6. He expects the glory promised to him, and the accomplishment of the glorious promife that was made to him upon his fulfilling his engagements; "I have glorified thee on earth and now, O Father, glori.y thou me with thine own felf, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was," John xvii. 4, 5. Yea, he challenges it as his due every way, verfe 24. "Father, I will that thofe whom thon haft given me, be with me, where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou haft given me for thou haft loved me before the foundation of the world."-And thus in all thefe things you fee the truth of the doctrine cleared; and fo we proceed to the illuftration of the general method.

I. The First thing I promised, was, To fhew what a wonderful perfon this is, that engages his heart to approach unto God; as is pointed out by the question, Who is this?" There are thefe following things wonderful in this perfon engaging.

1. "Who is this?" I answer, Who but the eternal Son of the eternal Father, one God with him and the eternal Spirit; even the King eternal and immortal, who is faid to be, "Over all, God bleifed for ever, Amen," Rom. ix. 5. AMEN, fays the apoftle; and AMEN let your hearts say to it, by putting the crown of abfolute divine Sovereignty and fupreme Deity upon the head of our LORD JESUS this day, in oppofition to the damnable error of Arianifm, that is like to take deep root in Britain and Ireland, and spread like a gangrene, and eat like a cancer. Who is he as to his perfon? He is the Son of God: and who is he as to his nature and effence? He is the fame in fubftance, equal in power and glory with the Father and the Holy Ghoft.' He is "God over all, blessed for ever;" and curfed is the communicant that fhall not fav, AMEN. Under the great feal of the facrament of the Lord's supper, we make the apostle's confeffion of faith, 1 Jolin v. 20. That if any afk, "Who is this?" ..We anfwer, "This is the true God, and eternal life." This glorious engager, the Lord Jefus, whofe death we commemorate, is, with respect to his divine nature, the true God; and

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he hath upon his vefture and upon his thigh written this name," King of kings, and Lord of lords." This is the eternal Word, that was made flesh; he took upon him our nature, and became man, that he might appeafe God. The infinitely great quality of the perfon does highly commend his loving undertaking and engagement. But,

2. "Who is this?" It is One, "Who, though he was in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal with God, yet took upon him the form of a fervant, and was made in the likeness of man; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the crofs," Pail. ii. 6, 7, 8. It is he, who, though his generation cannot be declared, his goings forth having been from of old, from everlafting; yet engaged to be made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that are under the law, and was cut off out of the land of the living. It is he, who, though he was the Prince of the kings of the earth, and the King of kings, yet engaged to become a fervant of fervants, and accordingly girds himfelf to ferve them, and wash their feet, John xiii. 4, 5. It is he, who, though he be admirable in his fovereignty, his kingdom being over all, yet is matchlefs in his condefcendency.-Though he is one that could never have been known, unless he had made himself known; yet he hath fhown himself to be one that is mighty in word and deed, faying, "It is I that speak in righteousness, mighty to fave," Ifa. lxiii.r. It is he, who tho' he be the only Son, and dearly Beloved of God, yet engagés to quit his Father's company, and take on his wrath and indignation. If it had been a fimple privation of his Father's countenance for a little, it had been more than all the fons of men were worth; for he was daily from eternity his Father's delight, rejoicing always before him, Prov. viii. 30. But it mufi be more: he engages to take on our fin and guilt, and to bear our griefs; and, which is ftill more, to undergo his Father's wrath; infomuch, that tho' the Father's delight in him was never changed or altered, yet he enged to become fuch a strange object of his delight, as that he should delight

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delight to bruife him, and take pleasure in making him a facrifice; Ifaiah liii. 10. "It pleafed the Lord to bruise him" he took pleasure in bruifing him in the mortar of his infinite vengeance, till he bruifed his blood out of his heart and veins, and his foul out of his body; for he fwate great drops of blood in the garden; yea, bled to death on the crofs, and then gave up the ghoft. "Who is this?" Who but he who was the plea fant object of God's infinite love? Chrift was loved of the Father in his dying, and for his dying in our room: he loves him in himself, and loves him as a facrifice; for it was a facrifice of a fweet fmelling favour unto God, Eph. v. 2. But, O dear bought to Chrift, was this love!

