( upon the crofs) forgive them, for they know not " what they do," Luke xxiii. 34.

The cries or prayers of the Man Chrift were vastly different from those of other men, in the innocence and purity of them. Whatever guilt was imputed to him, there was none committed by him. Though, as the reprefentative of finners, he was, in a legal fenfe, moft guilty; yet, in a perfonal abstracted view, he was of all men the most imma. culate and holy. Though, in the language of the apostle, he was "made fin for us,-he knew no fin," 2 Cor. v. 21. Whence all his prayers behoved to be of a piece with the diftinguishing fanctity of his nature; without the smallest mixture of weakness, guilt or imperfection. Accordingly, as one apostle informs us, that "he knew no fin ;" another affures us, that "he did no fin," 2 Pet. ii. 22. did no fin in heart, word, or action; no fin in a perfonal or relational capacity, in a moral or religious regard. Which with no propriety can be faid of mere men: for there is not only, "no man "that finneth not," I Kings viii. 46. but no juft man, upon earth, that doth good, and fin"neth not," Eccl. vii. 20. In the very prayers, and other religious performances of holy men, there is fo much guilt, that infinite holiness might justly condemn their perfons, and reject their performances, on account of it. For "who can fay, "I have my heart clean, I am pure from my fin?" Prov. xx. 9. Nay, "if we fay that we have no fin, "we deceive ourfelves, and the truth is not in us," 1 John i. 8.

His prayers or cries differed likeways from those of mere men; as by them he approached immediately to the Father, without ufing a mediator. It is an invariable maxim in the fyftem of Chriflianity, That as "there is one God, and one Mediator be

"tween

!

tween God and man," 1 Tim. ii. 5. fo, that "" no man cometh unto the Father but by him," John xiv. 6. whereas our Lord dealt immediately with the divine Majefty in perfon; evident from his very defignation of a Mediator, which fuppofes his dealing immediately with God, the offended, as he dealt immediately with man, the offending party. For a Mediator incapable of approaching both the disagreed parties, could be no Mediator, could effect no proper mediation; and thence could not, without impropriety, fo much as deferve the name. Nor did he only ufe no Mediator, but he actually needed none. Guilt renders God tremenduous and awful to finners. Guilt ftands as an irrefragable bar between God and man. Guilt not

only provokes Jehovah to speak to them in wrath, but makes finners themfelves fhy of approaching to him. What the people of Ifrael faid unto Mofes, the typical Mediator, is the truth respecting every mere man, how foon, and in how far, the infinite diftance between God and him is discovered. "And all the people (fays the hiftorian) faw the

thunderings, and lightnings, and the noife of "the trumpet, and the mountain fmoaking; and "when the people faw it, they removed, and flood "afar of; and they laid unto Mofes, Speak thou "with us, and we will hear; but let not God

Speak with us, left we die;" ́Exod. xx. 18, 19. whereas our Lord's righteousness, his perfonal conformity to the Father, was fuch, in breadth and length, in kind and degree," that he could, and, with all propriety, did plead the merit of it, as his argument with the Father, in crying to him. "Let not them (faid he) that wait upon thee, O "Lord, God of hofts, be ashamed for my fake; "let not thofe that feek thee be confounded for my fake, O God of Ifrael:" and as the argu

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ment for acceptance, he added, "Because, for thy fake, I have born reproach; shame hath cover"ed my face," Pfal. Ixix. 6, 7. "I have glori"fied thee on earth, (faid he) I have finished the "work which thou gavest me to do;" there is the plea, upon which he founded the following claim :" "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own felf, with the glory which I had with thee, "before the world was," John xvii. 4, 5. He pled, not on the footing of mercy and forbearance in God, but on the footing of righteousness, abfolute, eternal righteousness, in the Divine Nature; as what, difpofing and determining Jehovah to render to every one according to their real demerit, behoved to conclude for the answer of his prayers; evident from his calling him, in that noticeable prayer, "Holy Father," and again, "Righteous "Father," John xvii. 11, 25. In this there was nothing prefumptuous or premature; for the Father was "well pleased for his righteousness' fake," as confifting in his "magnifying the law, and mak"ing it honourable," If. xlii. 21. The prayers or cries of Jefus Chrift were always fuch as the Father was well pleafed to grant. Other men, faints not excepted, may, through their blindness and imperfection, afk, not only what the Father will not give, but what, fhould he indulge them in, would be hurtful for them to receive. "Ye afk (fays "the apostle) and ye receive not, because ye ask

