Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. " Heb. ix. 15.

in.

5. Our Lord's mediation, as it respects sinners, is by instruction, and by power. By his obedience unto death, the controversy on God's part is removed, sin, the cause of it, being expiated, and an everlasting righteousness for the justification of the church brought "He has made peace by the blood of his cross. But to complete the work of mediation the offenders must be reclaimed, and brought to a dutiful submission to the law and government of God. This our Lord accomplishes by his instruction as a prophet, and by his power as a king.

6. These remarks serve to show that our Lord's general office as mediator, necessarily includes the particular offices of prophet, priest, and king. Sin had separated between us and God; and sin could only be expiated by sacrifice-hence the necessity of his priesthood. We are alienated from the life of God, by the ignorance that is in us, because of the blindness of our hearts-hence the necessity of his

prophetical office. We are under bondage to sin, Satan, and the present evil world, and not only captives, but also willing captives-and hence the necessity of his kingly office. Thus his official character is complete, as it is commensurate to the utmost extent of our miseries and wants.

7. We shall only add here, that our Lord is the one mediator, to the exclusion of all others. He has no partner with him in this arduous work; and as he is alone in the work of mediation, so to him, and to him alone, the glory of it is due. "He builds the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory." "There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."

SECTION II.

THE MEDIATOR GOD AND MAN IN ONE PERSON.

WHEN we assert, that the Mediator is God and man in one person, we are not to be understood to mean that his incarnate state was necessary to his appointment to the office; for his appointment was from everlasting. Nor is it to be understood that he was incapable of

mediatory acts till he became incarnate; for he entered upon his work immediately after the fall. But what is meant is, that all his mediatory acts supposed his future incarnation; and that the actual assumption of our nature was absolutely necessary to the full discharge of his work.

1. Our Lord subsisted in Godhead, not only as a distinct, but as a divine person, before he assumed our nature. This appears from the personal properties and personal acts. ascribed to him before he became incarnate. He was a distinct person with the Father before he became man. "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go to the Father." John xvi. 28.

2. This divine person who was in the form of God, actually assumed our nature into union with his divine person. He "was made flesh, and dwelt among us. John i. 14. He was "manifest in the flesh." 1 Tim. iii. 16. The nature he assumed was our nature; not a nature simply like ours.

3. This union did not change our Lord's personal identity. His person was one before he became incarnate, and it continued to be

one after he was manifest in flesh.

The Son given, and the child born, are one person. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon HIS shoulder, and His name name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah ix. 6.

4. Though this is an intimate union, yet the two natures are not confounded, nor their properties mixed. When the Son of God was manifested in flesh, his divine nature did not become finite, neither did his human nature become infinite. They, continued to retain their distinct properties or attributes. They have distinct understandings, and distinct wills, though their operations are always in unison. Thus, though, as God, he knew all things, yet, as man, he is said not to have known the day of judgment. John xxi. 17. Matt. xxiv. 36.

5. By virtue of this union, the divine and human natures in the person of Christ came to have communion with each other in personal relations, and personal agency. Our Lord was naturally and necessarily the Son of God, previous to his assumption of our nature.

His sonship is not founded, as some have supposed, upon his incarnation, or upon his mission. He was the Son of God before he was sent into our world, and before he was conceived in the womb of the virgin. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son," &c. John iii. 16. "God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law," &c. Gal. iv. 4. But his sonship is predicated of his human nature; because, in consequence of his assuming that nature into union with his divine person, it came to have communion with him in his divine sonship. "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore, also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Luke i. 35.

SECTION III.

THE PROPHETICAL OFFICE OF CHRIST.

THE term prophet in Scripture sometimes denotes one who is employed by God to foretell future events. In another sense it signifies one who is employed to reveal the will