregation. One reason why it was ordered in providence that there should be such a difference, seems to be this, viz., that the Messiah might have the honor of introducing a state of greater purity and spiritual glory. Hence God is said to find fault with that ancient dispensation of the covenant, Hebrews 8:7; Hebrews 8:8. And the time of introducing the new dispensation is called the time of reformation, Hebrews 9:10. And one thing, wherein the amendment of what God found fault with in the former dispensation should consist, the apostle intimates, is the greater purity and spirituality of the church, Hebrews 8:7; Hebrews 8:8; Hebrews 8:11. Heb. 9:11
Hebrews 9:11
Heb. 9:11. But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Blank Bible:
good things to come] In this expression is reference to that in v. 9 which was a figure for the time then present. [That is to say not of this Building] t??te ?t?? ?t?s?? not of this creation [see last col. but one **** p. 869 G c.] The apostle did express his full meaning in the foregoing clause “a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with Hands” and therefore he explains himself here to extend something further than those words do strictly imply. He signifies that he intends not merely a Tabernacle not made with hands but not brought into being according to the common course of things in this old creation made by God (as the human nature of Christ was the Tabernacle here meant) in an extraordinary (?) natural manner. The apostle seems to use the phrase “not made with hands” in 2 Corinthians 5:1 [see p. 871 M/H see p. 868 u.e]. This Tabernacle was not formed according to the course of things in this old creation but it is of the new creation which the apostle often calls the world to come. The things of which he in this verse calls good things to come. See reasons confirming this interpretation in Poole’s Synopsis and Owen in Loc. p. 363 & 364 a.b.
Some pretend, that in that expression, through the faith of the operation of God, there is no respect to God’s operation as the efficient cause of faith, but only to the operation of God that raised Christ as the object of faith, which believes that power and operation as it was manifested in raising Christ, and which is believed to be sufficient to raise us up also. But that the apostle means the operation of God in giving faith, appears by Colossians 2:11, which introduces these words, where the apostle says - “In whom ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.” This phrase, made without hands, in Scripture, always denotes God’s immediate power, above the course of nature, and above second causes. Thus, when he speaks of heaven, 2 Corinthians 5:1, he calls it “a house not made with hands,” and in Hebrews 9:11, the human nature of Christ, which was framed by so wonderful and supernatural a power of the Holy Ghost, is said to be a “tabernacle made without hands.” Note: The foregoing remarks concerning the texts in Ephesians 1:19; Ephesians 1:20, and in Colossians 2:11-13, are taken chiefly from Dr. Goodwin’s Works, Vol. I p. 298, etc. Heb. 9:12
Hebrews 9:12
Heb. 9:12. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption (for us).
This text provides Edwards with one phase of the History of Redemption:
Christ’s ascension into heaven was, as it were, his solemn enthronization, whereby the Father did set him upon the throne, and invest him with the glory of his kingdom which he had purchased for himself, and that he might thereby obtain the success of his redemption in conquering all his enemies, Psa. 110, at beginning, “Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.” Christ entered into heaven in order to the obtaining the success of his purchase, as the high priest of old after he had offered sacrifice entered into the holy of holies with the blood of the sacrifice in order to obtain the success of the sacrifice which he had offered Hebrews 9:12 . He entered into heaven, there to make intercession for his people, to plead the sacrifice which he had made in order to the success of it,Hebrews 7:25 .
One of the earliest of Edwards’ sermons was preached on this text. “Jesus Christ is both the only priest and sacrifice by which eternal redemption is obtained for believers.” This manuscript reveals very clearly how even as a teenager Edwards understood the relation between the Old Testament and New Testament, the evangelical view of the atonement versus the “papist” view, the unity of the church throughout her history, and even the urging of the danger of the hell Christ suffered for those who do not put their faith in “the only priest and sacrifice by which eternal redemption is obtained for believers.”
