into favour, for "God will by no means clear the guilty." Exod. xxxiv. 7. Do you think to harden your hearts against the Lord, and to have peace? God is able to trouble you. See how he dashed in pieces the hardened Israelites: "Therefore," saith he, Hosea xiii. 7, 8, "I will be unto them as a lion; as a leopard by the way will I observe them. I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion; the wild beast shall tear them." Observe how he troubled the proud Belshazzar, "his countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him; the joints of his loins were loosed, and his kness smote one against another " Dan. v. 6. Ye know how Cain fared, when he would conceal his brother-slaughter. Gen iv. 9-13. Judas sought to hide his abominable deed with a kiss; but how did his conscience awake and terrify him, and with what fury did it attack him! Matt. xxvii. 3, 4, 5, 6; do ye hope that ye will not fare so ill, because ye are not the worst sinners; because ye intend to conduct better hereafter than ye have heretofore; because ye must suffer so much at present? Do ye think then with the Papists, that your doings and sufferings will cancel your debt, and merit the grace of God? doth not God require that his justice should be satisfied? and must ye not pay fully, either by yourselves, or by another? Do ye know how to deliver yourselves by a few outward ceremonies, and by suffering a few afflictions, and then "exacting all your labours." Isaiah Iviii. 2, 3. Therefore, "awake ye who sleep, and arise from the dead." Eph. v. 14. "God will punish the men who are settled on their lees." Zeph. i. 12. "Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters, give ear unto my speech. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones; strip ye, make ye bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins." Isaiah xxxii. 9. Or do ye think it is needless for you to be concerned and distressed about your eternal condition? Doth not God then threaten "a wo to those who are at ease in Zion, and careless in the mountains of Samaria?" Amos vi. 1. Is not your misery, your temporal and eternal punishment, which ye have deserved, according to the righteous judgment of God, grievous enough to affect you with the greatest concern? can ye deliver yourselves, and satisfy the justice of God, either by your own sufferings and doings, or by those of another creature will ye not be wholly at a loss here? How will a sinner deny all his own righteousness, and seek the righteousness of another, unless he be perfectly stripped and bare?

Will ye therefore escape punishment, and be again received into

favour (1). Entertain a greater concern about your salvation and damnation than ye have had heretofore. Will ye value and bestir yourselves so for your body. your food and clothing, and neglect from mere listlessness, your noble souls, and be so careless of them? Oh detestable madness! ye will strive to pass with honour through the world, but are unconcerned how it will fare with you, after ye are through the world! How will ye bemoan yourselves, and say when it is too late, "How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof, and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me?" Prov. v. 12, 13. What will ye then have of all these earthly goods, for which ye consume both your bodies and souls in so many difficult occupations?" for what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matt. xvi. 26. Therefore value, and bestir yourselves more for the welfare of your souls, and "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you," Matt. vi. 33 (2) Impress it upon your minds, that all your own doings, as long as ye are not received into favour, will not avail to escape punishment, that ye may look off from them altogether, and may be wholly at a loss and confounded in yourselves. All your own works, how much soever ye bestir yourselves, are but "a vain oblation," Isaiah i. 13. Ye must be first received into favour through the perfect satisfaction of another, if what ye do shall be acceptable to God. "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight," Prov. xv. 8. "The Lord had respect first to Abel and then to his offering; but when he hath no respect unto Cain, he is not pleased with his offering neither," Gen. iv. 3, 4, 5. (3) Is there any one among us, who is thoroughly anxious, and desirous of escaping the punishment, which he hath deserved, and of being again received into favour, and doth he cry out with the gaoler, "What shall I do to be saved?" Acts xvi. 30, let him know, that God hath demanded the satisfaction at the hands of his Son, and that he hath satisfied the justice of God for our guilt, even to the uttermost farthing, that God proffereth his Son to him, and that he must accept of him upon this offer, and choose him for himself: for "God hath set his Son forth to be a propitiation through faith, in his blood, to declare his righteousness," Rom. iii. 25. See also Isaiah xxvii. 4, 5, and chap. xlv. 22, 24, and what will be said upon the sixth and seventh Lord's day. (4) Believers, who have betaken yourselves to the Mediator and Deliverer, and have denied all, yea, even your best performances and all your outward privileges, and "count

