then we have a THEOLOGY, which, from CHRIST, its object, is most rightfully and deservedly termed CHRISTIAN, which is manifested not by THE LAW, but in the earliest ages by promise, and in these latter days by the Gospel which is called that of Jesus Christ;'-although the words (CHRISTIAN and LEGAL) are sometimes confounded. But let us consider the union and the subordination of both these objects.

I. Since we have God and his Christ for the object of our CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY, the manner in which LEGAL THEOLOGY explains God unto us, is undoubtedly much amplified by this addition, and our Theology is thus infinitely ennobled above that which is legal.

For God has unfolded in Christ every one of his blessings. For it pleased the Father, that in Him should all fulness dwell;' (Col. i, 19.) and that the fulness of the Godhead should dwell in him,' not by adumbration or according to the shadow, but bodily For this reason he is called, the image of the invisible God;' (Col. i. 15.) the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person,' (Heb. i, 3.) in whom the Father condescends to afford to us his infinite majesty, his immeasurable goodness, mercy and philanthropy, to be contemplated, beheld, and to be touched and felt; even as Christ himself says to Philip, He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.' (John xiv, 9.) For those things which lay hidden and indiscernible within the Father, like the fine and deep traces in an engraved seal, stand out, become prominent, and may be most clearly and distinctly seen in Christ, as in an exact and protuberant impression, formed by the application of a deeply engraved seal on the subtance to be impressed.

1. In this Theology God truly appears, in the highest degree, the Best and the Greatest of Beings: (1.) The BEST. Because he is not only willing, as in the former Theology, to communicate himself (for the happiness of men) to those who correctly discharge their duty,-but to receive into his favour and to reconcile to himself those who are sinners, wicked, unfruitful, and declared enemies, and to bestow eternal life on them when they repent.-(2.) The GREATEST. Because he has not only produced all THINGS from nothing, through the annihilation of the latter and the creation of the FORMER,-but because he has also effected a triumph over sin, (which is far more noxious than nothing and conquered with greater difficulty,) by graciously pardoning it and powerfully putting it away;'-and because he has brought in everlasting right

eousness,' by means of a second creation, and a regeneration which far exceeded the capacity of the law that acted as schoolmaster.' (Gal. iii, 24.) For this cause Christ is called the wisdom and the power of God,' (1 Cor. i, 24.) far more illustrious than the wisdom and the power which were originally displayed in the creation of the universe.-(3.) In this Theology God is described to us as in every respect immutable, not only in regard to his nature but also to his will, which, as it has been manifested in the gospel, is peremptory and conclusive, and, being the last of all, is not to be corrected by another will. For Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever; (Heb. xiii, 8.) by whom God hath in these last days spoken unto us.' (Heb. i, 2.) Under the law, the state of this matter was very different, and that greatly to our ultimate advantage: For if the will of God unfolded in the law had been fatal to us, as well as the last expression of it, we, of all men most miserable, should have been banished for ever from God himself on account of that declaration of his will; and our doom would have been in a state of exile from our salvation. I would not seem in this argument to ascribe any mutability to the will of God. I only place such a termination and boundary to his will, or rather to something willed by him, as was by himself before affixed to it and predetermined by an eternal and peremptory decree, that thus a vacancy might be made for a better covenant established on better promises." (Heb. vii, 22; viii, 6.)

2. This Theology offers God in Christ as an object of our sight and knowledge, with such clearness, splendour and plainness, that 'we, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.' (2 Cor. iii, 18.) In comparison with this brightness and glory, which was so preeminent and surpassing, the law itself is said not to have been either bright or glorious: For it had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.' (2 Cor iii, 8.) This was indeed the wisdom of God which was kept secret since the world began:' (1 Cor. ii, 7. Rom. xvi, 25.) Great and inscrutable is this mystery: yet it is exhibited in Christ Jesus and made manifest' with such luminous clearness, that God is said to have been manifest in the flesh,' (1 Tim. iii, 16.) in no other sense than as though it would never have been possible for him to be manifested without the flesh; for the express purpose that the eternal life which was with the Father, AND THE VOL. I.

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WORD OF LIFE which was from the beginning with God, might be heard with our ears, seen with our eyes, and handled with our hands.' (1 John i, 1, 2.)

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3. The OBJECT of our Theology being clothed in this manner, so abundantly fills the mind and satisfies the desire, that the Apostle openly declares, he was determined to know nothing among the Corinthians, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified' (1 Cor. ii, 2.) To the Philippians he says, that he counted all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus; for whom he had suffered the loss of all things, and he counted them but dung that he might know Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings.' (Phil. iii, 8, 10.) Nay, in the knowledge of the object of our Theology, modified in this manner, all true glorying and just boasting consist, as the passage which we before quoted from Jeremiah, and the purpose to which St. Paul has accommodated it, most plainly evince. This is the manner in which it is expressed, Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. (Jer. ix, 24) When you hear any mention of mercy, your thoughts ought necessarily to revert to Christ, out of whom God is a consuming fire, to destroy the sinners of the earth. (Deut. iv, 24; Heb. xii, 29.) The way in which St. Paul has accommodated it, is this: Christ Jesus is made unto us by God, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord! (1 Cor. i, 30, 31.) Nor is it wonderful, that the mind should desire to know nothing save Jesus Christ,' or that its otherwise insatiable desire of knowledge should repose itself in him, since in him and in his gospel are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and know ledge.' (Col. ii, 3, 9.)

