reconciled God, until that sacrifice was offered which was the real basis of the reconciliation.

But the rending of that veil intimated that the expected time was come. The looked-for sacrifice, the promised substitute, the true lamb of God, the true passover was then sacrificed ;-the whole mystery of ceremonial shadows centered and finished in the blood of Christ, who offered himself without spot unto God: and the mysterious and typical worship was terminated for ever, by the rending of that veil, which hitherto had, by divine appointment, barred the approach to the mercy-seat. Christ said, "It is finished;" and while he laid down his own life as a sin-offering, he left in the temple itself a testimony to the sufficiency of his sacrifice,―he rent the typical emblem of his body from the top to the bottom.

And there ended all the virtue and utility of these arbitrary and official signs and shadows. They had vanished away; they were merged in the reality, any further continuance of them, on the part of men, was blindness, disobedience, and irreligion. It was no longer the faithful looking for a Saviour, but a merely formal and absurd adherence to a human system, from a blind and criminal attachment to the external pomp and parade of its ceremonial. There was the guilt of unbelief in any repetition of those services, after the true sacrifice of atonement had been offered.

3dly, The establishment of an effectual means

of approach to God, through the merit of a really valuable and available offering. So says St Paul, 66 we have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh." "By his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." "Once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." The great feature of God's plan of mercy is propitiation, the offer of an effectual sin-offering for guilty man. Man is a sinner. He has an oppressive conscience of sin; and till that is done away, he cannot draw near to God. Till some effectual propitiation was offered, all the countless tribes of this fallen world, must have remained at a distance from God, in a state of alienation and ignorance. But God had a purpose of mercy to us, and, in the pursuance of it, he appointed for a time the ceremonial dispensation. This however was only temporary and preparatory, and intended to be done away; for it was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats could take away sins, the constant repetition of these sacrifices proved this. And then at last the great mystery was revealed. God had prepared a body for his eternal Son, in which, in the fulness of time, he became incarnated; he became a man, our brother; and adding the infinite worth of divine goodness to the actions and sufferings of an immaculate

human nature, he laid down his life under the curse of a law which he had not violated; and thus offering himself without spot unto God, as a victim in our stead, he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and "became the Mediator of the new covenant, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant."

This is a real and divine transaction, on which our eternal salvation actually rests. It is God's visit of mercy and reconciliation to the rebel tenants of this revolted world. And it has now opened to every one who will avail himself of it, a new and living way to the Father. Our sinful flesh is no longer an impediment to acceptable worship, if we do sincerely repose our confidence upon the propitiatory offering of our crucified Saviour. The interposing veil is rent. The mercy-seat is disclosed. We may come boldly to a throne of grace, and find mercy and grace to help us in the time of need. Nothing is wanting but a faithful affectionate reliance upon this oblation,-"this meritorious cross and passion, by which alone," as our Church expresses it, we obtain remission of our sins, and are made partakers of the kingdom of heaven."

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4thly, A clearer revelation of God's purpose and plan of redemption. Up to the period of the crucifixion of Christ, much obscurity hung upon the ways of God. True it was, that God was propitiated, and did dwell with men. The prayers of his faithful worshippers did find acceptance with

him by faith, and their souls were gathered into his heavenly kingdom. But still a veil was hung over these interesting subjects. The believer was saved, he knew not how, by a salvation, the plan of which he had not seen, and the value of which he knew not how to estimate. The rending of the veil, however, intimated the commencement of a new era in the church of God, that era which St Paul calls "the ministration of the Spirit." New light was poured into the minds of men. The whole circumstances of man's relation to God, were fully disclosed; and the important features of the mystery of Godliness, by which men are to be saved, were clearly developed. The covenant of grace, the atonement and intercession of Christ, -the converting power of the Spirit of God,-the resurrection of the body, and the joys of eternal happiness in the presence of God,-all these things have been since unfolded by spiritual teaching to the church; and every individual who looks for salvation, is called upon to live no longer in an ignorant unquestioning reliance upon the efficacy of a shrouded mystery, but to "be ready to give a reason of the hope that is in him, with meekness and with fear." As far as the way of God is comprehensible to men, it has now been fully disclosed. Where it involves infinity, there of course we remain still in darkness; but the nature of the divine purpose of grace, the mode in which it is accomplished, the sure basis of our hope, and the ge

neral character of our expectations, all these things are made known; and though we walk by faith and not by sight, yet we have in the word of scripture a sure unerring guide; and we have the promise of the Holy Spirit to "strengthen us with might in the inner man, that we may know the hope of our calling, and the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and the exceeding greatness of his power to those that believe." All this is the result of that one great sacrifice; and all these blessings were intimated by the tearing aside of that veil of mystery.

And then, lastly, The manifestation of God to the souls of men. We have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. And this is practically the case. The worship of the true believer is now a direct communication of the soul with God. Such the Saviour declared that it would be. Christ said, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the father seeketh such to worship him." And again, "If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." And so it is as St John says, "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." The believing worshipper, relying on an obscure promise, does not now bow before the veiled entrance of the tabernacle, and send forth the ardent sighings of his soul, after for