Heb. 9:13
Hebrews 9:13
Heb. 9:13. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh;
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sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh] that is cleansed from legal, typical impurities which were external impurities or impurities that come by external things such as touching the dead body of a man etc. - or if the blood of bulls were offered for sin the purification was only with respect to what was external they might be admitted to external privileges after that they might not before. [Here add p. 864. u++ add this at p. 869.u.c] These ceremonial purifications had no proper and direct influence to any purification but only with regard to what was external and temporal. Dr. Dodd[ridge] on verse 9 of this chapter says, ‘The Mosaic sacrifices were never intended to expiate offenses to such a degree as to deliver the sinner from the firey judgment of God in another world but merely to make his peace with the government under which he then (?) and to furnish him with a pardon pleadable against any prosecution which might be commenced against him in their courts of justice and exclusion from the privileges of (?) nor to God, as one externally at peace with him in the solemnities of his Temple Worship.’
A sermon on Hebrews 9:13-14 had this “doctrine”: “The blood of Christ is sufficient for the perfect taking away of the guilt of sin.” This is another evangelical sermon showing that the Old Testament sacrifices took away nothing but external violations of the law while the sacrifices of Christ took away all guilt forever.
Heb. 9:14
Hebrews 9:14
Heb. 9:14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
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The apostle is probably (?) when speaking of sins, in this place to make use of the appellation dead works from allusion to pollutions by dead bodies for the cleansing from which the ashes of the heifer spoken of in the preceding verse were appropriated. See Num. 14.
Heb. 9:15
Hebrews 9:15
Heb. 9:15. And for his cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions (that were) under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. Blank Bible: “[15.16.17.18] Vid. what I have written under the title of shadows of divine things at the Bottom of the 2nd Page (crossed out).” In his sermon on “The Peace which Christ Gives to His True Followers,” Edwards says that:
The new covenant is represented by the apostle as Christ’s last will and testament. Hebrews 9:15; Hebrews 9:16, “And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.” What men convey by their will or testament, is their own estate. So Christ in the new covenant conveys to believers his own inheritance, so far as they are capable of possessing and enjoying it. They have that eternal life given to them in their measure, which Christ himself possess. They live in him, and with him, and by a participation of his life.
Because he lives they live also. They inherit his kingdom; the same kingdom which the Father appointed unto him. Luke 22:29, “And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me.” They shall reign on his throne, Revelation 3:21. They have his glory given to them, John 17 . And because all things are Christ’s, so in Christ all things are also the saints’, 1 Corinthians 3:21; 1 Corinthians 3:22.
The treatise on Efficacious Grace uses this text’s authority for a central theme:
§ 95. Saving grace differs, not only in degree, but in nature and kind, from common grace, or any thing that is ever found in natural men. This seems evident by the following things. 1. Because conversion is a work that is done at once and not gradually. If saving grace differed only in degree from what went before, then the making a man a good man would be a gradual work; it would be the increasing of the grace that he has, till it comes to such a degree as to be saving, at least it would be frequently so. But that the conversion of the heart is not a work that is thus gradually wrought, but that it is wrought at once, appears by Christ’s converting the soul being represented by his calling of it; Romans 8:28-30, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son; that he might be the first born among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Acts 2:37-39, “Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
For the promise is unto you , and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Hebrews 9:15, “That they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 1 Thessalonians 5:24, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly: and I pray God, your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” Nothing else can be meant in these places by calling, but what Christ does in a sinner’s saving conversion; by which it seems evident, that this is done at once, and not gradually. Hereby Christ shows his great power. He does but speak the powerful word, and it is done. He does but call, and the heart of the sinner immediately cometh, as was represented by his calling his disciples, and their immediately following him. So, when he called Peter and Andrew, James and John, they were minding other things, and had no thought of following Christ.
But at his call they immediately followed him, Matthew 4:18-22. Peter and Andrew were casting a net into the sea.
Christ says unto them, as he passed by, Follow me; and it is said, they straightway left their nets and followed him. So James and John were in the ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets: and he called them; and immediately they left the ship, and their father, and followed him. So when Matthew was called; Matthew 9:9, “And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom; and he saith unto him, Follow me: And he arose and followed him.” The same circumstances are observed by other evangelists. Which, doubtless, is to represent the manner in which Christ effectually calls his disciples in all ages. There is something immediately put into their hearts, at that call, that is new, that there was nothing in there before, which makes them so immediately act in a manner altogether new, and so alien from what they were before.
