evil of sin, and the righteousness of the law, are publicly owned and acknowledged, and the deserved punishment voluntarily submitted unto by man, i. e. by their representative. And thus justice is satisfied; for justice is satisfied when justice takes place. And sin is now treated as being what it is, as much as if God had damned the whole world; and God, as Governor, appears as severe against it. And thus the righteousness of God is declared and manifested, by Christ's being set forth to be a propitiation for sin; and he may now be just, and yet justify him that believes in Jesus.

By all this the law is magni ed and made honourable. On the one hand, Were any in all God's dominions tempted to think that the great Governor of the world had dealt too severely with man, in suspending his everlasting welfare upon the condition of perfect obedience? God practically answers, and says, "I did as well by mankind as I should desire to have been done by myself, had I been in their case, and they in mine; for when my Son, who is as myself, came to stand in their stead, I required the same condition of him." And what the Father says, the Son confirms: he practically owns the law to be holy, just, and good, and the debt to be due, and pays it most willingly to the last mite, without any objection; which was as if he had said, "There was all the reason in the world that the everlasting welfare of mankind should be suspended on that condition; nor could I have desired it to have been otherwise, had I myself been in their case." On the other hand, Were any tempted to think that God had been too severe in threatening everlasting damnation for sin? Here this point is also cleared up. God the Father practically says, that he did as he would have been done by, had he been in their case, and they in his; for when his Son, his second self, comes to stand in their place, he abates nothing, but appears as great an enemy to sin, in his conduct, as if he had damned the whole world. His Son also owns the sentence just; he takes the cup and drinks it off. Considering the infinite dignity of his person, his sufferings were equivalent to the eternal damnation of such worms as we.

Thus the law is magnified and made honourable; and, at the same time, the honour of God's government and sacred

authority is secured and, I may add, so is also the honour of his truth; for he has been true to his threatening, In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die for on that very day the second Adam virtually laid down his life in the room and stead of a guilty world. He is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. So that now there is no room left, for those who will view things impartially, to have undue thoughts of the Governor of the world; nor any thing done to expose his government to reproach, or his authority to contempt. The honour of the divine government and authority appears as sacred and tremendous as if he had damned the whole world; and although sinners will take occasion to sin, and be encouraged in their ways, because grace abounds, yet the Governor of the world has not given the occasion. In his conduct, the whole of it considered, he appears as severe against sin as if he had damned the whole world, without any mixture of the least mercy. The infinite dignity of his Son causes those sufferings he bore in our room to be as bright a display of the divine holiness and justice, as if all the human race had, for their sin, been cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, and the smoke of their torments ascended for ever and ever.

MOREOVER, by all this, a way is opened for the free and honourable exercise of mercy and grace towards a sinful, guilty world It may be done consistently with the honour of God, of his holiness and justice, his law and government, his truth and sacred authority: for the honour of all these is effectually secured. It may be done to the honour of divine grace for now it appears that God did not pity the world. under a notion that they had been by him severely and hardly dealt with, nor under a notion that it would have been too severe to have proceeded against them according to law. The law is not made void, but established. No reflections are cast upon the divine government. And grace appears to be free, taking its rise, not from any thing in us, but merely from self-moving goodness and sovereign mercy. This way of salvation is suited to set off the grace of God to advantage, and make it appear to be what it is.

Having thus finished the work assigned him, he arose from the dead, he ascended on high, he entered into the holy of

holies, into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God for us, as our great high priest. Heb. ix. And here, as God-man-mediator, he is exalted to the highest honour, has a name above every name, sits on the right hand of the Majesty on high, having all power in heaven and earth committed unto him, and ever lives to make intercession, and is able to save, to the uttermost, all that come to God through him. Such is the virtue of his righteousness and blood, and such is his honour and interest in the court of heaven, and such is his faithfulness to all that believe in him, that now it is perfectly safe to return to God through him, and venture our everlasting ALL upon his worth and merits, mediation and intercession. Heb. iv. 16. Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace.

