A Discourse  
written during the third week  
in February 1846.  
For the Mount Moriah Congregation  
From the text  
Behold the Lamb of God that taketh  
away the sin of the world!  
John 1.29 
8s+7s. 1. 208 
G. Hc.  2. 209 }Hymns 
L. Hc.  3. 207 
 
 
John 1.29.'                                    80807 
The author of this exclamation was one of those 
remarkable characters of which the history of 
the world furnishes but a single one. All 
may say that from the Creation of the world to 
this time there ever had been & from this time 
to the end of the world there never will be 
(because from the very nature of the case,  
there never can be) another just such a man 
as was John. The forerunner of Christ. 
Himself the subject of Prophecy, as the [one] morning 
star which was to herald the dawning of that Light 
of the Sun of Righteousness which was to 
enlighten a darkened world, He stands on 
His isthmus which joins the old and the 
new Dispensation the link which connects 
the one undivided, indissoluble chain of 
the Old Testament and the New Testament 
Church. John occupies at once a solitary and 
 
 
and a sublime position in the grand view of the 
[Gospel Place] History of the Church. Look among the Long list 
of the Prophets both the Greater & the Less and there 
you find none who are as great as was John 
the Baptist. True the hallowed lips of Isaiah were 
touched with a live coal from off the altar of the 
Living God and he spake in words that burned 
his thoughts which breathed and he spake as he 
was moved by the Holy Ghost and Jeremiah too,  
was the favoured recipient of the direct teachings 
of the Spirit of God and Ezekiel the son 
of man with whom God talked in visions of 
holy entranced delight and Daniel the special 
favorite of Heaven and who foretold with so 
much exactness the time of the coming of Xt-  
and Hosea, Amos, Joel Obadiah Nahum Habakkuk 
Zechariah & Malachi all were distinguished as 
having direct communication with God in prophetic 
visions yet none were so great none 
 
 
so highly honoured as was John the Baptist. Four 
hundred years had now elapsed since the Book of 
Prophecy was closed, and the last of the Prophets 
had said in the word of the Lord "Behold, I send my 
messenger and he shall prepare the way before me 
and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to 
his temple even the messenger of the covenant whom 
ye delight in; behold, he shall come saith the Lord 
of Hosts." During the long period which had passed 
shadows clouds and darkness had rested upon 
the Church of God. The Old Dispensation had waxed 
& waned and its types and shadows had almost 
become insignificant and unintelligible, amidst 
all the corruptions with which Idolatry and Ignorance 
had enveloped her. There were still however 
some left among the thousands of Israel who had 
not departed from their Fathers' God and their 
Fathers' faith and devout men waited day and 
night for the Consolation of Israel. And to those 
 
 
who had made the Prophets their study, there was 
a certainty that the set time was near at hand 
when the Messiah should come. Evidently some 
wonderful manifestation of God's favour to his 
once honoured, still loved, but unfaithful people 
was about to be made. But still before this Day 
Star arise and this day spring from on high shd 
visit his people there was a needful work of preparation 
to be done. John came to do this work and  
[formed it] as [a] Pioneer are sent on before to level the high ways 
and remove all obstructions out of the road 
which some great Monarch is soon to travel 
so John humbled the pride of the Jews and 
counteracted their prejudices and instructed 
their ignorance and showed them the true 
way of Life, and thus by his preaching prepared 
the way for the heavenly instructions of the 
Great Messiah that should come after him. 
 