A sermon lecture of Jan. 4, 1740, preached in Stockbridge in 1753 dealt with Hebrews 9:15; Hebrews 9:16. “The covenant of grace is as it were Christ’s last will and testament.” In this unpublished sermon Edwards draws a careful distinction between the covenant of redemption, the condition of which is Christ’s obedience, and this covenant of grace, the condition of which is the believer’s faith. What is essential is the death of the testator. When Christ was about to die he bequeathed everything he possessed to his children including the Holy Spirit, though they were incapable of receiving all of his fulness. It is a will because it became effectual no other way than by Christ’s death. From it the children learn how sure a foundation there is for their faith. In the work going through the presses when he died, Edwards stressed the same evangelical doctrine with the same evangelical text, now against a contemporary opponent, John Taylor:
These things are greatly confirmed by the Scripture doctrine of sacrifices. ‘Tis abundantly plain, by both Old and New Testaments, that they were types of Christ’s death, and were for sin, and supposed sin in those for whom they were offered. The Apostle supposes, that in order to any having the benefit of the internal inheritance by Christ, there must of necessity be the death of the testator; and gives that reason for it, that without shedding of blood there is no remission (Hebrews 9:15 etc.). And Christ himself, in representing the benefit of his blood, in the institution of the Lord’s supper, under the notion of the blood of a testament, calls it, “the blood of the New Testament, shed for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28). But according to the scheme of our author, many have the eternal inheritance by the death of the testator, who never had any need of remission. Heb. 9:16-17
Hebrews 9:16-17
Heb. 9:16-17. For where a testament (is), there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament (is) of force after men are dead; otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
Another reference to Heb. 9 is found in “The Peace which Christ Gives to His True Followers.”
This covenant between Christ and his children is like a will or testament also in this respect, that it becomes effectual by, and no other way than by, his death; as the apostle observes it is with a will or testament among men. For a testament is of force after men are dead, Hebrews 9:17 . For though the covenant of grace indeed was of force before the death of Christ, yet it was of force no otherwise than by his death. So that his death then did virtually intervene; being already undertaken and engaged. As a man’s heirs come by the legacies bequeathed to them no otherwise than by the death of the testator, so men come by the spiritual and eternal inheritance no otherwise than by the death of Christ. If it had not been for the death of Christ they never could have obtained it.
Heb. 9:18-19
Hebrews 9:18-19
Heb. 9:18-19. Whereupon neither the first (testament) was dedicated 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 wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people,
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[19.20.21.22] It may be inquired what is (?) when not only persons but utensils were purged with the blood of sacrifices; how are anything but persons purged by the Blood of Christ when other things are sanctified and pure to those whose souls partake of the atonement of Christ and whose sins are remitted through his bloody death, but to a guilty and defiled soul and conscience every thing is defiled. Vid. Watts 3rd vol. of serm. p. 134. How to reconcile the account here given with the account given by Moses see Owen in loc p. 425. c.426, 427, 428, 429.
Heb. 9:20-22
Hebrews 9:20-22
Hebrews 9:20-22 Saying, This (is) the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled likewise with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Hebrews 9:23
Heb. 9:23
Hebrews 9:23 . (It was) therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
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see p. 846.#.**[purified with these, but; the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these] It may perhaps seem strange that celestial things should be spoken of as needing to be purified and cleansed but it is to be considered that as the sacred dwelling and vessels were esteemed to be polluted, by the Israelites, who in various degrees had access to them, so heaven would have been, as it were, polluted by the entrance of such sinners as we into it had not the blood of Christ intervened. Doddr[idge] in loc.
Heb. 9:24-25
Hebrews 9:24-25
Heb. 9:24-25. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, (which are) the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;
Blank Bible: “Concerning the Holy of Holies a Type of Heaven see Bp. Kidder’s Dem p. 113-14.”