F

ed them but loss and dung, that ye might be found in Christ, and have his righteousness through faith," with Paul, Philip. iii. 4-10, behold your happiness, wonder and rejoice, yea, praise the Lord, that ye have escaped punishment, and are again received into favour, and that through the suffering and obedience of the great Mediator and Deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ. The following Lord's days will urge you to this more particularly. (5) Let all those, who have the care of souls, take heed that they lead sinners in, and according to this sure way to Christ. To comfort sinners in general, while they are unconcerned, and do not mourn, and to apply the promises to them without distinction, and without taking the precious from the vile; or to direct poor and concerned souls only to certain legal ob servances; or to deal harshly with them, and oppose them, this is making the heart of the righteous sad with lies, and strengthening the bands of the wicked, that he should not turn from his wicked way and live;" which God will punish with severity, according to Ezek. xiii. Spiritual guides must endeavour to convince sinners of their guilt, and awaken them to concern, they ought not to comfort them hastily, but should urge them to the Lord our righteousness," that they may escape the deserved punishment, and be again receiv ed into favour. This is the way, in which the instructor leads souls, and he doth it after the example of Paul and his fellow labourers: "We knowing," saith he, 2 Cor. v. 11. "the terrour of the Lord, persuade men" Thus we should deliver our own souls, "save ourselves, and them that hear us," 1 Tim. iv. 16. "We should justify many," afford a well-grounded consolation to souls, their sanctification would be real and evangelical, and "we should shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever.” Amen.

CHRIST REVEALED IN THE GOSPEL.

VI. LORD'S DAY.

Heb. vii. 25-28. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's; for this he did once, when he offered up himself. For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for ever more.

Q. 16. Why must he be very man, and also perfectly righteous ? A. Because the justice of God requires that the same human nature, which hath sinned, should likewise make satisfation for sin; and one who is himself a sinner cannot satisfy for others.

Q. 17. Why must he in one person be also very God?

A. That he might, by the power of his Godhead, sustain in his human nature, the burthen of God's wrath; and might obtain for, and restore to us, righteousness and Ife.

GY

Q. 18. Who then is that mediator, who is in one person both very God, and a real righteous man?

A. Our Lord Jesus Christ, “who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."

Q. 19. Whence knowest thou this?

A. From the holy gospel, which God himself revealed first in Paradise; and afterwards published by the patriarchs and prophets, and was pleased to represent it, by the shadows of sacrifices and the other ceremonies of the law; and lastly, has accomplished it by his only begotten Son.

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the law could not do, in that it was weak through the his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and →ned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law in us." Thus speaks Paul, Rom. viii. 3, 4. The the sinner. God did indeed give the law to marie fall, that they might obtain righteousness and life perfectly, and it would thus have been possible for the

man: “For Moses, describing the righteousness which ***, saith, The man which doth these things shall live by pem Rom. x. 5. But the law cannot do this now, since it is be

w through sin and the flesh; it hath now only a power to se and condemn the sinner, according to the divine threatening,

is every one that continueth not in all things which are - in the book of the law to do them;" and therefore "they na e of the works of the law, are under the curse," Gal. iii. 10, and so "the law worketh wrath," Rom. iv. 15, and declareth that the whole world is guilty before God," Rom. iii. 19. If the sinner shall then be justified, the righteousness of the law must be fulfilled indim by a sufficient satisfaction to the justice of God, expressed in the law; for "Zion must be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness," Isaiah v. 27, and “the Lord of hosts must be exalted in judgment, and God, who is holy, must be sanctified in righteousness," Isaiah v. 16. The demand, which the law of God v makes against the sinner, requiring that he should be punished, cannot be refused, inasmuch as the law contains the sentence of cursing, denounced by God. But who, yea, who is able to satisfy this righteous demand of the law? the sinner himself cannot; for he increaseth his debt daily no other creature can, because he cannot sustain the burthen of God's eternal wrath. If any one shall be worthy and able to do this, he must be very man and righteous, and also God and man in one person, according to what the foregoing Lord's day hath taught us from the word of God, and for which solid reasons are given in this Lord's day, Question 16, 17, and in which it is shown, that the Lord Jesus Christ is such a mediator and deliverer. Question 18, and that this is made known in the gospel, Question 19, that the sinner, being concerned, and desirous of deliverance, may obtain perfect satisfaction and comfort.

There are three particulars in this Lord's day, which require our consideration:

I. Why the mediator must be a real and righteous man and God mone person, Question 16, 17.