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are afraid of his rod if we do not love him, we may rest assured, we have no real love to our Maker. Many who have possessed just such kind of love, have said, and, no doubt, thought, if they were only sure that all men would be finally saved, they would indulge themselves in all manner of sin. Such kind of lovers of God are the greatest enemies to the cause of Christ, and his religion, of any in the world.

On the other hand, if we love God, on account of the real loveliness we discover in his character; that we delight in his service, because it is our meat and drink to do his will; that our greatest enjoyment is obedience to his commands, in keeping of which there is great reward; let our denomination be what it may, we have sweet communion with God, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

"Atoning grace produces all which the Bible means by conversion, or being born of the spirit ;" [i. e. which the believer experiences in this life: the resurrection produces the birth, avadev, from above,* to a state of immortality; of which state, Christ was the first born from the dead;] "it brings the mind from under the power and constitution of the earthly Adam, to live by faith on the Son of God, and to be ruled and governed, even in this life, in a great measure, by the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. It opens eternal things to our view and contemplation; it brings heaven into the soul, and clothes the man in his right mind; it inspires the soul with divine meekness and boldness, at the same time. It was this that enabled the apostles of our Lord to preach the gospel, in defiance of the rage of their enemies, and gave them immortal consolations in their sufferings for the cause of truth. It causes the Christian to love God's rational creatures, and to wish their saving knowledge of the truth: it produces good works in their purity, and all the morality worth the name is. founded on it. Its divine power is stronger than any possible opposition, and the gates of hell cannot prevail

John, iii. 3, 7, 31. Gr. avw.dev, from above.

against it; it opens a door of everlasting hope, and conducts the soul, by way of the cross, to immortality and eternal life. This dispensation of atonement is manifested through Christ, for the reconciliation of all things to God, in his glorious kingdom of holiness and happiness."

Thus my worthy friend; and much more to the same purpose; but, lest I should trespass too much, I shall add no further: and with these remarks shall close this discourse.

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LECTURE VI.

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. 1 TIM. ii. 5, 6.

SALVATION, by whatever means effected, and through whatever medium it is communicated to man, is undoubtedly all of God. And although there are others who are called saviours, or a saviour, yet all these saviours are so only in a subordinate sense. God saith to Israel," I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." (Isa. xliii. 3. lx. 16.) "I, even I, am the Lord and besides me there is no Saviour." (ch. xliii. 11.) Yet, nevertheless, it is said, "The Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians:" (2 Kings, xiii. 5:) “and, according to thy tender mercies, thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies." (Neh. ix. 27.) Now although they were thus saved only in a temporal sense, yet, was this salvation any less of God, because God gave them saviours who saved them? Certainly not. God only was their Saviour, and besides him there was no Saviour, even in this sense of speaking. And any other created being, whom God has raised up to be a Prince and a Saviour, is as much a creature of God, and is as dependent on God, as we are; or even the worm that grovels in the dust. The highest order of angels are as much dependent on God as the lowest reptiles: and the being who made them, if he be a created being, is as much dependent on God as they are. Hence, to acknowledge any such being a Saviour, except it be in a subordinate sense, would, in my humble opinion, be giving that to a creature, which is due

alone to the Creator. I wish, therefore, to have it distinctly and explicitly understood, that I acknowledge none to be the Saviour of the world, in the strict and highest sense of the word, except that God who "made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:" (Acts, iv. 24:) whom I believe to be the "only wise God our Saviour;" (Jude, 25;) and "who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Tim. ii. 4.)

Of this Being, and this only, I conceive St. Paul speaks, when he says, as in the text, "there is one God." And of this Being, and of this only, the prophet speaks, when he says, "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid." (Isa. xii. 2.) And this salvation is no less valuable, neither ought it to be less appreciated, in consequence of its having been communicated through the medium of, or wrought out and effected by, Jesus Christ: and when I say Jesus Christ, I would have it explicitly understood, that I mean the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

That there is one God, and that one the only living and true God, is a truth acknowledged by all professed Christians, and denied by none. However Christians may dispute about the mode of existence of this great and almighty Being, yet, when it is reduced to this single proposition, all are agreed. Therefore all the disputes on this subject appear to me to be about that which no one can either comprehend or understand. That God exists, all believe; and (except the fool, who has said in his heart "there is no God") no one denies: but how he exists, is knowledge which is too high for man. Having therefore already discussed this part of our subject, in the second lecture, we shall here dismiss it, by barely observing, that St. Paul distinguishes this one God, from the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

It is the design, therefore, this evening to speak of this Mediator; and endeavour to lay before you, in a plain and concise manner, the facts on this great and important subject.

Let it be premised, however, that, respecting a subject of such importance, which agitated, divided, and subdivided the Christian world for two or three centuries after the apostolic age, and which has been a subject of much inquiry and great controversy during the last century, and which still remains unsettled; it cannot be expected that every mind will be at once satisfied. No. This is what I do not expect. If I can only convince my much respected hearers, and others into whose hands these lectures may fall, and who may take the trouble to read them, that my own conclusions on this, as on all other subjects, are the result of much study, as well as candid and impartial investigation; and that there is a possibility at least of their being correct; this is about as much as I expect, and with this, at present, I shall be satisfied.

The opinions on this subject, which have come down to us,* are the following, viz.

1. That the man Christ Jesus was, in every proper sense of the word, a man; but endowed with the power of working miracles, like Moses, Elijah, and some others; and was the true Messiah, of whom Moses in the law, and prophets, did write. (John, i. 45.)

2. That he was the beginning of the creation of God, i. e. the first being whom God created, and that the world and all other beings were created by him; that he condescended to be born of the virgin Mary, and to suffer and die for the redemption of man.

3. That he was, and is, absolutely and essentially God, the creator of the world, but only in a different office and character, who clothed himself with human nature, and in this humbled state was called the Son of God.

4. That he is the second person of a glorious Trinity, which Trinity (consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) is God. Hence he is styled God the Son, and

* The ideas of the Gnostics, and some others, which long since have been exploded, as altogether visionary, I think it not expedient to mention here.

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