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II. Having finished that part of our subject which related to this UNION, let us now proceed to the SUBCRDINATION which subsists between these two objects. We will FIRST inspect the nature of this subordination, and THEN its necessity:

FIRST. Its NATURE consists in this, that every saving communication which God has with us, or which we have with God, is performed by means of the intervention of Christ.

1. The communication which God holds with us, is (i) either in his benevolent affection towards us, (ii) in his gracious decree concerning us, or (iii) in his saving efficacy in us.

In all these particulars Christ comes in as a middle man between the parties. For (i) when God is willing to communicate to us the affection of his goodness and mercy, he looks upon his ANOINTED ONE, in whom, as his beloved, he makes us accepted, to the praise of the glory of his grace.' (Eph. i, 6.) -(ii) When he is pleased to make some gracious decree of his goodness and mercy, he interposes Christ between the purpose and the accomplishment, to announce his pleasure; for by Jesus Christ he predestinates us to the adoption of children.' (Eph. i, 5.)-(iii) When he is willing out of this abundant affection to impart to us some blessing, according to his gracious decree, it is through the intervention of the same Divine person. For in Christ as our Head, the Father has laid up all these treasures and blessings; and they do not descend to us, except through him, or rather by him as the Father's substitute, who administers them with authority, and distributes them according to his own pleasure.

2. But the communication which we have with God, is also made by the intervention of Christ.-It consists of three degrees, access to God, cleaving to him, and the enjoyment of him. These three particulars become the objects of our present consideration, as it is possible for them to be brought into action in this state of human existence, and as they may execute their functions by means of faith, hope, and that charity which is the offspring of faith.

(1) Three things are necessary to this access;-(i) that God be in a place to which we may approach ;-(ii) that the path by which we may come to him be a high-way and a safe one; and (iii) that liberty be granted to us and boldness of access. All these facilities have been procured for us by the mediation of Christ. (i) For the Father dwelleth in light inaccessible, and sits at a distance beyond Christ on a throne of rigid justice, which is an object much too formidable in appearance for the gaze of sinners; yet he hath appointed Christ to be a propitiatory through faith in his blood;' (Rom. iii, 25.) by whom the covering of the ark, and the accusing, convincing, and condemning power of the law which was contained in that ark, are taken away and removed as a kind of veil from before the eyes of the Divine Majesty; and a throne of grace has been established, on which God is seated, with whom in Christ we have to do.' Thus has the Father in the Son been made evaporitos, "easy of access to us."-(ii) It is ευπρόσιτος, the same Lord Jesus Christ who hath not only through his

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flesh consecrated for us a new and living way, by which we may go to the Father, (Heb. x. 20.) but who is likewise himself the way' which leads in a direct and unerring manner to the Father. (John xiv, 6.)—(iii) By the blood of Jesus' we have liberty of access, nay we are permitted to enter into the holiest,' and even within the veil whither Christ, as a High Priest presiding over the house of God and our fore-runner, is entered for us,' (Heb. v. 20.) that we may draw near with a true heart, in the sacred and full assurance of faith, (x, 22.) and may with great confidence of mind come boldly unto the throne of grace.' (iv, 16.) Have we therefore prayers to offer to God? Christ is the High Priest who displays them before the Father: He is also the altar from which, after being placed on it, they will ascend as incense of a grateful odour to God our Father.-Are sacrifices of thanksgiving to be offered to God? They must be offered through Christ, otherwise God will not accept them at our hands.' (Mal. i, 10.)—Are good works to be performed? We must do them through the Spirit of Christ, that they may obtain the recommendation of him as their author; and they must be sprinkled with his blood, that they may not be rejected by the Father on account of their deficiency.

(2) But it is not sufficient for us only to approach to God; it is likewise good for us to cleave to him.-To confirm this act of cleaving and to give it perpetuity, it ought to depend upon a communion of nature: But with God we have no such communion. Christ however possesses it, and we are made possessors of it with Christ, who partook of our flesh and blood.” (Heb. ii, 14.) Being constituted our head, he imparts unto us of his Spirit, that we, (being constituted his members, and cleaving to him as 'flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones,') may be one with him, and through him with the Father, and with both may become one Spirit.'

(3) The enjoyment remains to be be considered:-It is a true, solid, and durable taste of the Divine goodness and sweetness in this life, not only perceived by the mind and understanding, but likewise by the heart, which is the seat of all the affections. Neither does this become ours, except in Christ, by whose Spirit dwelling in us that most divine testimony is pronounced in our hearts, that we are the children of God, and heirs of eternal life.' (Rom. viii, 16.) On hearing this internal testimony, we conceive joy ineffable,' possess our souls in hope and patience,' and in all our straits and difficul