allo faithful to him that appointed him to this office, and is highly acceptable to his Father in the difcharge of it. Herein is a proof of it, inasmuch as the Father, not only declares it, but fends us to him for inftruction, and bids us to hear him; which he would never have done if Chrift, as the prophet of his people, was not every way qualified to make us wife unto falvation.

Again, the priestly office, which is indeed the foundation of Chrift's prophetic and kingly offices, is highly well pleafing unto God the Father, and he is infinitely well pleased in him, and with him in the performance of it. Chrift took not the honour of this office to himself, but was called and appointed by the Father unto it. Heb. v. 4, 5. And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So alfo Chrift glorified not himself to be made an high priest, but he that faid unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. As he faith alfo in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchifedec; which fully proves that the perfon, office, and eternal pricfthood of Chrift are well pleafing to the Father, feeing, that Jefus having offered the facrifice of his body and foul upon the altar of his Deity, and being entered into the holiest to prefent it, the Lord faid unto him, Sit at my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. The Lord fware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchifedec.

And, as it refpects his kingly office, JEHOVAH the Father teftifies his being well pleafed with it, Pfalm ii. 6, 7. I have fet my King upon my holy bill of Zion. I will,

faith the Mediator) declare the decree, the Lord hath faid unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Chrift was inaugurated into his kingly office, and invefted with it from all eternity, and he was anointed with the Holy Ghost in the human nature, at his incarnation, and baptifm, and especially at the time of his afcenfion, when he was made, or declared to be, Lord and Chrift; when he, as the afcended Lord and King of his church, gave gifts to men, in which, and by which, his being as King-Mediator, highly acceptable to the Father, was declared and difcovered. The government of all worlds, beings, and things, being committed to him, and all power in heaven and earth being given unto him, and his having upon his vesture and upon his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, and LORD OF LORDS, are an everlasting proof, that his kingly office, and his difcharge of it, are highly well pleafing to his Divine Father. The prophet Micah defcribes Chrift in the exercife of this office thus, He fall fland and feed (or, rule) in the frength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they fhall abide; for now shall he be great unto the end of the earth; for the time will come when all kings shall fall down before him, and all nations fhall ferve him. God the Father commands and requires obedience from us to Chrift his anointed King, saying, Kifs the Son, embrace his laws, fubmit to his government; which would never have been enjoined, had not the kingly office of Jesus the mediator, and Jesus in the exercise and discharge of that office, been highly well pleafing to the Father. Again, Chrift as

incarnate, and as obeying the holy law, is well pleafing in the fight of God. Jefus, as God-incarnate, was beheld by his Father with the utmost complacency and delight; and he was well pleased with him as the fecond Adam, the Lord from heaven. How delightful must it have been to JEHOVAH the Father, to behold his coequal Son in our nature made a little lower than the angels for the fuffering of death, and fetting himself upon obeying and obferving, fulfilling and magnifying the moral law, which had been broken by the first man in paradise, and by the deeds of which, no flesh could be juftified, feeing that in Adam all had finned, and come fhort of the glory of God. Immanuel, God-Jefus obeyed the law perfonally, perfectly, and invariably. His heart was filled with perfect love to God, his delight was continually in the law of God, it was his meat and drink to do the will of him that fent him. Love to God was the principle of all his obedience; the moral and unalterable law of God, that eternal standard, was the rule of his obedience, and God's eternal glory his end in view. He obeyed from the heart, he perfectly fulfilled, in his life, the holy law; and his righteoufnefs God was well pleafed with. Thefe words may well be confidered as the Father's teftimony to this truth, The Lord is well pleafed for his righteoufnefs fake, he will magnify the law and make it bonourable, Ifa. xlii, The righteousness of Chrift magnified the holy law; and Chrift by his perfonally obeying it, brought more glory, and put more honour upon it, than all the obedience of men or angels ever could have

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done. He being, as to his Divine Perfon, God, his obedience had an infinite excellency and glory in it, and as fuch God the Father is well pleafed in him as JEHOVAH the righteousness of his church and people. The pleasure, content, delight, and complacency which the Father takes in the obedience and righteoufness of Christ are inexpreffible and inconceivable by us, and it requires the power of the Holy Ghoft to make us in the least measure acquainted therewith. As the Father was well pleafed in and with his Son's divine, complete, perfect, and everlasting righteoufnefs; fo he was likewife with his bloody fweat, fufferings, agonies, facrifice, and death. The highest act of Christ's obedience to his Father's will, was his laying down his life for his people; and the greatest glory he brought to God, was by his obedience unto death, even the death of the crofs. As the Father teftified of Chrift at his baptifm and transfiguration, faying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleafed; fo a little before the time when Chrift's fufferings began, Jefus faid, Father, glorify thy name. (meaning in himself, by his fufferings and death) then came there a voice from heaven, faying, I have both glorified it (in his incarnation and obedience, in his miniftry and miraclés) and will glorify it again,-by fupporting him under and carrying him through his fufferings and death, and by raising him from the dead, and setting him at his own right hand. Accordingly, with this in view, Chrift entered upon the work of fatisfaction and atonement. He, as the MAN, JEHOVAH'S FELLOW, ftood in the law-place, room,

and ftead of the elect; their fins were placed to his account, and he ftood charged by divine justice for them; the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all. He was made by JEHOVAH the Father, fin for us, and he ftood up between our fins and infinite juftice: the fword of divine justice was drawn forth and fheathed in the finless humanity of the immaculate Saviour. And the sufferings of Chrift, for the expiation of fin and satisfaction of juftice, were well pleafing to the Lord. Hence the prophet faith, It pleafed the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief. Never did JEHOVAH the Father behold his Son, as our mediator, with greater pleasure and delight, than when he beheld him bearing our fin, enduring the curfe and wrath due unto it, and making his foul an offering for it. He beheld the facrifice of Chrift with infinite delight; he fmelled the odour and perfume of it, and was refreshed; and Jesus was never more beloved by his Father than when, in the garden, he fweat great drops of blood; and wher, upon the crofs, he finished tranfgreffion, and made an end of fin, made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in everlafting righteoufnefs. There God fhewed that he was well pleased with his Son as mediator, in accepting his facrifice, and testifying his everlasting fatisfaction with Chrift in offering it. Herein alfo the love of God the Father towards his elect was manifefted to the uttermoft: inafmuch, as God fpared not his own Son, but delivered him up freely to fuffer and die the death due to their fins, that they might efcape the ftroke of juftice. And God loved Chrift, becaufe he