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dirt, and fome filth about him: O Lord, (faies Chrift) although that Joshua be clothed with filthy garments, I will take away thofe filthy garments: verfe the 4. He answered and spake unto thofe that stood before bim faying, Take away the filthy garments from him and unto him he faid, Bebold, I have caufed tbine iniquity to passe from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. This can be none but Chrift. Thus Christ takes off the accufation that was brought against Joshua by Satan, for his filthy garments. And fo does the Lord Chrift now: If a poor foul fall into any fin, defile his garments: Satan, he comes in, and takes the right hand of him, ftands at the right hand and accuses, by reafon of this filthy garment: but our Lord Jefus Chrift, our great High-Prieft, he being at the right hand of the Father, takes up the caufe, and answers to the accufation: True Lord, this poor foul, indeed hath filthy garments; but he is but as a fire-brand pluk't newly out of the burning: He was in his natural, and finful condition the other day, in his burning, and he is but newly changed, and therefore he muft needs have fome dirt, and fome filch upon him, asa fire-brand pluck't out of the burning; and therefore confider him in that refpect, and though he have filthy garments now upon him; yet I will give him change of raiments, and take away his filthy garments. Thus the Lord Chrift steps in to God the Father, and anfwers to all those accufations that are brought against him to God the Father. This is the Third thing that he does by way of his Inteceffion.

Again, He doth not only plead our Caufe, and rake off accufations that are brought against us: But he does alfo, call for Absolution, and Pardon of poor finners, at the hand of God the Father, in a way of Juftice and E1 John,quity: And therefore he is called, our Advocate: If any man fin, we bave an Advocate with the Father, Jefus Chrifl the righteous. The work of an Advocate, differs from the work of a Petitioner: an Advocate does not Petition the Judg, but an Advocate, he tells the Judg what is Law,

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what is right,and what ought to be done.So the Lord Jefus Chrift being in Heaven, and making Interceffion, is there as our Advocate: Lord (faies he) this man, he hath finned indeed, but I have fatisfied for his fins, I have paid for them to the full, I have fatisfied thy wrath to the ful: now therefore, in a way of Equity, and in a way of Juftice, I do here call for this mans pardon; Thus Chrift intercedes. And thus we fee (briefly) wherein the Interceffion of Chrift confifteth, and what he does when we fay, That he intercedes for us in Heaven.

Well, But fuppofe he does Intercede, Can he prevail in Queft. his Interceffion, hath he any potency,power, or prevalency with God the Father in his Interceffion?

Yes very much and therefore we find in that fame 3, Anfw. of Zach. That Jofbua goes away with a fair Myter upon his head: ver. 5. And I faid, let them fet a fair Myter (or a Crown) upon his bead: fo they fet a fair Myter (or a Crown) upon his bead, and clothed him with garments, and the Angel of the Lord food by. Satan (at the beginning) ftood at his right hand to accufe him: but this Accufer of the brethren goes away with a double rebuke, and Joshua goes away with a Crown, through the Interceffion of Jefus Chrift he goes away with a Crown upon his head.

All which will appear to you, if we confider Three things.

First, What great intereft our Lord and Savior Chrift hath in the bofom of God the Father. Paul prevailed with Philemon for Onefimus, through the great interest that Paul had in the bofom of Philemon. Our Lord and Saviour Chrift, he hath lien in the bofom of God the Father from all eternity: he is his Son, his natural Son, his beloved Son, his Son that did never offend him and therefore farely when he comes, and intercedes for a man, he is moft like to speed, to prevail. We know, that David going out againft Nabal and his houfe; Abigail comes forth, meets with David, and intercedes for Nabal: and Abigail did fo powerfully intercede, even for Nabal, that fhe turned

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Davids heart quite round about. David (wore he would not leave one of the houfe, and after Abigail had interceded a little for Nabal, in the 1 of Sam. 25. 32. verfe, David faid unto Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Ifrael, which fent thee this day to meet me: and blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou which haft kept me this day from coming to shed blood. Pray, what did Abigail fay, that he turned David thus about, that her interceffion was thus powerful? Saies Abigail, as for Nabal, he is according to his name. And it fall come to paß (at the 30. verfe) when the Lord fhall have done to my Lord, according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Ifrael, that this shall be no grief unto thee, nor effence of beart to my Lord, either that thou baft fbed blood caufeless, or that my Lord bath avenged himself. This fhall be no grief at all unto thine heart (faies (he) and other words that the ufed, by which the prevailed here with David. But Abigail was a firanger to David: and Abigail The prayes, and intercedes for Nabal, a wicked, vile, foolifh man. Shall Abigail, a woman, a ftranger prevail thus with David for a Nabal? and fhall not the Lord Jefus Chrift, the Son of the Father, not a stranger, nor a stranger to his bofom, but beloved from everlating, fhall not he prevail much more, when he comes, and pleads the cause of the Elect, and of the Children of God, in the prefence of God the Father, whom the Father loves alfo? Great is the Rhetorick of a Child: if a Child do but cry, Father, efpecially if the child be a wife child, he may prevail much with a tender hearted father. The Lord Jefus Christ, he is the Son of the Father, and he is the Wifdom of the Father too; and God the Father is a tender hearted Father: Oh! furely therefore, powerful are the Interceffions of Jefus Chrift with God the Father.

