"Be zealous therefore and repent," Rev. ii. 19. Do not imagine that a few ceremonies, or a mere heartless sigh will save a sinner: no, he must strive earnestly: "Strive to enter in at the strait gate : for many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able," saith the Saviour, Luke xiii. 24. "The violent only take the kingdom of heaven by force," Matt. xi. 12. We must, like one who is pursued and afraid, " flee from the wrath to come," Matt. iii. 7.

4. Do not seek any happiness or deliverance by your own doings, but only by fleeing to the Mediator Jesus, that "ye may be found in him, and obtain his righteousness," with Paul, Philip. ii. 7, 8, 9, for "there is salvation in none other," Acts iv. 12. Jesus alone is "set forth of God to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness," Rom. iii. 25. Therefore look unto him and be saved," Thus he calls to you, Isaiah xlv. 22.

5. Be afraid of the least sin; for it is committed against the most high majesty of God, and he punishes it terribly. This should render every one fearful of sinning, like Job, who said "Destruction from God was a terrour to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure." Job xxxi. 23. He who persists in sinning wilfully and wittingly, cannot expect any mercy; "but he who confesseth and forsaketh sin, shall obtain mercy" Prov. xxviii. 13. "Wash ye, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isaiah i. 16, 18.

But permit me to address you also, O believers, who, from a painful and distressing view of your sins and demerita, have fled to the Mediator, and reject, with a holy displeasure, your indwelling corruptions (i) see from what ye are delivered. God, the Lord, was terri bly displeased with you also, on account of your original and actual sins: but "Jesus hath delivered you from the wrath to come." Thes. i. 10. "The Lord hath sworn, that he will not be any more wroth with you, nor rebuke you." Isaiah liv. 9. "There is no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Rom. viii. 1. To you also," who have considered yourselves as "the greatest sinsers, hath mercy, been shown." 1 Tim. i. 13, 16.

2. Behold now, also, what the Son of God hath done for you. From pure and inconceivable love, he took all your original and actudsins upon himself, in order to deliver you: on account of them he subjected himself to the terrible displeasure of God, he suffered it in its utmost extent, and thus satisfied the justice of God for you. redeem you from the curse of the law, he became a curse for you.”

"To

Gal. iii. 13. With what an ardent love did he love you, and how did the zeal of God's house eat him up, when your reproaches, wherewith ye had reproached the Lord, fell on him!" Psalm Ixix, 9. Attend a while to this matter, endeavour to look deep into it, that ye may be filled with wonder, with abasing thoughts of your selves, with joy and praise, and so may be able to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and may know the love of Christ, which passeth know. ledge, that ye may be filled with all the fulness of God." Eph. iii. 18, 19.

Conduct yourselves worthily of the inexpressible love and mercy that hath been shown to you. How great an aversion ought ye to manifest in all your behaviour to your original and actual sins! bow ought ye to strive against them, and mortify them! and how to exert yourselves to conduct in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord! for what end did "Jesus give himself for you?" was it not, "that he might redeem you from all iniquity, and purify you to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works?" Titus ii. 14. Let then "the love of Christ constrain you to live no more unto yourselves, but to him who died for you, and rose again." 2 Cor. v. 14, 15.

4. Have compassion and take pity on those poor and miserable persons, who manifest by all their conversation, that they lie yet under the terrible wrath of God, and do all that in you lies to save them: "Of some have compassion, making a difference, and others, save with fear, pulling them out of the fire," saith holy Jude in his epistle, verse 22, 23.

Are ye yet often afraid of the displeasure of God, because ye have still so great a power of inbred corruption in yourselves, and commit so many actual sins? Well, the terrible displeasure, and vindictive justice of God cannot assail you on account of these things; Christ hath borne them, and delivered you therefrom. It is true, the law worketh wrath, and denounceth the curse against the sinner; but your "sin was condemned in the flesh of Christ, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in you." Rom. viii. 3, 4. Doth the Lord render your condition unhappy by visiting you with many spiritual and bodily afflictions? Those do not, however, proceed from the wrath of God, but from his fatherly love and care; "that ye may be partakers of his holiness." Heb. xii. 5, 11. Ye shall one day be perfectly and for ever delivered from all your calamities, and be instated in the full enjoyment of God's blissful mercy and love: "For," as the apostle saith, 2 Cor. iv. 17, "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Amen.

B

药

2

THE

NECESSITY OF A SATISFACTION.

V., LORD'S DAY.

Romans viii. 3, 4. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Q. 13. Since then by the righteous judgment of God, we deserve temporal and eternal punishment, is there no way by which we may escape that punishment, and be again received into favour ?

A. God will have his justice satisfied; and therefore we must make this full satisfaction either by ourselves or by another.

