I'RTNCETON. N. J. 
 DivTS 
 
 No. (Jase, {^fj 
 
 No. Shelf, Sectiay _ 
 
 Till! John M. Ivrcbs Donatiou. 
 
 1 
 
 BT 255 
 
 .L67 
 
 1845 
 
 
 
 Lord, 
 
 Eleazar, 1788- 
 
 1871 
 
 , 
 
 The me 
 
 diatorial work 
 
 of 
 
 our 
 
 Lord 
 
 Jesus 
 
 Christ 
 
 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2010 witii funding from 
 
 Princeton Tlieological Seminary Library 
 
 littp://www.arcliive.org/details/mediatorialworOOIord 
 
THE 
 
 MEDIATORIAL ¥ORK 
 
 OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 ROBERT CARTER, 58 CANAL STREET 
 AND PITTSBURG, 56 MARKET STREET. 
 
 1845. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction 5 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Mediatorial Work considered as comprising the Creation and 
 
 Government of all Creatures 29 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Mediatorial Work characterised by Outward and Visible 
 
 Manifestations 45 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Work of Christ considered as involving a Conflict with Satan 
 
 and the Powers of Darkness 79 
 
 CHAP. III.— PART II. 135 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Work of the Mediator considered as indicating, by the nature 
 and vastness of its objects, and the events and analogies of its 
 Progress, the Visibility and Glory of His future Manifesta- 
 tions 170 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The words Mediation and Mediatorial, are em- 
 ployed in the ensuing- pages, with reference to the 
 office of the Son of God, by which He is the medium 
 and agent of all divine manifestations. 
 
 He is contemplated as standing between the invisi- 
 ble One and creatures : as bringing into existence, 
 preserving and governing all dependent beings, and 
 as possessing in himself the attributes and perfections 
 which are manifested in His works of creation, provi- 
 dence and grace — "the image of the invisible God" — 
 " God manifest in flesh." 
 
 In the Scriptures, the Mediator is represented in 
 diflferent aspects, as the creator and upholder of the 
 dependent universe, the providential and moral gov- 
 ernor, the redeemer of lost men, the final judge and 
 rewarder ; as the head and ruler of the kingdom 
 created by him, and as accomplishing by his works 
 an outward and visible manifestation of the divine 
 perfections, counsels and purposes. 
 
 The capacities and faculties of the souls of men, 
 their thoughts, affections, purposes &c., are mani- 
 2 
 
b INTRODUCTION. 
 
 fested to each other through the instrumentahty of 
 material bodies, endowed with appropriate organs 
 of perception. 
 
 The invisible things of God are, in a manner, 
 somewhat analagous, manifested to intelligent crea- 
 tures through the visible person and works of the 
 Mehutor. 
 
 In the great scheme of manifestation, or as inci- 
 dental to it, w^as included, as the unfolding of it has 
 shown, the existence of evil ; the apostasy of the 
 angels who rebelled, and of the human race ; and a 
 triumph over that defection, in the recover}'^ of a por- 
 tion of fallen men, and tlie subjugation and punish- 
 ment of all other fallen beings. 
 
 Doubtless His chief object in this, as in other parts 
 of His mediatorial work, was to manifest the divine 
 perfections. The salvation of a portion of the human 
 race cannot be deemed to have been the chief and 
 ultimate object. To suppose it to have been, is no 
 more consistent than to suppose the apostacy of man 
 not to have been foreseen at his creation, but to have 
 been a casualty, an unexpected evil, requiring, on 
 the score of justice to creatures, such a reparation as 
 is effected by the work of Christ ; in which case all 
 the fallen would alike behoove to be saved. 
 
 The purpose of manifestation required a system 
 into which evil should be admitted. The actual 
 system therefore permitted the apostacy of the angels, 
 who fell and of man. 
 
 All the fallen deserve punishment, without respite 
 or mercy ; and but for the object of divine manifesta- 
 tions, there could be imagined no consistent ground 
 for delay of punishment, or for the ransom and re- 
 covery of any through the atonement. Such recov- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 ery of a poi'tion of the human race, is an incident in 
 the great scheme of mediation, not the chief or ulti- 
 mate end of it. In the accomplishment of that end, 
 the consequences of sin will be superseded ; all ene- 
 mies will be subdued ; the divine manifestations to 
 creatures will l)e perfected ; and all holy beings in 
 heaven and earth, will be brouglit into perfect union 
 and fellowship with the Mediator as their Head. 
 
 The defective and erroneous views of this subject 
 which prevail in the various systems of theology, are 
 founded in the supposition, that the chief end of the 
 mediatorial work was the salvation of a portion of 
 the human race. This, instead of being regarded as 
 but one branch of that work, though in respect to the 
 manifestations to which it gives occasion it may be 
 the most important branch, is regarded as the supreme 
 and only object. The work of mediation is supposed 
 to have commenced after the fall, and to have been 
 merely remedial ; whereas the Scriptures give it an 
 earlier date, as well as a much more comi^reliensive 
 range. 
 
 It is owing, perhaps chiefly, to these defective 
 views, that the true place and condition of fallen man 
 in relation to the rest of the universe, to the mediato- 
 rial g-overnment, and to the reasons and method of 
 his recovery, are so partially apprehended. His im- 
 portance in the scheme is erroneously deemed to be 
 founded in himself, and his lapsed condition ; as if 
 that condition were his misfortune, and had in it 
 something of the nature of a claim to be redressed. 
 To recover him, therefore, or to recover as many of 
 the race as possible, is, by those who hold these re- 
 stricted views, conceived to be the chief and ultimate 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 object of the mediatorial work ; and that work is sup- 
 posed to be comprised in the atonement and the bene- 
 fits resulting from that interposition. 
 
 Christ came indeed to save sinners, to redeem and 
 rescue lost men from sin and Satan ; to lay down his 
 life a ransom for his people, suffering the penalty of 
 the law in their stead ; He did this pursuant to a cove- 
 nant having special reference to those ransomed by 
 Him, and in view of a reward of exaltation and joyful 
 acquisition of a redeemed, purified and justified peo- 
 ple, a church united to and glorified with him. State- 
 ments like these refer to one class of facts in relation 
 to the design and results of his mission ; but they do 
 not comprehend all. In the most comprehensive re- 
 ferences to his work, we are taught that he declared 
 or manifested the invisible God ; that he created the 
 worlds ; that he exercises all power in heaven and 
 earth. In another aspect, it is said that he came to 
 destroy the works of the devil. 
 
 " For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, 
 that he might destroy the works of the devil. He 
 took part of flesh and blood, that through death he 
 might destroy him that had the power of death, that 
 is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of 
 death were all their life-time subject to bondage. 
 That his death really overcame that evil spirit, who 
 is styled the prince of this world, was declared by his 
 resurrection, and by the gifts which in fulfillment of 
 his promise were sent upon his apostles after his 
 ascension." — Hill. 
 
 This subject may be illustrated by an analogy be- 
 tween the relations of man to the mediatorial govern- 
 ment, considered as extending over all creatures, and 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 the relations of man in a revolted province to the civil 
 government of an empire. 
 
 An empire may be supposed to consist of an hun- 
 dred different provinces over which the imperial gov- 
 ernment is equally and impartially exercised. One 
 or two of the provinces rebel, cast off their allegiance, 
 enlist under another chief, are guilty of treason, and 
 are condemned by the laws of tlie empire. The ob- 
 jects and administration of the government over the 
 other provinces remain undisturbed ; but to discour- 
 age and prevent farther defections, and to manifest 
 the benignity and justice of the government, and the 
 benevolence of its head, a course of extraordinary 
 measures is introduced. The just punishment of the 
 rebels is not instantly inflicted, but it is deferred to 
 give place to the intended measures, while the final 
 and aggravated execution of it upon all who persist 
 in rebellion, is proclaimed and rendered certain. 
 Every possible inducement to return to their allegi- 
 ance is now held out to the rebels. They are treated 
 with extreme forbearance and kindness. The exam- 
 ple of those who continue happy in their obedience 
 in the loyal provinces, and the fatal consequences 
 to themselves of persevering in their rebellion, are 
 strongly set before them. A measure is adopted by 
 the government by which, consistently with the honor 
 of the law, the demands of justice, and the well-being 
 of the empire, a free pardon may be tendered to them 
 not only for their original revolt, but for all their sub- 
 sequent and aggravated acts of rebellion. The atten- 
 tion of the whole empire is drawn to their case. The 
 exiraorilinary condescension, kindness, and perseve- 
 rance of the government on the one hand, and the 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 unreasonableness, obstinacy, and wickedness of ihe 
 rebels, on the other, almost wholly absorb the atten- 
 tion of the loyal provinces ; and while the trial for 
 their recovery continues, it has the aspect of an en- 
 grossing- and almost exclusive object of the govern- 
 ment, as if to reclaim those who had rebelled, and 
 were in a state of enmity, condemned and ruined, 
 was of more concern than any thing in the case of the 
 loyal and obedient. The character of the govern- 
 ment and its executive, as illustrated by the measures 
 adopted towards the rebels, is the subject of attentive 
 consideration and study, in contrast with tlie folly, 
 wickedness and ruin of the guilty factions. These 
 lessons of instruction and warning become the more 
 impressive as the inefficacy of all that is done for 
 the recovery of the fallen, is manifested ; and the 
 evil and desperate nature of rebellion is shown in the 
 rejection of offered pardon, and the ultimate overthrow 
 and misery of the unreclaimed. 
 
 In the meantime the government is fulfdling its 
 proper offices, and accomplishing all its high and be- 
 neficent ends over the peaceful and happy provinces 
 of the empire no less perfectly than if no local disor- 
 der had occurred within its limits ; and when the ex- 
 traordinary measures of forbearance and mercy to the 
 rebels shall give place to their sudden overthrow and 
 destruction, the great career of empire will go for- 
 ward throughout the entire dominions of the govern- 
 ment, as steadily and happily as prior to the revolt ; 
 and with the advanta_,e of the lessons of wisdom, and 
 the dissuasivcs from evil to which tlie local and tem- 
 porary insurrection had given occasion. 
 
 If, in view of the overtures and measures of the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11- 
 
 govemment, here and there an individual or a family 
 of the revolted should renounce their rebellion, and 
 become lo^^al and obedient, while the surrounding 
 multitudes continued in their cnmit}^, the case of the 
 reclaimed would be one of extreme interest to the 
 government and to the loyal portion of the empire. 
 It would be seen, that in returning to their duty, they 
 resisted manifold temptations and adverse influences ; 
 were subject to reproach and persecution from the 
 bold and hardened rebels around them, professed their 
 allegiance and performed their duties at the expense 
 of temporal interests and quiet, and in the midst of 
 hindrances and trials. Their virtues, their principles, 
 the sincerity of their attachment to the rightful gov- 
 ernment, their fortitude and courage, would be seen 
 to be severely tried ; and tlie event of their struggle, 
 their fidelity and perseverance would be observed 
 with earnest sympathy and exultation. 
 
 So in this revolted province of the universe. The 
 apostacy is universal, the rebellion malignant and des- 
 perate. The most stupendous interpositions and mea- 
 sures have been vouchsafed on the part of the Supreme 
 Ruler, which exhibit his character and government in 
 a light entirely new, presenting an aspect of excel- 
 lence and glory, which fixes upon this scene of mani- 
 festation the attention of the unfallen throughout the 
 universe. Here is exhibited an outbreak and a con- 
 flict on a scale, and with relations and consequences, 
 adapted to bring into view the Divine perfections, and 
 illustrate the principles of the Divine government, on 
 the one hand, and the nature and deserts of sin on the 
 other. The heavenly hosts, secure in the stability 
 and repose of the unfallen universe, and in the resist- 
 
iS INTRODUCTION. 
 
 less power and wisdom of the mediatorial administra- 
 tion, are the earnest spectators of this scene. As the 
 scene of manifestation, evolving, at every step, neAV 
 wonders of righteousness and mercy, new aspects of 
 divine wisdom, excellence and glory — new contrasts 
 of holiness and sin, happiness and misery — it engrosses 
 the attention of terrestrial and invisible beholders. 
 The measures connected with the suppression of this 
 revolt, and the developments and manifestations which 
 they occasion, are such as seem to assign to them the 
 first place among the objects for which the universe 
 exists and is governed ; and mortals, the apostate 
 party, in their blindness and pride, regard the scene 
 as exclusively their own ; as if apart from any rela- 
 tions of it to the rest of the universe, their case was 
 in itself of sufficient importance to account for, nay, 
 to demand all this array of measures and dispensa- 
 tions ; as if their recovery and happiness was, in it- 
 self and for its own sake, the most important object 
 of the divine administration ; as if the character of 
 God and the stability of his throne demanded it, and 
 therefore such a measure as the incarnation of the 
 Son of God was provided for ; as if to regain their 
 favor, and win them back to allegiance, was the single 
 purpose of all that has been done ; as if their rights 
 and their cause as a party placed them on a level, or 
 gave them an advantage over the rest of the universe. 
 Now, these false notions of men have no shadow 
 even of apparent foundation, except in the fact that a 
 respite has been granted, and a dispensation of tem- 
 poral mercies and proffers of spiritual benefits extend- 
 ed to them. Had no divine attribute but that of jus- 
 tice been enlisted in the treatment of their case, no 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 respite would have taken place or been possible. 
 Punishment would have ensued upon the first trans- 
 gression. Every consideration touching their guilt, 
 and the demands of law, forbade any delay of their 
 deserved and final punishment. But other objects, 
 higher purposes, the manifestation of mercy in har- 
 mony with righteousness, an illustration and exhibi- 
 tion to the whole universe of all the divine perfections, 
 and a full exemplification of the desperate malignity 
 of sin, furnished occasion for dela)^, forbearance, 
 respite. 
 
 Ti e view of this ajiostate section of the universe 
 which is presented in the Scriptures, and confirmed 
 b}' the events of Divine Providence, comprises the fol- 
 lowing, among other particulars : 
 
 1. It is in a state of open revolt and alienation, a 
 state of enmity, opposition and rebellion, against the 
 Supreme Proprietor and ruler of the universe. 
 
 2. In tbis apostacy and rebellion it is in league with 
 the fallen angels, and with Satan as the head and 
 leader of the revolt. 
 
 3. The guilt of the two factions thus leagued to- 
 gether is of the same nature, and is such in degree 
 that they are respectively condemned to the same 
 ultimate award and place of punishment. 
 
 4. That a respite is granted to both. 
 
 5. That the measures through which pardon is 
 offered are directed only to fallen man. Had there 
 been, in the nature of their apostacy and guilt, any 
 foundation of claim to relief, it would have availed 
 the fallen angels as well as fallen man. Relief is 
 tlicrefore proifercd, not on account of any thing in 
 them or in their condition, their importance as a class 
 
 2* 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of beings, their numbers or their power to do mischief, 
 but solely owing- to the good pleasure of God the Me- 
 diator, in the exercise of his sovereignty and grace, 
 and in pursuance of his scheme of manifestation. 
 
 6. That the rebellion is utterly hopeless in respect 
 to ultimate success : that the divine sovereignty and 
 grace will reclaim and save a portion of the race of 
 man ; and that the remainder will be subjected to a 
 punishment more aggravated than if no respite had 
 been granted. 
 
 7. That this revolt, so far from injuring the rest of 
 the universe, will in its progress, and when ultimately 
 crushed and superseded, enhance and promote its 
 well-being, and redound to the glory of the Mediator. 
 
 8. That it is in itself and will in the end be viewed 
 as an infraction of the order and system of the wide 
 empire of the Mediator, and is important only as a 
 means to an end ; as affording an occasion of mani- 
 festations of the highest consequence to the rest of the 
 universe which could not otherwise be made ; as fur_ 
 nishing on an adequate scale an opportunity of educ- 
 ing great and general good from partial evil. 
 
 9. That during the progress of this revolt and the 
 respite granted, a scene of conflict is exhibited. Satan 
 and his hosts and fallen men oppose the government 
 of the Mediator and all the measures of his mercy for 
 the recovery of any of the human race. Those who 
 are reclaimed are subjected to a sharp and ceaseless 
 conflict, and are objects of intense interest to the Me- 
 diator and his followers. They are a spectacle to the 
 universe. They resist temptation and practise virtue 
 and obedience in the midst of trials and opposition. 
 
 10. That in the visitation of divine displeasure in 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 this scene, in consequence of the apostacy, the earth 
 was cursed, and the inferior creation subjected to op- 
 pression and vanity ; and that at length the curse will 
 be removed and the earth restored to its primitive state 
 of salubrity and beauty. 
 
 These and kindred truths must be understood in 
 their proper connection, in order to a just apprehension 
 of the mediatorial work. It fs believed to be owing 
 to erroneous and defective views of the apostacy, 'and 
 its results, in the character and condition of man and 
 the state of the earth, that the character and work of 
 Christ are so little understood and so extensively mis- 
 apprehended. Such was the case when he appeared 
 visibly on earth. He was in the world Avhich he cre- 
 ated, and the world knew him not. He came unto 
 his own, and his own received him not. 
 
 The world of idolaters, infidels and unbelievers, 
 does not acknowledge him in any respect. Among 
 Christians and Protestants his work is supposed to 
 relate only to the redemption and salvation of men, or 
 is at least popularly contemplated only in that aspect. 
 To represent him as the creator, preserver and ruler 
 of the material universe and of all creatures, and as 
 having appeared to patriarchs and prophets, the de- 
 stroyer of the earth by water, and of Sodom by fire, 
 the lawgiver and king of Israel, the God of the prime- 
 val and Jewish dispensations, is to take an attitude of 
 novelt}', to infringe cherished associations, and incur 
 more or less of doubt and suspicion. Modern criti- 
 cism, with its microscopic vision, has done little to 
 illumine the canvas on which his character and works 
 are indicated in the language and symbols of man. 
 It has toiled indeed with zeal and perseverance, but 
 
16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 toiled much as it would in a course of experiments in 
 a dungeon on the nature and composition of light, to 
 determine the character and uses of the sun. 
 
 A just view of the person and work of the Mediator, 
 as the great theme of the Scriptures, the light by 
 which all other subjects are there illuminated, and 
 with reference to which they are treated, seems yet to 
 be wanting. The aspect of present and coming events 
 seeftis to demand enlarged apprehensions of the ma- 
 jesty and glory of the Mediator, and of the boundless 
 field of his operations, purposes and dominion. 
 
 If, as will, it is presumed, be admitted by all, there is 
 in the Scriptures no representation of the Divinity, by 
 words or symbols, as being seen, or being visible, or 
 as personally and locally manifested, except in the 
 character and person of the Mediator ; if the dominion 
 of the Son of God in this character is universal and 
 everlasting; if this earth and its inhabitants are but 
 as the small dust of the balance, compared with the 
 rest of the dependent universe ; if the scene passing 
 here owes its importance to the manifestations made in 
 the work of redemption, and if these peculiar mani- 
 festations are to be completed within a limited period ; 
 if in relation to the wide and endless empire of the 
 Mediator, they are in all that is peculiar, as a paren- 
 thesis, an episode, the removal of a stumbling block, 
 the suppression of a rebellion ; then the seeming dif- 
 ficulties which otherwise appear to arise from the dif- 
 ferent appellations and works ascribed to the creator, 
 ruler and redeemer, or the different aspects in which 
 the God of patriarchs, Jews and Gentiles, the God of 
 providence and grace, is revealed, may be seen to 
 have no reality. Christ as Mediator is the image of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 the invisible God. In and by Him alone the Divinity 
 is made known. He is the God thus made known to 
 us in the Scriptures : God the Mediator, the Creator, 
 providential Governor, and Redeemer ; Heir and Lord 
 of all. The Scriptures accordingly represent him in 
 these several aspects and olfices, both by symbols and 
 literal statements, and unless heeded in this respect 
 they may be liable to seem confused, when different 
 aspects or offices are referred to in the same passages 
 or connections. 
 
 If, in the works of creation and providence, the 
 Mediator manifests the perfections, counsels, and 
 purposes of the Invisible One, material things, visible 
 objects in connection with events and results, are the 
 medium, the glass, through which creatures appre- 
 hend the unseen agency, and attain degrees of know- 
 ledge of the divine attributes. 
 
 Creatures in different states differ in respect to the 
 attainment of such knowledge. Fallen men, in their 
 natural state, beholding the works of God, receive 
 impressions respecting their outward form, and all 
 that is visible to the natural eye ; and also respecting 
 their relative positions, or those relations which 
 reason assigns to them in the system of visible 
 things. 
 
 Renewed men, beholding the same things, discern 
 in them the manifestation of divine power, wisdom, 
 purpose, and other tokens of the presence and agency 
 of God. To them they are the shadings or screens 
 of ineffable light. They have perceptions of spiritual 
 things, of lioliness, righteousness, benevolence, jus- 
 tice, truth, faithfulness ; of the spiritual excellence, 
 beauty and glory of those qualities, as belonging to 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the Divine character ; and they discern them as they 
 are manifested in the various works and providences 
 of God. These visible works are as a mirror, trans- 
 parent, not to the natural eye, nor to the intellect or 
 reason, but to the heart, the organ of spiritual discern- 
 ment, the seat of emotions, affections, and sympathies, 
 which are in harmony with the objects or qualities 
 spiritually discerned. Thus beholding, as in a glass, 
 the glory of God, as it shines in the face, the visible 
 appearance and works of Jesus Christ, they are 
 changed into the same image from glory to glory. 
 
