_._ . S6 SERMONS. upan Sum, id, a. He is to be look'd upon as the offended Party. All Sin is againft God ; Pfah 51. 4. 4'04 thee, thee only have I finned, and done this Evil in thy fight : He had offended 2Jriah, abufed Bathflieba 5 the injury was againft them, but the Sin againft God, again(: thee, thee only. This may be referred to all the Perlons, but it chiefly concernedr, the Brft Perlon, to whom we direlt our Prayers, and who is the Maker of the Law. Chrift the Ceeoud Perlon, fatisfied for the breach of it, It is againfi thee, thee only. Now this is our Comfort, that our Guilt and Sin was not caft on Chriffs Perlon without the Far Cher, without his privity and content ; nay, it is his own Plot and Defign ; it was the Father's Counfel, rather than the Creatures Delire. So that we may quiet our Confciences by that Promu e, Ifa,43.2 5. 1, even I am be that blotteth out thy L- anfgrejfi, ors far my own Names fake. God the Father would have you look to him, As one that bath only to do in this Matter. Sin is á grief to the Spirit, it is a crucifying of Chrift, but in the la(t refult of it, it is an Offence to God the Father, becaufe it is a breach of his Law. God is the Fountain of the Divinity, yea, all that is done to the other Per- fans, redoundeth to the Father,asour Saviour reafoneth ; He that def ifeth see, defpifeth him that feet me. 2. The Father is the highefk Judg. All the Verfons of the Godhead are coeffential, and coequal in Glory and Honour ; only in Oeconomy or Difpenfation of Salvation, the Father is to be look'd upon as Judg and Chief. Man is the Debtor, Chrift the Surety, and the Father the udg, before whole Tribunal the Satisfa &ion is to be made; therefore Chrift faith, My Father it greater than J. And in the whole Work of our Redemption, he is to be confidered as a Superior ; therefore all the Addreffes, not on- ly of the Creatures, but of the Son of God himflf, are to his Father for Pardon, as if it were not in his own fingle.Power ; Luke 23.34. Father, forgive them, they know not what they do : If it paffeth with God the Father, then the Bulïnefs is ended. So, r, John 2. I. Chrift is Paid to be an Advocate with the Father ; a$ Supream in Court, as the Advocate is beneath the Judg. So, 7ohn 14. a6. 1 will pray the Father, and he flail give yen the Comforter ; Pardon, Comfort, and Grace, cometh from the Father. It is true, it is Paid, Mat. 9.6. That the Son of Man bath Power on Earth to forgive Silas 5 but it is by Commiffron from the Father, as we (hall fee anon. Well then, the Father is the Supream Judg, whatever paffeth in his Name, is valid and authoritative. Now it is he that committed the Work of Redemption to Chrift : He is the Supream Judg ; Eli faith, t Sam. a..15. If one Man ftnneth againfi another, the yudg f/iall judg him : but if a Man fin againfi the Lord, who (hall intreat for him ? The meaning is, if one Man path trefpaffed againft another, the Magiftrate may take up the Controverfy, by executing Juftice, and caufing the Delinquent to make Satisfaûion to the Party offend- ed ; but who fhall (fate the Offence, and compote the Differencebetween God and us ? The Sin is committed againft the Judg himfelf, the higheft Judg, from whom there is no Appeal ; no Satisfa &ion can be made by Mortal Men, and no Perlon is fit to arbi- trate the Difference. Therefore God himfelf is pleafed to find out a Remedy ; and in all that the Son. did, he hath a great hand and (croak in it. The Father's Aft is Autho- ritative, and aboveContradi &ion : If he had not given us a Mediator out of his own Bann, we had for ever lain under the guilt and burden of our Sins. This had its rife from the Grace and 'Mercy of the Father. But let us fee what the Father doth in the Bulnels of our Redemption, that we may with comfort look upon Chrift as a conftituted authorifed Mediator, by the Decree and . Counlèl of Heaven. r. As the Supream Author, it was the Father's Contrivance and Motion to Chrift, to regard the Cafe of Sinners. I look, and there is no Interceffor, i fee there is none tit to go between .fallen:Man and me ; Son ! you (hall take their Cale in Hand. And therefore he is laid to give Chrift ; John 3.16. God fo loved the World, that he gave his only hegotten Son. In the purpole of his Thoughts, to fend Chrift 5 Gal. 4.4. When the fe /nets of theTime etas come, God feet forth his Son, made of a Woman. I (hall open it in the next Verle, To fan&ify him, john to. 36.. Say ye of him whom the Fa- ther bath fonUified, and feet into the World ? &c. to conlecraté him for the great Work of Redemption ; as when a thing is let apart for Divine Ufes and Purpoles, it is laid to. be lan&ified ; fo was Chrift fan/tified, when he was let apart for the Work of Re- demption. Nay, to teal him, Sohn 6. 37. Him bath God the Father fealed ; a Meta- phor taken from thole who give Commitiions under Hand and Seal. Quiff is a Media- tor, confirmed and allowed under the Broad Seal of Heaven. So, lieb, ro. 5. A Body ¿'41 thou prepared forme. And, Vert y. Le, I come, in the Voltrme of the &kit is written
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