The Necessity of a Mediator between God and Man

Neither is there any day’s-man betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both.” * Jos ix. 33.

IV. The feeling of Job, at the time of his uttering the complaint which is recorded in the verses before us, might not have been altogether free of a reproachful spirit towards those friends who had refused to advocate his cause, and who had even added bitterness to his distress by their most painful and unwelcome arguments. And wellmay it be our feeling, and that too without the presence of any such ingredient along with it — that there is not a man upon earth who can execute the office of a day’s-man betwixt us ‘and God, — that taking the common sense of this term, there is none who can act as an umpire between us the children of ungodliness, and the Lawgiver, whom we have so deepiy offended; or taking up the term that occurs in the Septuagint version of the Bible, that amongst all our brethren of the species, not an

Al individual is to be found who, standing in the place of a mediator, can lay his hand upon us both. It is indeed very possible, that all this may carry the understanding, and at the same time have all the inefficiency of a cold and general speculation. But should the Spirit, whose office it is to convince us of sin, lend the power of his demonstration to the argument, — should he divide asunder our thoughts, and enable us to see that,.with the goodly semblance of what is fair and estimable in the sight of man, all within us is defection from the principle of loyalty to God, — that while we yield a duty as the members of society, the duty that lies upon us, as the creatures of the Supreme Being, is, in respect of the spirit of allegiance which gives it all its value, fallen away from, by every one of us, — should this conviction cleave to us like an arrow sticking fast, and work its legitimate influence, in causing us to feel all the worthlessness of our characters, and all the need and danger of our circumstances, — then would the urgency of the case be felt as well as understood by us, — ner should we be long of pressing the inquiry of where is the day’s-man betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both?

And, in fact, by putting the Mediator away from, you, — by reckoning on a state of safety and .acceptance without him, what: is. the ground upon which, in reference to God, you actually put. yourselves? We speak not at present of the danger of persisting in such an attitude of independence, — of its being one of those refuges of treachery in which the good i SERMON VI. 127

man of the world is. often to be found, — of its being a state wherein peace, when there is no peace, lulls him by its flatteries unto.a deceitful repose. We are not at present saying how ruinous it istorest a security upon an imposing exterior, when in fact the heart is not right in the sight of God,and while the reproving eye of him, who judgeth not as man judgeth, is upon him, or how poisonous is the unction that comes upon the soul from those praises which upon the mere exhibition of the social virtues, are rung and circulated throughsociety. But,in addition to the danger, let us insist upon the guilt of thus casting the offered Mediator away from us. It implies, in the most direct possible way, a sentiment of the sufficiency of our own righteousness. [tis expressly saying of our obedience, that it is good enough for God.. It is presumptuously thinking that what pleases the world may please the Maker of it, even though he himself has declared it to be a world lying in wickedness. There is an aggravation you will perceive in all this which goes

beyond the simple infraction of the commandment. It is, after the infraction of it, challenging for some remainder or for some semblance of conformity, the reward and approbation of the God whose law we have dishonoured. It is, after we have braved the atiribute of the Almighty’s justice, by incurring its condemnation, making an attempt upon the attribute itself, by bringing it down to the standard of a polluted obedience. It is, after insulting the throne of God’s righteousness, embarking in the still deadlier enterprise of demolishing all the stabige 128 SERMON VI.

lities which guard it; and spoiling it of that truth which has pronounced a curse on the children of iniquity, — of that holiness which cannot dwell with -evil, — of that unchangeableness which will admit of ne compromise with sinners that ean violate the honours of the Godhead, or weaken the authority of his government over the universe that he has formed. It is laying those paltry accomplishments which give you a place of distinction among your fellows, before that God of whose throne justice and judgment are

the habitation, and calling upon him to connive

at all that yeu want, and to look with complaceney on all that you possess. It is to bring to the

bar of judgment the poor and the starving samples of virtue which are current enoughina world

broken loose from its communion with God, and

to defy the inspection upon them of God’s eternal Son, and of the angels he brings along with him to witness the righteousness of his decisions.

