279 / 674
SEAM.
'CLINT.]
AND
TOE
VSE OP
Tr.
.
259
this
is
sufficiently
implied
in
verse
4.
"
He
is
rich in
mercy, and has loved
us
with
great
love."
3.
He
has
appointed
his own
beloved
Son,
Jesus
Christ,
to
be
the
Reconciler.
We
are
utterly unworthy
of
his
favour or
love
;
nor
will
a
holy
God
suffer
guilty
creatures to
come
near
him,
without
a
proper
and ho-
nourable
Mediator;
and since
we
could
not
provide
our-
selves
of such a
friend, he has
appointed
his
own
Son
to
that
office.
"
God
has
set
him
forth
to be
a
propi-
tiation,"
4.
He
makes
us willing
to be
reconciled
:
He
saves
us
by
free grace, and
when he
has
ordained
faith
to
be
the
way
of
our
return
to
him,
he works
that
faith in us
by his
own Spirit.
Verse
8.
"
By
grace
ye
are
saved
through
faith,
and
that not of
yourselves,
it
is
the gift
of
God."
Let
us
consider
now,
what are
our
duties,
according to
this
representation
of
the character,
which
God
the
Fa-
ther
sustains here. From all these things
it
plainly fol-
lows,
that,
in
our
religious
transactions, we are emi-
nently to
look to
God
the
Father,
as
the person
who
is
our
original
Maker, Lord, and
;
whose laws
we
have broken, whose
anger
we
have
incurred, and
from
whom
we
have
separated
ourselves
by
sin: We
are
to
seek
peace
with
him,
and reconciliation
to
him.
We
must return
to
him
as
our
rightful
Lord,
and address
ourselves
to him,
by
humble repentance,
as
sitting on
the throne
of
Majesty, and
vindicating
the rights
of
god-
head
:
To
him
we
must
pray,
and apply ourselves,
emi-
nently, to
him
as
the
first
Spring
of
mercy,
the
Author
of
all
grace,
and
ascribe
to him
the glory
of
his
conde-
scending
wisdom
and
love
;
we
must
offer him
our
thanks
and praises,
that
he
is
willing
to
be
reconciled,
that
he has
sent
his Son to
be
the Reconciler, and
ap-
pointed,
a
way
of
reconciliation. This
is
the
general
current of
scripture
language,
both
in
precept
and in
example: and
the chapter, where
my
text
is,
as
well
as
the
whole epistle,
plainly leads
us
to this practice.
II.
We
come
next
to enquire, more particularly, how
Christ, the
Son
of
God,
is
represented
as
the medium,
through
whom
we
have access to the
Father,
for our
re-
conciliation
is
attributed
to
him,
"
he
is
our peace,"
ver.'
s2