text calls him Jesus Christ the righteous; in Rev. xii. 10, 11. Satan is represented as accusing the saints day and night before God. Jesus Christ is their Advocate, representing his own blood, and in this sense they are said to cast down the accuser by the blood of the Lamb, which pleads and speaks better things than the blood of Abel; that is, it pleads for mercy, whereas the blood of Abel pleaded for vengeance.

Our salvation, in this sense, is called freedom from guilt, absolution or acquitment from the penalty, and a vindication of christians from the charge of sin, and the condemnation thereof, which is obtained by the prevailing power and interest which Jesus Christ our Advocate has at the court of heaven, and by representing before the throne of God our pardon purchased by his blood, so that Satan has no further charge against us. By faith we commit our case and circumstances to this great Advocate, and we become his clients, dependents upon him; and in this sense faith may be said to cast down our accuser by the blood of the Lamb, by trusting in this great and blessed Advocate, or resigning the important concerns of our souls to his care and faithfulness, to be transacted by him before the bar of God in heaven.

VI. Our Lord Jesus Christ is set forth as our sponsor or surety; Heb. vii. 22. Jesus was made a surely of a better testament, that is, the new covenant of grace, as manifested in the gospel. A surety is properly one, who undertakes for another to do or suffer something for him, or who undertakes that this other person shall do such services, or suffer such penalties, or enjoy such privileges. So our Lord Jesus Christ has undertaken to answer the demands of the law of God for us who had broken it, to pay a compensation for our violations of the law, and to make peace betwixt God and He has also undertaken, that all his people shall be sanctified and brought safely to the heavenly world. So Judah became a surety to his father Jacob for his brother Benjamin, whom he took with him into Egypt. Gen. xliii. 9. I will be surety for him ; of my hands shalt thou require him. Reuben in the foregoing chapter was in like manner a sponsor for him, verse 37. Deliver him into my hands, and I will bring him to thee again; and Joseph bound Simeon in Egypt as a surety for the return of his brethren, and Benjamin with them, verses 19, 36.

us.

Now as Christ was our surety, so our salvation may be called a freedom from our obligation to the penal law of God, which our Lord Jesus took upon himself to answer; Rom. vii. 6. We are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, Gal. iii. 13. Christ hath redeemed us, or freed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Nor is this obligation of Christ as a sponsor, quite fulfilled till he has brought us all to heaven, and can say to his Father, Lord, here am I, and the children which thou hast given me; as Heb. ii. 13. and shall present us before the throne without spot or blemish; Jude 24, 25. and Eph. v. 25-27. Now faith gives us an interest in all that Jesus Christ has done as our sponsor by trusting ourselves with him entirely under that character, and accepting him as the surety of this everlasting covenant.

VII. Christ is exhibited in scripture as the second Adam, as a common head of his people, as a public person, and their representative. This has some difference in it from the former character, though in many respects they agree and coincide. Adam was the head of all his offspring, a common person and representative for them, but not so properly their surety in every sense. Christ is what Adam was; Rom. v. 14, 1 Cor. xv. 47. Christ is not a common person or representative in his intercession or his advocateship, though he is properly a surety therein, for he has undertaken as a

surety for us, to plead in the court of heaven, and to bring us off with safety and honour: But in his obedience, in his death, and his appearance for us in heaven, he is our common head and representative.

Our salvation in this sense, may be called the glory of God. Rom. v. 2. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God: And it may be called eternal life. Both these describe the happiness which was promised to man upon his perfect obedience to the law at first. Rom. ii. 10. and iii. 23. By sin we are fallen short of the glory of God; but we obtain by Jesus Christ salvation with eternal glory. In this sense Christ is our forerunner into heaven, and he, as our public representative, appears there for us, and has taken np places or mansions in our name; Heb. vi. 20. We shall sit on his throne; Rev. iii. 21. It is also called an inheritance, and we are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; Rom. viii. 17. as we are one with him.

Faith accepts of Christ as our common head, or great representative, and gives us an interest in this salvation, by uniting us to Christ, and making us one with him. Christ is the original Son of God, and we are also the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus; Gal. iii. 26. and thus we are coheirs with Christ, he as the head, and we as the members; and faith saves us, as it has been called the bond of union between Christ and us. When we become believers in Christ, whatever was done to Christ as a head or a common person, is then applied to us, either in the right to it, or in the possession of it. Christ was justified from sin, that is, from all imputed sin, at his resurrection, and when we become the seed of Christ by regeneration through faith, we are justified in him, much in the same manner as we were condemned in Adam, that is, as soon as we become the sons of Adam by a natural birth: As there is no new actual and particular sentence of condemnation passed upon us at our birth, but we fall under the general condemnation, when we become the sons of Adam, so there is no new act of justification passed by God upon the creature at his regeneration or believing, but the word of God, which is his sentence, pronounces us justified at our faith, or our new birth; and our condemnation is taken away as soon as we are in Christ. Rom. viii. 1. There is no condemnation now to them that are in Christ Jesus.