‘Sin has indeed been the ruin of our nature — but this refusal of the Saviour of sinners lands them

in a perdition still deeper and more irrecoverable.. It is blindness to the enormity of sin. It

is equivalent to a formally announced sentiment on your part that your performances, sinful as they are, and polluted as they are, are

good enough for heaven. It ig just saying of the offered Saviour, that you do not see the

use of him. It is a provoking contempt of mercy; and causing the measure of ordinary guilt to overflow, by heaping the additional

blasphemy upon it, of calling upon God to honour it by his rewards. and to look to it with

the complacency of his approbation.

eS 5;
PA,

We cannot, then, we cannot draw near unto God, by a direct or independent approach to him. And who, in these circumstances, is fit to

be the day’s-man betwixt you? There is nota fellow-mortal from Adam downward, who has not sins of his own to answer for. There is not one of them who has not the sentence of guilt inscribed upon his own forehead,and who is not arrested by the same unsealed barrier which keeps you at an inaccessible distance fromGod. There is not one of them whose entrance into the holiest of all would not inflict on it as great a profanation, as if any of you were to present yourselves before him, who dwelleth there, without a Mediator. There lieth a great gulf between God and the whole of this alienated world: and after looking round amongst all the men of all its generations, we may say, in the language of the text, that there is not a day’s-man betwixt us who can lay his hand upon us both. What we aim at, as the effect of all these observations, is, that you should feel your only security to be in the revealed and the offered Mediator; that you should seek to him as your only effectual hiding-place; and who alone, in the whole range of universal being, is able to lay his hand upon you, and shield you from the justice of the Almighty, and to lay his hand upon God, and stay the fury of the avenger. By him the deep atonement has been rendered. By him the mystery has been accomplished, which angels desired to look into. By him such a sacrifice for sin has been offered, as that, in the acceptance of the sinner, every attribute of the Divinity is exalted; and the throne of the Ma-

s. = a jesty in the heavens, though turned into a throne of grace, is still upheld in all its firmness, and in all its glory. Through the unchangeable priesthood of Christ, the vilest of sinners may draw nigh, and receive of that mercy which has met with truth, and of that peace which is in close alliance with righteousness; and without one perfection of the Godhead being surrendered by this act of forgiveness, all are made to receive’a higher and more wondrous manifestation; for though he will by no means clear the guilty, yet there is no place for vengeance, when all their guilt is cleared away by the blood of the everlasting covenant; and though he executeth justice upon the earth, yet he can be just while the justifier of them who believe in Jesus. syne. The work of our redemption is every where spoken of as an achievement of strength — as done by the putting forth of mighty energies — as the work of one who, travailing in his own unaided greatness, had to tread the wine-press alone; and who, when of the people there was none to help him, did by his own arm bring unto him salvation. To move aside the obstacle which beset the path of acceptance; to reinstate the guilty into favour with the offended and unchangeable Lawgiver; to avert from them the execution of that sentence to which there were staked the truth and justice of the Divinity; to work out a pardon for the disobedient, and at the same time to uphold in all their strength the pillars of that throne which they had insulted; to mtercept the defed penalties of the law, and at the same time to. magnify it,and to make it honourable; thus to bend, as it were, the holy and everlasting attributes of God, and in doing so, to pour over them the lustre of a high and awful vindication, — this was an enterprise of ‘such ’ height, and depth, and breadth, and length,

as no created. being could fulfil, and which called forth the might and the counsel of him who is the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

When no man could redeem his neighbour from the grave, — God himself found out a ransom.. When not one of the beings whom he had formed could offer an adequate expiation, — did the Lord of hosts awaken the sword of ven- ‘geance against his. fellow. When there was no messenger among the angels who surrounded his throne, that could both proclaim and purchase peace for a guilty world, — did God manifest in the flesh descend in shrouded majesty amongst our earthly tabernacles, and pour out his soul unto the death for us, and purchase the church by his own blood, and bursting away from the grave which could not hold him, ascend to the throne of his appointed mediatorship; and now he, the first and the last, who was dead and is alive, and maketh intercession for transgressors, is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through him; and standing in the breach between a holy God and the sinners who have offended him, does he make reconciliation, and lay his hand upon them both. es

