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fitly designed by the words which primarily denoted the acquittal: and the epithet avos is significant of the very same thing which John has expressed in the description of the city of the living God, where the tree of life grows, the leaves of which are for the healing of the nations; Rev. xxii. 3, Και παν καταναθεμα ουκ εσται ετι, i. e. the curse pronounced upon man, when he was driven from the tree of life, is completely removed when he is re-admitted to it, and it shall return

no more.

Thus Jesus, by giving what is called Rev. xxii. 14, "a right to the tree of life," does indeed destroy the works of the devil: he is the second Adam, who restores all that the first had forfeited; and the completeness of the remedy which he brought cannot be better expressed than in the words of Paul, Rom. v. 21, "that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."

We have now seen the manner in which the hope of eternal life, or a right to the tree of life, is connected with what Christ did upon earth. But a right so infinitely above their deserts, conferred by the free grace of God upon those who were under sentence of condemnation, transcends all our experience of the divine goodness, and all our conceptions of generosity: and therefore, "God, willing to show more abundantly unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel," hath confirmed this right by all the discoveries given in Scripture of the present condition of that person from whose merits it is derived.

The resurrection of Jesus may be mentioned as the first branch of the confirmation of that right acquired for us by his death. Had Jesus, after dying for our sins, continued under the power of the grave, doubts must have arisen in every mind impressed with a sense of guilt, whether his blood was able to take away the sins of the world. But when all the sufferings which he endured as the punishment of sin were concluded by his being restored to life, here was a fact presented to the senses of mankind, containing plain and incontestible evidence that the effects ascribed to his sufferings were attained; because the Supreme Lawgiver, in loosing him from the pains of death, declared that he accepted that atonement which his death offered. Accordingly it is said, Rom. iv. 25, that Christ "was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification:" i. e. we know by his resurrection that we who had offended are, upon account of his sufferings, accounted righteous before God; and it is said, 1 Pet. i. 3, that "God hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead;" i. e. his resurrection is an experimental assurance of our victory over death.

But the Scriptures reveal much more than the resurrection of Jesus, or his bare return to life: and the full security given in the Gospel for our attaining the exalted reward, which is included in the complete redemption procured by his death, is found in all the circumstances that are revealed concerning the life which he now lives with God. For if, as the apostle reasons, Rom. v. 10, "when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life;" i. e. if his death

had the effect of propitiating the divine wrath, much more shall his life insure eternal salvation to those who are now no longer enemies. Eternal life having been acquired for us by the death of Christ, and yet being a distant reward, the Gospel affords us this most satisfying security for its being at length conferred, that the person who died to acquire it is alive for evermore, and has the keys of hell and of death.

It is not necessary, in this place, to dwell upon the illustration of the various points which belong to this subject. I shall only bring them together in one view, to show distinctly how they unite in constituting that security of which I now speak.

Jesus Christ, who gave his flesh for the life of the world, is himself the giver of life. He is revealed as the Creator of the world, from whom the life of all the inhabitants of the earth originally proceeded. He displayed upon earth the power of raising from the dead whom he would; he directs us to consider these occasional exertions as a specimen of that power with which he shall raise all men at the last day; and he says that "power is given him over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as the Father hath given him."+ There can be no doubt, therefore, that the Son of God, "who hath life in himself, is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him."

That he is willing to exert his power in giving eternal life to those whom he redeemed, is an inference clearly deduced from his death. A Being, who did the will of the Father, in dying that we might live through him, who revived that he might be Lord of all, and whose purposes do not admit of alteration, either from the mutability of his own mind, or from external opposition, cannot be conceived to leave unfinished the gracious purpose for which he suffered, but will in due time put us in possession of the right which he acquired for us at such a price.

The force of this inference is illustrated by the various language in which the Scriptures express the intimate connexion between Christ and the persons for whom he died. They are those whom God hath given him; the subjects of his kingdom; the members of his body; the flock which he gathers into his fold, and which he defends from every enemy; his sheep who hear the voice of the good shepherd, and follow him. In the felicity which this peculiar people, whom he hath purchased for himself by his own blood, attain through him, he sees the travail of his soul; and the praises which are represented in the book of the Revelation, as proceeding from the company which he hath redeemed to God, publish the glory of his name to the whole intelligent creation. He was not ashamed to call them brethren, for he took part with them of flesh and blood; and even now that he is set down on the right hand of God, he has not laid aside the nature which he assumed; for he is still called the Son of Man. He appears in the presence of God for us, a merciful and faithful high priest; and, touched with the feeling of our infirmities, he maketh intercession for us, and is our advocate with the Father. Not that he uses any words

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to move God; but that, in virtue of the blood which he shed on the cross, and with which he is said now to sprinkle the mercy-seat in heaven, he procured us access to the Father, and presents our prayers and services, which, when offered in his name, are "spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by him."

