he is a king, who establishes his throne in the hearts of his people, inclines them to accept of the covenant, enables them to fulfil its terms, and has power to confer upon them all its blessings.

If a mediator be essential to the covenant of grace, and if all who have been saved from the time of the first transgression were saved by that covenant, it follows that the mediator of the new covenant acted in that character before he was manifested in the flesh. Hence the importance of that doctrine respecting the person of Christ; that all the communications which the Almighty condescended to hold with the human race were carried on from the beginning by this person, that it is he who spake to the patriarchs, who gave the law by Moses, and who is called in the Old Testament the Angel of the covenant.* The views which we have now attained of the remedy provided for the moral condition of the human race, open to us the full importance of a doctrine, which manifestly unites in one faith all who obtain deliverance from that condition. For according to this doctrine, not only did the virtue of the blood which he shed as a priest extend to the ages past before his manifestation, but all the intimations of the new covenant established in his blood were given by him as the great prophet, and the blessings of the covenant were applied in every age by the Spirit, which he as the king of his people

sends forth.

The Socinians, who consider Jesus as a mere man, having no existence till he was born of Mary, necessarily reject the doctrine now stated. And the church of Rome, although they admit the divinity of our Saviour, yet by the system which they hold with regard to the mediation of Christ, agree with the Socinians in throwing out of the dispensations of the grace of God, that beautiful and complete unity which arises from their having been conducted by one person. The church of Rome considers Christ as mediator, only in respect of his human nature. As that nature did not exist till he was born of Mary, they do not think it possible that he could exercise the office of mediator under the Old Testament; and as they admit that a mediator is essential to the covenant of grace, they believe that those who lived under the Old Testament, not enjoying the benefit of his mediation, did not obtain complete remission of sins. They suppose, therefore, that persons in former times who believed in a Saviour that was to come, and who obtained justification with God by this faith, were detained after death in a place of the infernal regions, which received the name of Limbus Patrum; a kind of prison where they did not endure punishment, but remained without partaking of the joys of heaven, in earnest expectation of the coming of Christ, who after suffering on the cross, descended to hell that he might set them free. This fanciful system has no other foundation than the slender support, which it appears to receive from some obscure passages of Scripture that admit of another interpretation. But if Christ acted as the mediator of the covenant of grace from the time of the first transgression, this system becomes wholly unnecessary; and we may believe, according to the general strain of Scripture, and what we account the analogy of faith, that all who " died in faith" since the

*Book iii. ch. 5.

world began entered immediately after death into that "heavenly country which they desired."

Although the members of the church of Rome adopt the language of Scripture, in which Jesus is styled the mediator of the new covenant, they differ from all Protestants in acknowledging other mediators; and the use, which they make of the doctrine that Christ is mediator only in his human nature, is to justify their admitting those who had no other nature to share that office with him. Saints, martyrs, and especially the Virgin Mary, are called mediatores secundarii, because it is conceived that they hold this character under Christ, and that, by virtue of his mediation, the superfluity of their merits may be applied to procure acceptance with God for our imperfect services. Under this character supplications and solemn addresses are presented to them; and the mediatores secundarii receive in the church of Rome, not only the honour due to eminent virtue, but a worship and homage which that church wishes to vindicate from the charge of idolatry, by calling it the same kind of inferior and secondary worship which is offered to the man Christ Jesus, who in his human nature acted as mediator.

In opposition to all this, we hold that Jesus Christ was qualified to act as mediator by the union between his divine and his human nature; that his divine nature gave an infinite value to all that he did, rendering it effectual for the purpose of reconciling us to God, while the condescension by which he approached to man, in taking part of flesh and blood, fulfilled the gracious intention for which a mediator was appointed; that the introducing any other mediator is unnecessary, derives no warrant from Scripture, and is derogatory to the honour of him who is there called the "one mediator between God and men;" and that as the union of the divine to the human nature is the foundation of that worship, which in Scripture is often paid to the mediator of the new covenant, this worship does not afford the smallest countenance to the idolatry and will-worship of those, who ascribe divine honours to any mortal.