But it is not enough that the Mediator be appointed by God, — he must be accepted by man. And to incite our acceptance does he hold forth every kind and constraining argument. He casts abroad, over the whole face of the world, one wide and universal assurance of welcome. - “Whosoever cometh unto me shall not be cast out.” “Come unto me all ye who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” «“Where sin hath abounded, grace hath much more abounded.” “Whatsoever ye ask in my name ye shall receive.” The path of access to Christ is open and free of every obstacle, which kept fearful and guilty man at an impracticable distance from the jealous and unpacified Lawgiver. He hath put aside the obstacle, and now stands in its place. Let us only go in the way of the Gospel, and we shall find nothing between us and God but the author and finisher of the Gospel. — who, on the one hand, beckons to him the approach of man, with every token of truth and of tenderness; and, on the other hand, advocates our cause with God, and fills his mouth with arguments, and pleads that very atonement which was devised in love by the Father, and with the icense of which he was well pleased, and claims, as the fruit of the travail of his’soul, all who put their trust in him; and thus laying his hand upon God, turns him altogether from the fierceness of his indignation. iw Ka hors

But Jesus Christ is something more than the agent of our justification — he is the agent’ of our sanctification also. Standing between us and God, he receives from him of that Spirit which is called the promise of the Father, and he pours it forth in free and generous dispen-SERMON VL “ygg

sation on those who believe in him.. Without this spirit there may, in a few of the goodlier specimens of our race, be within us the play of what is kindly in constitutional feeling, and without us the exhibition of what is seemly in a constitutional virtue; and man, thus standing over us in judgment, may pass his verdict of approbation; and all that is visible in our doings may be pure as by the operation of snow water. But the utter irreligiousness of our nature will remain as entire and as obstinate as ever. The alienation of our desires from God will persist with unsubdued vigour in our bosoms; and sin, in the.very essence of its elementary principle, will still lord it over the inner man with all the power of its original ascendency, — till the deep, and the searching, and the pervading influence of the love of God be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. This is the work of the great Mediator. This is the might and the mystery of that regeneration, without which we shall never see the kingdom of God. This is the office of Him to whom all power is committed, both in heaven and in earth, — who, reigning in heaven, and uniting its mercy with its righteousness, causes them to flow upon earth in one stream of celestial influence; and reigning on earth, and working mightily in the hearts of its people, makes them meet for the society of heaven, — thereby completing the wonderful work of our redemption, by which, on the one hand, he brings the eye of a holy God to look approvingly on the sinner, and, on the other hand, makes the sinner fit for the. 12 fellowship, and altogether prepared for the enjoyment of God..

.Such are the great elements of a sinner’s religion. But if you turn from the prescribed use of them, the wrath of Ged abideth on you. If you kiss not the Son while he is in the way, you provoke his anger, and when once it begins to burn, they only are blessed who have put their trust in him. If, on the fancied sufficiency of a righteousness. that is without godliness, you neglect the great salvation, you will not escape the severities of that day, when. the Being with whom you have to do shall enter with you into judgment; and. it is only by fleeing to the Mediator, as you would from a coming storm, that peace is made between you and God, and that, sanctified by the faith which is in Jesus, you are made to abound in such fruits of righteousness, as shall be to praise and glory at the last and the solemn reckoning.