 This may, perhaps, be faintly illustrated, by sup- 
 posing a number of persons from whom natural light 
 had been excluded; and whose first exercise of their 
 organs of vision was that of beholding an illuminated 
 picture of various physical objects, placed in an open- 
 ing made in the wall of their dungeon for the purpose. 
 Their attention, probably, would be wholly occupied 
 with the colors and figures exhibited on the canvas, 
 and their position in relation to eacli other. The 
 light beyond the picture, and by which alone it was 
 rendered visible, would not enter into their contem- 
 plation. Of its nature and office, they would have 
 no conception. Their emotions and reflections would 
 terminate in the forms presented to their view, and 
 their relative positions. Suppose them now to be in- 
 structed in all that relates to light and vision, and 
 again to look at the picture in its former position : 
 doubtless their reflections would then extend beyond 
 the canvas to the cause of its visibility; their emotions 
 and impressions would be widely different from those 
 occasioned by the first experiment ; and by degrees 
 they would come to realize the perception only of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 light, SO graduated by the shading of the artist's colors 
 as to convey the desired impression of the forms and 
 relations of objects. If a part of them received and 
 yielded lo the instruction, while the others wholly 
 rejected it, and adhered to their first notions, the re- 
 newed exhibition of the picture would, in respect to 
 the two classes, result differently, as in the case of the 
 natural and spiritual man beholding the visible works 
 of God ; the one discerning only forms and relations, 
 the other discerning, in and through the works, the 
 attributes and perfections of the Creator. 
 
 The works of Creation and Providence being adapt- 
 ed and designed to serve as instruments in manifesting 
 the divine perfections to intelligent creatures, they are 
 accordingly endowed Avith faculties adapted to this 
 mode of instruction ; the faculties of seeing the visible 
 works, hearing the audible voice, and stud3ang the 
 revealed word of their divine Instructor. Material 
 things, in one form or another, are the medium of 
 their instruction, the glass through which they recog- 
 nize the immaterial and invisible. 
 
 The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy 
 him forever. To this end, the knowledge of God is 
 indispensable to him. This is eternal life, to know 
 thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou 
 hast sent. Love is of God; and every one thatloveth 
 is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, 
 knowcth not God ; for God is love. No man hath 
 seen God at any time. If we love one another, God 
 dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. We 
 know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us 
 an understanding, ihat we may know him that is true; 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and we are in him that is true, even in his son Jesus 
 Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 
 
 The holy scriptures are a record of divine manifesta- 
 tions — a record of the acts, laws, predictions, promises, 
 dispensations and proceedings of the Mediator, in rela- 
 tion to creatures and in connection with their agency. 
 
 If, with the great purpose of manifestation con- 
 stantly in view, w^e trace this record from the begin- 
 ning, we shall find it singularly adapted to the end 
 intended, with respect to those of the human race who 
 have been favored with it, and as illustrating those 
 things into whicli the angels desire to look. 
 
 Let it be observed that this record was not made 
 till about 2500 years after the creation. The apostacy 
 of the race had shown itself in the universal corrup- 
 tion and wickedness of the generation which were 
 swept away by the D::luge, and in the impious idola- 
 try, depravity and vice of those who succeeded. The 
 life of man had been cut short. The race at large had 
 become worshippers of idols ; carried away by the spirit 
 of rebellion, they did not like to retain God in their 
 knowledge : their foolish heart was darkened ; they 
 changed the glory of God into an image made like to 
 corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, 
 and creeping things — changed the truth of God into 
 a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather 
 than the Creator. Wherefore God had given them 
 up to their chosen folly and wickedness, and had sepa- 
 rated Abraham and his descendants, to be preserved 
 as a distinct people, by an extraordinary providence ; 
 to comprise the church, be the recipients and deposi- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 tary of divine revelation, a covenant people, from 
 whom the Messiah was to appear incarnate. 
 
 It was among this separated people, the descendants 
 of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, after being greatly mul- 
 tiplied during a sojourn of fourhundred years inEgypt, 
 that Moses was raised up to conduct them thence to 
 the land of promise ; and under the influence of inspi- 
 ration, to instruct them in regard to the past and the 
 future. 
 
 The record which he has given of the past is very 
 brief; and it is modified, apparently, in respect to the 
 details mentioned, by the circumstances under which 
 he wrote ; which, the other nations being rejected, 
 confined his attention substantially to the church and 
 nation of the Israelites. The things related, however 
 — the works of creation and providence being regarded 
 as the works of the Mediator — are such as most forci- 
 bly teach the lessons of outward and visible manifesta- 
 tion to a fallen race, naturally devoid of knowledge 
 and of spiritual discernment, prone to idolatry, and in 
 bondage to sin and Satan. 
 
 Concerning his retrospective record and the instruc- 
 tions it gives, it will be convenient to refer to the pe- 
 riod (1657 years) between the Creation and the Deluge 
 as an example. 
 
 Here the first announcement is that of the produc- 
 tion of material and visible things ; of all creatures, 
 visible and invisible ; the creation of the heavens and 
 the earth, and all their hosts. The narrative suggests 
 several observations : 
 
 1. The work of creation is described in its several 
 stages, as the objects and results would have appeared 
 
22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to a spectator, of the human race, as they successively 
 came withhi his view. 
 
 2. The statements emphatically include every kind 
 of creatures and objects. 
 
 3. The great principle of progenitorship, representa- 
 tion and imputation is disclosed as incident to the na- 
 ture of things in respect to man, inferior animals and 
 vegetables. The first of each kind were created, from 
 which successors were to proceed by a pervading and 
 permanent law. 
 
 " Every plant was created before it was in ihe earth; 
 and the earth brought forth grass and herbs, yielding 
 seed after their kind, and the tree, yielding fruit after 
 his kind, whose seed was in itself after his kind. And 
 God created every living creature that moveth, which 
 the waters bring forth abundantly after their kind, 
 and every winged fowl after his kind ; and God made 
 the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after 
 their kind, and everything that creepeth after his kind. 
 And the Lord God formed man, and breathed into his 
 nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living 
 soul : male and female created he them, and blessed 
 them; and said unto them. Be fruitful, and multiply, 
 and replenish the earth." 
 
 This law or constitution, by which the offspring, the 
 successors, were in respect to their natures, qualities 
 and characters, but the unfolding and development 
 of the primeval stock, the progenitors, the first of each 
 kind, and successively the immediate predecessors of 
 each reproduction, was thus plainly taught as a promi- 
 nent feature of the entire system. 
 
 The principal things noted in this period are : 
 
INTRODUCTION. 23 
 
 1. The creation of the heavens and the earth ; of 
 all creatures, visible and invisible. 
 
 2. The provision and appointment of food for man. 
 
 3. The rite of marriage. 
 
 4. The use of languag-e. 
 
 5. The grant of dominion to Adam over the inferior 
 creation. 
 
 6. The institution of the Sabbath. 
 
 7. The appropriation of Eden for the abode of 
 Adam and Eve. 
 
 8. The rightful authority of God over man, signi- 
 fied in the prohibition of the tree of knowledge. 
 
 9. The temptation, disobedience and fall of man, 
 through the subtlety of Satan. 
 
 The serpent, at the time when Moses wrote, was a 
 chief object of idolatrous worship, especially in Egypt, 
 as the recognized and familiar symbol of Satan, and 
 representative of that evil being, the prince of fallen 
 spirits — the evil principle, antagonist to the Messiah. 
 The narrative accordingly brings this symbol, the ser- 
 pent, into view, while the curse reaches the concealed 
 adversar}^, Satan. 
 
 The mythology of the Persians and other ancient 
 nations every where gives the serpent a prominent 
 place. " The devil, who, under the shape of a serpent, 
 tempted our first parents, has with unwearied applica- 
 tion labored to deify that animal as a trophy of his 
 victory over mankind. God having passed sentence 
 upon the serpent, Satan consecrates that form in which 
 he deceived the woman, and introduces it into the 
 world as an object of religious veneration. This he 
 did with a view to enervate the force of the divine 
 oracle with respect to the seed of the woman. Scarcely 
 
24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 a nation upon earth but he has tempted to the grossest 
 idolatry, and in particular got himself to be worshipped 
 in the hideous form of a serpent." — Owen's History 
 of the Serpent. 
 
 10. The curse on the serpent and on the great ad- 
 versary in his future rivalship and enmity. 
 
 11. The curse on Adam and Eve and their pos- 
 terity, and on the earth. 
 
 12. The expulsion of Adam from Eden. 
 
 13. The manifestation of the Mediator in the She- 
 kina, guarding the way of life. 
 
 Henceforth the human race constitutes two classes : 
 the true worshippers of Christ, the promised seed of 
 the woman, and the partisans of Satan, the seed of 
 the serpent. 
 
 14. The institution of sacrifices: teaching that with- 
 out shedding of blood, and faith in the atonement thus 
 typified, there was no remission of sins. 
 
 15. The offering of Abel accepted ; that of Cain 
 rejected, as it showed his unbelief and rejection of the 
 promised Messiah. 
 
 16. Cain, who was of the wicked one, murders liis 
 brother Abel. Doubtless Satan expected by this means 
 to invalidate the promise respecting the woman's seed 
 and tlie threatening against himself. 
 
 17. The translation of Enoch : attesting the exist- 
 ence of another world. 
 
 18. The multiplication and universal corruption of 
 men. The earth filled with violence. 
 
 19. Tlie building of the ark : the destruction of the 
 whole race, except Noah and his family, denounced. 
 
 20. The Deluge : a signal manifestation of the riglit- 
 eousness, holiness and truth of God. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 25 
 
 Thus concise as the narrative is, it presents the lead- 
 ing and most important truths of Revelation. The 
 essential doctrines and promises on which the faith of 
 the church rests, are inculcated, in connection with the 
 most striking outward and visible manifestations. The 
 principal doctrines, and the typical import of many 
 of the truths here set forth, are in subsequent revela- 
 tions more fully made known. These doctrines and 
 types were no doubt so well known to Moses and to 
 other holy men, in his time, as to render unnecessary 
 a more full declaration of tliem in this retrospective 
 record ; and to his successors, to whom more ample 
 disclosures were to be vouchsafed, no more than a 
 concise mention of them here was called for. 
 
 It is to be observed that the revelations recorded by 
 Moses, and subsequently, were intended not for the 
 idolatrous nations, who rejected the knowledge and 
 worship of God, and gave themselves up to the service 
 of the evil one, but were intended for the benefit of 
 the church and the people among whom the church 
 existed. The heathen nations, the Gentiles, were 
 given over, during the Jewish dispensation, to their 
 own chosen ways of rebellion and impiety, exhibiting 
 to the universe a spectacle of the proper fruits of the 
 apostacy, in the corruption, impiety and wickedness 
 of men, and the malevolence and tyranny of Satan. 
 
 For the faith of the church, and the enlightening 
 of those instructed by the church, these brief notices 
 were all that the case required. It was sufficient con- 
 cisely to record the creation of all things by the word 
 of divine power ; the social rights and duties of man, 
 and his relations, obligations and duties towards God; 
 his temptation and fall, and the malignant agency of 
 
26 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Satan therein ; the curse clenonnced upon that evil 
 being, upon man and upon the earth, and the enmity 
 thenceforward to exist l)etween the adversary and his 
 adherents in rebellion, and the Messiah and his fol- 
 lowers, till the mystery of iniquity should be ended 
 by the victory of the promised seed over all enemies; 
 the visible appearance of the Mediator, the angel of 
 the covenant, the redeemer, protector and avenger of 
 the church, in the symbol afterwards repeatedly vouch- 
 safed to the patriarchs, and constantly in the view of 
 the Israelites in the time of Moses, when, with a high 
 hand and outstretched arm, Satan and his Egyptian 
 votaries were discomfited, and the chosen people were 
 led forth in triumph, and miraculously sustained in 
 the wilderness ; the institution of typical sacrifices, 
 pointing to the great atonement, and requiring faith 
 in order to pardon and justification; the marked dif- 
 ference between the believing and the unbelieving in 
 their conduct, as in the case of Cain and Abel ; the 
 deep depravity of the natural heart, in the murder of 
 Abel ; the existence of an invisible world, and the 
 separate life of the soul, in the translation of Enoch ; 
 the utter, hopeless corruption of the race in its natural 
 state, and the righteous judgment of God in their de- 
 struction by the Deluge ; the divine sovereignty and 
 covenant faithfulness of God in preserving Noah. 
 
 It may be observed here, that in the writings of 
 Moses, both with respect to the then past and the 
 future, the visible manifestations of the angel Jeho- 
 vah, the promised seed of the woman, are recorded in 
 connection with the gradual disclosure of the scheme 
 of redemption to the patriarchs and other prominent 
 
INTRODUCTION. 27 
 
 members and representatives of the church; and the 
 line of his descent is likewise clearly noted : First. In 
 general terms, as the "seed of the woman." Second. 
 Through the descendants of Shem. Third. From 
 among those descendants, through the separated fam- 
 ily of Abraham. Fourth. From that family, through 
 Isaac. Fifth. Of the sons of Isaac, through Jacob. 
 Sixth. Of the sons of Jacob, through Judah. Seventh. 
 From tile descendants of Judah, through the line of 
 David; the sceptre being restricted to his line till Shi. 
 loh should appear. 
 
THE 
 
 MEDIATORIAL WORK OF CHRIST. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK CONSIDERED AS COMPRISING THE 
 CREATION AND GOVERNMENT OF ALL CREATURES. 
 
 1. A Mediator is one who interposes between dif- 
 ferent parties. 
 
 There may be such difference in the nature, rank, 
 or character of the parties, as to prechide all commu- 
 nication except through a mediator. The office of a 
 mediator implies a covenant or agreement in which 
 he is contemplated as the medium of relations and in- 
 tercourse. 
 
 2. There is nothing in the nature of this office to 
 hinder one party from binding himself by the terms of 
 a covenant and appointing a mediator, without the 
 previous concurrence or existence even, of the other 
 party. He may do it in anticipation of a state of 
 things contemplated and provided for in the covenant; 
 especially if the difference on account of which a Me- 
 diator is foreseen to be necessary, is a difference in na- 
 ture, rank and character. 
 
30 THE JIEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 3. Thus in the counsels of eternity the persons of 
 the adorable Trinity entered into a covenant, in virtue 
 of which the second Person was appointed Mediator 
 with reference to creatures to be brought into exist- 
 ence by him. He accepted, and undertook to fulfil 
 all the conditions of the appointment. Psalm Ixxxix ; 
 Eph. i ; Heb. i., ii., iii. 
 
 4. The work which He undertook, comprised the 
 bringing" into existence, preserving and governing all 
 creatures visible and invisible : the manifestation of 
 the Divine perfections to intelligent creatures ; the re- 
 demption of lost men ; the vanquishment of Satan, and 
 subjection of all things to himself. 
 
 5. There does not appear to be, in the nature of 
 His office, anything inconsistent with such extent and 
 variety of objects, supposing them to have been con- 
 templated in the counsels and covenant which were 
 to be fulfilled. The office of mediator as represented 
 in the Scriptures, is not restricted to the reconciliation 
 by atonement or otherwise, of disaffected parties. 
 Thus Moses, on the occasion of a covenant being 
 made with the Israelites at Mount Sinai : '' I stood 
 between the Lord and you at that time, to show you 
 the word of the Lord : for ye were afraid by reason of 
 the fire and went not up into the mount." Deut. v. 
 The Apostle, referring to this transaction, Gal. iii., 
 speaks of the part performed by Moses as that of a 
 mediator. 
 
 6. There appears to be no impropriety in consider- 
 ing the mediation of Christ as having relation to holy 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 31 
 
 angels. Their holiness can be no objection ; since 
 their creation is ascribed to Him, and must therefore 
 have been contemplated in the covenant in which His 
 official work originated. Doubtless there was that in 
 their nature as creatures, in their relations to their 
 Creator, and in the condition of tlieir being by which 
 they were liable to apostacy, which rendered His me- 
 diation originally and forever necessary to them. 
 
 7. They are accordingly required to worship Him : 
 they are employed in executing the measures of His 
 mediatorial administration : they attend his person ; 
 and join the redeemed of the human race in ascrip- 
 tions of glory to Him for His official work, and in 
 songs and doxologies of praise in view of his victory 
 over the powers of darkness, and his triumphant reign 
 as mediatorial King. 
 
 8. In harmony with this view, the saints under the 
 Gospel Dispensation, are represented as having come 
 into immediate relationship with the whole spiritual 
 family and kingdom of Christ : — the heavenly Jeru- 
 salem, an innumerable company of angels, the gene- 
 ral assembly and church of the first born, God the 
 Judge of all, the spirits of just men made perfect, and 
 Jesus, the Mediator of the New or Gospel Covenant. 
 
 9. In the passage last referred to, the privileges of 
 the saints under the New Covenant, are, for their 
 encouragement, contrasted with those of the Israelites 
 under the covenant announced from Mount Sinai. 
 This naturally involved a contrast between coming to 
 Jesus as the visible Mediator of the New, and coming 
 
32 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 to Moses as mediator of the Levitical covenant ; but 
 can in no wise be understood to limit the extent or 
 bring into view all the objects of his mediatorial work. 
 The words, "to God the Judge of all," refer, it is 
 presumed, to Christ, in his character of final judge 
 and rewarder. The object of the contrast, no less 
 than his office in this respect, require tbis supposition. 
 The phrase has a wider signification than that which 
 refers to him as " Mediator of the New Covenant :" 
 the latter contemplates his special relation to the 
 human race ; the former his mediatorial dominion over 
 the whole universe of creatures. In the order of the 
 particulars recited, the climax is inverted. 
 
 10. The Scriptures appear to teach that the Divinity, 
 absolutely considered, can have no relation, inter- 
 course or connection with creatures, except through 
 an appropriate official medium ; that God is, and ever 
 will be, absolutely invisible ; and that he is made 
 known to creatures only by the Mediator. — John i., 
 18, and vi., 46 ; 1 Tim. vi., 16 ; Matt, xi., 27 ; Luke 
 X., 22. 
 
 11. The Scriptures announce the simultaneous 
 creation of the heavens and the earth and all their 
 hosts. The terms employed, in numerous instances, 
 forbid the suj^position of any diversity of epochs, in 
 the manifestation of creative power in different parts 
 of the universe. " Thus (in six days) the heavens 
 and the earth were created and all the host of them." 
 — Gen. ii., 1. " This argues that the angels belong to 
 the Mosaic creation, who are so often spoken of as 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 33 
 
 God's Host, and as the Host of heaven." — Edwards, 
 Vol. vi., p. 493. 
 
 12. That the mediatorial work has relation to other 
 worlds ; that it comprises other objects than the re- 
 demption of fallen man: that it comprehends, indeed, 
 all that relates to creatures, their creation, preserva- 
 tion and government, is plainly taught in Scripture. 
 " By Him were all things created that are in heaven 
 and that are in earth, visible and invisible — all things 
 were created by Him and for Him, and by Him all 
 things consist. All things were created by Him to 
 the intent, that unto the principalities and powers, 
 the different orders of angels, in the heavenly regions, 
 the manifold wisdom of God might be made known 
 in connection with the redemption and consummation 
 of the church. He hath all power in heaven and 
 earth. To Him all judgment is committed. To Him 
 is due the homage of all creatures. All the angels 
 are required to worship Him. Angels, authorities 
 and powers are subject to Him. To Him every knee 
 shall bow. Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, 
 are all things." 
 
 13. From these and passages of like import, it is 
 evident that the official work of Christ, comprises all 
 Divine operations relating to creatures, whether ma- 
 terial or spiritual. "God is a spirit — invisible, dwel- 
 ling in light which no man can approach unto, whom 
 no man hath seen nor can see. No man hath seen 
 God at any time; the only begotten Son hath declar- 
 ed or manifested Him. The invisible things of Him 
 are clearly seen from the creation — being understood 
 
34 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 by the thing's that arc made. The heavens declare 
 the glory of God; the firmament showeth the work 
 of His hands. Day unto day uttercth speech; night 
 unto night showeth knowledge." 
 
 14. This scheme of manifestation in regard, espe- 
 cially, to the wisdom, holiness, immutability, justice 
 and mercy of God, is executed chiefly in connection 
 with the redemption and consummation of the Church; 
 and a principal end of the mediator's work, considered 
 in this relation, is that of uniting in Him all holy 
 creatures in heaven and earth. — Eph. i. He instructs 
 by outward, visible and audible manifestations; and 
 
 mparts spiritual light and knowledge of the Divine 
 perfections, by shining in the heart, so that those who 
 are illuminated in this manner, behold the glory of 
 God in Him, as in a glass reflecting, or an image 
 representing the invisible one. 
 
 15. With reference to the entire work of creation, 
 providence and grace, as delegated to Him, the Son 
 of God is invested with all power, lordship and do- 
 minion, as Mediator. In Him, in this character, 
 dwells the fullness of the Godhead. 
 
 16. In the first chapter of the Epistle to the Colos- 
 sians, the inspired writer, after ascribing to Christ the 
 creation of all things visible and invisible in heaven 
 and earth, and declaring that he is before all things, 
 and that by him all things subsist, adds that it pleased 
 the Father that all fullness should dwell in him, and 
 by him to reconcile to himself all things in heaven 
 and earth, having made peace by the blood of his 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 35 
 
 cross: as though the exhibition made in his crucifix- 
 ion had relation to all accountable creatures within 
 the wide empire of moral government, procuring- for 
 the hosts of the unfallen, exemption from temptation, 
 confirmation in holiness and union with him as their 
 preserver and head; and laying- the foundation of 
 respite to the fallen angels and the human race. 
 
 17. ''God would have his eternal Son to be incar- 
 nate, to take our nature on him, to be made man. 
 What is his design in this incomprehensible work of 
 his wisdom, love and power? Indeed, in the first 
 place, it was for the redemption of the Church, by the 
 sacrifice of himself, and other acts of his mediation. 
 But there is that which is more general and compre- 
 hensive, and wherein all the concerns of the glory of 
 God do centre; and this was, that he might gather all 
 things into one in him, that the whole creation, espe- 
 cially that which was to be eternally blessed, should 
 have a new head given unto it for its sustentation, 
 preservation, order, honor and safety. All springs 
 are in him, and all stieams are unto him, and in and 
 by him unto God. Who can express the Divine 
 beauty, order and harmony of all things, that are in 
 this their recapitulation in Christ? The union, and 
 communion between angels and men, the order of 
 the whole family in heaven and earth, the communi- 
 cation of life, grace, powder, mercy and consolation to 
 the church, the rule and disposal of all things unto 
 the glory of God, do all depend hereon. 
 