The high priest of the Jews entering upon the day of atonement into the holy of holies, with the blood of the bullock and the goat, and with the names of the children of Israel upon his breastplate, was a striking type of the intercession of Christ. But there are two essential points in which the antitype excels the type. The one is, that the high priest of the Jews entered once a-year upon a stated day; but the intercession of Jesus continueth for ever, (Heb. vii. 24, 25,) so that at all times we may "come boldly to the throne of grace." The other is, that none but the high priest ever entered; whereas Jesus, who entered into the true holy place, after having obtained eternal redemption, has, by his entering, opened and made manifest a way for us. He is our forerunner, godgoμos iлg ýμwr, Heb. vi. 20: our hope "entereth into that within the vail," whither he is gone; and although we yet remain in the outer court while he is making intercession, we know assuredly from his words, that where he is, there shall also his servants be.* This assurance is confirmed by the nature of the blessings which his intercession procures. When he ascended on high, he received gifts for men, which are continually imparted to those who derive from him a right to eternal life. The Holy Spirit, by whom these gifts are distributed, is called the Spirit of Jesus, and is said to be sent by him:† and he is not only the source of comfort, and the cherisher of hope, but he is expressly styled, Eph. i. 14, appaổwv τns xλngovoμias huwv, “ the earnest of our inheritance." The significancy of this expression will appear by attending to the difference between an earnest and a pledge. A pledge is a security for some future payment, which is delivered up as soon as the payment is made; and therefore it may be, and generally is, of a kind totally different from the payment. An earnest is a part of the payment given as an acknowledgement that the whole is due, the same in kind with that which is to follow. In this sense the Spirit is called the earnest of our inheritance, because the life formed upon earth by the influences of the Spirit is the temper of heaven already begun in the soul. It is much more than a preparation for heaven: it is an assurance which a Christian has within himself, given to him by the Lord of life, that he shall certainly reach heaven. For as the apostle speaks, Col. iii. 3, 4, that life which we lead is supported by the invisible influences of the Spirit, whom Christ, who sits on the right hand of God, sends in the hearts of his people. The springs of this life are withdrawn from the eyes of men; but they are hidden with Christ; and they will become manifest at that time, when he by whom we live shall appear, and we, who have risen with him to a new life, shall be partakers of his glory.

While Christians are thus sealed by the Spirit unto the day of redemption, Jesus is in heaven preparing a place for them. He

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directs by the power that is committed to him every event for the good of that church which he purchased for himself; and when all the purposes of divine Providence are accomplished, he shall be revealed from heaven as the judge of men. We are to appear before the tribunal of him who died, that we might live, and we are to receive from his hands the crown of life.

The particulars which I have now brought together, unfold the full amount of that expression of Peter, "Thou hast the words of eternal life:"* and of that expression of John, "this is the record, that God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." It was purchased for us by him; the power of conferring it resides in him; he prepares us for it, and he will at length bestow it.

From this view of the connection between the hope of eternal life, and the interposition of Christ, there arises also the significancy of that name which is given to him, the mediator of the New Testament, the mediator between God and man; μεoitns. Heb. ix. 15. 1 Tim. ii. 6. He is not merely Inter-nuncius Dei, the messenger who, coming from God to man, declared the divine purpose; but he is a person, who, standing in the middle between God and his offending creatures, offers on our part a satisfaction to the divine justice, and brings us from God an assurance that the satisfaction is accepted. He becomes in this way, Heb. vii. 22, xgettovos dianens syyvos, the surety of a better covenant, which being confirmed by the death of the surety, acquires the nature of a testament, an irrevocable deed, because the death loses its effect unless the blessings of the covenant are conferred upon those for whom the surety died. Yet by his reviving after he died, he becomes himself the dispenser of these blessings, and is in this most eminent sense a mediator, that having procured us access to the Father by his death, he ever lives to make intercession. His mediation is effectual, because it proceeds upon the merit of what he did for our sakes; all the riches of divine grace are connected with this merit; and the nature of the gospel remedy may be thus described according to the Catholic opinion:-it is pardon and eternal life, or a complete redemption from the evils of sin, obtained and conferred through the mediation of a person, who having offered himself a sacrifice for sin, and being now set down at the right hand of God, is emphatically styled "the Captain of Salvation, the author and finisher of faith."

To those who have a slight impression of the nature of that condition which called for the remedy, there may appear to be a superfluity of condescension in this mediation. But they who think of the fears and suspicions which are natural to guilt, which are often described in Scripture, and which are there confirmed by an awful exhibition of the punitive justice of the Lawgiver, will perceive the utility and fitness of all that provision which is made for overcoming the distrust and reviving the hopes of those who are justified by the blood of Christ. By the gracious condescending views which are given of the present condition of that person who died for sins, in

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order to procure for men the most glorious regard, the gospel becomes the religion of those to whom it is addressed, the humble, the contrite, the poor in spirit: and by Jesus, we "believe in God, who raised his Son from the dead, and gave him glory, that our faith and hope might be in God."*

1 Pet. i. 21.

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