ESSAY Y. I65 at his right-hand to be an intercessor for sinful man there, in the virtue of his sacrifice, and to be the head of vital influence to men, to work repentance andholiness in their hearts, as well as to be u prince, or Lord and Saviour, to bestowforgiveness of sins; Acts ii. 32, 33. God gave him also power to rule and govern all things for the good' of his people, and ordained him to be judge of the world at the great day. And all this was designed of' God, that his Soq, Jesus the Mediator, might answer every ne- cessity, and be able to supply every want of sinful man, in order to his complete salvation.. Now in correspondence with these counsels of God the Father, in order to bring fallen man near to' himself, sinners must believe the truth and certainty of God's appointment, that they all 11 not come to him again without a Mediator ; and they must have a certain and well settled per- suasion of this divine constitution. It is granted that therebave been some such thoughts among mankind, in all ages : They have had some notion of coming to God by a Mediator, from an awful sense of the majesty and holi- ness -of God, and of their own vileness and unworthiness, and their desert of his displeasure because of sin. So Job, whenhe had described his own sinfulness, in the sight of a pure and holy God, chapter ix. verses 30, 31. he adds., God is not .a man as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment ; neither is there any Days-man betwixt us, that might lay his handupon both ; forJob had not a clear light at this time of the great Mediator who was appointed, though it is plain he saw that he wanted one. So again the Israelites at mount Sinai, when they saw God in his terrible appearancesof thunder and lightning,.and á voice came from the fire, they said, Let not God speak to us lest we die, but let Moses speak to us and we will hear: Exod. xx. 10, they declare they wanted a Mediator. The heathens had theirlower deities who were supposed évea by the philosophers, to be me- diators between them and the supreme God. Besides GodTran- sacts his great affairs with mankind, oftentimes according to the language, customs, and mannersof men. Now it is the natural and common way of offenders, against a superior, to get some mediator to speak for them, and bring them into favour again. Mankind also, in order to this reéonciliation, must have some knowledge of this Mediator : They must be acquainted with the most important articles which God has revealed concerning this great Mediator Christ Jesus. We arecalled to behold him and to survey him in theglory of his personal excellencies, in his original fitness for this work of a reconciler, and in the several offices which God has commis- sioned him to sustain, as just before described. We must be made to see the blessed Jesus in the riches of his grace, and his L 3
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