Secondly, The prevalency of Chrifts Interceffions with the Father, will appear; if we confider, The inclination, and difpofition, that God the Father bath, unto the fame things that Christ prayeth, and intercedeeh for. If a child fhould come, and intreat his Father, in a matter that

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the Father hath no mind to, or that the Frther is fet againft; poffibly he might not prevail : But if a beloved child fhall come and pray the father in a bufiness that the father likes as well as the child; furely then, the child is very like to speed. Thus it is: The Lord Jefus Christ comes, and he intercedes for us: and the Father hath as great an inclination, and difpofition unto the work that Chrift intercedes for, as Chrift himself hath: And therefore faies Chrift, Loe, I come to do thy will: I come not to do mine own will, but the will of him that fent me. That which Chrift did, that he had a mind to, it was rather, the will of the Father, than Chrifts will: the Father is as ftrongly inclined, and difpofed to what Chrift did, and wils,as Chrift himfelf. Those that thou baft given me (faies he) I bave loft none: they are thine own, Lord, and therefore I pray for them. We have a notable expreffion to this end, in the 10. Chapter of John, and the 17. verfe. Therefore doth my father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it a gain. I lay down my life: Here's his fuffering, and his fatisfaction. That I may take it again: Go up to Heaven, and take it again and intercede. Therefore doth my Father Love me. Oh! what a round of love is here: God the Father out of love,fends Chrift into the world to die for man: God fo loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. Well, Jefus Christ out of love to us, he dies for us: Who hath loved us, and given himself for us. The Father loves the world in giving Chrift, The Son loves the world in dying for us; and the Father, he loves Cbrift again, for loving us: Chrift loves us, and the Father loves Chrift again for loving of us: a mighty bigh expreffion, That the Father fhould love Chrift, for loving us, So then look wherein the love of Chrift is feen unto poor finners, the Fathers inclination, and difpofition is unto that as much as Chrifts: So that when he comes unto God the Father, and does intercede, he muft needs prevail, because the Father loves him for his interceding, the Father likes the matter as well as he, loves you the better for it.

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Thirdly, This will appear alfo, if we confider, upon what ternis our Lord and Saviour Chrift, our great HighPriest, was taken, and admitted into Heaven, the Holy of Holieft: fo it is called. He was Honorably received into Heaven, and he was received thither, for to do the work of the High prieft. He was Honorably received when he came to Heaven: Sit thou down at my right hand (laies God the Father to him) a note of Honour. When Solomon would expreffe his Honour to his mother, he fet her down at his right hand. Thus God the Father would expreffe the Honourable welcome that Chrift had when he came to Heaven: Sit thou down at my right hand (faies he.) Now ye shall obferve, that whenfoever this is made mention of, The fitting down at the right hand of God the Fa ther; it is made mention of, not with the Kingly Office of Christ, but with the Prieftly Office of Chrift: as if that he were fet down there, to do the work of the Priestly Office: One would think (I fay) that this fhould be expreft with the Kingly Office of Chrift: but you fhall find it running along in the Scripture, ftill with the Prieftly Office of Jefas Chrift. Look into the 8. Chapter of the Hebrews, the 1. verfe. Now of the things which we have fpoken, this is the fum: We have fuch an High Priest, who is set on the right band of the Throne, of the Majefly in the Heavens. It's named with the Priestly Office. And fo again, in the 10. Chapter of the Hebrews, at the 11. and 12. verfes. Every Higb. Prieft ftandeth dayly minifiring, and offering often times the fame facrifices, which can never take away fin: But this man (fpeaking of Chrift) after he had offered one facrifice for fins for ever, fate down on the right hand of God: It is carried along with the mention of the Prieftly Office of Chrift: as if he were fate down at the right hand of God the Father in Heaven, on purpose to do the work of the Priestly Office. When Jefus Chrift came into Heaven, into the Holy of Holieft, he came thither as our great High priest, and he faid unto God the Father; Lord, I am not now come in mine own name, for my own fake only, but I come as the

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