 "There is no contemplation of the glory of Christ, 
 that ought more to affect the hearts of them that do 
 believe, vath delight and joy, than this of the recapitu- 
 
36 THE MEDIATORIAL AVORK. 
 
 lation of all things in him. One view by faith of him 
 in the place of God, as the Supreme Head of the 
 whole creation, moving, acting, guiding and dis- 
 posing of it, will bring in spiritual refreshment unto 
 a believing soul. 
 
 "Did we live more in the contemplation of this 
 glory of Christ, and of the wisdom of God in this 
 recapitulation of all things in him, there is not any 
 thing of our duty which it would not mind us of, nor 
 any thing of privilege which it would not give us a 
 sense of, as might easily be demonstrated. 
 
 "In particular the Lord Christ is glorious herein, 
 in that the whole breach made on the glory of God 
 in the creation by the entrance of sin, is hereby re- 
 paired and made up." — Owen on the Glory of Christy 
 Chap. XL 
 
 18. He possessed with the Father the glory of the 
 Godhead before the world was. As God, he was eter- 
 nal and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, 
 holiness, justice, goodness and truth. When these 
 perfections were to be made known in the works of 
 creation, providence and redemption, He undertook, 
 as Mediator, to manifest them. All things were de- 
 livered or referred to him. He was appointed and 
 declared heir of all things ; and is, in his official work, 
 to be contemplated as the author, bestower and me- 
 dium of all divine communications to creatures, and 
 all intercourse, communion and fellowship of holy 
 creatures with God. 
 
 19. The Divine Being is represented in the lan- 
 guage of Scripture in various aspects and by a variety 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 37 
 
 of names, titles and designations of character, rela- 
 tions, offices, attributes and operations. 
 
 20. These names, titles and designations, though 
 generally so appropriated as to distinguish the persons 
 of the Godhead, and their official and covenant acts 
 and relations respectively, from the one God, abso- 
 lutely considered, are in numerous instances applied 
 indiscriminately to the Father, the Son and the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 21. This usage, so far from being in conflict with 
 anything taught in passages which indicate personal 
 acts or relations, sustains and confirms their restricted 
 meaning. 
 
 22. The Divinity is one, possessed of all possible 
 perfections ; but the Godhead exists in three distinct 
 persons. The perfections of the one Divine Being 
 reside equally in the three persons. To each of them, 
 separately or personally, all divine perfections belong 
 and are properly ascribed. The acts of each person 
 are therefore in reality, and as represented in the lan- 
 guage of Scripture, the acts of God. 
 
 23. Considered, then, with respect to the counsels, 
 purposes and acts or operations of God, as represented 
 in the scriptures and manifested in the \vorks of crea- 
 tion, providence, and redemption, it is proper to say: 
 that all the acts of the Father, in covenanting with 
 the Son, appointing and investing him with all power 
 as Mediator, and rewarding his humiliation, vicarious 
 sufferings, and victory over the apostate faction ; and 
 
 3* 
 
38 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 all the acts of the Son, in his mediatorial work; and 
 all the acts of the Holy Spirit, in his official agency, 
 each and alike proceed from and express the will of 
 the Godhead. They are each and all properly and 
 equally divine acts. " Whenever Christ, in the capa- 
 city of Mediator, addresses the Father, he compre- 
 hends, under the name of God, the divinity which 
 belongs also to himself." — Calvin, Book /., Cap. xiii., 
 §26. 
 
 24. Those acts, therefore, which, in some passages 
 of Scripture, are ascribed to God, and in others to the 
 Mediator, are to be contemplated as Divine acts, per- 
 formed by Him in his official character. Thus: "In 
 the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." 
 "By Him, the Mediator, were all things created." 
 " God, who in time past spake to the Fathers by the 
 prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by 
 his (SoTi." "The prophets searched diligently what 
 the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signif3\" 
 "When the Spirit of Truth is come. He will guide 
 you into all truth. He shall receive of inine, and 
 shall show it unto you. All things that the Father 
 hath are mine; therefore said I, He shall take of mine, 
 and shall show it unto you." 
 
 25. Practically, this usage of Scripture is a preserv- 
 ative from error. It habituates the mind to ascribe 
 all divine acts to God, while it does not hinder a proper 
 discrimination of the respective personal and official 
 acts and relations. 
 
 26. Thus in the worship of God: The Father, the 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 39 
 
 Son, and the Holy Spirit are worshipped as distinct 
 persons, only as viewed in their respective covenant 
 or official relations. 
 
 27. The Divinity, absolutely considered, and by 
 whatever name, title or designation indicated, is wor- 
 shipped through the Mediator, and as manifested by 
 Him. The existence and glorious perfections of that 
 invisible Being are realized to the mind by faith in the 
 manifestations made by our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 28. "There is one God, and one Mediator between 
 God and man, the man Christ Jesus." — 1 Tim. ii., 
 " There is one God, of whom are all things, and one 
 Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things." — 1 Cor. 
 viii. "By him (who superseded the Levitical priest- 
 hood) we draw nigh unto God : and by virtue of his 
 eternal priesthood, he is able to save all who come 
 unto God by him." — Heb. vii. "By him, therefore, 
 let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually; 
 that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his 
 name." — Heb. xiii. " Through him we have access 
 unto the Father." — Eph. ii. " If any man speak, 
 let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man 
 minister, let him do it as of the ability which God 
 givetb ; that God in all things may be glorified 
 through Jesus Christ." — 1 Pet. iv. 
 
 29. Of the worship of Christ, the examples and 
 injunctions are numerous. He constantly received 
 the worship of his disciples while on earth. The 
 Apostles, when selecting one to complete their num- 
 ber, addressed their prayer to him. Stephen prayed 
 
40 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 to him to receive his spirit. The angels and saints in 
 heaven worship him. 
 
 30. The Holy Spirit works inwardly in the minds 
 of men; enlightens, changes, sanctifies; renders effect- 
 ual to their conversion, sanctification and perseverance 
 the truths manifested and the benefits purchased by 
 Christ. His operations are graciously vouchsafed, 
 solely on account of the mediation, sacrifice and inter- 
 cession of Christ. His official work may be termed 
 subjective; not originating or procuring, but applying 
 benefits. 
 
 31. Hence, in respect to acts of worship, the pecu- 
 liarity, frequently indicated in the Scriptures, occa- 
 sioned l)y the peculiar office and agency of the Spirit. 
 The saints worship God in the Spirit; they pray in 
 the Spirit; they rejoice and sing in the Spirit. They 
 have fellowship with the Father and the Son, caused 
 by his indwelling influence; but they are no where 
 said to have fellowship with the Spirit. The Father 
 and the Son are in these exercises, objective to the 
 mind, in their official relations. He is in or with the 
 mind. It is by His official agency that all holy acts 
 and exercises are induced; while it is only in such 
 relations as make the Spirit objective to the mind, 
 that He is personally worshipped. Thus, in all the 
 doxologies to the ever-blessed Trinity, equal and un- 
 divided homage and praise are ascribed to the Father, 
 the Son and the Holy Spirit. So likewise in the for- 
 mularies of baptism. 
 
 32. Fellowship with the Father and the Son, as 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 41 
 
 represented 1 John i., signifies that the saints, being 
 worshippers of the one true God, through Christ, and 
 receiving by his mediation the blessings of pardon and 
 salvation, do in their spiritual experience, their faith 
 and hope, their worship, prayers and praises, partici- 
 pate in all the gifts, privileges and benefits which, in 
 the economy of grace, are derived from the Father 
 and the Son. 
 
 33. Fellowship with the Father results from adop- 
 tion; with the Son, from union to him by faith; and 
 springs from a mutual likeness and harmony of will, 
 affections and designs, which are wrought in the soul 
 by the Holy Spirit. He that is joined to the Lord is 
 one spirit. The phrase, ''If there be any fellowship 
 of the Spirit," (Phil, ii., 1,) imports a fellowship or 
 joint-participation in the effects wrought in the soul 
 by the Holy Spirit, producing a fellow-feeling and 
 mutual sympathy among the disciples of Christ in 
 their sufferings and their joys. 
 
 34. The heathen fellowships were associations of 
 men, united by a common sympathy or for secret pur- 
 poses, who agreed in choosing the same object of idol- 
 atry, which they regarded as the head of their society 
 and author of the benefits which they, as fellow- wor- 
 shippers, expected jointly to participate. From the 
 example of such fellowships, the Romish Sodalities 
 were copied. 
 
 35. The late Dr. Hill, in his Lectures on Divinity, 
 chap, iv., presents a lengthened critical examination 
 of the principal passages of the New Testament 
 
42 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 which expressly declare that Jesus is the Creator, viz : 
 John i., 1 — 18; Colos. i., 15 — 18; Heb. i. His expo- 
 sitions of these, and references to other passages, leave 
 no room to doubt but that the apparent is the real 
 meaning of these portions of Scripture. In the con- 
 clusion, he observes: "When you take the language 
 of the Old Testament, which makes creation the work 
 of the true God, and the language of the New Testa- 
 ment, where creation is ascribed to Jesus, you discover 
 the traces of a system which reconciles the apparent 
 discordance. Jesus Christ is essentially God, always 
 with the Father, united with him in nature, in perfec- 
 tions, in counsel and in operations. ' Whatsoever 
 things the Father doth, these also doth the Son like- 
 wise.' The Father acts by the Son, and the Son, in 
 creating the world, displayed that power and Godhead 
 which from eternity resided in him. This system is 
 delivered in the earliest Christian writers," etc. — 
 p. 280. 
 
 36. In the succeeding chapter, the fifth, he in like 
 manner shows that the same Divine Person is the pre- 
 server of all things; and that to Him the Scriptures as- 
 cribe the entire works of Providence. Upon the inti- 
 mations of Scripture to this effect " is founded," he ob- 
 serves, " an opinion which, since the days of the Apos- 
 tles, has been held by almost every Christian writer who 
 admits the pre-existence of Jesus, that he who in the 
 fulness of time was made flesh, appeared to the patri- 
 archs, gave the law from Mount Sinai, spake by the 
 prophets, and maintained the whole of that inter- 
 course with mankind, which is recorded in the Old 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 43 
 
 Testament as preparatory to the coming of the Mes- 
 siah." 
 
 37. He accordingly proceeds to exhibit the evidence 
 of Scripture in support of this opinion, and particularly 
 to show that all the appearances recorded in the Old 
 Testament of one called Angel, and God, were per- 
 sonal appearances of Christ, the creator and governor 
 of all creatures. At the close of this discussion he 
 observes, " All these particulars laid together consti- 
 tute an evidence which appears to be satisfactory, that 
 Jesus Christ is the person who appeared to the patri- 
 archs, and gave the law from Mount Sinai ; who was 
 worshipped in tlie Temple of Jerusalem, and who was 
 announced by the prophets as the author of a new dis- 
 pensation." — p. 299. 
 
 38. " The general principles," he observes again, 
 "of the opinion — that He who in the fullness of time was 
 made flesh, appeared to the patriarchs, &c., are these : 
 God the Father is represented in Scripture as ' invisi- 
 ble, whom no man hath seen at any time.' But it is 
 often said in the Old Testament, that the patriarchs, 
 the prophets, and the people, saw God ; and there is 
 an case, a familiarity of intercourse in many of the 
 scenes which are recorded, inconsistent with the awful 
 majesty of Him who covereth himself with thick 
 clouds. The God of Israel, whom the people saw, 
 is often called an angel, i. e., a person sent; there- 
 fore he cannot be God the Father, for it is impossible 
 that the Father should be sent by any one. But he 
 is also called Jehovah. The highest titles, the most 
 exalted actions, and the most entire reverence, are 
 
44 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 appropriated to him. Therefore he cannot be a being 
 of an inferior order. And the only method in which 
 we can reconcile the seeming discordance is, by sup- 
 posing that he is the Son of God — who being at a par- 
 ticular time ' made flesh,' and so manifested in the 
 human nature, may be conceived without irreverence, 
 to have manifested himself at former times in differ- 
 ent ways."— pp. 282, 283. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK CHARACTERIZED BY OUTWARD AND 
 VISIBLE MANIFESTATIONS. 
 
 1. This work contemplated as embracing the crea- 
 tion, preservation and government of all creatures, 
 and as having for its object the manifestation of the 
 Divine counsels and perfections, is in its nature exter- 
 nal and visible; and our knowledge of it results from 
 those operations of the Mediator which are objective 
 to our apprehensions : we behold the visible works of 
 his hand in the material creation, we hear his voice 
 in his word, and witness the results of his agency in 
 preserving and governing the dependent universe. 
 
 2. His adoption of this method warrants the as- 
 sumption that created minds, whether angels or men, 
 were, in the nature of the case, not more incapable of 
 omniscience, than of acquiring a knowledge of the 
 Divine perfections, except as they were manifested 
 by acts and results, operations and effects, so brought 
 within their observation as to be properly character- 
 ized as visible, or cognizable to their external percep- 
 tions, or their consciousness. 
 
 3. The fact that innumerable material worlds have 
 been created, is evidence enough that outward, visible, 
 tangible or otherwise perceptible subsistences distinct 
 
46 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 and diverse in nature from mind, were necessary as 
 a medium of Divine manifestations to rational crea- 
 tures ; that the existence and conditions of matter 
 were necessary on account of the mode in which, from 
 their nature and their limited faculties, rational crea- 
 tures could alone receive or attain any knowledge of 
 the Divine perfections. 
 
 4. Accordingly the Apostle argues, that as no man 
 knows the thoughts, feelings, desires or purposes, of 
 another's mind, except so far as he makes them known 
 by words or acts within the observation or perception 
 of others : so the things of God, his perfections and 
 purposes, cannot be known unless manifested by 
 audible revelation, or in other ways suited to man's 
 capacities and modes of apprehension. 
 
 5. Hence, if intelligent creatures were to be brought 
 into existence, and if it was to be the chief end of 
 their existence that they should glorify and enjoy 
 God, and if from their nature as created, finite and 
 dependent beings, they could not intuitively or by 
 virtue of any faculties of created moral agents, per- 
 ceive or learn any thing of the Invisible One, without 
 the accompaniment of an outward and visible ma- 
 chinery suited to their natures as intelligent creatures, 
 as a telescope is suited to the material organ of vision, 
 then the co-existence and conditions of the material 
 creation were necessary to the end. 
 
 6. This necessity may be illustrated by supposing 
 that after the work of creation no apostacy of angels 
 or men had taken place, and consequently that no 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 47 
 
 moral evil^ nor any of its attendant circumstances or 
 consequences had entered into the system. In that 
 case, the eternal power and Godhead of the invisible 
 Creator would be manifested by the things which he 
 had made; but his moral attributes would be, if at all, 
 but very slightly and doubtfully indicated. Immuta- 
 bility, perfect holiness, justice, goodness, and other 
 divine perfections, which are exhibited only by acts 
 and results of acts, declarations, promises and threat- 
 enings, would find no place of manifestation in such 
 a state of things. 
 
 7. No declaration or description of these perfections 
 by revelation, oral or written, or in any manner ana- 
 logous to that of human language, or in any other 
 manner than by such acts and results as have taken 
 place under the present system, could possibly convey 
 any just or adequate notion of them. The character 
 and glory of God, which they so largely constitute, 
 would therefore remain essentially unknown. Crea- 
 ted intelligences, should such a revelation be vouch- 
 safed to them, would be aided in their attempts to 
 understand it, and their conceptions of the things de- 
 clared, by no prototypes, examples or analogies within 
 their own experience or observation. Neither words 
 nor symbols would, in such a case, be of any signifi- 
 cance. Having no capacity or power to discern the 
 thoughts or feelings of each other, any farther than 
 they were externally manifested in some way intelli- 
 gible to them; they surely could not discern the 
 qualities, thoughts or affections of the Divine Mind. 
 To suppose they could, would be to siippose them 
 
48 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 able to compiehend that Mind, or to be omniscient 
 and infinite. 
 
 8. It is in the nature of things that creatures should 
 be incapable of any direct or immediate perception or 
 discernment of the qualities or perfections of the 
 Divine Mind. All their knowledge of the invisible 
 Divinity is, and ever must be derived — the result of 
 analogy and inference. That condition of their being, 
 which renders their perceptions and ideas, or thoughts, 
 successive in the order of time, precludes them from 
 any direct apprehension of a being in whom no such 
 condition exists, and who is in all respects infinite. 
 
 9. To manifest the perfections and thoughts of such 
 a Being to creatures, therefore, required the existence 
 and relations of material things, and such a course of 
 outward and visible acts and events as has been exhi- 
 bited by the Mediator. It is in the observation and 
 experience of men in their relations to one another 
 and to material things, that the symbols and analogies 
 are furnished, by which they are enabled to under- 
 stand the language of revelation respecting invisible 
 and spiritual objects. 
 
 10. From the same necessary condition of created 
 beings, it results that their knowledge is progressive. 
 This holds as well in respect to angels as men, and 
 equally with respect to physical and spiritual objects. 
 But this forbids the supposition of their receiving any 
 knowledge of the Divine Being by direct or imme- 
 diate apprehension, or in any other way but by man- 
 ifestation in acts, &.C., adapted to their modes of per- 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 49 
 
 ception. They can know the faculties and (lisposi- 
 tions of each others minds in no otlier way ; much 
 less the perfections of the Divine Mind. If they 
 could know each others minds, or the Divine mind, 
 by direct inspection or apprehension, their knowledge 
 would not be progressive, but instantaneous. They 
 would at once comprehend the objects of their atten- 
 tion. 
 
 11. Hence the otherwise unaccountable interposi- 
 tion of second causes, outward and visible instrumen- 
 talities in the operations of Divine Providence and 
 grace. In all except the original creation, or the 
 exercise of creative power in changing the natiu-e 
 of things, such instrumentalities are employed. The 
 Invisible One thus manifests himself. Throughout 
 all the realms of nature, and in all the relations and 
 experience of dependent moral beings, this beautiful 
 and wondrous system of instrumentalities prevails. 
 
 12. It is abundantly evident, both from reason and 
 scripture, that the ultimate end of the works of crea- 
 tion and Providence, was to glorify God by the mani- 
 ifestations of his perfections, and the emanations of 
 his goodness to creatures. This is therefore constantly 
 held up to view in the inspired records, with reference 
 to the works of creation, the work of redemption, 
 the Divine dispensations to particular individuals and 
 families and nations, and the object to be desired and 
 pursued by all holy creatures. 
 
 13. Hence we rea^ in Psalm xix., that " the hea- 
 vens declare the glory of God, and the firmament 
 
50 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth 
 speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. 
 There is no speech nor language where their voice is 
 not heard. Their line is gone out through all the 
 earth, and their words to the end of the world. In 
 them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, &c." " All 
 thy works praise thee, and thy saints bless thee. 
 How manifold are thy works, in wisdom hast thou 
 made them all, the earth is full of thy riches. The 
 invisible things of Him from the creation of the 
 world are clearly seen, being understood by things 
 that are made. Having predestinated us to the adop- 
 tion of children, by Jesus Christ, unto himself, ac- 
 cording to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise 
 of the glory of his grace." Passages like these 
 abound in the Psalms and other parts of scripture. 
 A single instance respecting an individual is taken 
 from Romans ix., 17. " The scripture saith to Pha- 
 raoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee 
 up, that I might show my power in thee, and that 
 my name might be declared throughout all the earth." 
 
 " All that we know of the Almighty is gathered 
 from his works. He speaks to us by the effects which 
 he produces ; and the signatures of power, wisdom 
 and goodness, which appear in the objects around us, 
 are the language in which God teaches man the 
 knowledge of himself. From these objects we learn 
 the Providence as well as the existence of God, be- 
 cause, while the objects are in themselves great and 
 stupendous, many of them appear to us in motion ; 
 and through the whole of nature, we observe opera- 
 tions which indicate not only the original exertions, 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 51 
 
 but also the continued agency of a supreme invisible 
 power." — Hill, p. 28. 
 
 " The language which we interpret, consists of 
 signs, i. e. objects and operations which fall under 
 our senses, employed to indicate that which is unseen. 
 What are the looks, the words, and the actions of our 
 fellow creatures, but signs of that internal disposition 
 which is hidden from our view? What are the ap- 
 pearances which bodies exhibit to our senses, but 
 signs of the inward qualities which produce these 
 appearances 1 What are the works of nature but 
 signs of that supreme Intelligence ' whom no man 
 hast seen at any time.' " — Hill. 
 
 14. The Mediator who administers this entire sys- 
 tem of things, had, before the first act of creation, the 
 whole scheme in his view. He is Creator, Preserver, 
 Lawgiver, Ruler, Redeemer, and Judge. His domin- 
 ion as Mediator is universal. Of him, and through 
 him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory > 
 forever. In him all the types, prophecies and promi- 
 ses centre. He is the glory of all worlds, the lumi- 
 nary of the universe, John i., 9 — the inexhaustible 
 fountain of all the treasures of nature, grace and 
 glory, Jeremiah ii., 13. 
 
 15. If we consider the nature, objects and extent 
 of his undertaking, the various orders of intelligent 
 creatures to be instructed by his manifestations, the 
 occurence of apostacies, and the ensuing conflict with 
 the powers of darkness, the mystery which otherwise 
 hangs over the course of things in respect to the reign 
 of idolatry and superstition, the terrific reign of evil 
 
52 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 throughout almost the whole earth from age to age, 
 under successive dispensations, will be in a great de- 
 gree removed. Not only should the number of angels 
 and men to be instructed, and the amount and variety 
 of instructions be considered, but also the circum- 
 stance that by the economy adopted, a long succession 
 of ages is required to complete the number of the hu- 
 man race. And it may be assumed that a less amount 
 and variety of Divine manifestations, or a shorter 
 period for their exhibition, could not suffice to prepare 
 the unfallen and redeemed angels and men, for the 
 scene which is to ensue of perfect peace, light, holi- 
 ness and glory upon earth. 
 
