are assured our future Judge will use at the last day, should not pass unnoticed in this argument. As the happiness of heaven is represented under the idea, of "entering into his joy," and "beholding his glory:"* so the misery of the wicked is spoken of, as a banishment from his presence, and the endurance of his wrath. He will not say "Depart from God," but "Depart from me:"† and in a figurative description of the great consternation of his enemies, in which is an evident reference to the day of judgment, they are introduced as calling on the rocks and mountains "to "hide them from the wrath of the Lamb; for the day "of his great wrath is come, and who is able to abide “ it?”‡ If then, we believe that he shall come to be ⚫ our Judge,' it must be of the greatest importance, that we know who he is by whom our eternal state is to be decided. For surely it will be very dreadful for those to meet him arrayed in glorious majesty, who, during their whole lives, refused him the honour he demanded, treated his declarations of his personal dig. nity as false or unmeaning, and continually uttered hard speeches against him! The season of his coming will be emphatically "the day of God;" and it behoves every one of us to "prepare to meet our "God," that we "may be found of him in peace, "without spot and blameless."

But to all these scriptural demonstrations of the truth and importance of this essential doctrine, some

* Matt. xxv. 21. John xvii. 24. Matt. xxv. 41. 2 Thess. i. 9, 10. Jude 14, 15. Rev. i. 7.

Rev. vi. 16, 17.

2 Pet. iii. 12-14.

objections are opposed, which are considered as insurmountable. A few of these shall here be very brief ly noticed. It is objected, that the Deity of Christ is inconsistent with the unity of God; or that it is ir rational, unintelligible, and contradictory. But doubt. less something more than confident assertion is requisite to prove the doctrine of the Trinity to be inconsistent with the divine Unity. The apostle speaks of the body, soul, and spirit, as constituting the same individual man; (though some perhaps may object to his language.) If then a man may be three in one respect, and one in another; do we know so much of God, as to assert it is impossible that somewhat similar, but far superior, and more entire both in the distinction and in the unity, should take place in his incomprehensible nature? And ought not men to speak more reverently and cautiously on a subject, about which we know nothing more than what God himself has taught us; especially as a great deal is spoken of in Scripture, which so strongly appears to have this meaning, that the bulk of Christians in every age have thus understood it? We do not say, that the Deity is Three and One, in the same sense; nor do we pretend to explain or comprehend how God subsists in three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: but we should humbly believe his testimony concerning himself, and adore his incomprehensible majesty.

One would scarcely have expected, that this doctrine should have been objected to because it is mysterious; when the apostle expressly calls it the GREAT MYSTERY OF GODLINESS! But indeed, till we can comprehend ourselves, it is absurd to object to mys

teries in those things which relate to the infinite God. The power of mind over matter is mysterious in the highest degree; yet we must deny our own existence, as well as that of God, if we do not admit it; for our will moves our tongues and limbs continually, yet we know not how. Mysteries, which philosophy can never explain, are found in the production of every plant and animal. The style of God in all his works is mystery; and shall we suppose that his own nature is not above all mysterious? Experiment is indeed the proper standard of our discoveries of the powers of nature: but in our enquiries concerning the Creator and his incomprehensible essence, we must be satisfied with his testimony. Beyond this we cannot go: here we can make no experiment: nay, the subject baffles all our investigation. For "can we by searching find "out God? can we find out the Almighty to perfec"tion?"-If men object the inferiority of Christ to the Father, as Man and Mediator; or his "growth in "wisdom and stature;" we answer that those passages, which ascribe omniscience and other divine fections to him, demonstrate that he had another nature, in union with that true humanity of which such things are spoken. And "his delivering up the king"dom to God, even the Father,"* which has sometimes been objected to the doctrine of his Deity, only establishes the distinction between the absolute and everlasting kingdom of God, as Creator; and the mediatorial kingdom of Christ, as the Divine Saviour of sinners. The absolute kingdom existed before sin

per

* 1 Cor. xv. 24-28.

entered, and will exist for ever, after the mediatorial kingdom shall have answered its grand design, and shall have come to an end: but the Son will be one with the Father to eternity, as he was in the beginning, before time was, or creation had taken place.

If any person should be convinced, by these plain arguments, of the truth and importance of this doctrine, I would conclude with warning him not to rest in the notion of it: but to apply it practically, by rely ing on Emmanuel for all things belonging to salvation, and by rendering him that love, and honour, and worship, and obedience, which are due to his Name. The truth held in unrighteousness can only increase a man's condemnation; but they who deem it the life of their souls should endeavour to adorn it, and promote the knowledge of it by all suitable means; remembering that" the servant of the Lord must not

strive, but be gentle to all men, apt to teach, patient, "in meekness instructing those that oppose them"selves; if God peradventure will give them repen"tance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of "the Devil, who are taken captive by him at his "will."*

2 Tim. ii. 24-26.

ESSAY VIII.

On the nature and design of the Mediatorial Office, sustained by the Lord Jesus Christ.

THE mediation of Christ, between a holy God and sinful men, has an immediate connexion with every part of that religion which bears his name: and all, who call themselves Christians, should, with the greatest care and diligence, seek an accurate and adequate knowledge of this interesting subject, as far as they can deduce it from the sacred Scriptures. It is therefore intended in this Essay to make some observations on mediation in general;-to explain the nature and ends of our Lord's mediation in particular;-to show in what respects he, and none else, was qualified to sustain such an office;-and to prove from Scripture, that he is a Mediator, according to the import of that term as here explained.

The interposition of a mediator in the affairs of men implies, that some difference, or ground of differ ence, subsists between the two parties: it supposes, that, at least, one of them has cause of complaint cr resentment against the other; and that consequences, injurious to one or both of them, or to those connected with them, may be apprehended, if the controversy