Third. Must there be redemption by blood added to mercy if the soul be saved? This shows us what a horrible sin of man is. Sin, as to its nature, is little known in the world. O! it sticks so fast to us, as not to be severed from us by all the mercy of God: do but exclude redemption by the blood of Christ. I will say it over again. All the mercy of God cannot save a sinner without respect to redemption from the curse of the law by the death and blood of Christ. 'Without shedding of blood is no remission' (Heb 9:22). No remission, pardon, or passing by of the least transgression, without it. Tears! Christ's tears will not do it. Prayers! Christ's prayers will not do it. A holy life! The holy life that Christ lived will not do it, as severed from his death and blood. The word redemption, therefore, must be well understood, and close stuck to, and must not be allowed, as properly spoken, when we talk of deliverance from sin, the law, and God's curse, unless it be applied particularly to the death and blood of Christ (Eph 1:7). We have redemption through his blood (Rev 1:5). 'Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree' (Gal 3:13). He has redeemed us to God by his blood. 'For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood' (Rev 5:9). This is the redemption that is joined with mercy, yea, that is the fruit thereof; and it is that without which sin cannot be removed out of the sight of God.
Moses, that was a better preacher of the law, and the sufficiency of the righteousness thereof, than any now can pretend to be, yet he full well declared by all his bloody sacrifices, that the blood and death of Jesus Christ is of absolute necessity for the redemption of the soul. Besides, he tells us that the man that should flee to the city of refuge, from the avenger of blood, should not be at liberty from the law, unless he kept himself close in that city until the death of the high-priest. Mark the words, 'Ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the' high 'priest' (Num 35:32). Wherefore, Christian man, know thou thy sin like it and persuade thyself, that the removing of it from before the face of God is by no less means than the death and blood of Christ. But it is a poor shift that the enemies of the truth are put to, when, to defend their errors, they are forced to diminish sin, and to enlarge the borders of their fig-leaf garments, and to deny or cast away, as much as in them lies, one of the attributes, the justice of God. Indeed, they will say they abhor to do thus, and all erroneous persons will put the best face they can upon their bad matters, but the natural consequences of things amount to it, nor can they, when men stick close to their sides, avoid the charge.
Fourth. Then here you see the reason of that free course that mercy hath among the sons of men, and why it doth, as has been showed before what it doth. Why justice is content. Blood hath answered the demand of justice. The law hath nothing to object against his salvation that believeth in Jesus Christ. Blood has set the door open for us with boldness to go to God for mercy and for God to come with his abundant grace to us. We have 'boldness, brethren, to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the vail, that is to say, his flesh' (Heb 10:19,20). This is the way that Moses desired to find when God so largely spake to him of his mercy. 'Thou hast said,' says Moses to God, 'I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now, therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way that I may know thee,' &c. (Exo 33:12,13). What if it should be applied thus? Thou now talkest of mercy, but in thy words to us from the Mount, thou spakest fire and justice; and since thou hast delivered us to holy a law, and are resolved that the least tittle thereof shall by no means fall to the ground; by what means is it that mercy should come unto us? Well, saith God, I will show thee my way, I will put thee in a clift of the rock, which was a figure of Christ, for Christ says, 'I am the way' (Exo 34; John 14:6). This done, he proclaimed his name, and showed him how he could be gracious, and gave him the sign of his being merciful, a promise that his presence should go with him. The breaking then of the body of Jesus was, the renting of the vail, that out of which came blood, that the way to God might be living; and not death, or sword, or flame, to the poor children of men. Therefore, we need the tender mercy, the great mercy, the rich mercy, the abundant mercy, the multiplying mercy, and every other mercy of God for our present and everlasting good.