VIII. Another character which Christ sustains, is that of a Redeemer, and it is generally represented, both in the scripture and by our divines, as one who redeems us both by power and by price. Now the redemption of us by his powerful grace out of the slavery of Satan, and our own lusts, and our rescue from the temptations of this world, belong rather to the other part of this salvation, wherein his sanctifying influences are necessary and requisite: But when Christ is considered as a Redeemer by price, he frees us by the price of his own blood as a ransom, chiefly from the hands of the vindictive justice of God, and from the bonds of the guilt of sin and condemnation, whereby we are held as breakers of the law of God. Yet our redemption from the slavery of sin and Satan may be also attributed to the blood of Christ which purchased sanctifying grace for us. The name of a Redeemer is very applicable to both parts of our salvation. So he gave his life a ransom for many; Matt. xx. 28. He redeemed us from the curse of the law, by being made a curse for us; Gal. iii. 13. He redeemed us also by his precious blood as of a lamb without blemish or spot, from our vain conversation or slavery to sin; 1 Peter i. 18, 19. And thou art worthy, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood; Rev. v. 9.

Salvation in this respect is called redemption; Rom. iii. 24. eternal redemption; Heb.

ix. 12. and we are said to be bought with a price; 1 Cor. vi. 20. and therefore we are the Lord's and not our own. Faith applies this benefit to us by our accepting the Lord Jesus Christ under this character as a Redeemer of our persons from this condemnation, or as our great friend who ransomed our souls from imprisonment under the bonds of the condemning law and justice of God, who purchased and ransomed us from our captivity, bonds and miseries in every sense.

IX. To sum up all other characters, I add in the last place, Christ is represented as our great friend and benefactor, one who came down from heaven to seek and to save lost sinners here on earth: He made a visit to our world to take special notice of all our wants, in order to relieve them all, and to do, and to procure for us whatsoever we stood in need of, in order to our eternal happiness. Under this character he first instructed or taught us the doctrine of our lost estate, and acquainted us with the methods of his salvation; he procured or purchased for us, by his death, not only pardon of sin and future blessedness, but every grace and every blessing which was necessary, in order to our full possession of heaven, and no greater friendship can any man shew to another, than to lay down his life for him; John xv. 13.

Under this view salvation or eternal life is called the gift of God by Jesus Christ; Rom. vi. 23. Abundance of grace, and the gift of righteousness in order to reign in life; Rom. v. 17. He bought again for us our forfeited inheritance in heaven. Observe this notion of Christ as a benefactor respects his doing every kindness, and procuring or purchasing every blessing for us, and bestowing it upon us; whereas in the character of a Redeemer he bought or purchased our persons from imprisonment and condemnation.

Faith gives us an interest in these blessings of Christ as a benefactor, when it comes to him, and seeks them at his hand, when it humbly depends upon Christ for them, and trusts in him to bestow them. Thus our faith is like a hand, whereby we receive these blessings which Christ has to bestow, or like the feet, whereby we come or fly to Christ to partake of them; or it may be likened to the voice of petition, whereby we seek them at his hands, and call upon the Lord to bestow them.

Thus I have briefly run through many of the scriptural characters or offices, whereby our Lord Jesus Christ is represented to us, whereby our salvation is set forth, and whereby our faith is described as the appointed means of our interest in them. It is evident enough they often run into one another, nor did the gospel ever design that these several representations of Christ, of his salvation and of our faith, should be kept so separate by exact logical forms of expression, as to please scholastic readers only; but that plain sincere souls, under a sense of guilt and condemnation, might see and view them on every side, and might find something in Christ, suited to their sensation of their own wants and miseries, and apply themselves to him for relief; but this shall be the subject of the next section.

SECTION III.

THE REASONS WHY CHRIST AND HIS SALVATION MAY BE REPRESENTED TO US UNDER THESE VARIOUS CHARACTERS.

THE great God was pleased to send his own Son Jesus Christ to save us by these various characters or offices, and to represent him to us under so many relations, emblems or figures borrowed from the things of men, perhaps for such reasons as these:

I. That those attributes of the divine nature, viz. his wisdom, his power, his justice, his mercy, his faithfulness, &c. which could not have so full an illustration one way, or under one expression or metaphor, might have another. God is said to be just and kind, and faithful in the forgiveness of our sins through the blood of Christ. He is just in bestowing this blessing upon us, since Christ has become our sacrifice of atonement, and made full satisfaction for our offences: He is kind or merciful in appointing such a forgiveness for us, and sending his own Son to purchase or procure it: He is faithful in fulfilling his promise made to Jesus Christ, in the covenant of redemption, and bestowing upon us what Christ our benefactor has purchased for us. His wisdom also and his goodness are rendered more conspicuous to us in contriving and effecting our salvation, in assuring it to us, and bestowing it upon us in so many different ways and manners. II. That our Lord Jesus Christ might be the better known by us, and the more endeared to us, by sustaining these various offices and relations; and that we might be able to borrow some further ideas, and some clearer knowledge of these divine and important things of our salvation, from many of the common affairs and occurrences of life. When the blessed God has taken so much care to provide such a Saviour for us, and such an illustrious salvation, he is very desirous that we should view it on all sides, and be more thoroughly acquainted with it, as well as with that blessed person by whom he prepares and bestows it.