SECTION III.

PRAYER is the natural expression of the sentiments of a dependent creature. But the dispensation of the Gospel, as a covenant of grace, furnishes a striking illustration of the obligation to prayer in general, the propriety of the several parts of it, and the encouragements to the regular performance of this duty. The inestimable value of the blessings conveyed by this covenant, the unmerited love from which they proceed, and the bright display of the divine perfections in the method of conferring them, quicken all those feelings of piety and gratitude to God, with which it is the privilege of the human heart to glow, and call for the most devout adoration, and the warmest thanksgiving. The intimate relations by which the covenant of grace connects Christians with one another, as well as with their common Father, produce intercessions, those expressions of benevolence in which they commend one another to his care. The consciousness of

that imperfection which is inseparable from human nature, and of those sins which we daily commit, draws forth humble confessions, and supplications in the presence of Him, who "is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." The sense of our own inability to discharge our duty, and the desire of obtaining that heavenly aid which is promised to them that ask it, give the form of petition to all our purposes of obedience; and the hope of those future blessings of the covenant, to which we are conducted by that obedience, imparts to the thoughts and affections that degree of elevation, which seeks for intercourse with heaven.

There is a vulgar notion concerning prayer, which is derogatory to the character of the Almighty, that our importunity can extort blessings from him, and produce a change in his counsels. This notion is unreasonable, and directly opposite to the principles upon which the Calvinistic doctrine of the covenant of grace proceeds. Yet every consideration suggested by the light of nature, which shows prayer to be a duty, is very much enforced by the Calvinistic doctrine; and all the fervour which the Scripture recommends in performing the duty appears, upon the principles of that doctrine, to be highly reasonable, as proceeding from that state of mind, which enters into the character of those with whom God has made the covenant of grace, as cherishing and improving that character, as being the preparation for their receiving his blessings, and as an indispensable condition, which for their sakes he has required. Accordingly our Lord, while he corrects different errors concerning prayer, which proceed from unworthy conceptions of the Deity, delivers a form of prayer so conceived, as to imply that we are to pray to God daily, and full of instruction as to the manner of discharging that duty. This instruction, the exposition of which occupies a considerable part of the catechism of our church, is unfolded in every system of theology.

The humility and self-abasement, formed by all the discoveries of the Gospel, might either restrain the mind from approaching the Almighty, or tincture all its devotions with a spirit of dejection and melancholy, were not this tendency counterbalanced by the character under which the mediator of the covenant of grace is revealed. It is said that "he maketh intercession for us ;"* he is called "our advocate with the Father;" and we are commanded to pray in his name.‡

We must be careful to separate from our notions of the intercession of Christ all those circumstances of tears, of earnest crying, and of prostration before his Father, which would degrade him to the condition of a suppliant, and also every idea of his being uncertain with regard to the issue of the applications which he makes. The intercession of Christ proceeds upon the inexhaustible merit of his sacrifice; it is accomplished by his appearing in the presence of God for us, and offering our prayers and services to the Father; and, being the intercession of him who has power to give eternal life to as many as he will, it cannot fail of being effectual to the purpose of procuring for his people all those blessings which he chooses to bestow. The intercession of Christ, understood with these qualifications, is agreeable to

* Rom. viii. 34.

† 1 John ii. 1.

+ John xvi. 23.

the analogy of the whole scheme of salvation, which is uniformly represented as originating in the love of the Father, but as reaching us only through the mediation of the Son; and it is obvious to observe that a doctrine, which teaches that our prayers are heard, and our services accepted, not upon account of any thing in us, but purely upon account of the righteousness of him, "in whom the Father is well pleased," while it illustrates the majesty and holiness of the Supreme Ruler, affords an encouragement most graciously accommodated to the infirmities and sentiments of those, for whom Christ "maketh intercession."