Before we conclude, we shall just advert to another sense, in which the Mediator between God and man may be affirmed to have laid his hand upon them both: — He fills up that mysterious interval which lies between every corporeal being, and the God who is a spirit and is invisible.;

No man hath seen God at any time, — and the power which is unseen is terrible. Fancy trembles before its own picture, and superstition throws its darkest imagery over it. The voice of the thunder is awful, but not so awful as the conception of that angry Being who sits in mysterious concealment, and gives it all its energy. In these sketches of the imagination, fear is sure to predominate. We gather an impression of Nature’s God, from those scenes where Nature threatens, and looks dreadful. We speak not of the theology of the schools, and the empty parade of its demonstrations. We speak of the theology of actual feeling — that theology which is sure to derive its lessons - from the quarter whence the human heart derives its strongestsensations, — and werefer both to your own feelings, and to the history of this world’s opinions, if God is more felt or more present to yourimaginations in the peacefulness of spring, or the loveliness of a summer landscape, than when winter with its mighty elements sweeps the forest of its leaves, — when the rushing of the storm is heard upon our windows, and man flees to cover himself from the ° desolation that walketh over the surface of the world. =

If nature and her elements be dreadful, how dreadful that mysterious and unseen Being, who sits behind the elementshe has formed, and gives birth and movement to all things! It is the mystery in which he is shrouded, — it is that dark and unknown region of spirits, where he reigns in glory, and stands revealed to the immediate view of his worshippers, — — it is the inexplicable manner of his being so far removed from that province of sense, within which the understanding of man can expatiate, — it is its total unlikeness to all that nature can furnish to the eye of the body, or to the conception of the. mind which animates it, — it is all this which throws the Being who formed us at a distance so. inaccessible. — which throws animpenetrable mantle over his way, and gives us” the idea of some dark and untrodden interval betwixt the glory of God, and all that is visible and created. Now, Jesus Christ has lifted up this mysterious veil, or rather he has entered within it. He is now at the right hand of God; and though the brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person, he appeared to us in the palpable characters of a man; and those high attributes of truth, and justice, and mercy, which could not be felt or understood, as they existed in the abstract and invisible Deity, are brought down to our conceptions in a manner the most familiar and impressive, by having been made, through Jesus Christ, to flow in utterance from ‘human lips, and to beam in expressive physiognomy from a human countenance. — So long as I had nothing before me but the unseen spirit of God, my mind wandered in uncertainty, my busy fancy was free. toexpatiate, and its images filled my heart with disquietude and terror. But in the life, and person, and history of Jesus Christ, the attributes of the Deity are brought down to the observation of the senses; and I can no longer mistake them, when in the Son, who is the express image of his Father, I see them carried home to my understanding by the evidence and expression of human organs, — when I see the kindness of the Father, in the tears which fell from his Son at the tomb of Lazarus, — when I see his justice blended with his mercy, in the exclamation, “O Jerusalem Jerusalem,” by Jesus Christ; uttered with a tone more tender than the sympathy of human bosom ever prompted, while he bewailed the sentence of its desolation — and in the look of energy and significance which he threw upon Peter, I feel the judgment of God himself, flashing conviction upon my conscience, and calling me to repent while his wrath is suspended, and he still waiteth to be gracious.

- And it was not a temporary character which he assumed. The human kindness, and the human expression which makes it intelligible to us, remained with him till his latest hour. They survived his resurrection, and he has carried them along with him to the mysterious place which he now occupies. How do I know all this? I know it from his history; I hear it in the parting words to his mother from the cross; I see it in his unaltered form when he rose triumphant from the grave; I perceive it in his tenderness for the scruples of the unbelieving Thomas; and I am given to understand, that as his body retained the inpression of his own sufferings, so his mind retains a sympathy for ours, as warm, and gracious, and endearing, as ever. We have a Priest on high, who is touched with a fellow feeling of our infirmities. My soul, unable to support itself in its aerial flight among the spirits of the invisible. now reposes on Christ, who stands revealed to my conceptions in the figure, the countenance, the heart, the sympathies of a man. He has entered within that veil which hnng over the glories of the Eternal; and the mysterious inaccessible throne of God is divested of all its terrors, when I think that a friend who bears the form of the species, and knows its infirmities, is there to plead for me. 12*