3. "Who is this?" Who but that glorious One, whom we have infinitely difobliged by our fin, and had difengaged to do us any favour, by our revolt from him, by breaking our engagements in the covenant of works, and by continual rebellion against him, and vexing his Holy Spirit, Ifaiah Ixiii. 10. "Who is this?" Even he whom the party that he engages for on the one fide, does most loath and defpife; for, "He is despised and rejected of men: we hid as it were our faces from him: he was defpifed, and we esteemed him not;" and yet he engages for these that were in actual oppofition and enmity to him: for, while we were yet enemies, he engages for us; "He died for the ungodly," Rom. v.6. And, "God commends his love towards us, in that, while we were yet finners, Chrift died for us," ver. 8. And, "When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son," ver. 10. He loved them, that loathed him. Again,

4. "Who is this?" He is one that flood in no need of us, being infinitely happy in himself, and had loft nothing, though all mankind had perifhed for ever; and yet, before we were not happy, he would expofe himself to the greatest mifery, refolving that he would not be happy without us. He would rather come and endure the contradiction of finners against himself, reproach, blafphemy, and all manner of indignities: "Though he was rich, yet for our fake he became poor;" and though he was exalted to the highest, yet he would be humbled

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to the loweft. Let all the excellencies of heaven and earth be put together; let all the perfections that ever the world heard of, and infinitely more; let them be all gathered together, and infinity added to them, and all fhining in one perfon, and that is Chrift, O how rich! How glorious! And yet this person engages to die for vile worms, whom he might have trampled under his feet for ever.

5. "Who is this?" Why, he is one that could lay his hand upon both parties that were at variance, God, and man; and fo lay hold on both, and bring them: together in himself, though at an infinite distance from one another; "He hath made peace by the blood of his crofs, and reconciled heaven and earth," Col. i. 20, 21. He is one, that was able not only to remove the partition betwixt Jews and Gentiles, man and man, but to take down the partition-wall betwixt God and man, to bring the finner to God, and God to the finner; "Chrift hath once fuffered for fin, the juft for the unjust, that he might bring us to God," 1 Pet. iii. 18. "God in Chrift, reconciling the world to himself:" And fo he is one that brings both together, by his almighty arm; "This man fhall be the peace;" this God-man is our peace, being a friend to both parties being God, he is fuch a friend to God, that he would let him want nothing of his due; he will give juftice every farthing, and retrieve the whole glory that fin defaced: and being man, he is fuch a friend to man, that he will pay all our debt, recover all our lofs, yea, and gain much more to us than ever we loft.

6." Who is this?" He is one whofe name is called WONDERFUL, Ifa. ix. 6. But, who can tell the wonders of his perfon, the wonders of his perfections, the wonders of his offices, relations, appearances, birth, life, death, refurrection, afcenfion, and interceffion; the wonders of his righteoufnefs, the wonders of his purchase, the wonders of his love, in its height and depth, length and breadth; in its eternity, efficacy, and con ftancy? He is one whofe name is WONDERFUL, whose followers, that bear his name, are for figns and wonders, Ifa. viii. 18. "Behold I and the children which thou haft

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SERM. XXVIII. haft given me, are for figns and wonders." Zech. iii. 8. "Thou and thy fellows, that fit before thee, are men wondered at." And indeed the more of Chrift that they have about them, the more they do become a world's wonder, as Chrift himself was. What fhall I fay! Time would fail to fpeak of these things, and to mention his wonderful acts, his wonderful counfels, his wonderful way upon the earth, and in the hearts of his people; his wonderful works towards the children of men, both in judgment and mercy; and his wonder. ful conduct towards his own children. Let it fuffice that this is he, whofe name is, and fhall be called, WONDERFUL,

II. The Second thing propofed, was, To speak of the nature of the work he engages himself in, while it is faid, He engaged his heart to approach unto God." The priests under the law, their approaching unto God did but adumbrate and fhadow forth our High priest his approach unto God, in our room and flead.In order to clear this point then, in the general, I premise these two things:

It, All mankind were barred out from the prefence of God, fo as they could not approach to him in their own perfons; and that by a threefold bar,

1. The bar of a broken and violated law, or covenant of works. The covenant of works, you know, was, Do and LIVE, otherwife ye fhall die in which cove Dant the precept was Do, and the promife was LIFE, and the penalty was DEATH, Man, by his fin, hath broken the precept of doing, forfeited the promise of life, and incurred the penalty of death: Now, if we were to approach God in mercy, this broken precept must be repaired, this forfeited life must be redeemed, this incurred penalty must be executed, and endured. Here is a bar that neither men nor angels can draw and take out of the way, in order to our approach unto God,

2. The bar of God's injured perfections, particularly God's infinite holinefs, which ftands up for the defence of the precept of the law; infomuch that none can ap proach to a holy God, unless his holinefs be vindicate

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