Thus I have finished what I propofed, of the mediatorial character of Jesus Christ, and fhewn what apprehenfions we should form of him, under this fingular character of mediator between God and man-the Godman Chrift Jesus.I clofe with a few remarks.

When we confider the Lord Jefus under the endearing character of our interceffor, how amiable does he appear! And what an honour is done him in the heavenly world, when God will not accept of the very beft fervices of his faints, unless perfumed by his merits, and presented by him, and yet will accept of the meanest and the vileft finner for his fake, if truly penitent and believing! How amiable does he appear, that, amidst all the glories of his Father's throne, the acclamations and afcriptions of the heavenly hofts, he does not forget his fervants here below, but watches over them with a compaffionate eye; guides them by his Spirit, and defends them by his power and providence, and has promised that he will ever have an ear open to hear their cry, and a mouth ready to plead their caufe, and to recommend their poor, broken and imperfect fervices to the acceptance of his Heavenly Father! Well might we be filled with wonder and pleafing aftonishment, to behold the bleffed Jefus condefcending to wear the fallen nature of man, and in that nature obey, fuffer and die for us, and then to rife from the dead, and afcend to his Father, and through him to our Father, to his God and our God, and there to appear as our advocate, pleading the cause of finful men in the court of heaven, ever living, making interceffion for us.

But, upon a general view of what you have read, let me afk you, What think you of Chrift? whofe fon is he? Are thofe divine and incommunicable attributes, of which I have proved him poffeffed, the property of any-mere fon of Adam, or of any other created parent? Who among the fons of the mighty can be compared to him,

ho

who is omnifcient, eternal, immutable, omnipresent and almighty? Surely it would be a kind of blafphemy, after fuch irrefiftible evidence as has been offered of his divine nature, to think him any other than the Son of the Moft High God. And, though we are not able to defcribe his generation, yet let us, in a transport of holy joy and reverence, love and obedience, cry out with Thomas, "My Lord and my God."

Particularly, when we view the works of creation, providence and grace, all which are afcribed to him, what can we think of him, but that he is an almighty and an all-gracious Saviour, able to fave to the utmost all who come unto God by him? He who made worlds, and fupports and governs them by his wifdom, power and grace, cannot fail to fuccour and fave those who properly put their trust in him. Surely we may with the utmost fafety, like dying Stephen, commit that most important of all interefts, the falvation of our immortal spirits, into his hands. Thofe miraculous works which were wrought by him in the days of his tabernacling in flesh, were not works of a mortal whofe breath was in his noftrils, and whofe foundation was in the duft. He at whofe word the fig-tree dried up-he whofe voice the turbulent winds and the boisterous fea obeyed-he for whom the lawlefs fifh paid tribute-he to whom the proud pharifee and the hardy foldier fubmitted, the one feeling the energy of his remonftrance, and leaving his ungodly gains, and the other, enervated by words fmoother than oil, retreating and falling to the ground-in one word, he before whom the infernal fpirits, though combined in legions, stood trembling, and at whofe command incurable diseases fled, and blooming health and vigour fucceeded-cannot be infulted or neglected with impunity.

Therefore I call upon you, O careless and thoughtless finner, to stop in your bold or heedless career, and answer

me,

me, or rather your own confcience, upon the evidence you have received, this fhort queftion-What think you of Christ? whofe fon is he? Is he a person to be ridiculed or infulted? Are his doctrines, his laws, or the propofals of peace, as published in his gospel, to be difregarded? Do you know what you do when you difobey this Saviour-when you neglect that falvation which he has wrought out? By oppofing his caufe you oppose the authority of a king-the authority of a God. You vainly and madly fet yourselves against a power which is irresistible; you attempt to fruftrate his beneficent defigns who called the univerfe into being, and commands all nature into obedience, and can crush worlds into nothing, and damn his enemies, infinitely eafier than we can break a bubble or bruise a moth. And this mighty. being will ere long defcend from heaven with his angels, and fummon all the human race before him: where then, O where, will the ungodly and the finner appear! what will you do in the day thereof (and the great day of his wrath will come) you who have paid him no regard, you who have not given him a fair hearing, nor his gracious propofals a candid or impartial examination-never publicly owned him for your lord and master, nor obeyed his plain, eafy and pofitive commands! Where will you fly, or to which of his faints or angels will you turn! Or what excufe could you make, if your Saviour should even now rend the heavens and come down, and fummon you before his awful tribunal! Think, O think seriously, of these things, before the archangel found the last trumpet, or, which is all one to you, before death executes his commiffion upon you, and puts it out of your power fo much as to hope for falvation.

I must entreat you to fit down and call in your fcattered thoughts, and contemplate the perfonal glories of the bleffed Jefus, his divine and amiable character, his benefi cent defigns, the reafonableness and the pure morali

ty of his laws, and the generofity of his grace; and be lieve in his perfon, truft in his righteousness, and live in obedience to his gofpel, and in conformity to his example.

I clofe with faying-What we have heard administers comfort, folid, permanent and eternal confolation, to every true believer and fincere follower of Jefus Chrift. When they confider in whom they have believed, on whom they have built their eternal hopes, and to whom they have committed their most important intereft, or with whom they have lodged the falvation of their immortal fouls, they must rejoice with a joy unspeakable and full of glory. But, while you rejoice in, your almighty and allgracious Saviour, let it be the highest point of your ambition to live worthy the character of chriftians-worthy of him whofe difciples you are. Keep your eye fixed on him as your polar ftar, and fteer your courfe through life by his unerring example: let all your expectations centre. in him, and derive all you peace and hope from him: and then, when he who is your light shall appear, you fhall be like him, and appear with him in glory, and be led to fountains of living waters, and all tears fhall be wiped. away forever. AMEN.

DISCOURSE

Difcourfe III.

The Perfonality and Operations of the HOLY

GHOST.

ACTS. xix.. 2.

He faid unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghoft fince ye believed? And they faid unto him, We have not so much as beard whether there be any Holy Ghoft.

PAUL, the great apoftle to the gentiles, in profecuting the work of the miniftry, which he had received, not of men, neither by men, but by immediate revelation from the Lord Jefus Chrift, paffed through Galatia, Phrygia, and Leffer Afia, and came to the celebrated city Ephefus, where he made fome stay. While he was preaching there the gofpel of the Bleffed God, he found a number of devout perfons, in whom appeared none of those miraculous gifts which had been bestowed · upon those christians where he had before been; to whom he addressed himself in the words of my text: "Have ye received the Holy Ghost fince ye believed? And they faid, We have not fo much as heard whether there be any Holy Choft:"Which question and answer we are to under. ftand thus: Have ye received thofe extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghoft, fince ye embraced the chriftian faith, as the gift of tongues, prophecies, healing, &c. and they anfwered, We are fuch ftrangers to thefe things, that we