and mistake either part of it for the whole, we pervert and deprave it, and instead of what it is, viz. a most wise and powerful inducement to piety and virtue, render it an inevitable temptation either to despair or presumption, both which are equally and utterly inconsistent with a holy and Christian life.

But if we consider this doctrine in its full extent, as it takes in both parts of Christ's mediation, it enforces our duty upon us with the most necessary and powerful obligations: for it addresses itself to every passion in us that is capable of being moved and persuaded, and at once proposes to our hope and fear, which are the most vigorous principles of action, the most encouraging and dreadful considerations. For since his office obliges him to act for God and men together, we may depend upon it, that through the whole course of his mediation he will be most just and impartial to both: and that as on the one hand he will not so act for his Father's authority, as to neglect our safety and welfare; so neither on the other will he so concern himself for our safety and welfare, as to expose his Father's authority and if he proceed with this exact equality between the parties he acts for, we have all the reason in the world to conclude, that, if we submit ourselves to God, we shall be graciously received and rewarded; but that if we persist in our rebellion against him, we shall be most severely punished.

For, in the first place, his being concerned for us as well as for God gives us the most ample security, that if we will submit to his Father's authority, which he stands engaged to secure or vindicate, he will have a most zealous regard to us and our concerns, and be as mindful of our interest as if it were

of

us.

his own. For in undertaking to be our advocate, he assumed our persons, and took our affairs into his own hands, so that now he is another ourselves, and stands obliged to act for us with as much care and concern as if our persons and interests were his; and therefore we may depend upon it, that he will act as much for our advantage as we ourselves could do if we were in his place, and had the same power and interest with his Father that he hath; and that if we were sitting in his room at the right hand of God, and there interceding for ourselves, we could not justly wish for or desire more or greater instances grace and favour, than he will ask and obtain for And what greater encouragement can we have to return to our duty, than this very consideration, that all our concerns with our offended God are deposited in the hands of a most faithful Mediator, who, upon our return, will concern himself as zealously for our good as for his Father's authority, and solicit our cause in the court of heaven as industriously as we ourselves could do, if we were admitted to be our own advocates? But then, in the second place, his being concerned for his Father's authority as well as for our interest gives us as full assurance, on the other hand, that he is no less obliged by his office to reduce us to our duty to his Father, or avenge him upon us for our disobedience, than he is to restore us to his grace and favour; and if he should so attempt the latter as to be any way deficient in the former, he would not perform the part of a just mediator, which consists in acting impartially for both parties: for should he favour our interest beyond his Father's authority, he would be so far partial to us against his Father. Now, though

he loves us so well as to sacrifice his life for us on earth, and in the virtue of that sacrifice to appear our advocate in heaven, yet we can never be so fond, sure, as to imagine that he loves us better than his own Father; and if he doth not, we may build upon it, that he is as zealously concerned to assert his authority, as to prosecute our interest; and to provide that he be obeyed or avenged, as that we be pardoned and rewarded: but for us to rely upon Christ as mediating for us, without submitting to him as mediating for God, is in effect to hope that he will be so exceeding gracious to us, as to betray his Father's trust for our sake, and sacrifice his authority to our safety. For should he take our part with God, and solicit him to favour us while we persist in our rebellion against him, he would in effect abandon the cause and interest of God's government, and endeavour all that in him lay to expose his authority to the scorn and contempt of mankind. therefore we obstinately refuse to hearken to him in his mediation for God, that is, to submit to his laws, and return to our duty and allegiance, he will be so far from interceding for us in the virtue of his meritorious sacrifice, that he will appear against us as an incensed judge in the quarrel of his Father's authority, and dearly revenge upon our guilty heads all those shameless affronts and indignities we have offered it; and by making us everlasting monuments of his vengeance, convince us by woful experience, that he is no less a just mediator for God, than a merciful mediator for man. So that by resolving to persist in our rebellion against God, we do in effect renounce the mediation of our Saviour, and proclaim before God and angels, that we will not be beholden

Whilst

to the one and only Advocate of sinners. And when we have flung ourselves out of this protection, Lord! whither shall we go for sanctuary from thy vengeance? When there is but this one Mediator, and he hath discarded me, O my wretched soul, whither wilt thou betake thyself? Call now and see, if there be any will hear thee; to which of all the saints or angels wilt thou turn thee? What favourite of heaven will plead thy cause, when the only Advocate of souls hath rejected thee? For if he who is my only Mediator be incensed against me, who shall mediate between me and him? When God alone was angry with me there was some hope, because my Saviour stands as a living screen between me and his displeasure, to guard and defend me from it; but when that is kindled against me too, what is there to interpose between me and the devouring flame? Be wise therefore, O ye sinners, be instructed, ye obstinate rebels against God; kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way; for if his wrath be kindled but a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in him, but wo be them that provoke him.

Thus the mediation of Christ addresses to our fear as well as hope, in order to the subduing us to the will of God, and presses at once upon both these great avenues of our souls with the most irresistible motives.

III. That this his mediation proceeds upon certain terms and stipulations between God and men, which he obtained of God for us, and in his name hath published and tendered to us: for when mankind, by reason of the degeneracy of human nature, were cut off from all immediate intercourse with God,

and this most wise and holy method of conversing with us by a mediator was resolved on by the divine counsel, God, in consideration of what our Mediator had engaged himself to suffer for us in the fulness of time, granted to him in our behalf a most gracious and merciful covenant, whereby he engaged himself to bestow his Spirit upon us, to enable us to repent and return to him, upon condition that we should seek it, and cooperate with it; to pardon all our past sins, upon condition that we should unfeignedly repent of them; and to crown us with eternal life, upon condition we should persevere to the end in well-doing. This is the substance of that gracious covenant which God hath granted to us for the sake of our Mediator; who hath accordingly assured us from God, that he will give his holy Spirit unto them that ask, Luke xi. 13. That if we will repent and be converted, our sins shall be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, Acts iii. 19. And that if we will be faithful to the death, we shall receive a crown of life, Rev. ii. 10. And upon this covenant it is that our blessed Saviour proceeds in his mediation between God and men. For our baptismal vow is nothing else but only a solemn engagement of ourselves to perform the condition of this covenant, upon which there results to us a conditional right to all that God hath promised in it: and when by this federal solemnity of baptism God and we have once obliged ourselves to each other, by mutual promises and engagements, Christ's office, as mediator between us, is to solicit on both sides for mutual performances; and accordingly in mediating for God with us, he requires nothing of