The nature and the grounds of that entire dependence upon the Lord Jesus, which Christians are everywhere taught to maintain, expose the grossness and the folly of those errors which lead the church of Rome to address the Virgin Mary, departed saints, and angels, as intercessors with God. It is said, in extenuation of these errors, that the unrivalled dignity of the Lord Jesus is preserved by calling him mediator primarius, mediator redemptionis, while others are only mediatores secundarii, mediatores intercessionis; and it is alleged by those who address to the mediatores intercessionis such words as ora pro nobis, that the prayers which they solicit are only a continuation in heaven of the intercessions which good men offer for one another upon earth. But the answer to all these pleas is obvious. The Scriptures give no warrant for the distinction between mediator primarius and mediatores secundarii. Christ is mediator intercessionis because he is mediator redemptionis; and, upon this account, his intercession is effectual. The intercessions of Christians upon earth are an expression of benevolence of an earnest desire of the happiness of others, called forth by scenes which they behold, but not implying any presumption, that what others are unworthy to receive will be given because it is asked by us; whereas to solicit the intercession of the inhabitants of heaven is unmeaning, unless we suppose that they have a knowledge of our condition, and that they have power with God,-that kind of merit which can insure their application for us being heard. Both parts of this supposition being gratuitously assumed, the addresses offered in the church of Rome to the mediatores secundarii only weaken the sense of dependence upon the mediator of the new covenant, the "King of Saints" and the head of the "innumerable company of angels," the Son of God, through whom Christians "have access to the Father;" and such addresses, after the example of the heathen mythology, divide the attention and the worship of Christians amidst a multitude of inferior beings, to whom, without any warrant, they may choose to ascribe certain degrees of power and influence, and thus introduce what the apostle calls "will-worship."

• Col. ii. 23.

SECTION IV.

It is usual for covenants amongst men to be confirmed by certain solemnities. In the simplicity of ancient times, the solemnities were monuments or large stones erected as a witness of the transaction, and meetings at stated times between the parties or their descendants, in commemoration of it.* In more advanced periods of society, the solemnities have become deeds written in a formal style, sealed, delivered, and exchanged between the parties at the time of the contract, and remaining, till they are cancelled, as vouchers of the original transaction. As circumcision was ordained as the token and seal of the covenant with Abraham, we are led to expect that, when the Almighty published the covenant of grace by his Son, and invited all nations to enter into it, he would, with the same condescension to human weakness, grant some confirmation of the grace therein manifested, some sensible sign which might establish a reliance upon his promise, and constitute the ground of a federal act between him and his creatures. A great part of the Christian world consider this as the intention of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, the two solemn rites of our religion, which are commonly known by the name of Sacra

ments.

This name is nowhere applied to these rites in Scripture. Sacramentum, being a word of Latin extraction, could not be introduced into theology by the original language, in which the books of the New Testament were written; and in all the places of the Vulgate, or old Latin translation of the Bible, it is put for the Greek word vorrgion. Dr. Campbell, in his Preliminary Dissertations to a New Translation of the Gospel, has discussed the different applications of the words. μυστηριον and sacramentum ; and he has clearly shown that μυστηριον always means either a secret, something unknown till it was revealed; or the latent spiritual meaning of some fable, emblem, or type. Now, in both these senses μvotrgov is rendered in the Vulgate sacramentum, although when we attend to the etymology of the two words, they do not appear to correspond. Μεγα εστι μυστηριον ευσέβειας : magnum est sacramentum pietatis: το μυστήριον των έπτα αστερων, sacramentum septem stellarum; the hidden meaning of the seven stars. But although Scripture does not warrant the application now made of the word sacrament, it has the sanction of very ancient practice. As some of the most sacred and retired parts of the ancient heathen worship were called mysteries, there is reason to think that the word uvorna was early applied to the Lord's Supper, which, from the beginning, Christians regarded with much reverence, which, in times of persecution, they were obliged to celebrate in private, and from which they were accustomed to exclude both those who had been guilty of notorious sins, and those who had not attained sufficient knowledge. The Latin word sacramentum followed this application of the Greek word; and if Pliny is correct in the information he

• Genesis and Joshua, passim.