amifs," James iv. 3. This is uniformly the cafe with finners; and, in things respecting a prefent life, or not effential to falvation, frequently the cafe with faints themselves. Whereas no defires flowed from the Saviour's heart, no petition dropped from his lips, but what was intirely a tranfcript of the Father's will, altogether a copy of the divine purpose and pleasure, and an invariable

evidence

evidence of what Jehovah would actually grant. From the Father's repeated declaration concerning Christ, first at his baptifm, and then at his transfiguration; the complacency he had in his prayers, as well as in his perfon, is manifeft and clear. "This (faid he) is my beloved Son, in whom I "am well pleased," Matth. iii. 17. and Matth. xvii. 5. and, from what our Lord himself said to the Pharifees, it is plain he had the believing perfuafion, the delightful conviction, that in prayer as well as in other duties, he always, without exception, fquar'd his conduct by the divine pleasure. "He that fent me (faid he) is with me; the Fa"ther hath not left me alone, for I do always "thofe things that please him," John viii. 29. As an obvious confequence from this, our Lord's cry never failed of fuccefs, his prayer never miffed an answer. Saints may pray once, again, and again, to no purpofe; they, in manifold instances, may, with the church complain, "Thou covereft

thyfelf with a cloud, that our prayers shall not

pafs through," Lam. iii. 44. But, whatever defertion the Man Chrift, as to his Father's comfortable prefence, groaned under, his prayers were never fent empty away: For "he lift up his eyes " (fays the evangelift) and faid, Father, I thank thee "that thou haft heard me; and I know that thou "heareft me always," John xi. 41, 42. The most remarkable circumstances, however, in which the prayers of the Man Chrift differed from those of other men, was, his fometimes demanding, rather than begging, of the Father. As to mere men, they must fall down, as unworthy creatures, at the footstool of mercy, the throne of grace; fenfible they deserve not what they afk; perfuaded that Jehovah may, without injustice, deny their requeft: and quite fatisfied that, unlefs the fovereign

ty

ty of grace turn the scale in their favour, no bleffing can be granted to them, or enjoyed by them. So mach is comprehended in the highest boldness, affurance, and confidence of faith, that was ever exercised, by any heir of promife, in his dealings with God. But our Lord, even in the days of his flesh, fometimes pled in a ftrain very different; in a ftrain unprecedented, inimitable, and peculiar. "Father, I will (faid he) that they also whom "thou haft given me, be with me," John xvii. 24. Strange! I will! and not, If thou wilt! Yes; our Lord, having the Father's everlafting obligation to him, for that purpose, in his hand, makes a demand on the promifer, for the accomplishment of his promife; there is an immediate requifition in this cafe. Nay more, the Redeemer fpeaks in ftrains of his divinity; and fpeaks his purpofe into being; fpeaks as co-equal with the Father, refpecting the crowning mercy he intended to perform toward all his fpiritual feed.

S E C T. IV.

What beauty, fimplicity, and grandeur, appear in the Redeemer's character, as reprefented? What an amiable, fignificant, and important picture does it fet before us? Never was the exercife of patience fcrewed up to fuch an amazing pitch; never did the grace of patience fhine with equal fplendor, advantage and glory. Never did that divine virtue receive fuch honour, or appear with fuch magnificence, as in the humiliation of Jefus Chrift, his people's Lord. Compared with this, the patience of Job, what is it? to what fum total does it amount? Compared with this, even the patience of Job is as a twinkling taper, to the fun in his brightnefs; weighed in the fcales of the fcripture, lighter than nothing, abfolute vanity. Here is patience

without