 16. Such, then, being regarded as 'the necessary 
 condition of finite or created intelligences as indicated 
 by the course of proceedure adopted in the works of 
 creation and providence, it is deemed allowable to 
 assume, and in harmony with what the Scriptures 
 teach, to believe that a knowledge of the Divine per- 
 fections can be attained by angels only in the same 
 way as by men, namely, by beholding, experiencing, 
 and contemplating his works. 
 
 17. Hence, the earnest attention with which, as the 
 Scriptures intimate, they regard the Divine dispensa- 
 tions toward this world, and especially all that relates 
 to the Redeemer and his people. 
 
 18. It is, therefore, believed that His mediation is 
 as necessary to their instruction as to that of men, and 
 that it would have been as necessary to the instruction 
 of angels and men if no apostacy had taken place, as 
 it is to fallen men at present. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 53 
 
 19. With this view of the subject, let it be regarded 
 as the design of the whole course of dispensations and 
 events after the apostacy of man, to instruct the uni- 
 verse of intelligent creatures in respect to the omni- 
 science, immutability, holiness, justice, goodness, and 
 other perfections of the Godhead ; and that along with 
 such instruction was at the same time to be exhibited 
 the nature, malignity, and evil of sin, and the impoo- 
 sibility of deliverance from it or its penal conse- 
 quences, except through the vicarious death of Christ; 
 and the reason, or one reason, will present itself for 
 the course of dispensations which jjreceded his advent, 
 and for the typical sacrifices, and the prophecies, and 
 institutions which pointed to him, and by which the 
 whole scheme of hjs manifestations as Redeemer was 
 unfolded. 
 
 20. Another class of truths otherwise undiscovera- 
 ble, relating to the divine counsels and sovereignty, 
 was taught in the course of these dispensations, in: 
 connection with the selection of Abraham and his 
 descendants to be the chosen people of God, while 
 the nations at large were left in the darkness and 
 bondage of idolatry, under the dominion of sin and 
 Satan, 
 
 21. Let it further he considered, that the most glo- 
 rious manifestations of the divine perfections which 
 we know, or can conceive anything of, are made in 
 the work of Redemption; that every step in this work 
 has relation to the fallen state and sinful conduct and 
 character of men, and the malevolent opposition, 
 rivalship and usurped dominion of Satan; and that 
 
 4 
 
54 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 angels are as deeply concerned as men can be to see 
 the divine perfections and government vindicated, 
 under the aspect presented by this scene of apostacy 
 and rebellion ; and there will appear a broad foimda- 
 tion for this view of the subject, and a probable rea- 
 son for the gradual developments made under succes- 
 sive dispensations. The lessons to be taught were 
 such, as even angels, it may well be supposed, could 
 not more rapidly learn. 
 
 22. This view is most strikingly indicated and con- 
 firmed, by the fact that the Mediator, in the execution 
 of his work as Prophet, Priest and King of Zion, 
 assumed a visible form often in appearance, prior to 
 his taking a human body; that as incarnate, he was 
 seen of angels; and as the object of the united love, 
 homage and praise of angels and men for ever and 
 ever, he will continue incarnate, to be visibly recog- 
 nized as God manifest in flesh. 
 
 23. It would seem to have been the opinion of those 
 who distinctly ascribe the works of creation and pro- 
 vidence to Christ, that in those works he acts not offi- 
 cially as Mediator, but simply as God; and that his 
 ofl&cial or mediatorial work commenced after the fall, 
 and has reference only to man in his fallen state. 
 This does not appear to be consistent either with the 
 language of Scripture, or with the nature, connec- 
 tions and objects of the works referred to. 
 
 The covenant in which his oificial appointment 
 and undertaking were founded, was entered into prior 
 to the first exercise of creative power. His people 
 were chosen in him before the creation of the world. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 55 
 
 He was appointed heir of all things which were to be 
 — by him all things were made — in him was the life 
 of man — he upholds all things — by him our sins are 
 purged. 
 
 His works of creation and providence are most 
 emphatically announced in immediate connection 
 with his work of Redemption, when he is brought 
 into view as the Mediator incarnate: "inv/hom we 
 have redemption through his blood — who is the image 
 of the invisible God, the first-born — the first producer 
 — of every creature: for by him were all things creat- 
 ed that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible 
 and invisible — and he is before all things, and by him 
 all things consist; and he is the head of the body, the 
 church — for it pleased the Father that in him should 
 all fullness dwell; and having made peace through 
 the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things 
 unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things 
 in earth, or things in heaven." — Col. i. 
 
 "He was in the world, and the world was made 
 by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto 
 his own and his own received him not. But as many 
 as received him, to them gave he power to become 
 the sons of God, even to them that believe on his 
 name." — John i. 
 
 In the Apocalypse the representatives of the angelic 
 hosts and of the redeemed church, are beheld unitedly 
 worshipping him that sat upon the throne, saying, 
 "Thou art worthy, Lord, to receive glory, and 
 honor, and power: for thou hast created all things, 
 and for thy pleasure they are and were created." — 
 Rev. iv. 
 
56 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 24. "What may be known of God, is his nature 
 and existence, with the holy counsels of his will. A 
 representation of them unto us, is the foundation of 
 all religion, and the means of our conformity unto 
 him, wherein our present duty and future blessedness 
 do consist. For to know God, so as thereby to be 
 made like unto him, is the chief end of man. This 
 is done perfectly only in the person of Christ, all 
 other means of it being- subordinate thereunto, and 
 none of them of the same nature therewithal. The 
 end of the world itself is to instruct us in the know- 
 ledge of God in Christ. That, therefore, which I 
 shall now demonstrate is, that in the person and me- 
 diation of Christ, there is made unto us a blessed 
 representation of the glorious properties of the Divine 
 Nature, and of the holy counsels of the will of God.'^ 
 — Owen on the Person of Christ, Chap. V. 
 
 25. "If it was God's intention, as there is great 
 reason to think it was, that his works should exhibit 
 an image of himself their author, that it might brightly 
 appear by his works what manner of being he is, and 
 afford a proper representation of his divine excellen- 
 cies, and especially his moral excellence, consisting 
 in the disposition of his heart ; then it is reasonable to 
 suppose that his works are so wrought as to show this 
 supreme respect to himself, wherein his moral excel- 
 lency does primarily consist. It seems a thing in 
 itself fit, proper and desirable that the glorious attri- 
 butes of God, which consist in a sufficiency to certain 
 acts and effects, should be exerted in the production 
 of such effects, as might manifest the infinite power, 
 wisdom, righteousness, goodness, etc., which are in 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 57 
 
 God. If the world had not been created, these attri- 
 butes never would have had any exercise. The 
 power of God, which is a sufficiency in him to pro- 
 duce great effects, must forever have been dormant 
 and useless as to any effect. The divine wisdom and 
 prudence would have had no exercise in any wise 
 contrivance, any prudent proceeding- or disposal of 
 things; for there would have been no objects of con- 
 trivance or disposal. The same might be observed of 
 God's justice, goodness and truth. It seems to be a 
 thing in itself fit and desirable, that the glorious per- 
 fections of God should be known, and the operations 
 and expressions of them seen by other beings besides 
 himself. As there is an infinite fullness of all possible 
 good in God, a fullness of every perfection, of all ex- 
 cellency and beauty, and of infinite happiness ; and 
 as this fullness is capable of communication or ema- 
 nation ad extra; so it seems a thing amiable and 
 valuable in itself, that it should be communicated or 
 flow forth; that this infinite fountain of good should 
 send forth abundant streams; that this infinite foun- 
 tain of light should, diffusing its excellent fullness, 
 pour forth light all around. Thus it appears reasona- 
 ble to suppose, that it was what God had respect to 
 as an ultimate end of his creating the world, to com- 
 municate of his own infinite fullness of good; or rather 
 it was his last end, that there might be a glorious and 
 abundant emanation of his infinite fullness of good ad 
 extra, or without himself. It is evident that the glory 
 of God is the ultimate end of the work of redemption; 
 which is the chief work of Providence toward the 
 moral world, as is abundantly manifest from Scrip- 
 ture: the whole universe being put in subjection to 
 
58 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 Jesus Christ; all heaven and earth, angels and men, 
 being subject to him, as executing this office; and put 
 under him to that end, that all things may be ordered 
 by him in subservience to the great designs of his 
 redemption." — President Edwards' " E?id in Crea- 
 tion.'^ 
 
 26. That creatures cannot, either in the present or 
 future state, see God otherwise than through the mani- 
 festations made by Christ, appears from the following 
 Scriptures : 
 
 1 Timothy vi., 13-16: Paul charges Timothy, in 
 the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, to keep the 
 commandment he had delivered, till the future 
 appearing or advent of Christ; which appearing at 
 the time appointed, would be shown by Him who 
 delegated to Christ the work of mediation, namely : 
 the Blessed and only Potentate, "Who only hath im- 
 mortality, dwelling in the light which no man can 
 approach unto; whom no man hath seen nor can see; 
 to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen." 
 
 John i., 18: "No man hath seen God at any time. 
 The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the 
 Father, he hath declared him." John vi. 46: "Not 
 that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is 
 of God, he hath seen the Father." 
 
 John xiv., 9 : "He that hath seen me hath seen the 
 Father," i. e. in the only way possible, viz: as mani- 
 fested by the Son. See xv., 24: "Ye have both seen, 
 hated," etc. John viii: "I speak that which I have 
 seen with my Father." 
 
 These, and like passages teach, that in the nature 
 of the casoj God is and ever must be absolutely invisi- 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 59 
 
 ble; and that all the knowledge of him which is 
 possible to creatures, is externally manifested by 
 Christ. 
 
 27. The ang-els appear to have been constant and 
 earnest spectators of the events of the mediatorial 
 administration, and in various ways to have shown 
 their deep interest in them as the means of their in- 
 struction. They are represented as eagerly desiring 
 to imderstand the things revealed to the ancient 
 prophets concerning the sufferings and work of Christ, 
 1 Pet. i., 12. They appeared in multitudes to attest 
 his advent in a doxology of praise to God. They 
 ministered to him on the occasion of his temptation 
 in the wilderness, and during his agony in the gar- 
 den ; and awaited and announced his resurrection. 
 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to min- 
 ister to them who shall be heirs of salvation ? As 
 indicating the lively interest which they take in the 
 salvation of individuals, and in the faithful teaching 
 of the gospel as instrumental to their progress in 
 knowledge, it is represented that they rejoice when 
 the doubtful issue of awakening and conviction in 
 the sinner's mind results in repentance, — rejoice to 
 witness the recovery and salvation of one previously 
 lost, and under the dominion of Satan. And the 
 Apostle Paul after specifying a variety of ministerial 
 duties in his first epistle to Timothy, chap. iv. and v., 
 says, " I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these 
 things." And elsewhere, 1 Cor., iv, 9, speaking of 
 the afflictions to which the Apostles were sulijected, 
 he says, " We are made a spectacle unto the world, 
 
60 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 and to angels and to men," — a spectacle, the mean- 
 ing- doubtless is, by which ungels and men are in- 
 structed. 
 
 28. The progressiv^eness of the knowledge of saints 
 and angels hitherto, and the attainment of it through 
 the manifestations made by the son of God, considered 
 in connection with the great accessions to be made to it 
 hereafter, would seem to indicate that manifestations 
 of the like character would be the means of its future 
 progress. That their acquisitions of knowledge in 
 future, like those heretofore, will be gradual and 
 progressive, cannot be doubted ; and it is hardly to be 
 conceived that they should take place otherwise than 
 by the same means. If a course of outward and 
 visible manifestations is adapted to the instruction of 
 angels as well as of men, no reason can be imagined 
 why such a course, increasing in magnificence and 
 glory, and exhibiting the sequel and results of inci- 
 pient and preliminary measures, should not be adapted 
 as well to men in another state, as to angels. 
 
 29. " The saints in heaven will behold the torments 
 of the damned. ' The smoke of their torment ascend- 
 oth up for ever and ever.' Isa. Ixvi., 24 : ' And they 
 shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men 
 that have transgressed against me : for their worm 
 shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, 
 and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh.' And in 
 Rev. xiv., 10, it is said, that they shall be tormented 
 in the presence of the holy angels, and in the pre- 
 sence of the Lamb. So they will be tormented in 
 the presence also of the glorified saints. — Hereby the 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 61 
 
 saints will be made more sensible how great their 
 salvation is. Every time they look upon the damned, 
 it will excite in them a lively and admiring sense of 
 the grace of God, in making them so to differ. This, 
 the Apostle informs us, is one end of the damnation 
 of ungodly men. Rom. ix., 22, 23. The sight of 
 hell-torments will exalt the happiness of the saints 
 forever. The sight of the wonderful power, the 
 great and dreadful majesty, and awful justice and 
 holiness of God, manifested in the eternal punish- 
 ment of ungodly men, will make them prize his 
 favor and love vastly the more ; and they will be 
 so much the more happy in the enjoyment of it." — 
 Edwards, VoL vii., pp. 409, 410. 
 
 30. Whoever considers the modes in which matter 
 is cosrnizable to intellis^ent creatures of the human 
 race, as by vision for example ; and how the power 
 of vision is enlarged, both with respect to remote 
 and minute objects by the telescope, the microscope, 
 and other optical instruments ; and that in a mode 
 of existence like that of angels, the power of vision 
 may be enlarged to an extent inconceivably surpass- 
 ing that attainable by the aid of such instruments, so 
 as to bring objects which to us are immeasurably dis- 
 tant from each other, within immediate and minute 
 inspection from any given point of observation ; and 
 that a similar enlargement of power may take place 
 in respect to sounds, and perhaps in other ways ; can- 
 not fail to be struck with the wonders of manifesta- 
 tion of Divine power, wisdom and goodness, which 
 may be made to the intelligent universe by the works 
 of creation and providence. The grounds of these 
 
62 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 modes of perception, the laws of optics, acoustics, 
 &c., are inherent in the very nature of material 
 things, or in the intuitions and modes of thought 
 in created minds ; from which, and from their adap- 
 tations alike to objects present and remote, vast and 
 minute, it is but reasonable to infer that they are 
 fully and intimately perceived. To suppose this in 
 reference to angels and to men in the future state, 
 implies nothing inconsistent with their limited facul- 
 ties, or their dependent condition as creatures. It is 
 but supposing them to do directly and more exten- 
 sively, what we do by the aid of instruments. There 
 is nothing incongruous or extravagant in supposing 
 them to perceive objects as much more remote, and 
 as much more minute, than those which are cogniza- 
 ble to us by the aid of optical instruments, as these 
 exceed in distance and minuteness those which are 
 perceived by the naked eye. And hence, as is infer- 
 able also from other considerations, it is reasonable 
 to conclude that there is nothing in the accidents or 
 conditions of matter to obstruct their vision. If their 
 power is adequate to perceive all that is in the nature 
 of things perceivable by creatures, however vast and 
 minute, if the Divine purpose in the minutest organ- 
 isms was, as truly as in the larger, that of manifesta- 
 tion ; or if the wonders of Divine power and wisdom 
 are as instructively exhibited in the smallest, as in the 
 largest objects, the supposed extent and exercise of 
 their power may be reasonably admitted. 
 
 31. This view corresponds with the infinite variety 
 which exists in the works of creation, and equally 
 with the infinite diversity in the works of Providence. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 63 
 
 If the chief object of both is the manifestation of the 
 invisible One, doubtless all the manifestations made 
 in and by them, are perceived by innumerable intel- 
 lig^cnt creatures. With respect to the mental acts of 
 such creatures, indeed, it may be necessary to suppose, 
 that in order to their being discernable to each other, 
 they should have some relation to matter ; but such a 
 supposition, even in regard to angels, is not forbidden 
 by any thing that we know concerning them. 
 
 32. Some suggestions upon tliis subject may per- 
 Iiaps be derived from a consideration of those in- 
 stances, recorded in Scripture, in wliich persons and 
 objects ordinarily invisible, were disclosed to the view 
 or apprehension of holy men. 
 
 The scene on Mount Tabor, as described by the 
 Evangelists, is a signal example of this nature. 
 
 The disciples were endowed for the time, with the 
 faculty of seeing the persons of Christ, and of Moses 
 and Elias, as they appear in their glorified state. The 
 change by which this became possible, was evidently 
 wrought upon the faculties of the disciples. Their 
 power of natural vision was suspended. While Jesus 
 prayed, (Luke ix., 29.) his visage became resplen- 
 dent as the sun, and his vestmen's as the light; Moses 
 and Elias appeared in glory, and conversed with him 
 respecting the death which he should accomplish at 
 Jerusalem ; while this was passing, the disciples were 
 insensible, overcome with sleep. When they awoke, 
 or were enabled to exercise the necessary faculty of 
 discernment, they saw the glory of Jesus, and the two 
 men who were with him. While Peter in his en- 
 tranced state, was speaking, the scene was reversed ; 
 
64 THE MEDIATORIAL "WORK. 
 
 Moses and Elias became invisible ; a cloud enveloped 
 the disciples ; tbey heard a voice out of the cloud ; 
 and Jesus appeared alone with them as before. 
 
 A like chang-e passed upon John in those visions of 
 the Apocal3^pse, in which he saw objects which were 
 invisible to him in his natural state. See chap, i., iv., 
 &c. He was ravished in spirit. As soon as he saw 
 the glorified person of Christ, he fell at his feet as 
 dead. He saw thrones and persons, and heard voices. 
 
 The visions of the like nature of Ezekiel, and of 
 Isaiah, suggest the same explanation. The exercise 
 of their bodily organs of sense, appears to have been 
 suspended. They saw what was not visible through 
 the bodily org-ans of vision, at least in the ordinary 
 and natural use of them, and heard what was not 
 audible to the natural ear. The case of Elisha's ser- 
 vant when he saw hosts of angels as chariots of fire, 
 may, with some other instances, perhaps, be con- 
 sidered as of the same class. The vision of Paul on 
 his way to Damascus, is a case in point. He saw the 
 risen glorified person of Jesus, in such a manner as 
 to qualify him to testify to his resurrection. As in 
 most of the other instances referred to, he fell to the 
 earth as dead, on beholding the ineffable glory, more 
 dazzling and resplendent than the sun. 
 
 Is it not probable that when Christ shall come to 
 rebuild the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down, 
 that he will appear in his glory, producing instant 
 conviction of all the truths of his word 1 
 
 33. The created universe may be conceived of as 
 a sphere, within whicli are included all creatures, 
 and all the adaptations and relations proper to them. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 65 
 
 These adaptations and relations are essential to them 
 as creatures, and not less so to intelligent and ac- 
 countable, than to irrational and inanimate creatures. 
 The foundation for our ideas of space, and of time, 
 in so far as it rests on any thing external to our minds, 
 is in those relations. It will forever, therefore, be 
 necessary to rational creatures to exist in connection 
 with those relations ; unless in their future state they 
 are to be more than creatures, by being exempted 
 from that law by which their thoughts and feelings 
 are successive. It is therefore contrary to all that we 
 know of the faculties and capacities of man, to sup- 
 pose that in a future state he will be removed from 
 those concomitants of his being ; removed from the 
 relations upon which time and succession depend : 
 and it is in harmony with his nature, and with the 
 obvious meaning of the Scriptures, to believe that the 
 soul will in the future state be invested by a material 
 body, and that man will exist in connection with such 
 relations as attend his present state. 
 
 34. Our blessed Saviour, when on earth, constantly 
 referred in his discourses, to the works of creation 
 and providence, as teaching important truths con- 
 cerning their unseen author. Thus he calls them to 
 consider the lilies of the field, which by the Divine 
 Providence are clothed in beauty exceeding that of 
 Solomon when arrayed in the most gorgeous insignia ; 
 and adds, " if God so clothe the grass, shall he not 
 much more clothe you ?" i. e. behold and trust in 
 the wisdom, goodness and universal agency and care 
 of the Divine Providence, as manifested in these ob- 
 jects. Again : when the disciples asked respecting 
 
6B THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 the blind man, whether he was born blind on account 
 of the sins of his parents or his own, Jesus answered 
 that he was born blind that the works of God should 
 be made manifest in him. His condition of blind- 
 ness showed the Divine sovereignty and purpose, and 
 gave occasion to a miracle, by which the divinity of 
 Christ, and the mercy of God in him, were exhibited. 
 By the first miracle exhibited by him, that at Cana, 
 it is said by the Evangelist, he manifested forth his 
 glory. 
 
 35. " The infinitely wise contriver of us and all 
 things about us, hath fitted our senses, faculties, and 
 organs, to the conveniences of life, and the business 
 we have to do here. We are able by our senses to 
 know and distinguish things ; and to examine them 
 so far as to apply them to our uses, and several ways 
 to accommodate the exigencies of this life. We have 
 insight enough into their admirable contrivances and 
 wonderful effects, to admire and magnify the wisdom 
 and goodness of their author. If the most instructive 
 of our senses, seeing, were in any man a thousand, 
 or a hundred thousand times more acute than it is 
 now by the best microscope, things several million 
 times less than the smallest object of his sight now, 
 would then be visible to his naked eyes, and so he 
 would come nearer the discovery of the texture and 
 motion of the minute parts of corporeal things ; and 
 in many of them probably get ideas of their internal 
 constitutions." ' And here give me leave to propose 
 a conjecture, that since we have some reason to im- 
 agine' " that spirits can assums to themselves bodies 
 of different bulk, figure and conformation of parts ; 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 67 
 
 whether one great advantage some of them have 
 over us, may not lie in this, that they can so frame 
 and shape to themselves organs of sensation or per- 
 ception, as to suit them to their present design, and 
 the circumstances of the object they would consider. 
 What wonders would lie discover, who could so fit 
 his eyes to all sorts of objects, as to see when he 
 pleased, the figure and motion of the minute particles 
 in objects. I doubt whether we can imagine any 
 thing about the knowledge of angels, but after this 
 manner, some way or other, in proportion to what 
 we find and observe in ourselves." — Locke on Human 
 Understanding, yb/io 130, 131. 
 
