on every topick on which scripture is silent, it is best for us to form no decisive opinion; although we may reverently express what appears to us most probable. We know that our blessed Saviour is glorified in body and in soul, and in this form is set down "on the right hand of the Majesty on high:" And as he used words in his intercessory prayer on earth; and employed them after his resurrection, in his conversations with his apostles; and after his ascension, in addressing Paul at his conversion-it has been thought probable by some, that his intercession before the throne on high, may, on certain occasions at least, be made in words. However this may be-and very eminent men have been divided in opinion on the subject-it is agreed on all hands, that his appearance in heaven, in that body in which he suffered on earth for his people, is virtually a perpetual intercession with the Father, in their behalf. It is expressly declared in scripture, that "Christ is entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:" and the presence there of that glorified body in which remain the prints of the nails and the spear, and of that sacred head which was crowned with thorns, and of those holy lips which expressed his agony in the garden and on the cross-the very presence of these, speaks and pleads beyond all the eloquence of words, whether of men or of angels. An illustration of this from a historical fact is given by Doddridge, in his sermon on the intercession of Christ, in the following passage:

"Now this appearance of Christ in heaven, which is expressed by his standing in the midst of the throne, as a lamb that had been slain, may properly be called a virtual intercession. There is a language in that circumstance, more forcible than in any words that we can imagine. This is happily illustrated by the pious Mr. Flavel, by the story of Amyntas and Eschylus, as Elian relates it. Eschylus was condemn

ed to death by the Athenians, and was just going to be led to execution. His brother Amyntas had signalized himself in the service of his country; and on the day of a most illustrious victory, in a great measure obtained by his means, had lost his hand. He came into the court just as his brother was condemned, and without saying any thing, drew the stump of his arm from under his garment, and held it up in their sight; and the historian tells us, "that when the judges saw this mark of his sufferings, they remembered what he had done, and discharged his brother, though he had forfeited his life." Thus does Christ, our dear elder brother, silently, but powerfully, plead for our forfeited lives: And such is the happy consequence. His Father looks on the marks of his sufferings, and remembers what he has done; and in this sense His blood is continually speaking better things than the blood of Abel. We have an advocate with the Father, who is also the propitiation for our sins."

You may perhaps be ready to think that this illustration is hardly suitable to the subject of Christ's intercession; and truly there is no transaction among men that can pretend to compare with it, either in dig nity or interest. But the inspired penmen themselves, do not hesitate to illustrate heavenly things by those which are earthly. And the condescension of God, in thus accommodating himself to our capacities and apprehensions, only makes a more powerful demand on our admiration and love. No thought can be more interesting and delightful to an humble and self emptied sinner, than that he has in heaven a friend, an advocate, an intercessor, who is "touched with the feeling of his infirmities;" who knows, better than he knows himself, all his desires and perplexities; and who will make effectual prayer of every petition that he offers, before the throne of God on high.

From a consideration of the priestly office of Christ, let me exhort you

1. To reflect seriously on the evil of sin. Who can estimate the intrinsick malignity and ill desert of that evil, for which divine justice could not be satisfied, but by an expiation which required, in its being made, the inconceivable sufferings and ignominious death of the Son of God bimself? And, O my young friends! if "these things were done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry " If the immaculate Saviour suffered as he did, only when standing in place of the guilty, how will the soul of the sinner himself suffer, when divine justice shall exact from him its full demand, for all his personal transgressions? And this exaction will surely be made of every sinner, who dies without an interest in that great atonement which Christ Jesus has made-made for the benefit of those-and those only-who by faith are united to him before the day of grace is forever closed by death. You are by nature and by practice sinners; and from each of you personally, this exaction will be made, if not prevented by a flight to Christ, and a reliance on his merits alone, for pardon and salvation. Fidelity to your souls and to my own, requires that I plainly warn, as now I do, those of you who have not yet embraced the Saviour, that the accumulated guilt of all your transgressions rests upon you; and that if not speedily removed by the atoning blood of Christ, it will press you down to a perdition hopeless and eternal. Therefore

2. Be urged to make no delay in availing yourselves of that merciful provision, which a gracious God has made for your deliverance from all the consequences of sin; and to raise you to all the happiness and the glory, which the once suffering but now exalted Redeemer will bestow, on all those whom he has bought with his precious blood. The priestly office of Christ is full of terror, as you have seen, on the one hand; but it is equally full of persuasion and encouragement, on the other. By

that one offering which the Lord Jesus has made of himself, he has opened the way for the very chief of sinners to return to God, with an assurance that, for the sake of the atoning and interceding Saviour, all their offences shall be freely cancelled; and all the blessings and benefits of his purchase be made over to them. What an encouragement is here to press into the kingdom of God! For the guilty and condemned, an all-sufficient surety is provided, who invites, and urges, and commands them to come to him, and receive, as his free gift, pardon, salvation and eternal life. He stands before the throne of the Sovereign of heaven and earth, whose justice he has fully satisfied, to plead his own merits, in behalf of every penitent and returning sinner. His intercession makes effectual prayer of every petition which they believingly offer in his name. O confess your sins, with a sincere and contrite heart.Take to yourselves the charge of guilt with all its aggravations, and without attempting palliation. You are completely guilty, and entirely undone in yourselves. But there is a complete salvation provided for you in Christ. Renounce your own righteousness with abhorrence, and with gratitude unspeakable accept of his. Send up your cries, through his prevalent intercession, for the Holy Spirit, to renew you in the temper of your minds; to work in your hearts that faith which shall form an indissoluble bond of union between him and your souls; and ensure you, ere long, an admission to his blissful presence, in the mansions of eternal purity and peace. Amen.

God, by the doctrine we teach, than by that taught by our brethren. Let us proceed to inquire in which of the two schools, the honour of DIVINE JUSTICE is most exhibited.

