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ticularly treated of in the fifth Chapter to the Hebrews. He was called of God, as was aron, (ver. 4.) He took not this high office upon himself, but was invested with it by his Fa ther, (ver. 5.) He was called of God an high priest, after the order of Melchizedec, (ver. 10.) His Father proposed the office and the work, and he willingly undertook. Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. Heb. x. 7. God so loved the world, that he GAVE his onl begotten Son. John iii. 16. And bence Christ savs, He did not come of himself, but was sent of his Father. John vii. 28, 29. And that he did not come to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him. John vi. 38. And his Father acknowledges him as such by a voice from heaven, Mat. xvii. 5. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

Without such a divine constitution, the death of Christ could have been of no benefit to mankind. As if an innocent man should offer to die in the room of a condemned criminal, and should actually lay down his life, yet it could be of no benefit to the poor criminal, unless the civil government had authorized him so to do, i. e. unless, by some act, they had declared that his life should be accepted, in the eye of the law, instead of the criminal's. The application is easy. Thus Christ was called and put into his mediatorial office, and authorized to the work by God, the supreme Governor of the world. And hence in allusion to the Jewish custom of anointing men, when advanced to some high office and important trust; (so Aaron was anointed priest, and David was anointed king,) in allusion, I say, to this, he is called CHRIST, which is, by interpretation, the ANOINTED. Thus, as to his personal dignity, he was sufficient to undertake; and thus was he authorized to do so. And,

(3.) What he has done is perfectly suited, in its own nature, to answer all the ends proposed. That is, to secure the honour of God; the honour of his holiness, justice, and truth; his law, government, and sacred authority; and so open a door for the free and honourable exercise of his mercy and grace towards a sinful, guilty world, and a way in which sinners might return to God with divine acceptance. God, the supreme Governor of the world, knew upon what grounds there was

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need of a mediator; what ends he had to answer, and how they might be answered in the best manner. According to the counsel of his own will, in his infinite wisdom, he laid the very plan which is now revealed to us in the gospel. He appointed one to be a mediator whom he judged fit; put him into the office, and appointed him his work; all this work Jesus Christ has done. He has finished the work which the Father gave him to do. John xvii. 4. xix. 30. And so has been faithful to him that appointed him. Heb. iii. 2. So that herefrom we might be assured, that what he has done is most perfectly suited, in its own nature, to answer all the ends proposed, although it were quite beyond us to understand how. But, by the help of the word and spirit of God, we may be able to enter a little way into this wonderful and glorious mystery.

It was fit the first Adam, as the representative and public head of mankind, should, as a condition of the everlasting love and favour of God, have continued in a most willing and perfect subjection to God, the Governor of the world, valuing his honour and glory above all things; this was God's due. This would have satisfied God's holiness; for holiness is satisfied when the thing which is right and fit is done: holiness wants no more, but is then content and well-pleased ; and, upon this condition, mankind might have been considered as subjects fit for the divine favour, and might have received the promised reward, to the honour of the divine holiness and goodness. Now Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has, by his Father's appointment and approbation, assumed our nature; taken Adam's place; done that which was Adam's duty in our room and stead, as another public head; obeyed the law God gave his creature; a law which he was not under, but in consequence of his undertaking to stand in our room and stead. The creature fails of paying that honour to the Governor of the world which is his due from the creature. A Gop lays aside his glory; appears in the form of a servant, and becomes obedient; and so, in the creature's stead and behalf, pays that honour to the Governor of the world which was the creature's duty and thus the Governor of the world is considered, respected, treated, and honoured, as being what he is, by man-i. e. by their representative Christ

Jesus, God-man-mediator. And now, hereby, God's right to the obedience of his creatures, and their unworthiness of his favour upon any other condition, are publicly owned and acknowledged: the debt is owned, and the debt is paid by the Son of God; and so holiness is satisfied; for holiness is satisfied when the thing that is right and fit is done. And now, this door being opened, mankind may, through Christ, be considered as subjects to whom God may show favour consistently with his honour: yea, the divine holiness may be ho noured by granting all favours as a reward to Christ's virtue and obedience.