 36. ^'The saints in leaving this world, and ascending 
 to heaven, do not go out of sight of things appertain- 
 ing to Christ's kingdom on earth ; but, on the con- 
 trary, they go out of a state of obscurity, and ascend 
 above the mists and clouds into the clearest light ; to 
 a pinnacle, in th3 very centre of light, where every 
 thing appears in clear view. They have as much 
 greater advantage to view the state of Christ's king- 
 dom, and the works of the new creation here, than 
 while they were in this world, as a man that ascends 
 to the top of an high mountain has greater advantage 
 to view the face of the earth, than he had while he 
 was in a deep valle}^, or thick forest below, surround- 
 ed on every side with those things that impeded and 
 limited his sight. Nor do they view as indifferent or 
 unconcerned spectators : any more than Christ him- 
 self is an unconcerned spectator. 
 
 " The happiness of the saints in heaven consists 
 very much in beholding the glory of God appearing 
 
WS THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 in the work of redemption. For it is by this chiefly 
 that God manifests his glory, the glory of his wisdom, 
 holiness, grace, and other perfections, to both saints 
 and angels, as is apparent by many Scriptures. And, 
 therefore, undoubtedly their happiness consists very 
 much in beholding the progress of this work in its ap- 
 plication and success, and the steps by which infinite 
 power and wisdom bring it (o its consummation. And 
 the saints in heaven arc under unspeakably greater 
 advantage to take the pleasure of beholding the pro- 
 gress of this work on earth than we are that are here; 
 as they are under greater advantages to see and under- 
 stand the marvellous steps that divine wisdom takes 
 in all that is done, and the glorious ends He obtains, 
 the opposition Satan makes, and how he is baffled and 
 overthrown. They can better see the connection of 
 one event with another, and tlie beautiful order of 
 all things that come to pass in the church in different 
 ages that appear to us like confusion. 
 
 " The pure in heart are blessed, for they shall see 
 God. Their beatifical vision of God is in Christ, who 
 is that brightness or effulgence of God's glory by 
 which his glory shines forth in heaven to the view of 
 saints and angels there, as well as here on earth. 
 This is the Sun of righteousness, that is not only the 
 light of this world, but is also the sun that enlight- 
 ens the heavenly Jerusalem, hy whose bright beams 
 it is that the glory of God shines forth there to the 
 enlightening and making happy all the glorious in- 
 habitants. ' The lamb is the light thereof, and so the 
 glory of God doth lighten it.' None sees God the 
 Father immediately, who is the king eternal, im- 
 mortal, invisible : Christ is the image of that invisible 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 69 
 
 God, by which he is seen by all elect creatures. The 
 only beg-otten Son that is in the bosom of the Father, 
 he hath declared him, and manifested him. None 
 has ever immediately^ seen the Father, but the Son ; 
 and none else sees the Father any other way, than by 
 the Son's revealing- him." — President Edwards Ser- 
 mon on the death of Braincrd. 
 
 37. " Simple as our sense of hearing- may seem, it 
 affords a striking specimen of that almost infinite vari- 
 ety which is not inconsistent with the closest resem- 
 blance, and the notion which we may form of the in- 
 numerable varieties of sound, is, perhaps, not more 
 vast, when we attempt to wander over its boundless 
 discrepancies, than when we limit ourselves to its 
 greatest similarities, in a single word of a language, 
 or, in that which we might be inclined at first to re- 
 gard as simplicity itself, a single musical tone." — 
 Brown's Philosoj)hy of the Human Mind. Vol. i., p. 
 306. Again, j), 465, " That the changes which take 
 place, whether in mind or in matter, are all, ulti- 
 mately, resolvable into the will of the Deit}'^, who 
 formed alike the spiritual and material system of the 
 universe, is a truth as convincing to our reason as it 
 is delightful to our devotion. The eye which looks 
 to heaven seems, when it turns again to the scenes of 
 earth, to bringdown with it a purer radiance, like the 
 very beaming of the presence of the Divinity, which 
 it sheds on every object on which it gazes — a light 
 
 " That gilds all forms 
 Terrestrial, in the vast and the minute ; 
 The unambiguous footsteps of the God, 
 Who gives its lustre to an insects wing, 
 And wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds." — Cowper 
 
7ft ; THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 38. " If we suppose an order of beings endued with 
 every human faculty but that of sight, how incredi- 
 ble woukl it appear to such beings, accustomed only to 
 the slow informations of touch, that by the addition of 
 an organ of an inch diameter, they might be enabled 
 in an instant of time, without changing their place, to 
 perceive all the variety of a landscape 1 Would it 
 not appear still more astonishing to such beings, if 
 they should be further informed, that, by means of 
 this same organ, we can perceive the tempers and 
 dispositions, the passions and affections of our fellow- 
 creatures, even when they want most to conceal 
 them 1 That when the tongue is taught most art- 
 fully to lie and dissemble, the hypocrisy should ap- 
 pear in the countenance to a discerning eye ; and 
 that by this organ, we can often perceive what is 
 straight and what is crooked in the mind as well as 
 in the body ?" — Reid's Inquiry into the Human Mindy 
 chap, vi., sect. 1. 
 
 39. The entrance of sin into this world, rendering it 
 a principal scene of the rebellious career of Satan, and 
 especially of his opposition to the Mediator and his 
 people, was an infraction and interruption of the 
 plan and course of Divine manifestations, to which 
 the earth was originally adapted, and which would 
 have taken place had man continued in his original 
 state of innocence. 
 
 40. ^' Man's deviation from his duty was a disor- 
 der, it seems, in the moral S5^stem of tlie universe, 
 for which nothingless than Divine wisdom could de- 
 vise a remedy, — the remedy devised nothing less than 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 71 
 
 divine love and power could supply. Man's disobe- 
 dience was, in the moral world, what it would be in 
 the natural, if a planet were to wander from its orbit, 
 or the constellations to start from their appointed 
 seats. It was an evil for Avhich the regular constitu- 
 tion of the world had no cure, which nothing but the 
 immediate interposition of Providence could repair. 
 In man, in his fallen state, there is nothing which the 
 divine love could make its object. But the divine 
 intellect contemplates every part of its creation in the 
 whole extent of its existence : and that future worth 
 of man, to which he shall be raised by the divine 
 mercy, is such as moved the divine love to the work 
 of his redemption." — Horseley's Sermon on Rom. 
 iv., 25. 
 
 41. That infraction and interruption will be reme- 
 died or superseded by the work of redemption. The 
 derangements consequent upon the fall will be over- 
 come. The rebellion will be quelled. Christ will 
 achieve a perfect victory over Satan, confound his 
 devices, and defeat his purposes ; and will, in the re- 
 sult, accomplish all the manifestations originally 
 intended had sin not intruded, in addition to those 
 peculiar to the conflict with the hosts of rebellion and 
 the powers of darkness. In his triumph over sin and 
 Satan, he will make the earth the scene of holiness 
 and enduring happiness. 
 
 42. President Edwards, in a beautiful elucidation 
 of Romans viii., 19 — 22, "The earnest expectation of 
 the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons 
 of God. For the creature was subject to vanity not 
 
w 
 
 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 willingly, "{&c. (Works, vol. iii. p. 391,) has the fol- 
 lowing observations : — " The whole creation is, as 
 it were, earnestly waiting for that day. For that day 
 is above all other times, excepting the day of judg- 
 ment, the day of the manifestation of the sons of 
 God. This visible world has now for many ages been 
 subjected to sin, and made, as it were, a servant to it, 
 through the abusive improvement that man, who has 
 the dominion over the creatures, puts the creatures to. 
 Thus the sun is a sort of servant to all manner of 
 wickedness, as its light and other beneficial influen- 
 ces are abused by man, and made subservient to their 
 lusts and sinful purposes. So of the rain, and fruits 
 of the earth, and the brute animals, and all other 
 parts of the visible creation ; they all serve men's 
 corruption, and obey their sinful will : and God doth 
 in a sort, subject them to it ; for he continues his in- 
 fluence and power to make them to be obedient, 
 according to the same law of nature whereby they 
 3aeld to man's command, when used to good purposes. 
 It is by the immediate influence of God upon things, 
 acting upon them according to those constant methods 
 that we call the laws of nature, that they are ever 
 obedient to man's will, or that we can use them at 
 all. This influence of God continues to make them 
 obedient to men's will, though wicked : which is a 
 sure sign that the present state of things is not lasting: 
 it is confusion ; and God would not suffer it to be, but 
 that he designs in a little tim3 to put an end to it, 
 when it shall no more be so. Seeing it is to be but a 
 little while, God chooses rather to subject the creature 
 to man's wickedness, than to disturb and interrupt 
 the course of nature according to its stated laws : but 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 73 
 
 it is, as it were, a force upon the creature ; for the 
 creature is abused in it, perverted to far meaner pur- 
 poses than those for which the author of its nature 
 made it, and to which he adapted it. The creature, 
 therefore, is, as it were, unwillingly subject : and 
 would not be subject, but that it is but for a short 
 time,^ and it, as it were, hopes for an alteration. It 
 is a bondage the creature is subject to, from which it 
 was partly delivered when Christ came, and the gos- 
 pel was promulgated in the world : and will be more 
 fully delivered at the commencement of the glorious 
 day we are speaking of, and perfectly at the day of 
 judgment. This agrees with the context, for the 
 apostle was speaking of the present suffering state of 
 the church. The reason why the church in this 
 world is in a suffering state, is that the world is sub- 
 jected to the sin and corruption of mankind. 
 
 " All the intelligent elect creation, all God's holy 
 creatures in heaven and earth, are truly and properly 
 waiting for, and earnestly expecting that event." 
 
 43. With respect to the selection of this earth as 
 the scene of manifestation for the instruction of the 
 whole universe of creatures, it may be observed : 
 
 (1.) That so far as we know or have reason to sup- 
 pose, the human is the only race of intelligent crea- 
 tures which is perpetuated by succession of births ; 
 and, that this peculiar constitution or appointment, 
 gives occasion to a very large class of manifestations, 
 acts, provisions, and events, for which there could be 
 no place under a different system. Suffice it to sug- 
 gest, that this may be considered with reference to 
 the dealings of God with parents, families, and na- 
 
74 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 tions ; with reference to trains of events, succeeding 
 and depending- on one another, and connected with 
 and affecting- the conduct, condition and destiny of 
 individuals, families and nations ; with reference to 
 prophetic announcements which required succession of 
 persons and events ; and with reference to the ex- 
 hibition of human character and agency, and of 
 Satanic and human wickedness under various dispen- 
 sations, and in every possible variety of circumstances. 
 
 But it may be more particularly observed : 
 
 (2.) That this constitution admitted, that the first 
 of the race should be the federal head and repre- 
 sentative of his descendants, should stand in their law- 
 place, enter into covenant both for himself and his 
 posterity, so that his violation of the covenant should 
 compromit them as fully as himself. 
 
 (3.) The incarnation of Christ, the occurrence of 
 which, at an appointed time in the progress of events, 
 was essential to the scheme of manifestation, was pro- 
 vided for by this constitution ; and since the human 
 nature which he assumed was sinless, it is apparent 
 that he could not have assumed such a nature out of 
 a fallen race but for this arrangement of succession. 
 
 In a word, it is quite obvious that the relations of 
 men to one another, to their creator, preserver and 
 moral governor, and to the circumstances and events 
 which affect them, are quite different under this 
 economy, from what we can conceive of their being 
 under any other economy ; and all those divine 
 manifestations which have a bearing on these re- 
 lations, or to which they are adapted or give occasion, 
 are such as could take place only under this economy. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 75 
 
 44. The kingdom of the Mediator is an everlasting 
 kingdom. His lordship and dominion will never 
 cease. " Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." 
 In the end, He is to be universally recognized in 
 his official character ; every knee will bow, and every 
 tongue confess that he is Lord, to the glory of God 
 the Father. 
 
 45. In laying the foundations of such a kingdom 
 there seems an obvious propriety and great beauty 
 in its being commenced with an inferior class of 
 creatures, in an insignificant province of the material 
 creation. Such a method gives occasion for ever- 
 growing magnificence and glory in the superstructure 
 as it advances, and for the impressive contrasts and 
 increasing splendor of manifestations required in the 
 exhibition of his character. 
 
 46. If what has been advanced is well founded, the 
 following, among other inferences, must be admitted. 
 
 (1.) That the modern theory of geologists respect- 
 ing the antiquity of the earth and a diversity of cen- 
 tres and epochs of creation, is without foundation. 
 To palm that theory upon the world as the result of 
 scientific discovery and demonstration, as though a 
 denial of it was a denial of ascertained facts, by which 
 science and Scripture were brought into opposition 
 and conflict, is grossly dishonest, and exhibits a 
 remarkable degree of hardihood. The theory is mere 
 matter of inference from facts. It assumes, but does 
 not prove that the facts could have been caused, and 
 can be accounted for in no other way than that assign- 
 ed by the geologists. If the origin and purpose of 
 
76 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 the creation, preservation and government of this 
 world, and of all worlds and creatures, were such as 
 has been set forth, that theory cannot be true. 
 
 The more recent and boldly Atheistic system, which 
 — taking the modern geological hypothesis for its 
 basis — ascribes the formation of worlds and of all inor- 
 ganic objects to the law of gravitation^ and the pro- 
 duction of living creatures, and all organic objects to 
 the law of development^ is palpably inconsistent with 
 any and every view of what is taught in the Scrip- 
 tures, concerning the creation and government of the 
 world. According to this system, the operations of 
 those two laws account for every thing. Man is deve- 
 loped like everything else, from inherent qualities, 
 and his actions depend solely on his own organization. 
 The masses of space are formed b}^ law. In due time 
 law makes them theatres of existence for plants and 
 animals. Sensation, disposition, intellect, are all in 
 like manner developed and sustained in action by 
 law. The lower animals all have minds, of the same 
 nature as man, only less perfectly developed. All 
 animals — including man — are formed for enjoyment, 
 as the end of their being. , Evil is only an exception 
 to the natural and all but uniform results of the opera- 
 tions of the Laws referred to — an exception which 
 never occurs under the mechanical operations of these 
 Laws, as in the formation of suns and systems; but from 
 their operations on meteorology, life and mind, evil 
 arises from the great variety of related and conflicting 
 results. 
 
 Shall man complain of being subject to these evils 
 which he had no hand in procuring? Let him be 
 ashamed to complain ! The laws to which he owes 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 77 
 
 his existence and his enjoyments have done more for 
 him than for the inferior animals. In due time in the 
 progress of development, he came forth into being. 
 The Law had respect not to individuals, but to the 
 species ; and as a whole, the species is very well 
 provided for and very well off. The individual is 
 nothing — the race as an aggregate is alone to be con- 
 sidered. If an individual suffers ever so many evils, 
 physical, social, or mental, let him reflect that this 
 results from no prejudice or partiality against him. 
 The system has the fairness of a lottery, in which 
 every one has a like chance of drawing a prize. And 
 if, afier all, there be a God who created and governs 
 the world, he, doubtless, will know the wrongs we 
 suffer here, and will do us ample justice in some 
 future stage of development, some higher sphere. 
 
 This theory or system, rests on and results legiti- 
 mately and necessarily from the latest geological 
 hypothesis, and may be expected to have the same dis- 
 ciples and alike currency. The author of it admits its 
 inconsistency with the BibL", or what the Bible is 
 supposed to teach, and with religious beliefs. But he 
 argues that such beliefs involve questions for the set- 
 tlement of which our knowledge is not yet ripe. And 
 since the truths of geology, though inconsiste^it with 
 the Mosaic record, are found to be irresistible, and are 
 admitted, and mankind continue to regard the Scrip- 
 tures with the same respect as before ; so in regard 
 to his hypothesis, he asks^ "maj^ not the sacred text, 
 on a liberal interpretation, or with the benefit of a new 
 light reflected from nature, or derived from learning, 
 be shown to be as much in harmony with the novel-. 
 5 
 
78 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 ties of this volume, as it has heen with geology and 
 natural philosophy ?" 
 
 (2.) Those systems of Scripture interpretation which 
 resolve the appearances and acts of the Mediator, and 
 all that concerns the future in his administration, into 
 invisible operations and influences, must be erroneous. 
 If the course of outward and visible manifestations 
 heretofore, was adapted to the capacities, and designed 
 for the instruction of intelligent creatures, the infe- 
 rence cannot well be avoided or deemed unsafe, that 
 the interpretations of the prophecies which are dis- 
 tinctively termed literal, and which contemplate in 
 their fulfillment an exhibition of outward and visible 
 scenes, are, so far as the principle is concerned, enti- 
 tled to be exclusively relied on. 
 
 It happens accordingly that the partisans of a 
 figurative or spiritual interpretation of the unfulfilled 
 announcements of prophecy, are forced by their theory 
 to explain away in like manner the visible operations 
 and appearances of the past. Thus, the Scripture 
 account of the Creation, of the Deluge, the destruction 
 of Sodom, the various miracles, and visible manifesta- 
 tions of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, and even 
 the resurrection of the dead, are explained away or 
 made to mean anything but what the record obviously 
 imports. The language of divine revelation is in 
 this way made to seem less intelligible, less adapted 
 to instruct, less certain in its import, than the fossil 
 relics of geology, which after ages of oblivion, have 
 just emerged from the bowels of the earth to supply 
 the means of correcting the sacred text. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE WORK OF CHRIST CONSIDERED AS INVOLVING A CONFLICT 
 WITH SATAN AND THE POWERS OF DARKNESS. 
 
 1. In the Scriptures, Satan is represented as the 
 adversary of the Son of God; as striving- to counteract 
 his purposes, to defeat his work of redemption, and 
 to harrass his followers, and deceive, corrupt and de- 
 stroy the whole human race. 
 
 2. Having- through their federal head procured the 
 apostacy of the race, and involved them in the guilt 
 and doom of rehellion, he assumed dominion over 
 them as leader of the revolt, and made the earth the 
 theatre of his rival kingdom, his empire over fallen 
 angels and men, in op^josition to the throne and gov- 
 ernment of the Mediator. 
 
 3. To maintain this dominion over the human race, 
 in opposition to the blessings and restraints of a mer- 
 ciful Providence, the lights of revelation, the voice of 
 conscience, the hope of pardon, the dread of punish- 
 ment, and all the ordinary means and special interpo- 
 sitions employed for their recovery; and so to main- 
 tain it as to uphold his rebellion and sustain his enmity 
 and malevolence, it was necessary that he should 
 effectually deceive them in their successive genera- 
 tions; that he should assume to possess the prerogatives 
 
80 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 of the rightful sovereig-n of the world ; that he should 
 claim to be the god of the world, its prince and pos- 
 sessor, exercising power over the elements, controlling 
 the events of Providence, dispensing good and evil, 
 temporal and spiritual; and as such, claiming homage, 
 worship and obedience. 
 
 4. To impose upon the reason and conscience of 
 men, and blind them to their true interests, and to all 
 that concerned their duties and their safety, it was 
 necessary that he should counterfeit every divine 
 institution, and give the lie to every divine injunction, 
 promise and threatening; turning light into darkness, 
 and truth into falsehood. The evidence of miracles 
 must be nullified by the arts of magic ; the announce- 
 ments of prophecy, by auguries, oracles and diabolical 
 inspiration of false prophets. Men must be trained 
 to deceive, corrupt, torment and destroy each other. 
 The world must be filled with darkness, error, super- 
 stition, misery, crime and blood. Ignorance, intoler- 
 ance, vice, cruelty, oppression, persecution, tyranny, 
 selfishness, malice, murder and war, must prevail in 
 the minds and occupy the hands of men, to render 
 certain and speedy their temporal and eternal destruc- 
 tion, and counteract the designs and offices of mercy, 
 
 5. "The intention of the devil in seducing our 
 first parents, was to destroy them, and thereby to put 
 an end to the human species. This malicious design 
 the Son of God rendered ineffectual, by assuming our 
 nature, and in that nature dying as a sacrifice for sin. 
 'Him who had the power of death.' The Apostle's 
 meaning is, that the devil, at the beginning of the 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 81 
 
 world, had the power of bringing^ death on all man- 
 kind, by tempting' their first parents to sin. Hence, 
 he is called a murderer from the beginning", and a liar 
 and the fatlier of it. It was a power usurped by guile." 
 — Macknight's note on Heb. xi. 14. 
 
 6. Exaltation was the result and reward of Christ's 
 humiliation. He voluntarily humbled himself, even 
 to the death of the cross; and therefore God exceed- 
 ingly exalted him, in the view of the universe, giving 
 him a name which is above every name — that thence- 
 forth, the angelic hosts and the whole human race 
 should bow to him, and every tongue should acknow- 
 ledge him as Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 
 
 7. This, and passages of similar import, seem to 
 indicate, that in the delegated official works of crea- 
 tion and providence, in which he was subordinate to 
 the Father, the Son of God assumed such a relation 
 and connection with created natures, that his supreme 
 lordship over all creatures, was denied by apostate 
 angels and men ; viewing him in that connection, 
 they refused him Divine honors; especially after 
 taking, or making known his intention to take, the 
 nature of man, a creature inferior to Angels, into 
 union with his Divine person. 
 
 8. But his mediatorial work, from the first, required 
 this connection; and by carrying out that work, be- 
 coming incarnate, suffering an expiatory death, con- 
 quering death and subjecting all enemies, and all 
 opposition to his claims, he at length secures the 
 homage of all creatures to his person as God-man : 
 
82 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 all the different orders of intelligent creatures through- 
 out the universe, both good and bad, acknowledge 
 Lis supremacy, dignity and glory as Lord. 
 
 9. All creatures were required to regard the Media- 
 tor as the only medium of communication, connec- 
 tion and intercourse with the Divinity. They were 
 to feel that to him they owed their existence, preserv- 
 ation and all benefits; that he administers over them 
 a providential and moral government ; that he inter- 
 posed, in his work of redemption for the delay of 
 retribution to the fallen race of man, the exercise of 
 mercy towards them, and the recovery and salvation 
 of a portion of them; that he is the w^ay, the truth 
 and the life; that of him, and through him, and to 
 him are all things. 
 
