SERMON XLIV. 25 him. What rich and condescending love is this ! By the same word and the same Spirit, by which he created the heavens and the earth, does he transact the grand and important affair of peace and reconciliation with his guilty creatures. Flow divinely glorious is this doctrine of the blessed Trinity ! And what an- astonishing favour is it, thatthe sacred Three should join in the work of our salvàtion ! H. How happily is the gospel suited to the recovery of fal- len man, by supplying all his wants in a most divine manner ? Is the great God offended by the in of man ? Behold, he takes upon him in the gospel, the name and title of a Father, to inviteperishing rebels to return to his mercy, and he employs his Son and his Spirit, to give sinners a near access to himself. Are we guilty criminals, condemned rebels, and afar off from God ? Behold, the Son of God himself, who is one with the Father, takes flesh and blood upon him, and so far becomes one of us, that he may sustain the punishment of our iniquities, and mediate a peace between God and sinners : and this he does by bis powerful intercession, in the virtue of his bloody sacrifice. Is our nature corrupted by sin ? Are we grown strangers and enemies to God by our continued rebellions ? Behold the blessed. Spirit of God comes into our hearts: His almighty operations can enlighten our dark minds, bend our obstinate wills, change our corrupted affections, and make us willing to return to God in his own way, and to accept the reconci- liation. He sends his own Spirit, to create us anew in his own image, and make us fit for his servicè and his enjoyment. We -are, by nature, children of Satan, and children of wrath ; the great God becoides a Father to us : Weare condem- ned, and the Son of God, dwelling in the flesh, becomes a Reconciler : We areunholy, and the Spirit of God becomes our Sanctifier. We have destroyed ourselves beyond all possibility of created help, and God himself becomes our Saviour, and he will be seen in every part of our salvation, a divine Father, a divine Reconciler, and a divine Sanctifier. III. How well has the blessed God provided for love and union amongst all his true worshippers ! He has left them no just ground to contend and quarrel, or break themselves into little angry parties, for he has now appointed but one religion for them all, one general method of access to him. He has ordained but one Mediator, Jesus Christ, and has appointed one Spirit, to draw their hearts near to himself. A glorious religion indeed, that unites Jews and Gentiles, and mankind of all nations, to the great and blessed God ! And what a disgrace is it to this religion, that we should not be more united to one another ! We are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the
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