SERM. us and so as our Priest, our Prophet, and our King, doth all things that can possibly be required, both to the reconciling of God to us, and us to Him; and therefore is a most proper and effectual Mediator between God and men. From what we have hitherto discoursed upon this great subject, we may learn many useful lessons, very worthy of a Christian's notice. As first, from hence we may learn, that as there is but one God, so there is but one Mediator between God and men, and that is the man Christ Jesus, who John 14. 6. saith Himself, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." All other men need a Mediator, only He needs none Himself, and therefore He only can mediate for other men. And besides, none but He is capable of the Office, because none but He hath any thing of His own, which He can plead before God in the behalf of mankind. But He hath all the merits of His own most perfect obedience, which He performed to [Phil. 2. 8.] death itself, even the death of the Cross. It is upon this that His Mediation is grounded; and therefore seeing none but He ever died for men, none but He can mediate with God, so as to reconcile Him to them. From hence we may also learn, what cause we have to abhor and avoid the doctrine and practice of the Church of Rome, in praying to the Virgin Mary, and other Saints, to mediate and intercede with God for them: which, as it is a great dishonour to our ever-blessed Saviour, so it is of very dangerous consequence to those who are guilty of it: for seeing they leave Christ, and fly to His Saints for succour, they have no ground to expect that He should save them; and if He doth not save them, I am sure they can never be saved at all. I know that to palliate this absurd and pernicious doctrine, they have invented a distinction of a Mediator of redemption, and a Mediator of intercession; but this distinction hath no foundation either in Scripture or reason, but is rather contrary to both to Scripture, which sets forth only one Mediator; and to reason, which plainly shews that none can effectually intercede for us, but He who first redeemed us with His own blood, and so hath purchased our peace with God. Again, from hence we may learn how it comes to pass that God is so merciful to fallen men, and not to the fallen Angels: these are His own creatures as well as men, and are as miserable, and so as great objects of mercy as we are; yet their Almighty Maker never yet did, nor ever will shew them any mercy. The reason is, because they have no Mediator, as we have; "For Christ took not on Him Heb. 2. 16. the nature of Angels, but the seed of Abraham." If He had taken on Him the nature of Angels, and so died for them, God would have been merciful to them, and not to us; but seeing He took not on Him their nature, but ours, therefore God is merciful to us, and not to them: so that we are beholden to Christ for every mercy we enjoy. It is He that obtains it of the Father for us, and it is He that takes care to bestow it upon us. It is He that mediates between God and us, and therefore it is by His means that we receive any favour at the hands of God; insomuch, that without Him we had never known what mercy is, but had been all utterly lost and undone for ever; whereas by Him there is no mercy, no blessing, no grace, nothing at all that can either do us or make us good, but we may have it. And whatsoever we have, we are still bound to thank Him for it, and to look upon it as coming from God, by means of His Mediation for us. Moreover, from hence we may learn, to whom we must apply ourselves for pardon, and for peace with God and our own consciences. We must go to Christ, who bids all those, who are weary and heavy laden with their sins, come to Matt.11.28. Him, and promiseth to give them rest. It is He alone can do it and therefore His beloved Apostle saith, "If any man 1 John 2. 1, sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the 2. righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins." As if he had said, If any man be sensible of his sin, and ready to fall into despair for it, let him remember that we have an Advocate or Mediator in Heaven, Jesus Christ the righteous, who hath expiated our sins with His own blood. This is the only comfort and support to a troubled mind. Neither do I see, how it is possible to keep up our spirits under the sense of our sins any other way, but by a firm belief that we have a Mediator in Heaven, always interceding for us: but this is sufficient of itself to do it. For whatsoever sins we have committed, let us but repent, and believe in Christ, for XXX. SERM. the pardon of them, and we need not doubt but He will obtain it for us. And so "being justified by faith, we shall have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus." Rom. 5. 1. From hence we may further learn how to pray, so as always to receive any good thing we ask: we must ask it only in the name of our Mediator Jesus Christ, who hath John 16. 