Heb. 9:26
Hebrews 9:26
Heb. 9:26. 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.
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[the end of the world] See Bp. Kidder’s Dem. - 3 p. 162-165. See this book p. 265: [ (?) Heb. 9:26 at the end of the world] At the conclusion of the ages. So (?) is most exactly rendered, meaning the last of the dispensations God ever intended to give mankind.
The “end of the world” is more precisely defined in The History of Redemption.
- The whole time of this period is sometimes in Scripture called, the end of the world as, 1 Corinthians 10:11 , “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” And the Apostle in the ninth [chapter] of Hebrews, twenty-sixth [verse] in this expression of “the end of the world” means the whole of the gospel day, from the birth of Christ to the finishing of the day of judgment, “But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” This space of time may well be called the end of the world, for this whole time is taken up in bringing things to their great end and issue, to that great issue that God had been preparing the way for in all the great dispensations of providence from the first fall of man to this time. Before things were in a kind of preparatory state, but now they are in a finishing state. ‘Tis the winding up of things that is all this while accomplishing. And end is now brought to the former carnal worldly state of things, which by degrees vanishes, and a spiritual state begins to be established, and so to be established more and more. First an end is brought to the former state of the church, which may be called its worldly state, the state wherein it was subject to carnal ordinances and the rudiments of the world. And then an end is brought to the Jewish state in the destruction of their city and country.
And then after that an end is brought to the old heathen empire in Constantine’s time, which is another and further degree of the winding up and finishing of the world. And the next step is the finishing of Satan’s visible kingdom in the world, upon the fall of Antichrist, and the calling of the Jews. And last will come the destruction of the outward frame of the world itself, at the conclusion of the day of judgment.
But the world is all this while, as it were, a-finishing, though it comes [to] an end by several steps and degrees. Heaven and earth began to shake in order to a dissolution, according to the prophecy of Haggai before Christ came, that so only those things that cannot be shaken may remain, i.e. that those things that are to come to an end may come to an end, and that only those things may remain that are to remain to all eternity.
Heb. 9:27
Hebrews 9:27
Heb. 9:27. And as it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment;
One of teenager Edwards’ very first unpublished sermons was on this text: (1) and (2) “All men certainly die and after death their everlasting state will be determined” and was re-preached in an elementary form not long before his death: (3) “All men of all nations all over the world must die . . .”
Apologist Edwards states at the outset that this doctrine is proven by natural reason and revelation. Conscience is native to all, including children. It tells us of rewards and punishments which do not come adequately in this world. Therefore, there must be judgment in the next, for the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer here. Further, man would be made in vain if not for God, because beasts can enjoy this world without the use of reason. God gave man a desire for eternal life to stir him up to do good that his eternal life might be good. There is a “natural horror of being turned into nothing.” The soul is immortal and only the body is mortal. All nations - even the “barbarously ignorant indians [sic] here in America” - agree that the soul will endure forever.
“The light of reason convinces the world it is so” (immortality of soul); “the word of God puts it past doubt.” Discussing the word of God, Edwards writes that “one true miracle is a demonstration of the truth for which it is wrought.” And concerning his doctrine, “If no future reward and punishment then the whole of religion is immediately destroyed.”
To Christ, Edwards attributed the “death of God himself in the human nature….” The young preacher of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is already present as he describes some of the convicted as seeing hell’s flames before their eyes and actually beginning to feel them. It should be remembered that Edwards did not, at this time, consider himself converted when he warns impenitent sinners that they “Must burn in hell forever” and that there is danger of dropping into hell any moment. Lamenting, the nineteen year old preacher complains that warnings bounce off sinners like a bull against a marble wall. They are not frightened though going to hell.
Already the Puritan doctrine of seeking is present as Edwards urges his hearers not merely to seek but strive. Some even then will not be able to enter.
