at his right-hand to be an intercessor for sinful man there, in the virtue of his sacrifice, and to be the head of vital influence to men, to work repentance and holiness in their hearts, as well as to be a prince, or Lord and Saviour, to bestow forgiveness of sins; Acts ii. 32, 33. God gave him also power to rule and govern all things for the good of his people, and ordained him to be judge of the world at the great day. And all this was designed of God, that his Son, Jesus the Mediator, might answer every necessity, and be able to supply every want of sinful man, in order to his complete salvation. Now in correspondence with these counsels of God the Father, in order to bring faileu man near to himself, sinners must believe the truth and certainty of God's appointment, that they sh ll not come to him again without a Mediator; and they must have a certain and well settled persuasion of this divine constitution.

It is granted that there have been some such thoughts among mankind, in all ages: They have had some notion of coming to God by a Mediator, from an awful sense of the majesty and holiness of God, and of their own vileness and unworthiness, and their desert of his displeasure because of sin. So Job, when he had described his own sinfuluess, in the sight of a pure and holy God, chapter ix. verses 30, 31. he adds, God is not a man as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment; neither is there any Days-man betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon both; for Job had not a clear light at this time of the great Mediator who was appointed, though it is plain he saw that he wanted one.

So again the Israelites at mount Sinai, when they saw God in his terrible appearances of thunder and lightning, and a voice came from the fire, they said, Let not God speak to us lest we die, but let Moses speak to us and we will hear: Exod. xx. 19. they declare they wanted a Mediator. The heathens had their lower deities who were supposed even by the philosophers, to be mediators between them and the supreme God. Besides God transacts his great affairs with mankind, oftentimes according to the language, customs, and manners of men. Now it is the natural and common way of offenders, against a superior, to get some mediator to speak for them, and bring them into favour again. Mankind also, in order to this reconciliation, must have some knowledge of this Mediator: They must be acquainted with the most important articles which God has revealed concerning this great Mediator Christ Jesus.

We are called to behold him and to survey him in the glory of his personal excellencies, in his original fitness for this work of a reconciler, and in the several offices which God has commissioned him to sustain, as just before described. We must be made to see the blessed Jesus in the riches of his grace, and his

large and various furniture for this great undertaking: We must believe what God has pronounced concerning him, and from the bottom of our hearts humbly approve of these counsels for our salvation. It must be the language of our hearts in a way of echo to the appointment of God, There is none like him, there is none like Christ, for a reconciler of the offended God and offending man; he is every way a suitable relief to our wants, and all-sufficient to save. We must see him as one that has made full atonement and satisfaction to the justice and majesty of God, for the sins of men by his own sufferings and death*: We must approve of him as our great teacher, and our glorious example; as our high-priest to reconcile us to God by his blood, and to make intercession for us at the mercy-seat in heaven; as one that is able to save to the uttermost, because he lives for ever; Heb. vii. 25. to fulfil all his offices. We must behold him as a Lord and governor appointed to rule over us, and to give us laws, and to defend us from our enemies: We must see him as the most proper person to be our head of vital influence, for the communication of all grace and holiness to us, for the changing of our natures into his Father's image and his own; and as one that is able and willing to take care of us through this world, and bring us safe into the Father's presence at last with exceeding joy. Thus the faith of the sinner echoes to the voice of God concerning Jesus the Saviour, in a way of assent to what God has revealed, and in a way of humble approbation of what God has appointed.

7. The great God foreseeing the obstinacy, corruption and wickedness of the heart of man, well knew that all this preparation to restore mankind to holiness and happiness, might at last be ineffectual, and might all be performed in vain, unless he took one step further; and therefore to secure this salvation to many he gave them into the hands of his Son Jesus Christ, and committed the care of their salvation to him; he gave them to Christ, or entrusted him with the care of them, that he might fulfil his whole commission, and all his various offices, in a most effectual and powerful manner with regard to them; appointing also that this same gospel should be preached to the rest of mankind, and the offers of this salvation should be made to them some way or other, in various seasons, in plainer or darker discoveries thereof.

Though it is not necessary for every person among the fallen race of Adam, to find out the real and eternal necessity of his coming to God by a Mediator, or that such an atonement must needs be made for the sins of men, yet since God saw it most proper to appoint this way, and to ordain his Son Jesus to be this Mediator and this atonement, and to reveal it in so many plain and express declarations of his word, I think it may be readily agreed, that it is our evident duty, now we know this gospel, to approve of this atonement so plainly revealed, and this Mediator, as a most reasonable appointment, and to come near to God by him, even by faith in his blood, if we would find certain acceptance with God.

Therefore though the gospel be sent to be preached to all the world in general, and salvation to be offered them through Jesus Christ, yet we are told often by the evangelist John, of these particular persons whom the Father had given unto Christ, that they might be his, that is, his seed, his subjects, and his willing people.