 
It cannot fail to strike our minds as a remarkable 
feature in the character of John that 
while he was thus honoured of Heaven, and while 
great multitudes were daily surrounding him 
and wonder & applause were excited on all hands 
while he had every opportunity & inducement 
to impose himself upon the credulous populace 
as "some great one" while the wonder-loving 
and superstitious Jews were already prepared to 
fan into a flame any latent spark of ambitious 
vanity that might have slumbered in his heart by 
the supposition that he was either Elijah or Jeremiah 
or one of the Prophets that had risen and  
some went so far as to ask him if he were not 
The Messiah yet amidst all this John is distinguished 
by a singleness of purpose just to occupy that  
singular position and fulfill that remarkable office 
which he did fill as the forerunner of Christ 
No suggestions of others however flattering to his vanity 
 
 
could for a moment induce him to swerve, or assume 
a character & station above his own but he steadily 
"confessed & denied not but confessed, I am not the 
Christ!" But told his inquisitors "I am the 
voice yea! Nothing but the voice of one 
crying in the Wilderness, Make straight the 
way of the Lord, as said the Prophet Elias" 
How rare the humility of John, when to the minds 
of common men he had the opportunity of securing 
consequence & influence by assuming 
a character, which considering the credulity 
of the people, could have been sustained so easily! 
And John thus presents not only proof of a great 
mind to be above such artifices, but thus he shows 
the most certain evidence of his Divine Mission. 
It was no degradation to John either it cost  
him no effort to mortify his pride when he said 
"I indeed baptize you with water but there standeth 
one among you whom ye know not, He it is who 
 
 
coming after me is preferred before me whose shoes 
latchet I am not worthy to unloose!" Nor did he 
hesitate to direct his own disciples and all the 
multitude which he was surrounded to turn 
away their attention from himself & look upon Jesus 
when with a spirit of holy joyful humility he exclaimed 
"He must increase, but I must decrease!" 
and therefore he bade them "Behold the Lamb 
of God that taketh away the sin of the world!" 
Would to God, my hearers, we had somewhat of John's 
spirit! So that we could lose sight of self and forget 
our own merits and claims to notice and be content 
to yield the palm to Xt & be content with 
Paul to "Know nothing but Xt & him crucified." 
& feel that we wish to glory in nothing but "The 
cross of Xt Jesus our Lord!" Let us endeavour 
then to cultivate this feeling & to do it effectually 
we will attend to the important point in this text. 
 
 
1. We inquire How Xt may be properly styled a Lamb. 
The answer to this question is two-fold. 1. He is a Lamb 
inasmuch as he was a sacrifice offered to atone for 
sin. By attending to the provisions of the ceremonial  
Law of the Mosaic Dispensation, the analogy may 
easily be traced. 
It will be recollected that the sin offering was 
to be a lamb without blemish. And that this 
victim was to be offered for the sins of the 
[world] people. That the Priest should bring the Lamb 
up to the sacred place and there confess over 
him the sins of all the people and laying 
his hands upon him should thus signify 
that their sins were transferred to the Lamb 
and upon this the Lamb was to be slain 
as the victim instead of the offenders themselves. 
Thus is it with Christ. He is predicted under 
the image of an offering for sin Messiah was 
 
to be "cut off but not for himself." As a Lamb 
he was offered up as a victim for sins not 
his own the just for the unjust the innocent 
for the guilty. 
2. He is justly styled a Lamb however from 
the peculiar qualities that meet in his character. 
The Lamb, it is well-known is characterized by 
gentleness, [harmlessness] innocence, and [submission] Patience. Let us 
look at Xt's gentleness. This we may see in every 
word & action of his life as it is recorded. Whether 
he was surrounded by the great multitude who 
hang with intense delight upon the gracious 
words which proceeded out of his mouth or 
the bitter enemies who sought to catch something 
out of his lips whereon to base an accusation 
or by the ferocious mob of brutal persecutors 
who thirsted for his blood and never rested 
until they had crucified him whether in the humble 
cot of the soul & daughter of affliction & poverty  
 
 
in the beloved circle of his own friends, or in 
the hall of Pilate whether on his heavenly mission 
of mercy in the desert on the mountain 
on the sea by day & by night wearied & hungry 
he was ever the same gentle & benevolent & tender 
hearted Jesus. Hear him, when he beheld the vast 
multitude who had accompanied him to hear 
his wisdom and behold his miracles, and had 
compassion upon them on account of their destitutions, 
commanding his disciples to minister to  
their wants as he fed them by a miracle. Behold 
him as he sat by Jacob's well wearied & thirsty 
An abandoned female came up and instead 
of turning from her with contempt he enters into 
conversation with her & speaks to her the words 
of eternal Life. See him at the house of Simon 
as he sat at meat when the poor guilty woman 
enters and begins to anoint him [head] with precious 
ointment to wash his feet with tears & wipe them 
 
