: into that state of union with him, which he had in the beginning. Man who was a rebel, and not even a penitent, could not expect to be restored to favour and man who was a sinner, and full of impurity, could not expect to be brought into this union, which could not take place without such a moral change, as it was utterly impossible he should work in himself. 3. This Mediator is particularly characterized as the MAN CHRIST JESUS. GOD, who willed the salvation of this fallen creature, found out a suitable Mediator: for "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." As the Mediator was the person whose business it was to reconcile contending parties, hence SUIDAS explains tourns, mediator, by EignyoToos, a peace-maler. God was justly offended with the crimes of men; to restore them to his peace, JESUS became Mediator. And that CHRIST might appear to be in every sense proper for this office, the Apostle adds, "The Man CHRIST Jesus,” as it was necessary he should be incarnated; and thus he, who was in the form of GoD, took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. But we are not to suppose that the mediatorial office of CHRIST did not begin till after his ascension to heaven. Those appearances under the Patriarchal dispensation, and also under the Mosaic, of a glorious personage, sometimes called the “ Angel of the LORD," the " Angel of the Covenant," and the "Captain of the LORD's hosts," who assumes the name JEHOVAH, and performs acts practicable only by Him whose power is unlimited, and whose judgments are just, have been supposed by the wisest of men to have been appearances of Him "in the likeness of man," who, in the fulness of time, took upon him the form of a man, by being incarnated of the HOLY GHOST, in the womb of the VIRGIN MARY. Had man been left just as he was, when he fell from GOD, he, in all probability, had been utterly unsalvable; as he appears to have lost all his spiritual light and understanding, and even his moral feeling. We have no mean proof of this in his endeavouring to "hide himself," among the trees of the garden, from the presence and eye of Him, whom, previously to his transgression, he knew to be" every where present; " to whose eye the darkness and the light are both alike; and who discerns the most secret thoughts of the heart of man. Add to this, it appears as if he had neither self-abasement, nor contrition; and therefore he charged his crime upon the woman, and indirectly upon Gon; while the woman, on her side, charged her delinquency upon the serpent. As they were, so would have been all their posterity, had not some gracious principle been supernaturally restored to enlighten their minds, to give them some knowledge of good and evil, of right and wrong, of virtue and vice; and thus bring them into a salvable state. Now, the gracious Mediator is expressly said to be that "true light which lightens every man that cometh into the world." (John i. 9.) And it is from this light, that we have conscience: for conscience is neither a principle of light, nor a power of discernment; but a recipient subject, which is capable of receiving light, and transmitting it to the judgment, in order to enable it to form a proper estimate of the moral conduct of its owner. It is precisely to the soul, what the eye is to the body :-the eye is not light, nor a principle of light; nor can it, of itself, discern any thing; but it is a proper recipient of light, without which there is no vision: -as the sun, or in his absence, borrowed or artificial light, shines upon and through the different humours of the eye; so, objects within the range of vision are discerned and as Jesus, the true light, by his SPIRIT, shines upon conscience, so a man is capable of forming a just estimate of his spiritual state. This light is both directive and convicting; and affords to every fallen soul a grand antagonist power by which men may resist evil;-by the proper use of which, those who are brought to God receive more grace;—and for the abuse of which, every man shall be judged in the great day. This light, JESUS, as Mediator, has imparted to all men, in all ages, and in all countries. It is this saving principle that has ever remonstrated against evil, showed man his transgressions, shone upon his guilt, and convinced him of his own helplessness. After his ascension, this Mediator appeared, and ever appears in the presence of God for us: And thus before, and after his incarnation, he was the "one Mediator between GoD and men." As there can be but ONE GOD, So there can be but ONE Mediator. For he who must be Mediator between GoD and man, must partake of both natures. Who else could appear in the presence of God, to negotiate the concerns of a whole world?