Again, it was fit, if any intelligent creature should at any time swerve at all from the perfect will of God, that he should for ever lose his favour, and fall under his everlasting displeasure, for a thing so infinitely wrong. And in such a case it was fit the Governor of the world should be infinitely displeased, and publicly testify his infinite displeasure, by a punishment adequate thereto, inflicted on the sinning creature. This would satisfy justice; for justice is satisfied, when the thing which is wrong is punished according to its desert. Hence it was fit when, by a constitution, holy, just, and good, Adam was made a public head, to represent his race, and act not only for himself, but for all his posterity; it was fit, I say, that he and all his race, for his first transgression, should lose the favour, and fall under the everlasting displeasure, of the Almighty. It was fit that God should be infinitely displeased at so abomina ble a thing; and that, as Governor of the world, he should publicly bear testimony against it, as an infinite evil, by inflicting the infinite punishment the law threatened, i. e. by damn. ing the whole world. This would have satisfied justice: for justice is satisfied when justice takes place; when the guilty are treated with that severity they ought to be: when sin is punished as being what it is. Now, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has, by his Father's appointment and approbation, assumed our nature; taken the place of a gulity world; and had not only Adam's first transgression, but the iniquities of us all laid upon him; and, in our room and stead, has suffered the wrath of God, the curse of the law, offering up himself a sathee to God for the sins of men. And hereby the infinite

evil of sin, and the righteousness of the law, are publicly owned and acknowledged, and the deserved punishment voluntarily submitted unto by man, i. e. by their representative. And thus justice is satisfied; for justice is satisfied when justice takes place. And sin is now treated as being what it is, as much as if God had damned the whole world; and God, as Governor, appears as severe against it. And thus the righteousness of God is declared and manifested, by Christ's being set forth to be a propitiation for sin; and he may now be just, and yet justify him that believes in Jesus.

By all this the law is magni ed and made honourable. On the one hand, Were any in all God's dominions tempted to think that the great Governor of the world had dealt too severely with man, in suspending his everlasting welfare upon the condition of perfect obedience? God practically answers, and says, "I did as well by mankind as I should desire to have been done by myself, had I been in their case, and they in mine; for when my Son, who is as myself, came to stand in their stead, I required the same condition of him." And what the Father says, the Son confirms: he practically owns the law to be holy, just, and good, and the debt to be due, and pays it most willingly to the last mite, without any objection; which was as if he had said, "There was all the reason in the world that the everlasting welfare of mankind should be suspended on that condition; nor could I have desired it to have been otherwise, had I myself been in their case." On the other hand, Were anv tempted to think that God had been too severe in threatening everlasting damnation for sin? Here this point is also cleared up. God the Father practically says, that he did as he would have been done by, had he been in their case, and they in his; for when his Son, his second self, comes to stand in their place, he abates nothing, but appears as great an enemy to sin, in his conduct, as if he had damned the whole world. His Son also owns the sentence just; he takes the cup and drinks it off. Considering the infinite dignity of his person, his sufferings were equivalent to the eternal damnation of such worms as we.

Thus the law is magnified and made honourable; and, a the same time, the honour of God's government and sacrist

authority is secured: and, I may add, so is also the honour of his truth; for he has been true to his threatening, In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die for on that very day the second Adam virtually laid down his life in the room and stead of a guilty world. He is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. So that now there is no room left, for those who will view things impartially, to have undue thoughts of the Governor of the world; nor any thing done to expose his government to reproach, or his authority to contempt. The honour of the divine government and authority appears as sacred and tremendous as if he had damned the whole world; and although sinners will take occasion to sin, and be encouraged in their ways, because grace abounds, yet the Governor of the world has not given the occasion. In his conduct, the whole of it considered, he appears as severe against sin as if he had damned the whole world, without any mixture of the least mercy. The infinite dignity of his Son causes those sufferings he bore in our room to be as bright a display of the divine holiness and justice, as if all the human race had, for their sin, been cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, and the smoke of their torments ascended for ever and ever.

MOREOVER, by all this, a way is opened for the free and honourable exercise of mercy and grace towards a sinful, guilty world It may be done consistently with the honour of God, of his holiness and justice, his law and government, his truth and sacred authority: for the honour of all these is effectually secured. It may be done to the honour of divine grace for now it appears that God did not pity the world under a notion that they had been by him severely and hardly dealt with, nor under a notion that it would have been too severe to have proceeded against them according to law. The law is not made void, but established. No reflections are cast upon the divine government. And grace appears to be free, taking its rise. not from any thing in us, but merely from set-moving goodness and sovereign mercy. This way of salvation is suited to set off the grace of God to advantage, and make it appear to be what it is.

Having thus finished the work assigned him, he arose from the dead, he ascended on high, he entered into the holy of

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