Thus we see what necessity there was of satisfaction for sin, and that the demands of the law should be answered. And thus we see what has been done for these purposes, and its sufficiency to answer all the ends proposed. The Mediator was of sufficient dignity, as to his person; he had sufficient authority, as to his office; and he has faithfully done his work. And now the honour of God's holiness and justice, law and government, and sacred authority, is secured; and a way is opened in which he may honourably put his designs of mercy into execution, and sinners safely return unto him. And now, before I proceed to consider more particularly what way is opened and what methods God has entered upon for the recovery of sinful, guilty creatures to himself, I shall make a few remarks upon what has been said.

REM. 1. As the law is a transcript of the divine nature, so also is the gospel. The law is holy, just, and good; and is, as it were, the image of the holiness, justice, and goodness of God; and so also is the gospel. The law insists upon God's honour from the creature, and ordains that his everlasting welfare shall be suspended upon that condition; and the gospel says amen to it. The law insists upon it, that it is an infinite evil for the creature to swerve in the least from the most perfect will of God, and that it deserves an infinite punishment; and the gospel says amen to it. The law discovered also the infinite goodness of God, in its being suited to make

the obedient creature perfectly, happy; but the gospel still more abundantly displays the infinite goodness and wonderful free grace of God. The law was holy, just, and good, and the image of God's holiness, justice, and goodness; but the gospel is more eminently so. In it the holiness, justice, and goodness of God are painted more to the life, in a manner truly surprising, and beyond our comprehension; yea, to the amazement of angels, who desire to look and pry into this wonderful contrivance. 1 Pet. i. 12.

Here, in this glass, the glory of the Lord is to be beheld; 2 Cor. iii. 18. The glory of God is to be seen in the face of Christ. 2 Cor. iv. 6. What has been done by him in this affair, discovers the glorious moral beauty of the divine nature. Much of God is to be seen in the moral law; it is his image: but more of God is to be seen in the gospel; for herein his image is exhibited more to the life, more clearly and conspicuously.

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The moral excellence of the moral law sufficiently evidences that it is from God: it is so much like God, that it is evident that it is from God. So the moral excellence of the gospel sufficiently evidences that it is from God: it is so much like him, that it is evident that it is from him: It is his very image; therefore it is his offspring it is a copy of his moral perfections, and they are the original. It is so much like God, that it is perfectly to his mind; he is pleased with it; he delights to save sinners in this way; and if ever this gospel becomes the power of God to our salvation, it will make us like unto God; it will transform us into his image, and we shall be pleased with this way of salvation, and delight'to be saved in such a way; a way wherein God is honoured, the sinner humbled, the law established, sin discountenanced, boasting excluded, and grace glorified.

If any man has a taste for moral excellence, a heart to account God glorious for being what he is, he cannot but see the moral excellence of the law, and love it, and conform to it; because it is the image of God: and so he cannot but see the moral excellence of the gospel, and believe it, and love it, and comply with it; for it is also the image of God. He that can see the moral beauty of the original, cannot but see the

moral beauty of the image drawn to the life: He, therefore, that despises the gospel, and is an enemy to the law, even he is at enmity against God himself. Rom. viii. 7. Ignorance of the glory of God, and enmity against him, makes men ignorant of the glory of the law and of the gospel, and enemies to both. Did men know and love him that begat, they would love that which is begotten of him. 1 John v. 1. He that is of God, heareth God's words; ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. John viii. 47.

And therefore a genuine compliance with the gospel supposes that he who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shines in the heart, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. iv. 6. And a sight and sense of the moral excellence of the gospel-way of salvation assures the heart of its divinity; and hereby a supernatural and divine assent to the truth of the gospel is begotten in the heart. And a sense of the infinite dignity of the Mediator, and that he was sent of God, and that he has finished the work which was given him to do, and so opened and consecrated a new and living way of access to God: together with a sense of the full and free invitation to sinners to return to God in this way, given in the gospel, and the free grace of God therein discovered, and his readiness to be reconciled; a spiritual sight and sense of these things, I say, emboldens the heart of a humbled sinner to trust in Christ, and to return to God through him. Hence the apostle to the Hebrews, having gone through this subject in a doctrinal way, in the conclusion makes this practical inference: Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus; by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. Heb. x. 19—22.

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REM. 2. From what has been said, we may observe, that the necessity of satisfaction for sin, and of the preceptive part of the law being answered, takes its rise from the moral perfections of the divine nature, and the moral fitness of things; and therefore a true idea of God and a just sense of the moral fitness of things, will naturally lead us to see the necessity