 10. To this economy, to his office as Mediator, to 
 his work of manifestation, to his person and character 
 as God-man; and to his position, relations and claims 
 as the sole medium of divine knowledge and benefits; 
 as possessing in his official character, all power in 
 heaven and earth, and being entitled, as God-man, 
 to divine worship and praise: Satan and his angels, 
 and fallen men, in their rebellion are emphatically 
 opposed. Their enmity, and all the forms and devices 
 of their wickedness, are directed against him and 
 his work as Mediator, under every dispensation. 
 Their malevolence and impiety have been bold and 
 desperate, in proportion as his manifestations have 
 been more conspicuous and multiplied. 
 
 11. Thus, in the scene in Eden, the malice of Satan 
 
 7* 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 83 
 
 was pointedly directed against the supremacy and 
 authority of the Son of God, whose work of manifes- 
 tation, as their Ruler, had begun to be exercised to- 
 wards the progenitors, and through them towards the 
 whole race of man. He assailed the mode in which 
 the Divine Will was manifested to them, and boldly 
 denied that the threatened consequence of doing what 
 was forbidden, would follow, and asserted, that by 
 disobeying, they would become masters of knowledge, 
 not in the way to which they were before restricted, 
 but as gods. As much as to say, ' You are deceived 
 and imposed on. It is derogatory to ])eings endowed 
 as you are, to be restricted to such modes of instruc- 
 tion as are afforded by visible or audible manifesta- 
 tions of Divine power and authority. Do that which 
 is forbidden, and you will no longer be thus restricted, 
 but will, in respect to knowledge, be independent 
 and self-sufficient, as gods knowing good and evil.' 
 
 12. The practice of idolatry in after times, with its 
 train of perversions and abominations, is, as will 
 hereafter be more fully noticed, directly opposed to 
 the authority, institutions and administration of the 
 Mediator in respect to divine worship. 
 
 13. But the most signal illustration of the point in 
 hand, was made when the Son of God appeared on 
 earth incarnate. In the immediate view of the divine 
 manifestations then publicly made by him, the ma- 
 levolence of Satan and wicked men, was exhibited in 
 acts of the boldest enmity, opposition and violence. 
 
 14. It may, it is presumed, be, without impropriety, 
 supposed that the revolt of Satan and the angels who 
 
84 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 kept not their first estate, had especial reference to 
 that in the official character, dominion, and work of 
 the Son of God, as the Mediator appointed to mani- 
 fest the Divine perceptions and will to creatures, to 
 be the medium of their worship, as Avell as of their 
 knowledge of the Invisible One, and to be their law- 
 giver and king- ; which has been the great object of 
 his rebellion, opposition and rivalship ever since. 
 No supposition appears more probable, especially in 
 view of the character and conduct of that powerful 
 fallen spirit as since exhibited, than that the delegat- 
 ed power and authority of the Mediator, to whose 
 dominion and rule all creatures were required to be 
 subject, and especially the exaltation and union of an 
 inferior creature, the human nature, with the Son of 
 God in his official works, should have occasioned at 
 first aspirations of envy and rivalship, similar to 
 those which he has since been permitted to indulge 
 in his usurped dominion over this revolted world ; 
 his assumed and counterfeit pretensions to the power 
 of miracles, inspiration, and other divine preroga- 
 tives, and his challenging and receiving homage, 
 worship and obedience from the idolatrous votaries of 
 pagan and Popish superstition. Certain it is, that he 
 has claimed and instigated men to ascribe to him 
 divine prerogatives, and to worship and obey him as 
 if he were god and ruler of this world, or represen- 
 tative and vicegerent of the Supreme, to whom all 
 divine prerogatives were delegated ; and has perse- 
 cuted, proscribed, and endeavored to exterminate all 
 who, refusing to worship and obey him, have honored, 
 loved, worshipped and obeyed the God-Man Media- 
 tor. His past and future career as represented in the 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 85 
 
 Scriptures, is marked by ceaseless and desperate en- 
 mity, rivalship, and opposition to the Mediator, and 
 his work of manifestation and redemption, and by 
 cruel and malignant hostility to his people ; and he 
 is finally to be bruised, conquered, and punished as 
 the great adversary, liar, usurper and deceiver. And 
 when the rebellion which he instigated and led on is 
 wholly subverted, there will be no further usurpation 
 or denial of the honors due to the incarnate Word ; 
 but on the contrary, his lordship and dominion will 
 be universally acknowledged and proclaimed. 
 
 15. The opposition of Satan to the success of the 
 Gospel, is but the continuance of his original and 
 desperate opposition to the Mediator and his work ; 
 and carries on its front a denial of the justice of God 
 in his and in man's condemnation ; a denial of the 
 necessity and efficacy of the atonement ; a denial of 
 the evil of rebellion ; and an avowed and determined 
 purpose of self-justification and perseverance in his 
 hostile course. The universe is yet to witness the 
 perfect triumph of the Mediator over the apostate 
 faction ; the perfect vindication of his government 
 and work ; and a perfect demonstration of his justice 
 in the punishment of the wicked. These results are 
 but the development and consummation of the pre- 
 ceding course of events, and are so connected with 
 them, as apparently to forbid the supposition that 
 they should not be attended by the most public, visi- 
 ble, and glorious manifestations on the part of the 
 Mediator. 
 
 16. This great adversary is accordingly set forth in 
 Scripture by names and designations which indicate 
 
Wo THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 his designs, and the objects he aims to compass. 
 Thus he is named ' the Dragon, that old serpent called 
 the Devil and Satan, who dcceivelh the whole world; 
 Abaddon, the destroyer ; Apollyon, the exterminator ; 
 accuser, deceiver, tempter, liar, murderer, god of 
 this world, prince of darkness, roaring lion, angel 
 of the bottomless pit, the wicked one.' 
 
 17. In these characters he has pursued his original 
 scheme of rebellion, usurped dominion, rivalship and 
 opposition to the Son of God, with a boldness, malig- 
 nity and perseverance, scarcely to be conceived of. 
 By means of sin and death his confidence of success 
 has been sustained. The depravity, wickedness, 
 idolatry, impiety, selfishness, and cruelty of men, 
 have been the active instruments, and ample resources 
 of his warfare. The conflict maintained against him, 
 though often marked by decided indications of su- 
 premacy and triumph, has not discouraged his cease- 
 less machinations, nor repressed his pride and ambi- 
 tion. Though forewarned of his eventual overthrow, 
 and utter subjugation and ruin by the power, right- 
 eousness and majest)'^ of the incarnate Mediator, he 
 still affects the dominion of the world, and challenges 
 the abject homage, worship and service of all its 
 idolatrous, infidel and unholy population. 
 
 18. The Scriptures do not so represent his agency 
 as to excuse or palliate the guilt of man. Whatever 
 his agency may be, man is not the less guilty for his 
 own acts, and no small part of his guilt ensues upon 
 his yielding to the instigations of Satan, instead of 
 resisting them. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 87 
 
 19. His more marked and conspicuous acts in direct 
 hostility to Clirist and his cause, are such as the 
 seduction and ruin of the first Adam ; his personal 
 encounter with the second Adam ; his attempts to 
 counterfeit the miracles and prophecies of the Jewish 
 and Christian dispensations ; his instigation of idola- 
 try, superstition and impiety ; his perversions and 
 corruptions of revealed truth ; his malignant tempt- 
 ations, persecutions, and tortures of holy men. 
 
 20. Over the race at large he has domineered as 
 god of this world, father of lies, a murderer from the 
 beginning ; ruling in the liearts of the children of 
 disobedience ; blinding the minds of them that be- 
 lieve not ; instigating them to the indulgence of all 
 evil passions ; the practice of all abominable vices ; 
 the perpetration of all atrocious crimes, impieties, 
 and blasphemies. 
 
 21. Thus he instigated the first murder, as if 
 hoping by the death of Abel to cut off the promised 
 seed. He put it into the heart of Judas to betray 
 and procure the death of Christ. He was the accuser 
 of Job ; tempted David to number Israel ; was a 
 lying spirit in the moutb of false prophets ; instigated 
 Ananias and Sapphira. To his influence, doubtless, 
 are to be ascribed the crimes, wars and outrages by 
 which the earth has been convulsed and desolated, 
 and filled with violence and misery, rendering death, 
 and the uncertain future, more tolerable than life. 
 
 22. In the conflict on his part, the field has been 
 co-extensive with the earth. His enmity and oppo- 
 sition to the Son of God, and his cause, have been 
 
UlS THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 exhibited without cessation in all possible forms ; but 
 chiefly in the counterfeit worship which he has ex- 
 acted, the idolatry, falsehood and superstition by 
 which he has degraded the nations, and insulted their 
 rightful King. This topic, therefore, deserves parti- 
 cular illustration. 
 
 23. He is undoubtedly the real author, instigator 
 and object of the idolatry which became prevalent 
 soon after the Deluge; and which in one form or 
 another, has held in bondage to him the most popu- 
 lous nations, and substantially almost the whole 
 human race down to the present time. 
 
 24. Idolatr}', in all its forms, and wheresoever 
 practiced, attributes to creatures properties and pre- 
 rogatives, which belong to God only ; gives scope to 
 the depraved passions of men, prescribes impure and 
 degrading rites, and makes men both slaves and 
 patrons of vice, cruelty, impiety, falsehood, and all 
 the abominations of depravity. 
 
 25. Its true character is a compound of atheism, 
 blasphemy, corruption, and blood. In practice, as a 
 religion, it is the worship of devils ; as a scheme of 
 domination, it tyrranizes over the souls and bodies of 
 men ; corrupts and degrades the one, and debases, 
 afflicts and sacrifices the other. 
 
 26. As an apostacy from the knowledge, worship 
 and service of Jehovah, it is in bold opposition to his 
 supremacy, and to his claims as the rightful Sovereign 
 and moral Governor of the world. It usurps his 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK* 89 
 
 throne, and excacts the homage and obedience of his 
 creatures, perverts his laws, and counterfeits the rites 
 and institutions of his worship. And especially, is it 
 in all respects, antagonist to the person and work of 
 the Redeemer, treating his incarnation and atone- 
 ment with mockery and contempt, harassing and 
 persecuting his followers, perverting and corrupting 
 his gospel, and prostituting his ordinances and insti- 
 tutions. It assumes infallibility, the poAver of mira- 
 cles, the authority to forgive sin, and the control of 
 the consciences and of the final destinies of men, 
 living and dead. 
 
 27. To establish such a scheme in the hearts, and 
 impose it on the understandings of men, required the 
 power, subtlety, and lying wonders of the great ad- 
 versary of God and man. At the period of its origin 
 the leading truths of revelation respecting the attri- 
 butes and character of the true God, and the worship 
 and service which He required, were more or less 
 distinctly known to all; and, however the depravity 
 and corruption of men's hearts might incline them to 
 reject or evade these truths they could not renounce 
 them at will, and adopt their opposites, or any false, 
 atheistic, impious or debasing scheme, without being 
 blinded, deceived, instigated, and imposed on. Sure- 
 ly more than human skill and influence were neces- 
 sary to induce the adoption of such a scheme, and effect 
 its ultimate purposes, the worship and service of Satan 
 in placeof the worship and service of God, and theutter 
 degradation and corruption of men in place of their 
 recovery and salvation. It was necessary to blind 
 their minds, to deceive them, to obscure and pervert 
 
99 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 the divine truths which they knew, and to counterfeit, 
 dissemble or deny the facts connected with those truths 
 and the then existing rites and institutions of religious 
 worship and obedience. 
 
 28. That this was necessary is apparent from the 
 nature of the case ; and must be assumed in order to 
 account for the perverted, impious, and false notions, 
 and abominable rites and customs which, at first, and 
 from time to time afterwards, were adopted by the 
 heathen, and finally by the Romish church, and 
 which hold their sway to the present time. 
 
 29. " Tis plain in sacred Scripture," says Locke, 
 " that Christ, at first, had the rule and supremacy 
 over all, and was head over all. — See Col. i. 15-17; 
 Heb. i. 8. There are also manifest indications in 
 Scripture, that a principal angel, with great numbers 
 of angels his followers, joining with him, revolted 
 from this kingdom of God, and standing out in re- 
 bellion, erected to themselves a kingdom of their own, 
 in opposition to the kingdom of God. — Luke x. 17- 
 20. And had all the heathen world vassals and sub- 
 jects of that their kingdom. — Luke iv. 5-8 ; Matt, 
 xii. 26-30; John xii. 31, and xiv. 30, and xvi. 31 ; 
 Ephes. vi. 12; Col. i. 13 ; Rom. i. 18; Acts xxvi. 
 18," &c. 
 
 Again, referring to Christ's victory over Satan, and 
 his exaltation, Phil. ii. 9, 10. " By all things in 
 heaven and earth, bowing the knee at his name," 
 he adds : " Which acknowledgment of his honor and 
 power, was that perhaps, which the proud angel that 
 fell, refusing, rebelled." — Locke, Works, folio ed. 
 1751, p. 329. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 91 
 
 30. " ' This present world' " — wherein the children 
 of Israel were his people, — the Gentiles, i. e. all the 
 other nations of the world being in a state of apos- 
 tacy, and revolt from him, the professed vassals and 
 subjects of the devil, to whom they paid homag-e, 
 obedience and worship. In these words St. Paul 
 points out the Devil, the prince of the revolted part 
 of the creation, and head of that kingdom which stood 
 in opposition to, and was at war with the kingdom of 
 Jesus Christ." — Ihid., p. 335. 
 
 31. "As to the devils, who in the dark places of 
 the earth are worshipped as gods, they have no dis- 
 position to help those who cry to them; for they are 
 cruel spirits ; they arc the mortal enemies of man- 
 kind, that thirst for their blood, and delight in no- 
 thing but their misery. They have no more dis- 
 position to help mankind, than a parcel of hungry 
 wolves or lions would have to protect and help a 
 flock of lambs, — and those that worship and pray to 
 them get not their good will by serving them : all 
 the reward that Satan will give them, for the service 
 which they do him, is to make a prey of them and de- 
 vour them." — Edwards, vol. 8, p. 54. 
 
 " As the church and society of saints have Christ 
 as their head, so the faction of the impious, and im- 
 piety itself, are represented to us with their prince, 
 who exercises the supreme power among them." — 
 Calvin's Institutes, Book 1, Sec. 14. 
 
 " The testimony of Christ concerning him, that he 
 was a murderer and a liar from the beginning, we 
 find verified in all his actions ; for he opposes Divine 
 Truth with lies ; obscures the light with shades of 
 
9fi THE lyiEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 darkness ; involves the minds of men in errors ; stirs 
 up animosity, and kindles contentions and wars ; — 
 and all for the purpose of subverting the kingdom of 
 God, and plunging mankind with himself into eternal 
 destruction." — Ibid., Book 1, Sec. 15. 
 
 " The gates of hell, as all agree, are the power and 
 policy of it ; or the actings of Satan, both as a lion 
 and as a serpent, by rage and by subtlety. But 
 where in these things he acts not visibly in his own 
 person, but by his agents, he hath always had two 
 sorts of them employed in his service. By the one 
 he executes his rage, and by the other his craft ; he 
 animates the one as a lion, and the other as a ser- 
 pent ; in the one he acts as a dragon, in the other as 
 the ' beast that had two horns like the lamb, but 
 spake like a dragon.' The first is the unbelieving 
 world, the other, apostates and seducers of all sorts. 
 Wherefore his work in this kind is of a double nature; 
 the one an effect of his power and rage acted by the 
 world in persecution, the other of his polic)'^ and craft, 
 acted by heretics in seduction. In both he designs to 
 separate the church from its foundation." — Owen, on 
 the Glory of Christ. 
 
 32. The first defection from the knowledge and 
 worship of the true God into idolatry, was exhibited 
 among the Chaldeans, probably within the first cen- 
 tury after the flood, for it was far advanced in the 
 days of Terah, who was born soon after the close of 
 that century ; and is declared to have been one of 
 those who served other gods. The leading notions 
 into which they were seduced, were adopted, with 
 some additions or modifications, by the Egyptians, 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 93 
 
 Persians, and other nations, and have ever since been 
 prominent in the systems of the Eastern pagan world. 
 
 33. Among the Chaldeans, or Assyrians and Baby- 
 lonians, the first step in idolatry was the worship of 
 the sun, or of fire, as residing in the sun, moon, and 
 stars. The next was tliat of erecting pillars to those 
 objects — as the pillar, for example, which they erected 
 to Mars, and worshipped as a god. Then followed 
 the making of images, and idols, and deification of 
 dead and living men, animals, elements, &c. 
 
 34. They gave the name, variously written Bel, 
 Baal, Bal, Phel, Phul, Pul, Pil, Pal, or Pel, to the 
 sun, signifying lord or king ; the sun being lord, or 
 king of heaven. To the moon, as queen of heaven, 
 they gave names signifying queen, as Nabo, Nebo, 
 Baalah, Baalta, and others. The stars, or host of 
 heaven, they called Gad. Mars, which seems to 
 have been first distinguished among the planets, they 
 called Azer, Azur, or Azar. 
 
 Hence their kings and great men came to be called 
 Pel-ezer, i. e. Pel-azar, a man favored by the sun and 
 Mars. Belthazzar, i. e. Bel-azar, importing the 
 same. Nabonassar, i. e. Nabo-azar, favorite of the 
 moon and Mars. Nebuchadnezzar, i. e. Nebo-gad — 
 azar, one favored by the moon, the host of heaven 
 and Mars. This custom also attended the progress of 
 idolatry in other nations. — [See Sciiuckford.] 
 
 35. The Egyptians appear to have been the first to 
 imagine two principles, powers, or deities, as govern- 
 ing the world — one the source of good, the other of 
 evil, and being respectively resident in, or represented 
 by the sun and moon. They were probably the 
 
94 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 earliest to offer human sacrifices, and idolatrously to 
 vvorsliip animals, reptiles, and vegetables ; some, pro- 
 bably as representing the good, and others the evil 
 principle. Syphis, the original teacher of their sys- 
 tem, is reported to have studied the influence of the 
 sun and moon, and concluding that they were twopow- 
 erful deities, to have instituted the worship of them. 
 
 36. The Persians did not, perhaps, degenerate so 
 rapidly as the Egyptians; but their defection began 
 about the same time, and in the same way. Sabianism, 
 or fire-worship, and Magic or Magianism, which still 
 prevail among them, were the systems they first adop- 
 ted. They appear to have considered the sun, moon 
 and stars as instinct with life, in the subtle form of 
 fire, and possessing the power of good and evil. 
 
 37. The same notions, and essentially the same 
 forms of idolatry, spread over Canaan, Arabia, and 
 all other parts of the Eastern world. The defection 
 from the knowledge and worship of the true God, as 
 if proceeding from one cause, and urged by one pow- 
 erful impulse, soon became general; so that, prior to 
 the legation of Moses, the nations and families of the 
 earth, with a few exceptions, .chiefly or wholly among 
 the Hebrews, had adopted substantially the same sys- 
 tem of idolatry. The progress of their degeneracy, 
 though less rapid in some than in other countries, and 
 in every other than in Eg3'pt, probably exhibited 
 similar gradations elsewhere as there. In that coun- 
 try, the apostacy began with the worship of the sun 
 and moon, or fire as the actuating principle of these 
 luminaries; or, as represented by them, as symbols 
 of a good and an evil deity or spirit. Next they added 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 95 
 
 to their list of gods, other objects of sense, as the stars, 
 the earth, the air, water and literal fire. Then they 
 made pillars, statues and images, and introduced the 
 worship of heroes and dead men. In time, they ex- 
 tended their homage to inferior animals, reptiles, 
 vegetables, evil passions, vices, and the means, or 
 instruments of wickedness, being given over to a 
 reprobate mind. Along with these abominations, the 
 kindred arts of magic, sorcery, enchantment or div- 
 ination, astrology, soothsaying and witchcraft were 
 eagerly cultivated. They had both carved and molten 
 images before the departure of the Israelites, which 
 were so familiar to the common people, as to be called 
 the gods of Egypt; and the proficiency of the magi- 
 cians is suflficiently attested in the narrative of Moses. 
 
 38. At the same time, the Phoenicians worshipped 
 Baal or Bel : the Ammonites the same object, under 
 the name of Moloch, i. e. Meleck or the King: the 
 Arabians the same, styled Baal-peor; and the nations 
 of Canaan, on the arrival of the Israelites, had sunk 
 into the grosser abominations of idolatry. 
 
 39. The Greeks, copying from the Egyptians, com- 
 menced with the worship of the sun, moon and stars, 
 and advanced by the same steps, as other idolatrous 
 nations. They worshipped numerous tutelary gods 
 and demi-gods, celestial, marine and infernal, the 
 progeny of Jupiter, a Titan prince, deified. Of the 
 first, Apollo, in the character of Phoebus, represented 
 the sun; Vulcan, the god, and Vesta, the goddess of 
 fire; Diana, under the name of Hecate, in hell, the 
 goddess of night and darkness. The infernal gods 
 
96' THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 were Pluto; Pliitus, the god of riches; Charon, the 
 furies, the fates and others. They had also rural 
 deities, fauns, satyrs, nymphs, etc. 
 
 40. In Southern India, Burmah, Siam, Japan, 
 China and Tartary, the same system essentially pre- 
 vailed as in Egypt; though with some important 
 additions and modifications, such as the absence of 
 opposing influence from worshippers of the true God, 
 and from the doctrines of revelation, may be supposed 
 to have rendered practicable, and most adapted totally 
 to blind and harden men, and rivet the chains of their 
 galling superstition. 
 