 
with the hairs of her head. And while the bosom of the 
selfrighteous Pharisee was swelling with indignation 
at her presumption & he said within himself "This 
man if he were a Prophet would have known who + 
what manner of woman this is that toucheth him 
for she is a sinner!" And he would have spurned 
her with contempt from him but what did the 
gentle master? He rebuked the overheated zeal of the bigot 
and having told him how much more kindly the woman 
had treated him than he himself had done he said 
with the kindness of His own gentle nature "Wherefore 
I say unto thee her sins which are many are forgiven 
for she loved much & he said to her "Thy sins 
are forgiven." And if more is needed go to the grave of 
Lazarus & see him weeping from the tenderness of his  
sympathy & gentleness of his nature or go to the 
city of Nain and there as the funeral train of 
a young man winds slowly & mournfully out of 
the streets - see Jesus having compassion on his mother 
 
 
widowed & bereaved of her only son, stopping the 
bier & raising the dead & delivering him to the 
astonished mother or yet more go with him to 
the judgment-hall & as one who late had solemnly 
vowed to go with him into prison & unto death 
is heart by the innocent prisoner now with fierce 
& bitter oaths & cursings declaring his ignorance of 
him see Jesus turning that one silent eloquent 
& melting look on Peter not of reproach but pity 
more in sorrow than in anger. And to crown 
it all how did Jesus feel for the Penitent Peter 
& wish to heal his broken heart & contrite spirit  
when after his resurrection he sent a special 
message to him "So says he & tell Peter" And 
lastly to close the accumulation of proof of his 
gentleness behold him in his conduct towards 
his enemies. When he stood upon the brow 
of a hill that overlooked the great city of  
 
 
Jerusalem, wherein most of his mighty works were 
done & thought of all their ingratitude & hatred 
& persecutions of him & his Prophets when he 
saw the city he burst into a torrent of tears 
and exclaimed in the bitterness of his sorrow 
"Oh Jerusalem! Jerusalem! tc" and on the cross 
when reviled & mocked & derided & pierced 
& scoffed at & smote & insulted hear him 
"Father forgive them tc" & then after death 
had been conquered & when he was giving 
his commission to his disciples to go &  
publish the glad tidings of the Gospel he 
directed them especially to begin at Jerusalem 
and make the first offer of pardon to his 
enemies & murderers! Matchless gentleness 
Godlike & unparalleled! Well in the emblem 
of a Lamb selected to represent[ed] Christ the 
gentle savior. 
 
 
But not only his gentleness his innocency justifies his 
being called a Lamb. whoever heard of Jesus being 
chargeable with any deviation from the straight 
forward way of duty! When was there ever known a  
human being that maintained a perfectly spotless 
character throughout all his Life? Yet Jesus did. 
And he was so predicted of the Prophets he should 
be the Holy One the Holy Name the Holy One of 
Israel so is he represented by the Evangelists who 
recorded his Life as free from any the slightest 
stain of guilt, so is he spoken of by the apostles 
who said of him that he was without guile neither 
was deceit found in his lips so testified the 
weak & time serving Pilate "I find no fault in 
him" so said the wretched traitor Judas "I 
have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent 
blood" so said his enemies who 
were sent to take him "never man spake like 
 
 
this man" yea so said the devils "I know 
thee who thou art the Holy one of God." 
But his Patience proves him a Lamb as 
when reasoning with the blinded & perverse Jews 
who disputed his word and charged him with 
blasphemy & attempted to stone him; he bore it 
with meekness. Or when suffering in the garden 
& betrayed by Judas instead of commanding 12 
legions of angels to come to his assistance 
he even rebuked the fiery zeal of Peter who 
drew his sword and smote off the ear of Malchus 
& submitted with patience and then when 
buffeted & spit upon & smitten & treated with all 
manner of insult & mockery, he bored it without a  
murmur & with no resistance and then when dying 
on the cross instead of rescuing himself from 
his enemies & destroying them with one word 
of his power he prayed for them "Father forgive them 
they know now what they do." He is a Lamb. 
 