In conformity to this great act of the Father in committing the souls of men into the hands of Christ, we also having seen him all-sufficient for this work, must commit our souls into his hand, as one able to keep what we commit to him until the last day; 2 Tim. i. 12. We must resign ourselves unto him, as a glorious undertaker for our salvation: We must receive him, or be willing to submit to him, in all his appointed offices of prophet, priest, king, example, head of influence, &c. that we may receive from him every thing that we stand in need of, in order to our being brought home to God in heaven. We must trust in him as a Prince and Saviour, exalted to give repentance to sinners, and forgiveness of sins. We must trust in him as the great propitiation for our sins, our peace-maker, and the procurer of our pardon; we must live upon him as our head of vital influence, to change our sinful natures, and to work the principles of all grace in us by his Holy Spirit, and to preserve them in opposition to all our corruptions: We must depend on what he hath done and suffered for us, as the ground of our acceptance with God, and we must seek to him to form our natures so far in the likeness of God, as to fit us for happiness in the enjoyment of God for ever. We must commit the important affairs of our souls to him, as one that is able to take care of them, and to carry them safely through all the temptations and dangers of the present life; and we must trust in him to receive our departing spirits at death, to raise our bodies from the dust at the last day, and to make our whole natures completely holy and happy, in the favour and image of God for ever: All this belongs to his commission which he received from the Father.

This is that great act of christian faith, trust, hope or dependance, which we are so often called to perform in the New Testament, which is foretold by the prophets of old, and upon which our salvation is so much represented to depend, in the writings of the evangelists and the apostles.

8. If I were to add any thing to what has been already said, it should be this, viz. that as God the Father has appointed his Son Jesus Christ to be the great and general medium of our restoration and return to his favour, image and happiness, so`he has appointed that in all our particular addresses, and applications to himself, in a way of prayer or trust, thanksgiving or praise, we should make use of the name of his Son Jesus, as the only valuable and worthy foundation for our hope of acceptance;

that so Jesus Christ the Son, as well as the Father, may be honoured and glorified throughout the whole course of our religion in our way to heaven.

And since this is the constant design, and the express appointment of the Father, it is necessary that we comply therewith, in all our addresses to God: We must come unto the Father by him in every part of worship: By him we must believe, or trust in God; we must pray to the Father in his name, we must ask forgiveness of our sins for his sake: It is by him we must offer up our sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise; Heb. xiii. 15. and by him we must present all our services of obedience, and whatsoever we do in word or deed, must be all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Col. iii. 17. that we may be accepted of the Father, and that the Father may be glorified in his Son.

This is the appointment of the blessed God, and this must be our practice till we come to the fulness of this salvation in heaven, where we shall dwell for ever in the presence of God, and where we shall join with all the holy and happy tribes of mankind, of every age and nation, in ascribing blessing, and honour, and glory, and praise, to him that sits upon the throne, as our reconciled God, and to the Lamb for ever, as our glorious and successful Mediator. Amen.

ESSAY VI.

A View of the Manifold Salvation of Man by Jesus Christ, represented in Order to Reconcile Christians of Different

Sentiments.

INTRODUCTION.

MANKIND by nature lies under the ruins of the fall, both as guilty and as sinful. We are guilty in our persons, and exposed to the divine anger, as well as sinful in our natures, and ever ready to break his holy law. Whosoever therefore becomes our complete Saviour must relieve us under both these distresses.

As we are guilty in the sight of God, we are condemned in the court of his law and justice, we are liable to bear the punishment due to our sins, and we have lost all pretence of right to the favour of God and eternal life. Now our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, who has undertaken the work of our salvation, is an all-sufficient Saviour in every respect; by his obedience, death and intercession, he relieves us from the guilt of sin, and so delivers us from all obligations to the punishments of hell: He reconciles us to God, and gives us a right to life and salvation in the heavenly world.

As we are sinful creatures we are ever ready to offend God afresh, and are utterly unfit for his heavenly presence: And Christ saves us in this respect, by changing our vicious nature and temper, sanctifying us by his grace or holy Spirit, so that we may be prepared for the enjoyment of God in heavenly places.

In these two things the substance of our salvation chiefly consists: And since these divine affairs could not be so well understood by us, according to those sublime ideas by which God the Father and his Son transact them in their eternal counsels and their subsequent dispensations, therefore God has been pleased to reveal them to us under such ideas or representations, and in such forms of language, as are borrowed from our common affairs in human life: and that not only by one figure or emblem, but by many representations thereof, that we might view them on all sides, and have a fuller knowledge of them, so far as is sufficient for our present state, or necessary to our salvation.

SECT. I.-The Characters of Christ as our Deliverer from the Sinfulness of our Natures.

First, Let us take a very brief survey of this matter, as our