 41. Hindooism, or Brahminism, which is supposed 
 to have taken its rise in the days of Abraham, when 
 the doctrine of one eternal Supreme Being, the Crea- 
 tor, was known and believed, by some at least, in 
 every country — still teaches or admits a supreme 
 deity, called Brahjne, but ascribes to him no agency 
 in the creation or government of this world, and in- 
 culcates no worship of him. It sets forth a first created 
 being, chief of good spirits, called Brahma, as the 
 creator and governor of the world; and teaches that 
 Brahma is assisted by Vishnu, the preserver of men, 
 who, in discharging his office, has at nine different 
 times, appeared on earth in human form, represent- 
 ing the Supreme Deity incarnate for beneficent pur- 
 poses. Antagonist to these is a third agent, called 
 Siva or Seeva, the destroyer. The three are constantly 
 regarded as a trinity of agents or powers. They in- 
 volve however, essentially, but the two principles, 
 good and evil, of the Egyptians, and of the Gnostics 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 97 
 
 of apostolic times. Inferior to these chief agents, are 
 good and evil genii, similar to the eons and genii of 
 the Greeks and Gnostics, eternally conflicting with 
 each other, and filling the creation with disorder. 
 
 42. In this system, the transmigration of souls is an 
 essential dogma. It accordingly teaches, that degen- 
 erate fallen spirits, or souls, migrate through various 
 spheres in the bodies of different animals, and that 
 there are fourteen such spheres; seven below and 
 seven above the earth, the latter rising gradually to 
 the highest, where Brahma resides. 
 
 43. Tliis scheme of transmigration is founded In 
 the fact, that man is a fallen, sinful creature, whose 
 guilt requires atonement; and is designed to restore 
 the degenerate soul to its primitive state of perfection 
 and blessedness. For the same purpose, costly obla- 
 tions, sanguinary sacrifices, self-tortures, immolations 
 and other degrading, cruel and abominable customs, 
 are prescribed; and a grand annual sacrifice is observ- 
 ed, not very unlike that of the scape-goat under the 
 Mosaic ritual, except that the victim is a horse instead 
 of a goat. This system, in connection with the kind- 
 red one ofBoodhism, has for some 4000 years held in 
 bondage and darkness, more than half of the human 
 race. 
 
 44. In Ceylon, Burma, Siam, Japan, a large portion 
 of China, and more or less of neighboring districts, 
 the doctrines and rites of Boodhism have prevailed 
 during about 2500 years. These doctrines are boldly 
 atheistic. They deny a first cause, and teach that 
 
SIQ THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 matter is eternal ; that Bood is to be worshipped for 
 the exalted piety of his mortal life; that since his 
 death, he has become incarnate at ten different times; 
 and that the highest reward of piety is annihilation. 
 In practice, the destruction of animal life, as in Hin- 
 dooism, is forbidden, and numerous austerities are 
 prescribed. The doctrine of transmigration, is held 
 much in the same way as that of purgatory by the 
 Papists. The priests, like their imitators of the 
 Romish church, are forbidden to marry, and are re- 
 quired to live by mendicity. 
 
 45. In Lamaism, the idolatrous system of which 
 the Grand Lama is the object, or symbol, the work- 
 ing of Satan is still more boldly and impudently 
 manifested. It is a kind of mock theocracy ; assumes 
 absolute control, both over the temporal and spiritual 
 concerns of men ; and appears in some respects as a 
 counterfeit of the Jewish under Moses, and in other 
 respects, as a pattern of the Romish Hierarchy and 
 power. 
 
 46. This audacious system ascribes Divine preroga- 
 tives and honors to the Grand Lama, and teaches 
 that when he seems to die, his soul passes into ano- 
 ther body, whereby the existence and prerogatives of 
 the same personage are rendered perpetual. He is to 
 be seen only in a secret apartment, surrounded by 
 numerous lamps, and bedizened with gold and pre- 
 cious stones ; where at a prescribed distance the peo- 
 ple prostrate themselves and worship him. 
 
 47. For three thousand years or more, this super- 
 stition has reigned over the people of Tartary, Thibet, 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 99 
 
 Northern China, and other considerable districts. It 
 supports and is promoted by a vast number of subor- 
 dinate lamas or priests, and a surprising multitude 
 of monks and friars, who inhabit monasteries, and 
 profess vows of poverty, obedience, continence, 
 &c. They have confessors licensed by the lamas, 
 make use of beads and holy water, impose penances, 
 and offer prayers and sacrifices for the dead. 
 
 48. A brief reference to the idolatry of the w^estern 
 continent, especially among the aborigines of the 
 warmer latitudes, will further show that the system 
 in every part of the earth owed its existence to the 
 instigation, dominion, and craft of Satan. 
 
 The idol temples of the Aztecs, or Mexicans, for 
 example, were lofty pyramidal structures, similar in 
 form and architecture to the ancient temple of Belus, 
 or Baal, in Babylon, devoted chiefly to the sacrifice 
 of human beings. When Cortez visited the great 
 temple of Mexico with Montezuma, he beheld on the 
 broad area of the summit, one hundred and fifty feet 
 from the ground, the stone on which the human vic- 
 tims were slain, and their hearts extracted for obla- 
 tions in the apartments below. In the loftiest of 
 these apartments he saw the colossal image of the 
 tutelary deity and war god of the Aztecs. " His 
 countenance was distorted into hideous lineaments of 
 symbolical import. The huge folds of a serpent, 
 consisting of pearls and precious stones, were coiled 
 round his waist. A chain of gold and silver hearts 
 alternate, was suspended round his neck ; and three 
 human hearts newly offered, lay smoking on the 
 altar before him. Another apartment was dedicated 
 
100 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 to the invisible supreme bein^. He was represented 
 as a young man, by an image of polished black stone, 
 garnished with gold plates and ornaments, among 
 which, a shield, polished like a mirror, purported to 
 reflect the doings of the world. Five bleeding hearts" 
 lay on a golden platter on his altar. The capacious 
 mouth and throat of another idol were filled with 
 instruments of sacrifice and other abominations, which 
 led the spectators to regard it as the figure of hell. 
 The rooms were so clotted with blood as to be insup- 
 portably offensive and hideous. The walls round the 
 temple were ornamented on the outer side with figures 
 of serpents, a common emblem, as in Egypt, in their 
 sacred sculpture. The priests in black robes, covered 
 with himian blood, seemed to be the very ministers 
 of Satan. Corfez and his companions beheld in the 
 fantastic and symbolical features of the idols, the 
 literal lineaments of Satan ; in the rites and frivolous 
 ceremonial, his own especial code of damnation ; and 
 in the demure conduct and careful nurture of the 
 inmates of the seminaries, the snares by which he 
 was to beguile his deluded victims." — Prescott's 
 History of Mexico. 
 
 49. This system gave place to that of Romish 
 idolatry. Pope Alexander VI. granted a large por- 
 tion of the western hemisphere to the Spaniards, and 
 of the eastern to the Portuguese, conferring the right 
 of concjuest, with condition that the conquered should 
 be subjected to the Romish faith. Cortez, in his zeal 
 to convert the Mexicans, assured Montezuma that the 
 idols he worshipped, were Satan under different 
 forms ; and expressed surprise that he could put faith 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 101 
 
 in such evil spirits as these idols, the representatives 
 of the Devil. When the work of conversion after- 
 wards advanced, however, the successors of the con- 
 querors, discovered in the mysteries of the Aztec reli- 
 gion, the features, ohscured and defaced, indeed, of 
 the Jewish and Christian revelations. They trans- 
 ferred and appropriated whatever might assist the in- 
 troduction of their own system of superstition, as had 
 been done in the case of Paganism in the East. The 
 form, not the spirit of idolatry was changed. 
 
 50. The sentiment and feeling in which these systems 
 of idolatry, imposture and delusion were founded, 
 and by which the nations of the East have been so long 
 held in bondage, gave birth to the systems of Pytha- 
 goras, and others among the Greeks, which became 
 extensively prevalent in the countries bordering the 
 Mediterranean, prior to the Christian Era ; and thus 
 prepared the way for the heresies of the first century, 
 and especially for that prolific mother of all the prin- 
 cipal heresies of the primitive and the Romish church, 
 Gnosticism. Not only was this system founded in 
 the same feeling, and essentially in the same senti- 
 ment, but it assumed in several leading particulars 
 the same dogmas, practices, rites and forms. 
 
 51. The Sentiment referred to, involved a total 
 misapprehension of the moral attributes of God, and 
 consequently gave a direction fatally wrong to every 
 thing pertaining to religious worship. The feeling 
 was that of fallen human nature, under the delusion 
 and tyranny of the evil one, seeking to recover and 
 justify itself by its own devices and efforts. 
 6 
 
102 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 52. Tlie sontiment and feeling together constitut- 
 ed the basis and essence of idolatry in all its forms ; 
 of asceticism, monkery, celibacy ; of relics, pretended 
 miracles and revelations ; of purgatory, penance and 
 indulgences; of mystery, priestcraft and persecution ; 
 of plenary power and authority, spiritual and tempo- 
 ral, over the souls and bodies of men, and assumption 
 of the authority, prerogatives and worship of God. 
 
 53. Hence, though Gnosticism, as a public and 
 formal heresy, was ai length subverted, the spirit 
 of it, the sentiment and feeling remained, and still 
 remain, not only throughout the pagan world, and 
 wherever the Romish system of idolatry and lying 
 wonders prevails, but also in Protestant communities, 
 in the forms of Arianism, Palagianism, Antinomian- 
 ism, Socinianism, and various subordinate and kin- 
 dred heresies. 
 
 54. The doctrines of Christianity had scarcely begun 
 to be proclaimed when the philosophers of that day 
 broached the Gnostic heresy, b}' which they attempted 
 to incorporate the Gospel with the dogmas of oriental 
 paganism. The chiefs of those deluded and arrogant 
 pretenders to knowledge, like the Manichaeans of a 
 later date, held the oriental notion of two principles, 
 the one the source of good, the other of evil. 
 
 55. The evil principle, by their theory, constitut- 
 ed, resided in, and actuated matter. They accord- 
 ingly ascribed the creation and management of the 
 earth to this principle, and considered matter inde- 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 103 
 
 pendent and active, and as antagonist and rival to 
 the benignant principle. 
 
 56. They held that the souls of men, contrary to 
 the will of their creator, were, by the evil principle 
 or its agents, the malignant genii, imprisoned in the 
 corrupt matter of the bodies which they were forced 
 to inhabit, and were thereby polluted and made subject 
 to evil. To effect their deliverance from this deplora- 
 ble state of servitude and darkness they prescribed a 
 violent war against the influence, appetites and pas- 
 sions of their bodies, and a total abstraction of their 
 minds from them in religious meditation. The body 
 being the source and centre of evil, was not to be 
 cherished, but to be opposed, mortified, scourged, 
 tortured, as an enemy and a criminal, lest the soul 
 should be still further degraded by it. 
 
 57. The oriental sages professed to expect the ad- 
 vent of a divine messenger to deliver miserable mor- 
 tals from the power of their malignant oppressors ; 
 and when their followers perceived that the Gospel 
 when it was first published, was by its author and his 
 apostles miraculously sustained, they were impatient 
 to make it auxiliary to their oriential notions. In 
 doing this, however, they conceded nothing of their 
 theory in general, or of the diverse opinions of differ- 
 ent sects ; and to meet the existing opinions and 
 prejudices of Jews and of Gentiles of difljerent coun- 
 tries, their heresy assumed a variety of forms. 
 
 58. They taught, among other things, that the 
 books of the Old Testament were to be rejected as of 
 no authority, since they gave an account of the origin 
 
104 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 of things palpably opposed to their dogma, that the 
 world was created by an inferior evil being. In their 
 frantic zeal against these books, and probably by way 
 of conciliating the evil principle, or author of evil, 
 they bestowed extravagant encomiums on the serpent 
 as the author of sin, and upon Judas and others of 
 the most impious and reprobate character. 
 
 59. They denied both the deity and humanity of 
 Christ. The admission of His divinity would have 
 been subversive of their whole system. Their notions 
 of matter, as the centre and source of all corruption 
 and evil, required the denial of his having had a real 
 body, and of his having really suffered. At the same 
 time they affected to respect his mission as designed 
 to destroy the empire of wicked spirits, the malignant 
 genii, to subvert their tyranny over the souls of men, 
 and to teach the human race how they might sepa- 
 rate the immortal mind from the impure body, and 
 fit it for union with, or absorption in the Divine es- 
 sence. 
 
 60. Pursuant to their notions of matter, as corrupt 
 and evil, they denied the resurrection of the body; 
 and as a means of thwarting the influence of the ma- 
 lignant genii they studied and practised the arts of 
 magic. 
 
 61. While, however, some of them held to aceticism 
 and every form of self-denial and bodily mortification, 
 in order to overcome tlie corruption induced by their 
 bodies ; others, the Antinomians of the system, in or- 
 der to indulge themselves without restraint, denied 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 105 
 
 that the naturally pure and immorlal soul was at all 
 affected by the matter or actions of the body, asserted 
 the innocence of yielding- to every dictate of nature, 
 and openly abandoned themselves to every species of 
 vice. 
 
 62. To account for the disorders and miseries of the 
 world, the principal theories of the Easterns were as 
 follows : tlie ancient Persians, and afterwards the 
 Manichseans and others, held to a good and evil prin- 
 ciple; ascribing the origin and management of things 
 to the latter. The Pythagoreans supposed that man- 
 kind had existed in some previous state, and were 
 punished here for the sins there committed. The 
 Aristotelian atheists maintained that the world had 
 existed from eternity, and grown corrupt by degrees, 
 without any first cause. The Epicureans held that 
 the world resulted from a fortuitous concourse of 
 atoms, and was not g-overned by any intelligent prin- 
 ciple whatever. 
 
 63. Now, in order to originate and procure the 
 adoption of any system of idolatry, the first thing to 
 be accomplished, was to induce in the minds of men 
 a sentiment and feeling in direct opposition to the 
 exclusive claims of Jehovah as the object of religious 
 worship. The first command of the decalogue, which 
 for substance, must have been known, and could not 
 have been less obligatory before than after its delivery 
 by Moses, was to be boldly denied or effectually evad- 
 ed. As in the temptation in Eden, Satan expressly 
 denied the truth of what God had declared should be 
 the consequence of disobedience, boldly asserted a 
 
106 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 falsehood, and promised other and desirable conse- 
 quences of disobedience; so in seducing men to wor- 
 ship him, the first or leading pohibition to fallen man, 
 was to be nullified and set aside. 
 
 64. His scheme had succeeded with the progenitors 
 of the race, and with Cain and the ungodly families 
 of the antediluvian world, till their impiety brought 
 on their utter extermination. That on the outset of 
 the peopling of the New World, he should be not less 
 assuming, nor less bold, is every way probable. And 
 that his hostility, opposition and rivalship, should in- 
 duce him to assume to be the god of this world, and 
 to claim the worship and service of men, as having 
 power over them and over the elements, and as the 
 dispenser of evil and of good, is reasonably to be 
 inferred from the nature of the case, and is all but 
 demonstrated by his next chief attempt, namely, by 
 a direct proposition to induce the seed of the woman, 
 the incarnate Word, to worship him, and thereby to 
 acknowledge his pretensions; his dominion over the 
 earth, and his right to dispose of its kingdoms, its 
 inhabitants and their possessions, to whomsoever he 
 would. Nothing less than direct, personal worship, 
 such worship and homage as should carry on their 
 face an open acknowledgment of his usurped domin- 
 ion, justify his apostacy and rebellion, and sanction 
 his cruel tyranny over the souls and bodies of men, 
 and hail him God of this world, would satisfy him. 
 He aimed at nothing less — he boldly aimed at this, 
 and plainly disclosed that this had ever been his aim. 
 Success in his rebellion required this. If he failed in 
 this, his whole scheme would fail, his head would be 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 107 
 
 crushed, his revolt woukl be suppressed, he would be 
 punished as a rebel, and the ringleader of rebels. 
 
 65. It is, in the nature of the case, that the leader 
 of rebellion ih a revolted province, should set up and 
 administer a government of his own, in order to sus- 
 tain the rebellion, compass the objects of his ambition, 
 and secure the support and service of his party. He 
 will aim to do this as long- as the spirit of rebellion 
 continues to prevail. When he can no longer do it, 
 his career is at an end ; the power which he had op- 
 posed, will resume its former sway over the province. 
 But while he rules as chief of subordinate rebels, he 
 will exact from them their entire allegiance and ex- 
 clusive service, and will oppose and crush all who 
 fail him in those particulars. In proportion as the 
 rebellion is unreasonable and unjustifiable, will be 
 the necessity of a severe, arbitrary and tyrannical 
 government over the rebels, to keep them in subjec- 
 tion. Privations, oppression, cruelty, degradation, 
 want, misery, may all be requisite ; or if they render 
 a willing service, the sorceries of delusion and the 
 indulgence of evil passions, must be extended to them. 
 
 66. So in the present case, in this revolted province 
 of the universe, Satan, the leader of the rebellion, 
 proceeds as having a kingdom, an empire, a govern- 
 ment over fallen angels and men — he is prince of 
 subordinate devils — god of fallen men, whom he 
 leads captive at his will. To establish and maintain 
 this revolt, and his supremacy and rule over the 
 rebels, in opposition to the supremacy and govern- 
 ment of God, has been his aim and end from the be- 
 
108 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 ginning. Hence, the means he has employed to 
 perpetuate the revoh, and secure to himself the alle- 
 giance, worship and service of his adherents; and to 
 counteract the work of the Mediator, corrupt and 
 harass the church, and oppose, tempt, hinder or des- 
 troy all who renounce his service, and are redeemed 
 from his power unto God through the atonement. 
 
 67. Such having been his object and aim, it were 
 inconsistent to suppose that they should not have 
 characterized his first attempts to establish Idolatry. 
 What could be more suited to his purpose, what more 
 gratifying to his pride, what more entirely in the 
 spirit of his rebellion, than to usurp the place, and 
 exact the worship and service due to the Sovereign of 
 the universe; and to induce revolted man to profess 
 and act openly and boldl}^, in defiance and opposition 
 to the injunction against having, acknowledging or 
 worshipping any other than the true God? This pro- 
 hibition lies at the foundation of all that relates to the 
 knowledge, acknowledgment and worship of Jehovah. 
 A perfect compliance with it, is essential to all accep- 
 table worship and service. The denial of it, the op- 
 posite, the acknowledgment and worship of other 
 gods, is atheism, and involves essentially all rebellion 
 and wickedness. 
 
 68. To give effect to this falsehood and fasten the 
 cheat upon men, it appears that, as in the temptation 
 in Eden, their senses were made use of : that visible 
 objects, and especially the sun, as the source of 
 benefits of which they were conscious, was appealed 
 to us the power, or the symbol of the power which 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 109 
 
 governed this world and its ai'rial regions ; and that 
 they were induced to acknowledge and direct their 
 worship to that object, not as Creator, nor as Ruler 
 of the universe, but as the image, or symbol of the 
 god of this world, disposer of events, source of their 
 chief blessings, and controller of their destinies. 
 Such was the first step, the initiatory proceeding-, 
 preparatory to the debasing worship of graven images, 
 animals, reptiles and insects, and the abominable 
 vices and pollutions connected therewith. 
 
 69. In after times, to seduce the Jews into this 
 idolatry, and to counteract the influence of the reve- 
 lations recorded by Moses, the same course was pur- 
 sued as with tihe early descendants of Noah, who had 
 been instructed in the knowledge of the true God. 
 Fire, which on many occasions was exhibited as a 
 symbol of the true God, had been, as essentially re- 
 siding in the sun, adopted as the symbol of the tute- 
 lary god represented by the image of Baal — he that 
 rules, god of this world, in distinction from the Su- 
 preme, Eternal, Invisible One. Those of the Jews 
 who w^orshipped and served Baal, instead of wor- 
 shipping the true God, who was manifested in the 
 burning bush, in the shekina, in the pillar of cloud, 
 and on various other occasions, worshipped Satan as 
 god of this world, symbolized by the sun, and re- 
 presented by the images of Baal. 
 
 70, In this worship, the use of fire in consuming 
 the burnt offerings and in other services of the Jew- 
 ish ritual, was counterfeited by casting human vic- 
 
 6* 
 
110 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 tiras into the arras of the heated image, or otherwise 
 burning- them alive at his feet, or on his ahar. 
 
 71. This view of the course of things, however 
 the diabolical instigation of it may be doul)ted of by 
 those, if there be such, who impute the introduction, 
 devices, and abominations of idolatry, exclusively to 
 human depravity and imposture, seems to be re- 
 quired — 
 
 72. First, By the early and rapid success of a scheme, 
 which involved such monstrous impiety and bloody 
 rites. It is incredible that men, however corrupt and 
 debased, should, without diabolical assistance, have 
 devised and propagated with success such a scheme ; 
 as incredible as that the original apostacy should have 
 taken place without the crafty instigation of Satan, 
 or that any other events in which his agency is de- 
 clared to have been concerned, should have taken 
 place without him. 
 
 73. Secondly, By the character of the worship 
 given in the Scriptures. It is repeatedly characterized 
 as the worship of Satan, and of devils or demons, 
 fallen angels, co-rebels with Satan. Not only is the 
 worship of Baal so characterized, but also the idola- 
 try of the Gentiles at large, and without exception, 
 " The things which the Gentiles sacrificed, they sac- 
 rificed to devils, and not to God." To participate 
 in their worship and their idolatrous feasts, was to 
 have fellowship with devils, and to be partakers of 
 the "table, and drink the cup of devils." The idolatry 
 of the Jews who joined themselves unto Baal-peor, 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. Ill 
 
 and ate the sacrifices of the dead, is thus characterised 
 — " They sacrificed their sons and their daughters un- 
 to devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of 
 their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacri- 
 ficed unto the idols of Canaan." — Psalm cvi., Deu- 
 teronomy xxxii. 17. 
 
 74. Thirdly, By his character and object as the 
 great adversary of God and man, the father of lies, 
 deceiver, tempter, destroyer ; head and leader of re- 
 bellion. 
 
 75. Fourthly, By the dominion over wicked men 
 which is ascribed to him, as god of this world, prince 
 and ruler over its darkness, ruling in the children of 
 disobedience, leading them captive, ensnaring them. 
 The whole world of the ungodly, it is declared, lieth 
 under the dominion of the wicked one. 1 John iii. 12. 
 