The juvenile sermon ends with a mature six-fold use answering the question: What do the wicked think of death and judgment? Some don’t believe it; some seldom think of it; some are simply “stupid” (insensitive); some put it off until their death-bed; some to a more “convenient time; and some easy believers imagine that strictness is not necessary to avoid judgment.
Heb. 9:28
Hebrews 9:28
Heb. 9:28. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Blank Bible: “See Dr. Owen in loc. p. 467.468 in which [place] marked thus : in the margin.” One of the Notes on the Bible give us this comment:
[312] Hebrews 9:28. “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto those that look for him, shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” The first time that Christ appeared, he in one sense did not appear without sin; for he bare the sins of many, he appeared in that form, in those circumstances, and with those labours and sufferings, that were tokens of imputed sin, or guilt, that lay upon him; but then he perfectly freed himself from this imputed sin, he perfectly abolished this guilt, by those sufferings he underwent, as the apostle is here arguing in the preceding part of the chapter; and therefore when he appears the second time, it shall be without sin, without any of those tokens of imputed guilt which he had in his state of humiliation. He shall be exceedingly far from them, the state in which he will appear will be immensely different from the state of one under the tokens and fruits of guilt and wrath, for he will appear in the glory of his Father with the holy angels, as the Supreme Head and Judge of the universe, with ineffable and inconceivable glory and magnificence. Had not Christ perfectly satisfied for the sins of men, and so done away all his imputed guilt, he could not have appeared a second time without sin, but must always have remained under the tokens of God’s curse for sin. But at the day of judgment he will appear infinitely far from that. The glory he will appear in at the day of judgment, will be the greatest and brightest evidence of all, of his having fully satisfied for sin. His resurrection is a glorious evidence of it, and therefore is called his justification.
His ascension into heaven, and sitting on the right hand of God, is a still brighter evidence, as it is a higher degree of his exaltation; but the glory that he will appear in at the day of judgment, will be the brightest evidence of all, as herein appears the glory of his exaltation in its highest degree of all, and is the highest reward which the Father bestows on him for it, and so is the highest token of his acceptance of it as sufficient and perfect. Beside the glory of the special affair of that day which Christ shall bear, then will be the beginning of the consummate glory and reward of both Christ and his church, to last throughout eternity. And not only the glory that Christ will then appear in, but the nature of the business that he will come upon, will show him perfectly to have done away all the sins of his elect, of which he will be the judge, and will save those that have believed in him. God would not have committed this affair to one that had undertaken for them, unless he had satisfied for them. He will appear without sin to salvation. The first time he appeared, it was with sin to procure salvation; the second he will appear to bestow salvation, which will in the event show that salvation is fully procured.
In “Of Satisfaction for Sin,” Edwards argues:
Christ is often represented as bearing our sins for us: Isaiah 53:4, “Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” Verse Isaiah 53:11, “For he shall bear their iniquities.” Verse Hebrews 9:12, “He bare the sin of many.” And with an evident reference to this last place, the apostle says, Hebrews 9:28, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many: and to them that look for him, he shall appear the second time, without sin unto salvation.” And with a plain reference to verses, 4, 5, of this 53d chapter of Isaiah (Isaiah 53:4-5), the apostle Peter says, 1 Peter 2:24, “Who his ownself [sic] bare our sins in his own body on the tree.”
In The History of Redemption we find the following:
- How great the success of Christ’s purchase is chiefly appears in this: the success of Christ’s purchase does summarily consist in the salvation of the elect. But this bestowment of glory is eminently called their salvation, Hebrews 9:28, “To those that look for him he shall appear the second time without sin to salvation.”
We also have a sermon on this text, “Christ at his first coming came to bear the sins of his people for the procuring their salvation; at his second coming he will appear without bearing any sin for the bestowment of salvation.” A 52-page outline, this sermon raises the question when Christ began to have the sins of his people upon him. Since he became their surety in eternity, he became obliged to answer for their sins from eternity, though he did not begin to do the work of a surety until man fell. That was 4000 years before he began properly to bear their iniquity in his incarnation. Most “eminently” this work was done in his last sufferings. When he returns he will finish the job of redemption.