23. assured us with His own mouth, "That whatsoever we ask the Father in His name, He will give it us," and, by consequence, we have no ground to expect any thing at the hands of God, unless we ask it in the name of Christ. And that is the reason why men pray so often to no purpose, because they do not pray aright: they do not ask in the name of Christ, and then it is no wonder they ask in vain; it being impossible for us to receive any kindness at the hands of God, but only upon His account, who is always mediating with the Father for us. And we cannot expect that He should intercede for our having the mercy we ask, unless we ask it in His name, and trust on Him to do it for us. And therefore, as we do it constantly in our public devotions, so in our private too; whatsoever we want, we must ask it only in the name of Christ, and beseech God to grant it only for His sake: and if we do that heartily and faithfully, as we ought, we can never miss of any thing we ask, that is truly good for us. From hence also we may learn, how all the duties we perform may be acceptable to God, even if we trust in Christ to make them so, by perfuming them with the incense of His merits and Mediation for us; for then He will smell a sweet savour from them, otherwise not: for St. Peter tells 1 Pet. 2. 5. us, that they are "acceptable to God by Jesus Christ," and by Him only. And therefore, when we have performed any duty, we must lift up our minds to Christ, and trust on Him to intercede for us, that God would be pleased to accept of what we have done for His sake; and then we may rest satisfied in our minds, that it is accepted: for, as Christ never fails to intercede for those who believe and John 11.42. trust on Him for it, so God never denies any thing that He asketh. From hence likewise, we may learn how much it concerns us to observe and believe whatsoever He, our great Prophet, hath revealed to us, and to perform whatsoever He, our sovereign Lord and King, hath required of us; that so we may keep in with Him, and enjoy the benefit of His Mediation. Particularly, we may learn from hence how much we are bound, both in duty and interest, to frequent that holy Sacrament, which He hath ordained in memory of that death He suffered in our stead: whereby He is so perfectly qualified to mediate between God and us, that by often commemorating of it, we may the better act our faith in Him, to make our peace with God, and continue us in His love and favour. From hence again we may learn, what firm ground we have, to live with a constant trust and dependence upon Christ, to justify us before God, to mortify our sins, to purify our hearts, to assist us in all our duties, to keep us from evil, to bless and sanctify all occurrences to us, to guide and direct us in all our ways, and to give us all things necessary to our Salvation, seeing He is so all-sufficient a Saviour, and so effectual a Mediator between God and us. Lastly, from hence we may learn what cause, what infinite cause we have to rejoice and be glad, that we have such a Mediator, and to bless and magnify the eternal Son of God, for undertaking so great and glorious a work for us. Let us therefore now put our whole trust and confidence on Him, and devote ourselves entirely to His service. Let us love and honour Him with our whole souls, and long to be with Him, that we may behold His face, and enjoy Him for ever. In the meanwhile, let us give Him our most hearty thanks, and say, "To Him that loved us, and gave Himself for us; to Him that washed us from our sins in His own blood, and is always making intercession for us; to Him that is the only Mediator between God and men; to Him, the Eternal Son of God, with the Father and Holy Ghost, be glory," &c. SERMON XXXI. ALL THINGS TO BE ASKED IN THE NAME OF CHRIST. SERM. JOHN xiv. 14. If ye shall ask any thing in My Name, I will do it. AMONG the many duties required in our holy religion, there is none more acceptable to God, nor of greater use and benefit to us, than prayer duly performed: by that we give God the glory of His Omniscience in hearing, the glory of His mercy in granting, and the glory of His power in effecting what we desire: by that we draw near to the Supreme Governor of the World, and enjoy communion with Him by that we may avert whatsoever evil we fear, remove any evil we feel, and obtain whatsoever is good, either for ourselves or others. And therefore, it must needs behove us very much to understand how to perform this duty aright, as well as to perform it accordingly: which that we may, we must take our measures only from God's own Word, who best knows what kind of prayer He will accept, and answer; and hath there given us such directions about it, that if we do not fail in observing them, we can never fail of praying so as to find grace and favour in His sight. But that which He layeth the most stress upon, and to which all His other directions may be referred, is, that we pray in the name of Jesus Christ; for if we do that, notwithstanding our other failures (as in this imperfect state we are subject to many, even in our best duties), He hath promised to grant what we pray for: "If ye shall ask any thing," saith He, " in My name, I will do it." For our better understanding of which words, it will be |