 
I remark again, He is the Lamb of God." 
He is so in a threefold sense. 1. God appointed him to 
be the Lamb of sacrifice. From all Eternity it was so 
appointed. Known unto God are all his work, from 
the beginning. And as He knew what would be the 
state of the world that He should create" as he knew 
that man would violate His Holy Law and thus incur 
His wrath and curse that he would invoke his whole 
posterity in guilt and ruin and bring them into ruin 
unless He should interprie. He, Therefore for His own  
Glory and by His own Power & moved by His own 
infinite Love; appointed this spotless Lamb as the 
victim which was to atone for the sins of this 
lost and ruined world. Hence Xt is the Lamb of God. 
2. He is the Lamb of God by the repeated expression 
of His approbation upon him during the period of 
his human Life. Witness the descent of the Holy 
Spirit upon Jesus at the time of His Baptism. 
 
 
and witness the repeated expressions of this approbation 
by a voice from Heaven saying "this is my beloved 
son in whom I am well pleased." 
But He is the Lamb of God by the fact of God's having 
accepted his atonement as a sufficient satisfaction 
to His violated Law. 
Again 
"He taketh away the sin of the world" 
Not by taking it out of the world-- 
Nor by saving every body in the world 
General mercy a mistaken notion 
But by rendering a satisfaction such as would 
admit of God's forgiving sin consistently with 
his Holiness and Justice. 
The victim under the old disposition was 
a type sin confessed over & laid out 
& then it was carried off & thus took 
away the sins of the people 
So Xt. Our sins were laid on him then  
 
 
bore them in his own body on the tree 
The Lord hath laid on him tc 
By his stripes are we healed 
He was bruised for our iniquities 
wounded for our transgressions tc 
He was not guilty tho' he bore our guilt 
He was not a sinner but a sin-offering 
He takes away sin by the sacrifice of himself 
By imputation 
Again 
"of the world" 
Not of every individual in the world 
This has been supposed to mean thus 
But let us examine it 
If he takes away every man's sin why does any 
perish? Because it is said they will not believe, 
[*Sin is the only barrier & belief & so if that is taken away they willful.*] 
But was it intended or designed for every body 
If so who designed? God Well then God's designs 
 
 
can be nullified by man's will & some of those 
He intended to save will perish. 
No the meaning of John is that the Gospel 
dispensation is wider & more extensive 
than that of Moses. 
Whereas the lamb slain under the latter 
only took away the sins of believing Israelite 
their salvation belonged to the Jews Now 
it was to extend to the men of all Nations 
equally all without destruction. Not all 
without exception 
To conclude 
Behold! How? 
1. With admiration - Wonder oh Heavens 
2. With Love! Herein is love 
3. With Confidence - Believe & be saved 
4. With Limitation Let the same mind tc. 
 
 
6-  With obedience 
Behold him now as he is represented to 
us our Prophet our Priest, our King 
our friend our Savior, our advocate 
& intercessor with God 
He is still held up to us we have 
yet opportunity to admire love obey 
trust & imitate him. 
But soon the scene will be changed 
In such an hour as ye think not 
And every eye shall behold Him once more 
revealed from Heaven in the cloud 
of Glory.  
They shall look on him whom they have 
pierced & mourn 
Behold the Lord cometh tc 
But then you will not be called on to 
behold the Lamb of God - but the [?] 
 
 
of All the Earth & the dreadful 
sentence will be those mine enemies 
who would not that I shd reign over 
them bring hither & lay them before me 
There shall be wailing & gnashing of teeth