Contemplating the cross of Christ in the light in which our theory presents it, we immediately see a glorious display of divine justice. Is an explanation of that awful spectacle required? Is the reason of the sufferings of the immaculate Redeemer demanded? We reply, it was right that he should suffer, because he assumed the place of sinners. Had he not become their substitute, justice could have had no claim on him, for the payment of their debt. But as, in infinite compassion to them in their lost and ruined condition, he was pleased to undertake their redemption, and become their substitute; he was "made under the law," subject to all its demands, penal as well as preceptive. Having thus assumed the responsibilities of his people and standing charged with their sins, justice could of course require from him a satisfaction for the dishonour which they had done to the law and government of God by their transgressions; and justly inflict on him that awful penalty which they had incurred. The penalty must be executed. The truth of God insists on its execution; his law demands it; and consequently his justice could righteously lay it on the Saviour, who had voluntarily taken the place of sinners, and engaged to satisfy all the demands of law and justice against them.

This is the reason of the dreadful sufferings of the spotless Lamb of God. As "he was made sin," it was right that he should be "made a curse for us," the punishment due to our sins could justly be inflicted on our substitute, to whom they were all imputed. The wrath of the Almighty was poured out upon him; the fires of divine justice consumed the victim that love had provided; the Fa

* Gal. 4.

†1 Cor. v. 21. Gal. iii. 13.

ther spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all. What a glorious display of justice! How inflexible in its righteous demands! It will not abate them in the smallest degree, even in favour of the Son of God. He must drink the bitter cup of wrath to its very dregs. In the cross of our Redeemer, the universe will forever see the brightest exhibition of divine justice.

Equally plain does our doctrine make the display of the evil of sin in the death of Christ. Had no sin been imputed to him, he could not have been treated as a sinner. But as all the sins of his people were charged to his account and he made responsible for them, it was right that the penalty of the law should be inflicted on him. "He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him.” "He bare our sins in his own body on the tree." In the curse denounced against a fallen world, in the sufferings, agonies and death of mankind, and in the torments of hell, the dreadful evil of sin is seen; but in the sufferings and death of Christ, it is seen in a still stronger light. When an angry God, seizing a bold transgressor, pours out his curse upon his guilty head, banishes his soul from his presence, and overwhelms it in the fiery billows of the burning lake, he discovers his abhorrence of sin. But when, seizing his only begotten Son as the surety of guilty man, he poured out his curse on his head, withdrew from him the light of his countenance, and overwhelmed him with shame, anguish and horror of mind, he proclaimed to the universe, in tones of thunder, his utter detestation of sin, and gave the plainest and most convincing demonstration that he would not, and could not, suffer it to go unpunished. In the cross of Christ, sin appears to be that evil and bitter thing which God hates with utter hatred.

Thus, according to the old theory, all appears plain and intelligible. But when we turn our eye to the new

scheme, we see obscurity and darkness; we find ourselves surrounded with difficulties and perplexities. Our brethren, I know, think otherwise. They imagine that, by an application of an old distribution of the justice of God into three kinds, commutative, distributive, and publick, they can not only expose the error in our views of this great subject, but remove all objections to the doctrine of the atonement. I do not controvert this distinction; but I shall object to the use they make of it, as being very unhappy and productive of real difficulties. In their hands it is a source of darkness, not a spring of light. For

First, They set the justice of God AT VARIANCE with itself. In a former letter this opposition was noticed in regard to believers. Here I shall consider it in reference to the Mediator. In man, justice, how diversified soever in its operations, is one and the same principle. It presides over his whole conduct, and governs him, whether he act as a private individual, as a merchant, or as a ruler. Equally plain is it, that the justice of God, however diversified in its operations and distinguished by different names, on account of its modes of exercise, must be one and the same attribute of his nature. It is impossible for any collision to arise between his perfections, much less in the same perfection. Yet such a collision is represented as occurring between the demands of divine justice, according to the views of our brethren. "Distributive justice," says the author of dialogues on atonement, "demands that every person should be treated according to his moral character. It demands that the guilty should be punished, and the innocent set free."* Consequently, as Christ was, in their opinion, perfectly free from sin in every sense, either imputed or personal, distributive justice required that he should be saved from death, the wages of sin, and enjoy life, the reward

P. 19.

of obedience; and not be treated as sinners deserve to be treated, by being subjected to those very sufferings by which a righteous God punishes them, and expresses his displeasure against their disobedience. But, says this same writer, speaking of Christ's, death, "it was a satisfaction to publick justice, by which the ends of punishment are answered."* Now, if his death was a satisfaction to publick justice, then publick justice demanded his death; demanded that he should pay the wages of sin, and be treated as a sinner, by being subject to the very sufferings that sinners deserve. Here then is a complete opposition, in the demands of one and the same divine attribute. It demands that Christ should die; and it demands that he should not die.

Secondly: They use this distinction so as to set aside DISTRIBUTIVE justice, in relation to the atonement. It had no demand on Christ, they say; and of course his sufferings were no satisfaction to its demands. But this representation is incompatible with scriptural testimony. It is true distributive justice had no demands against Christ on his own account; but on account of his representative character it had just demands. Having undertaken the redemption of sinners, he assumed their place and responsibilities; he was made under the law, subject to its penal requisitions, and bound to suffer and do all that their salvation required. It was therefore right that he should be made a curse for them, by enduring the penalty of the law; and Jehovah, by inflicting punishment on him, the surety of his people, dealt with him on the principles of distributive justice. He was viewed, not in the character of a holy man, who had always been obedient to the divine law; but in his character of Mediator between an offended Sovereign and his rebellious creatures, who had engaged to pay the dreadful debt of penal sufferings which they had contracted. Justice

*P. 23.