Q. 13. Can we ourselves, then, make this satisfaction?

A. By no means; But on the contrary, we daily increase our debt.

Q. 14. Can there, then, be found any where, one who is a mere creature, able to satisfy for us?

None for first, God will not punish any other creature for the sin which man hath committed; and further, no mere creature can testain the burden of God's eternal wrath against sin, so as to deliver athers from it,

Q. 15. What sort of a Mediator and deliverer must we then seek for? A. For one who is very man, and perfectly righteous; and yet more powerful than all creatures; that is, one who is also very God.

ALTHOU

LTHOUGH angels and men are the most glorious of all the treatures of God, nevertheless, many of the angels, and all men, have become the most miserable creatures, since they have revolted from

their Maker, and have rebelled against him; and are therefore condemned by him to eternal punishment: "God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell." 2 Peter ii. 4. Thus, also, all men, "the whole world is become guilty before God; for they have all sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. iii. 19, 23. Although the nature of angels, yea, of the fallen angels, is much more excellent than that of men, nevertheless, fallen men have this eminent privilege above fallen angels, that God hath revealed a deliverance for fallen men, but not for fallen angels. The fallen angels have no hope of deliverance from their misery; for "God hath reserved them in everlasting chains, under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Jude, verse 6. He hath not appointed a mediator and deliverer for them, as he hath given the man Christ Jesus to be a mediator between God and men, 1 Tim. ii. 5. who did not therefore unite the nature of angels to his Godhead, but that of men: for " he took not on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham," Heb. ii. 16. Therefore Paul extols so highly the love of God to man, when he saith, Titus iii, 4, 5. "After that the kind ness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, he saved us," &c. In order now that the miserable sinner may become capa ble of the deliverance, he teaches him his misery, that he may hum ble him, and he reveals to him the deliverance, in his Son. Th Holy Spirit, who is sent by Jesus "convinceth the world of sin, an of righteousness," John xvi. 8. For "they who are whole need nede a physician, but they who are sick and the Deliverer came not call the righteous, but sinners to repentance," Matt. ix. 12, 13.

This the instructor also teacheth us, when he speaks in his secon part concerning the deliverance of man, for which he had prepare him in his first part, by teaching him his misery. The catechist instructs us in three things with respect to the deliverance: (1) tk conditions which are required to the deliverance, Question 12-13 (2) The person who delivers, Question 18, 19. (3) The manner which we become partakers of him by faith, Lord's day vii.-xxIn this Lord's day we see,

I. That a satisfaction to the justice of God is necessary, in oret that we may be delivered, Question 12.

II. By whom the satisfaction cannot, and by whom it can be ma Questions 13, 14, 15.

I. The instructor saith that a satisfaction to the justice of God necessary, in order to our deliverance. The sinner hath by his s deserved, according to the righteous judgment of God, tempe and eternal punishment. Therefore it belongs to his deliveran

(a)" that he should escape from that punishment" by a forgiveness of his sins, whereby he is discharged from his guilt, so that God is no more wroth with him, nor rebukes him, and there is no condemnation to him. In this manner doth the apostle describe the deliverance, saying, "We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins," Eph. i. 7. (b) “That he should be again received into favour," whereby he is restored to the kindness and love of God, and obtains grace and glory. The same apostle teacheth us this, when he saith, "The Holy Ghost is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession,” Eph. i. 14.

Concerning, and with respect to such a deliverance, a distressed sinner, whom the catechism introduceth here as speaking, asks, Whether there be any way to obtain a deliverance? For in this manDer is the elect sinner affected, when God disposes him for a deliv erance: for (a) he is convinced of his abominable temper and conduct; he sees that he is guilty in the highest degree, according to the righteous judgment of God, and that not only with a bare contemplation, and with his judgment, but so that he lays it to heart: he sees with shame and aversion from himself his horrible deformity; this distresses and afflicts him, so that he cries out, "Wo unto me that I have sinned," Lam v. 16. With Ephraim "he bemoans himself, repents, is instructed, smites upon his thigh, is ashamed, yea, even confounded," Jer. xxxi. 18, 19. (b) He is also desirous to be delivered; as he is at first exceedingly dark and confused, and doth not rightly know the true way to escape punishment, and to be again received into favour, therefore he begins to exert himself, in order that he may do all that he can devise, and that his confused apprehensions suggest, as conducive to his deliverance: one while he resolves that he will not sin any more, and then that he will serve God better but he cannot advance, the power of his corruptions forces him repeatedly out of his way, and when he expects enlargement under his distress, he is afflicted still more than he was before, because he sees by experience that matters become worse with him instead of better. What shall he do? he will pray most earnestly to God, that he would be gracious to him: but as soon as he begins, he finds his access unto God so barred up, that he cannot approach to him, and he becomes so confused that he cannot utter in an orderly manner a single sentence, capable of moving God. He begins anew, but it doth not avail; this disturbs and perplexes him so, that he is ready to despair of himself, and of all that he doth, and " he saith, There is no hope; for he doth not find the life of his hand, and he is grieved," Isaiah Ivii. 10. Yea, he is afraid that there is ne