III. That all sorts of persons, of whatsoever temper or capacity, whatsoever want or difficulty they are in, might have wherewith to suit them and their circumstances; that every son and daughter of Adam, in their various ranks of life, might all learn the way to receive this Saviour, and lay hold on this salvation of Christ, and that he might render it easy and familiar to us by so many common similitudes, or parallels drawn from the things of common life: And thus those who know not how to apply themselves to Christ one way, might do it another.

As for instance, some poor feeble creatures who are convinced of sin, and ready to perish, perhaps may not know how to apply or address themselves to Christ, as a Surety, or as a Sacrifice, or as a Redeemer, &c. for these things are done already, and in a great measure were finished long ago; but the meanest and poorest creatures can easily learn how to apply to Christ as a Mediator, to do something for them that is yet to be done, to reconcile them to God, and to bring them into his presence with comfort; or as a highpriest of intercession, or as an advocate to plead for them before the throne of God, and their faith can wait on Christ, can call upon him, and trust in him to make intercession for them in the virtue of his blood, or to present his blood before the Father as an atonement for their sins, to appear before God for them as their great friend in heaven, to become their Mediator, Peace-maker or Reconciler, to bring them into the favour of God.

Those who are infants, or babes in Christ, may thus be nourished by the sincere milk of the word, and with diet fitted for their feeble capacity, when they are not sufficiently grown to bear stronger meat, as the apostle expresses himself; Heb. v. 12-14. whereas those who are well grown christians, and, in the sense of the apostle, may be called perfect, may know better how to converse with Christ as their great representative, they may know and rejoice in him, and in the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his suffering, and be made conformable unto his death; but those that are in a lower form

3

may not have their apprehensions so well cleared, and so much raised at present, although afterwards God may reveal also these things unto them; Phil. iii. 10, 15.

Thus we

IV. Christ is set forth under these various characters, that as our understanding in the things of religion, and in the graces and glories of Christ increases, we might take the faster hold of Christ, if I might so express it, and that we might have more various exercises of our faith, and more numerous evidences of the truth of our faith, and secure to ourselves more solid ground of hope, when we can view him in all these relations, and our faith can receive or lay hold of him under all these forms. may hereby obtain double and treble confirmation of our faith and comfort; Heb. vi. 17, 18. God gives us both his promise and his oath, to secure salvation to us; he swears in order to confirm what he had promised that by several immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled to lay hold of the hope set before us.

Thus has God been pleased also to do in the various representations he has made of Christ Jesus our Saviour, that our meditations and prayers, our hopes and dependencies, and indeed all the pious exercises of our souls towards Christ, might have a rich variety for our entertainment, support, and joy; and therefore the apostles have written these things unto the disciples of Christ, that their joy might be full; 1 John i. 4. I add fifthly, another reason is,

V. That God our Father and Jesus Christ our Saviour might have the larger revenues of glory from us, and receive honour from our hands in a rich variety, that we might have our thank-offerings rising up to God and the Lamb, in many forms of adoration and expression; that we might bless our dear Redeemer, rejoice in him, and do honour to his name under all those happy representations of his grace and glory, in which he has set himself before us in the gospel :-The last reason I will add, shall be this:

VI. That in all ages the followers of Christ might have a more clear and easy relief from those difficulties and controversies which may attend these great doctrines of our salvation, and which might darken and perplex the way whereby God has appointed us to be made partakers of this blessing.

SECTION IV.

THE DIFFICULTIES WHICH ARE RELIEVED BY THIS VARIOUS REPRESENTATION OF THE SALVATION OF CHRIST.

SINCE God has set forth our blessed Saviour with his salvation, and our faith which interests us therein, under so many various characters and expressions, the following difficulties will be very much relieved hereby, and several controversies abolished.

I. A christian who reads these things in his Bible, cannot say that Christ has saved us in this particular manner, and therefore he did not save us in the other; as for instance, When we read or assert that Christ was put to death for us, as a sacrifice for our sins, we cannot say, therefore he did not save us as a High Priest: Or when we read or assert that he saved us as our High Priest, we cannot say, therefore he was not a sacrifice; for the scriptures assure us, Christ himself is both the High Priest and the