-We have already seen that JESUS the Mediator has all the essential attributes of that God, of whose glory he is the brightness, and of whose person he is the express image: and his incarnation proves that he was made man : and his manner of life, passion, and death, manifest, that his human nature was precisely the same as that of all other men. Thus we find two distinct persons in one being; for in the man CHRIST JESUS dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. This subject is considered by many pious men to be one of the greatest mysteries of the Christian Religion; which should be adored and implicitly received, but is no subject for rational investigation. On such subjects as these, we, perhaps, concede too much to those, who, pretending to believe nothing but what they can rationally account for, in fact, believe nothing at all. Every attribute of God may be, in some sense, a subject for reason. Reason can even look into his eternity; and, when comparing that with all the characteristics and affections VOL. III. Third Series. SEPTEMBER, 1824. 3 B of time, can at once conceive that it had no beginning, can have no end, and is, in all considerations, illimitable and incomprehensible. And he who inhabiteth eternity, must be necessarily, without beginning of days, and end of time, infinite, unlimited, independent, and self-existent. Thus far reason can acquire a satisfactory view of eternity, by comparing it with time. Time is duration, which had a beginning, and will have an end. Eternity is duration, but differs from time, as being without beginning and without end. Reason, in reference to the Incarnation, can at least proceed thus:-I have an immortal spirit; it dwells in and actuates my mortal body. As, then, my soul can dwell in my body, so conld the DEITY dwell in the man CHRIST JESUS. He who can believe that ISAIAH, or any of the Prophets, spoke by inspiration, i. e., "as they were moved by the HOLY GHOST," must believe the possibility of the incarnation of CHRIST. And he who can believe it possible, that CHRIST can dwell in the hearts of his followers, can as easily believe that the Messiah or Logos, which was in the beginning with GoD, "was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth." (John i. 14.) Reason says, if the one was possible, so is the other and as one is fact, so may the other be also. The possibility of the thing is evident. God says, the fact has taken place; that, therefore, which faith saw before to be possible and probable, it sees now to be certain; for Gon's testimony added, puts all doubts to flight. The LORD JESUS, the Almighty's fellow, was incarnated of the HOLY GHOST, and was made man and by being GoD and man, was every way qualified to be Mediator "between GoD and men," as the text declares him to be. GoD and man met in the same person of Jesus CHRIST and GOD was in this CHRIST reconciling the world to himself. In both these cases, reason, without going out of its propet province, by meddling with things inconceivable, may arrive at such unimpeachable evidence as may satisfy honest inquiry, and silence doubt. : Some of the ancients appear to have thought that the word ardewños, man, in the last clause of the verse, was a needless repetition; and therefore read the verse thus: "There is one Mediator between God and man, CHRIST JESUS." But, that the term is here repeated with manifest design, and that it not only strengthens, but explains the sense, will be evident when the 5th verse is considered. CHRIST JESUS, who was from the beginning, who appeared to the Patriarchs, and who spake by the Prophets, really became man, that he might be qualified to redeem man. Man must always mediate between man and man. Angels would be utterly incapable of such an office, as they could not enter into the feelings, because destitute of the sympathies of human beings. Hence they have never been em ployed in this work, nor are they employed in preaching the Gospel, for the very same reason. They cannot apprehend as men, they cannot feel as men; therefore they would be inappropriate, and, even the highest of them, useless Preachers, GOD, therefore, preaches to man by man: and when JESUS undertook to save men, he took upon him the nature of man. He had also the true nature of God: and as he could, in consequence, properly estimate the requisitions of divine justice, and feel to the uttermost that the Law was holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good; so, in becoming man, he could feel for the miseries of his brethren and thus stand a proper, and in every way a duly qualified Mediator between God and man;-of GOD, to represent his justice to the sinner; of man, to represent his miseries to the divine mercy. 4. What he did as Mediator, in order to save man, is another principle in the system of revealed Truth: "He gave himself a ransom for all." His Incarnation might by some have been supposed sufficient to answer all the purposes of reconciling men to God. "Could it be supposed that the good and benevolent God would look on those with indifference, who were represented by so august a person ;-one who shared their nature, who assumed it for the very purpose of recom mending them to God, who, while he felt the sympathies and charities of humanity, was equally concerned for the honour and justice of God, and who, from the perfection of his nature, could feel no partialities, nor maintain, nor advocate the interests of one, against the honour of the other?"-I believe the reason of man could not have gone further than this. And had revelation stopped here, reason would have thought that the Incarnation was sufficient; and that even divine justice could not have withheld any favour from such an intercessor. Even this would have appeared a noble expedient, worthy of the benevolence of God; and a sufficient reason why he should receive into his favour the beings who were united to Him, who, from eternity, lay in his bosom, and in whom he ever delighted. But God's ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts. Had man never sinned, and needed only to be recommended to the divine notice, in order to receive favours, or even to obtain eternal life, this might have been sufficient. But when he had sinned, and become a rebel and trailor against his Maker and Sovereign, the case was widely different: Atonement for the offence was indispensably requisite, in default of which, the penalty (fully known to him previously to the offence) must be exacted. "In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die;" for "the soul that sinneth, it shall die." On this account, the Incarnation alone could not be sufficient: nor did it take place in reference to this, but in reference to his bearing the penalty due to man for his transgression; for, without being incarnated, he could not have suffered, nor died. Hence the text adds, "Who gave himself a ransom for all: " that is, who suffered death upon the cross for the redemption of the world. "The word ransom in our language is the same as redemption, or the sum paid for the redemption of a captive, and is used in law for the redemption of a capital punishment, due by law to any offence: (HORNE, lib. iii. 1. De amerciament taxable :) and hence the etymology of the word ransom; French, rançon, from rende somme,— render, or give the sum; i. e. what the law requires for the offence committed. : The word Avrgov, from Avw, to loose, or to pay a price, has, in Greek, nearly the same meaning,—the sum of money required to be paid for the redemption of a captive, and thus to loose or dissolve the obligation the person was under to serve or to be punished. But the word AYTAUTgov, used here by the Apostle, signifies properly a corresponding price, or ransom,—the redeeming life by life. Hence HESYCHIUS interpets Αντιλυτρα, by αντιψυχα: “ Antilutra signifies those piacular sacrifices in which life is given for life; "—or the life of one redeemed by the life of another and this was the true notion of sacrifice in all ages, and among all the inhabitants of the world. CESAR tells us that it was the opinion of the Gauls, among whom human sacnfices were prevalent, that "the anger of the immortal gods could not be appeased unless the life of a man was redeemed by the life of another." Quod pro vitâ hominis, nisi vita hominis reddatur, non posse aliler deorum immortalium numen placari arbitruntur.” Coм. lib. vi. sec. 15. JESUS CHRIST gave his life for the life of the world: --he laid down his life for the sheep.-While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son :-for he was delivered for our offences ;-and God made his soul (life) an offering for sin. With such assertions the Scripture abounds. The same word, AvriλUTpov, is rendered by HESYCHIUS, artidotov, antidote, but this does not signify merely a medicine by which poison is counteracted, or destroyed; but one thing given in the place of another; as in the case above, the life of CHRIST given for the life of the world.—“ For ALL,"—that is, for all who had sinned,-for all those whose nature he had assumed for, "he took not upon him the nature of angels, but the seed of ABRAHAM," an expression, by the way, which has been misunderstood, and pitifully misrepresented: for it is supposed that by the seed of ABRAHAM," the Jewish people are particularly represented ;-but when was the covenant made with ABRAHAM ?— "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Was it while he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? In uncircumcision surely, when he represented the whole of the children of men,before the distinction of Jew and Gentile had ever taken place: and the covenant embraced not only all the nations, but all the families of the earth; and is extended to every individual of those families, by those solemn words of the Apostle, "Jesus Christ, by the grace ' |