 76. Fifthly, By the fact that those who are con- 
 verted, have their eyes opened, and are turned from 
 darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto 
 God. 
 
 77. Sixthly, By the means employed, the Divine 
 manifestations, miracles, threatenings, judgments and 
 mercies employed to reclaim and preserve the Israel- 
 ites from the idolatries which they had practised in 
 Egypt, and those of the nations of Canaan. It seems 
 quite too much to suppose that such a course of mea- 
 sures, such unexampled exhibitions of Divine power, 
 and such signal rebukes, restraints, and inflictions as 
 took place at Sinai and in the wilderness, should have 
 
112 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 been necessary, and should have, been so long con- 
 tinued, and with so little success, to reclaim and pre- 
 serve men from a scheme of debasing- superstition, of 
 their own unassisted contrivance and adoption — that 
 they should persevere in such madness, braving the 
 instant and most signal operations of Divine power 
 in their destruction — disregarding the miracles of 
 Egypt, at the Red Sea and in the wilderness, the 
 thunders of Sinai, and the visible symbol of the Di- 
 vine presence in the pillar of fire and the tabernacle ; 
 that after their entrance into the Land of Canaan, a 
 long course of inflictions, famines, pestilences, sub- 
 jection to the tyranny of their heathen neighbors, and 
 finally, expulsion from their country, and bondage to 
 foreign nations, should have been necessary to wean 
 them from the abominations of idolatry, if they were 
 not instigated to persevere by Satanic influence. 
 
 78. The history of this course of things presents 
 rather a scene of prolonged and desperate conflict on 
 the part of Satan and the powers of darkness, against 
 the leader of Israel, the King and Redeemer of Zion 
 — a rivalship and struggle for mastery, which was 
 continued without intermission or abatement till the 
 first temple was destvoyed, the visible presence in the 
 Shekina withdrawn, and the interposition of miracles, 
 and other special tokens of Divine care discontinued — 
 a struggle which was renewed on the appearance of 
 Christ in the flesh, and has been continued ever since, 
 essentially as before, in the idolatry, impostures, and 
 abominations of the Romish church. 
 
 79. Seventhly, That Satan was the contriver and 
 instigator of idolatry, and of the sorceries, impostures 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 113 
 
 and abominations employed in sustaining it, is to be 
 inferred from what is plainly taught in the New Tes- 
 tament concerning his agency. The Apostle Paul, 
 in forewarning tlie Thessalonians of the apostacy of 
 the Romish church, and of the impious pretensions 
 and character of its idolized head, describes the de- 
 fection as a mystery of iniquity, and the coming or 
 manifestation of its head — the man of sin, wicked one, 
 son of ])erdition — as being after the manner of the 
 powerful working of Satan, with signs, lying wonders, 
 or false miracles, and all deceits of unrighteousness, 
 to the utter delusion and condemnation of those who 
 believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unright- 
 eousness; evidently alluding to the acts and practices 
 which he was known to have employed in corrupting 
 and enticing men to worship and serve him, and yield 
 themselves to the spiritual tyranny and empire which 
 he swayed over the world of idolaters and infidels. 
 This allusion is rendered intelligible, by considering 
 it as referring to the signs, miracles and enchantments, 
 whether real or only apparent, performed by the ma- 
 gicians of Egypt, in opposition to Moses ; and to 
 similar prodigies referred to in the Scriptures and by 
 heathen writers, as having been exhibited in support 
 of idolatry, or of the pretensions of false teachers. 
 The Apostle was indicating the approach of a defec- 
 tion which would involve impiety, blasphemy and 
 wickedness, more glaring and monstrous even, than 
 that displayed in the introduction and progress of the 
 scheme of heathen idolatry; and which, therefore, 
 required a cause, an agency, a boldness and subtlety 
 of like nature and in degree, suited to the case. The 
 working of Satan was known to have accomplished 
 
114 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 the earlier defections; his more powerful working was 
 to effect this. He had before by his working, deceiv- 
 ed and enticed men into the practice of idolatry and 
 the worship of himself, in opposition to God; he was 
 now to withstand, pervert and corrupt the great truths 
 of the Gospel as declared by the Apostles, and not 
 only to induce those who heard and professed to be- 
 lieve them, to believe lies in opposition to them, and 
 especially the monstrous lie of transubstantiation ; 
 and thus, in contradiction to their senses and reason, 
 to concede to the priests the power of effecting the 
 alleged change at will, and the consequent assump- 
 tion of power to forgive sins, and save or destroy 
 whom they pleased ; but also more openly to acknow- 
 ledge his pretensions to supremacy, omnipotence and 
 infallibility, and more slavishly to worship, submit to 
 and serve him, than the ignorant heathen ever did. 
 
 80. Conformably to what is here alleged of the 
 agency of Satan in procuring the apostacy of the 
 Romish church, and setting himself up as the god of 
 their idolatrous worship, and the instigator of their 
 blasphemous concessions and ascriptions to him, and 
 their intolerance and persecution of their fellow-men; 
 our Saviour gave notice of his working, announcing 
 that false christs and false prophets should arise, and 
 show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it 
 were possible, they would deceive the very elect. Of 
 such, there are notices afterwards by the Apostles, and 
 still later by Christian, heathen and infidel writers, 
 down to the present time. 
 
 81. He, by his angels, co-rebels or demons, unde- 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 115 
 
 niably actuated and spoke by tho e of whom he took 
 possession, and from whom he was cast out in our 
 Saviour's time. Of these, the chief or prince was 
 called Baal, or Beelzebub. — Matt. xii. Elymas tlie 
 sorcerer, is described by Paul as full of all subtlety and 
 all mischief, child of the devil, enemy of all right- 
 eousness. His conduct indicated his true character. 
 He withstood Paul and Barnabas when preaching- the 
 word of God to the deputy of Cyprus at his request, 
 and endeavored to turn him away from the faith. 
 Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, discerned and de- 
 clared his true character, and by an instant miracle 
 he was smitten with blindness. 
 
 82. So when the Jewish exorcists attempted to cast 
 out devils — evil spirits, confederate with Satan, de- 
 mons — by pronouncing over the possessed the name 
 of Jesus whom Paul preached, the evil spirit exclaim- 
 ed, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye? 
 Thus at once defying the impostor, and acknowledg- 
 ing the power and authority of Jesus, and of Paul in 
 his name, to command and cast him out. 
 
 83. In the Apocalypse, "the dragon,* that old ser- 
 
 * The Greek words translated "the dragon, the old serpent, the 
 devil, the evil one, the tempter, the adversary, the prince of this 
 world, the prince of the power of the air, and the God of this world," 
 are uniformly used to discriminate the chief and leader of rebel angels. 
 The words commonly translated "devils, and a devil," relate to the 
 angels of the devil, demons, foul spirits. To the latter, the demons, 
 the Evangelists refer in every instance of possession and casting out. 
 That they understood and meant to teach that these unclean spirits or 
 demons, were fallen angels, confederates and angels of the devil, work- 
 ing in his cause, is quite evident. They are represented as the causes 
 
116 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 pent called the Devil and Satan, who deceiveth the 
 whole world," is represented, chap, xii., as the accus- 
 er, enemy and persecutor of the Saints; and in chap, 
 xiii., as giving- his power, seat and authority to the 
 Beast which represented the Romish church or hier- 
 archy; and it is declared that the loorld worshipped the 
 dragon which gave power unto the beast, and that 
 they worshipped the beast, who opened his mouth in 
 blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and 
 his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven; "and 
 it was given unto him to make war with the saints, 
 and to overcome them; and power was given him," 
 that is, by the dragon, "over all kindreds and tongues 
 and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall 
 worship Him, whose names are not written in the 
 book of life of the Lamb slain, from the foundation of 
 the world." 
 
 84. In tliis scene, the audacious and desperate 
 struggle of Satan for continued dominion and empire 
 over the human race ; to secure to himself their wor- 
 
 of the most direful calamities to those whom they possessed : madness, 
 palsy, dumbness, etc.; as having malignant passions, and as being con- 
 scious of their doom to the misery and torments prepared for the 
 devil. None of these things could be affirmed of the spirits of depart- 
 ed heroes, advanced by the Pagans to the rank of demons. In the 
 Epistles an equally malignant agency is ascribed to them. Paul cau- 
 tions Timothy to beware of those who would endeavor to corrupt the 
 faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons; doubt- 
 less referring to those fallen angels by whom the mystery of iniquity 
 was instigated 
 
 Satan, the Prince of the demons who possessed the bodies of men, 
 inflicted outward evils. All the diseased whom our Saviour healed, 
 are declared to have been oppressed by the Devil. The woman who 
 had a spirit of infii*mity, is said to have been bound by Satan. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 117 
 
 ship and service, and to oppose and exfeiminate the 
 followers of the Lamb, and hinder all further reforma- 
 tion and rescue of men through the atonement to the 
 worship and service of God, is vividly portrayed. The 
 symbols employed strikingly indicate that in this 
 Beast, Satan did but extend the dominion he had long 
 held over the pagan nations, symbolized also by beasts, 
 to the apostate faction of nominal Christian nations of 
 the papal Roman empire. In the chapters referred 
 to, such a contrast is presented between the followers 
 of the Lamb, who overcame by his blood and by the 
 word of their testimony, and loved not their lives unto 
 the death, and the worshippers of the Dragon, as to 
 leave no room for question, that they whose names 
 were not written in the hook of life, worshipped Satan 
 and served him, making war with the saints, and 
 joining in the iniquities and blasphemies of the 
 Romish Beast, or Papacy. 
 
 85. In the thirteenth chapter also, a second Beast 
 appears, auxiliary to the first or that which symbo- 
 lized the idolatrous papal church, exercising the same 
 power, and instigating the inhabitants of the earth to 
 worship the first Beast, performing great wonders in 
 the sight of men, and deceiving them that dwell on 
 the earth by means of the miracles which he had 
 power to do in the sight of the first Beast, and ex- 
 horting them to make an image to that Beast, thus 
 giving " life unto the image of the Beast, that the 
 image of the Beast should both speak and cause that 
 as many as would not worship the image of the Beast 
 should be killed." 
 
118 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 86. This second Beast probably symbolizes the In- 
 quisition, by which, through its offices and its two 
 orders of agents, ecclesiastic and mendicant, ani- 
 mation and efficiency were imparted. It became the 
 executioner by delegated authority, of the designs 
 of the first Beast in respect to his assumption of 
 superiority to all earthly power, his proscriptions and 
 persecutions, and his suppression of the Scriptures. 
 
 To establish visible idolatry, and compel men on 
 pain of death to worship images, and especially the 
 image of the first Beast, was a leading object of this 
 subordinate representative of Satan. 
 
 87. In the next chapter the most terrible punish- 
 ments, temporal and eternal, are denounced upon 
 those who should worship the Beast and his image ; 
 and in the succeeding one. Chap, xv., the Saints 
 are referred to as having gained the victory over the 
 Beast, and over his image. " They sing the song of 
 Moses the servant of 'God, and the song of the 
 Lamb, &c." Here and elsewhere it is plainly inti- 
 mated that the great controversy to which man is a 
 party, is waged by Satan against God the Mediator, 
 and that all who are not followers and worshippers of 
 the Lamb, are partisans and worshippers of Satan. 
 
 88. In the sixteenth chapter, the unclean spirits 
 which came out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out 
 of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the 
 false prophet, are declared to be "the spirits of devils, 
 working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of 
 the earth and of the world," &c. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 119 
 
 89. At length, chap, xix., we are told that, " the 
 Beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that 
 wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived 
 them that had received the mark of the Beast, and 
 them that worshipped his image. These both were 
 cast alive into a lake of fire," &c. ; a result strongly- 
 confirming all that has been indicated respecting the 
 agency of Satan in the great scheme of idolatry and 
 opposition to Christ and his followers, which has 
 characterized the history of the earth. 
 
 90. The next step in the progress of this scheme, 
 after seducing men to acknowledge and worship 
 other Gods in defiance of the authority and claims of 
 Jehovah, was that of making and bowing down to 
 images and worshipping animate and inanimate 
 creatures, in direct and open defiance and opposition 
 to the prohibition which forms the second article of 
 the decalogue, and in face of the consequences de- 
 nounced upon the successive generations of those who 
 practised the iniquity. 
 
 91. The transition or advance from the first to the 
 second stage of the growing apostacy and sway of 
 Satanic rule, was easy and rapid. Images, idols, 
 local and household gods, visible representatives of 
 the false god, Satan, the usurper, prince of darkness, 
 ruler to whom they yielded themselves captive, be- 
 gan to be made at an early period after the flood, 
 spread into different countries, and prevailed as popu- 
 lation advanced over the whole earth. 
 
 92. The arch-enemy thus plunged the race in re- 
 
120 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 spect to their religious worship and service, in open 
 and daring opposition to God, and in bondage to His 
 and their great adversary, the Devil. The empire 
 he thus acquired he has held to the present time, 
 reigning in the hearts of all unconverted men, and 
 in the systems and rites of nearly the whole Gentile 
 world. 
 
 93. The apostle Paul thus notes this and the suc- 
 ceeding steps in their apostacy : " They changed the 
 incorruptible God into an image made like to cor- 
 ruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, 
 and creeping things, — changed the truth of God into 
 a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more 
 [rather] than the Creator, — for which cause God 
 gave them up unto vile affections ; — and even as they 
 did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God 
 gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those 
 things which are not convenient : being filled with 
 all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covet- 
 ousness, maliciousness : full of envy, murder, debate, 
 deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of 
 God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil 
 things, disobedient to parents, without understand- 
 ing, covenant breakers, without natural affection, im- 
 placable, mimerciful." 
 
 This description briefly marks the progress of the 
 defection and the lengths to which it was carried. 
 
 94. The third leading step included, as its chief 
 characteristics, blasphemy and blasiDhemous practices, 
 pretended miracles, and prophecies, magic, sorceiy, 
 and the like. Hence the beast which in the Apoca- 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 121 
 
 lypse symbolized the Dragon, that old serpent the 
 Devil, who deceiveth the whole world, had upon 
 his seven heads the name of blasphemy ; and opened 
 his mouth in blasphemy against God. 
 
 95. It were superfluous to add an extended illus- 
 tration of this feature of Idolatry. It has been promi- 
 nent in every age, and under all the forms and sys- 
 tems of lying wonders. 
 
 To blaspheme is to speak evil of God, to misre- 
 present him in words, falsely to pretend to speak or 
 act in his name, to counterfeit the exercise of his pre- 
 rogatives, attributes or power, and to ascribe his acts 
 to creatures, and especially to ascribe them to Satan. 
 
 96. To assume the prerogatives, attributes, titles or 
 power of God in any respect or manner; to pretend to 
 work miracles, or to foresee and predict events ; or to 
 confer the gifts which are exclusively in his power, 
 or inflict the evils due to sin against Him ; to pretend 
 to bestow or withold forgiveness of sin ; to have autho- 
 rity over the consciences of men, or over their souls 
 after death, or to practice sorcery, divination, or other 
 arts which imply the assumption of divine attributes, 
 is blasphemy. The whole history of idolatry from 
 the beginning to the present time, is filled with in- 
 stances of this daring and monstrous impiety; whereby 
 the worshippers of Satan have, in all possible ways, 
 openly and audaciously taken the name of God in vain. 
 
 97. The fourth gradation in the downward progress 
 of this stupendous system of wickedness, comprised 
 the abrogation and perversion of divine institutions, 
 
122 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 and prescription of additional rites, sacraments, laws 
 and ordinances. Fully to illustrate this topic would 
 recjuirc a volume. Suffice it to say, that the Sabbath 
 is and ever has been wholly abrogated, or grossly 
 perverted and profaned, wherever idolatry has pre- 
 vailed ; witness more especiall}'' the idolatrous Jews 
 and the papists. And it is too notorious to require 
 particular specifications, that every divine institution, 
 prescription, ordinance and sacrament, having refer- 
 ence under the Mosaic economy to sacrifices and other 
 acts of worship, spiritual or ceremonial ; to the priest- 
 hood, to the civil autbority, and to tlie moral and 
 religious relations and duties of man to God; and un- 
 der the New Testament to the mediation, atonement, 
 and every thing pertaining to the propbetic, sacerdotal 
 and regal offices of Christ, and the constitution, polity 
 and sacraments of his church, has been counterfeited, 
 falsified, perverted, opposed, denied or abrogated. 
 
 98. A slight reference may be permitted under this 
 head to the system of popish idolatry and priestcraft, 
 which combines the essence and all the principal ele- 
 ments, forms, assumptions and iniquities of the pagan 
 systems which preceded it. 
 
 99. The doctrines, precepts, institutions and ordi- 
 nances of divine authority and appointment, are made 
 known in the Holy Scriptures. To render the suppres- 
 sion, corruption or denial of them, and the inculcation 
 of others easy and effectual, the popish system witholds 
 the Scriptures from the laity. 
 
 100. In their formularies of religious doctrines and 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 123 
 
 moral duties which purport to comprise the command- 
 ments of the moral law, the popish authorities wholly 
 omit the second command, which prohibits the making 
 and worshipping- of images. 
 
 101. To the sacraments of the New Testament they 
 add five others, and anathematize all who add to or 
 omit either of them. 
 
 102. In the celebration of the eucharist they refuse 
 the cup to the laity. They pretend to change the 
 bread and wine, at the will of the priest, into the body 
 and blood of Christ, and thus to create God. The 
 compound in which they blasphemously allege that 
 this process of transubstantiation takes place, is in 
 the form of wafers, which they call the Host. This 
 they daily offer as an expiatory sacrifice for the sins 
 of mankind, living and dead; and which also they 
 require the congregation to adore and worship as God. 
 The service called the sacrifice of the mass is a delibe- 
 rate mockery and contempt of the expiatory sacrifice 
 of Christ; being employed in place of that one offering, 
 or as a substitute for it, and virtually denying its reality 
 or efficacy ; and being offered daily in innumerable 
 places, like the sacrifices of the heathen, and as an 
 atonement for the sins of men after their death, as 
 well as for those of the living. The pretended tran- 
 substantiation involves the assumption, on the part of 
 the priests, of miraculous power; contradicts the testi- 
 mony of the senses, and thereby virtually denies the 
 reality, or rational evidence, of all Scripture miracles; 
 and presents the monstrous absurdities and falsehoods, 
 of a part of the body of Christ being equal to the 
 
124 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 whole; of the same body being alive and dead at the 
 same time; and of its being- entire and whole at innu- 
 merable different places at the same instant. 
 
 103. Thus the devil with his angels, in the person 
 of the Pope with his priesthood, exalts himself above 
 all that is called God oris worshipped; usurps the 
 place and prerogatives of God as his vicegerent; claims 
 all power, spiritual and temporal, even that of creating 
 God, expiating and forgiving sin, prescribing doctrines 
 and sacraments, appointing mediators and intercessors, 
 and delivering the souls of lost men after their death. 
 In the exercise of this usurped power and asserted 
 supremacy, he suppresses the Scriptures, and enjoins 
 another Gospel ; and is in all things antagonist to 
 Christ, to his official work, his kingdom and glory ; 
 counterfeiting, perverting or denying his offices and 
 acts, falsifying his revelations, promises and threaten- 
 ings ; and, in a word, denying and blaspheming, and 
 treating him with contempt ; persecuting and seeking 
 to destroy and exterminate his followers. 
 
 104. To carry on this scheme of diabolical contri- 
 vance, he claims and asserts an absolute supremacy 
 and sovereignty over the universal church, and para- 
 mount authority over political and civil rulers ; and 
 in the administration of his prerogatives in respect 
 to doctrines, sacraments, and all ecclesiastical and 
 religious matters, he claims and asserts infallibility. 
 These assumptions of divine attributes, supported by 
 the sword, and by plenary spiritual power over thesouls 
 of men on earth and in hell, put his domination and his 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 125 
 
 claims to worship and obedience beyond the reach of 
 rival interference or question from his subjects. 
 
 105. As a means of giving- outwardly some plausi- 
 ble pretext for these blasphemous assumptions and 
 the impious doctrines and practices of image worship, 
 transubstantiation, suppression of the Scriptures, pur- 
 gatory, expiatory sacrifices, justification by works, 
 penance, prayers for the dead, celibacy of the clergy, 
 monasficism, auricular confession, worship of the 
 Virgin Mary, and of innumerable saints, &c. &c., the 
 possession is affirmed of traditions, of equal, and by 
 virtue of the pretended infallibility of the interpreter, 
 of superior authority to the Scriptures, or at least 
 necessary to a right interpretation of Scripture. 
 The pope and his adlierents consequently allege that 
 the Scriptures without the pretended traditions are not 
 a complete and sufficient rule of faith and practice, 
 and can be understood and interpreted only by the 
 party with whom the traditions and the attribute of 
 infallibility are lodged. This party is, in a general 
 sense, the church, or as occasion requires, ecclesastical 
 councils, but always and chiefly the popes, upon 
 whose succession all certainty respecting traditions 
 and the interpretation of them depends. The alleged 
 traditions have been written and published, not in 
 full, like those by which the Jews were blinded and 
 deceived, so as to make void the law, but in part in the 
 rescripts of popes, the decrees of councils, &c. ; but 
 there remains an inexhaustible treasure of them in 
 the church, and in the custody of the holy fathers, to 
 be used in all future times, as occasions arise. 
 
126 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 106. There is asomewhatstriking-similarity between 
 tlie imposture of ihe popish liiciaichy respecting tra- 
 ditions, and that to which the Jews were for the like 
 purpose instigated. They- assumed and asserted that 
 the Avritten Scriptures were defective and insutficient, 
 and that for the right understanding and explanation 
 of them Moses had delivered oral precepts and inter- 
 pretations, which, equally with what he wrote, were 
 inspired and authoritative, and had been Iianded 
 down by tradition. The presevration of this oral law, 
 which they practically regarded as of more authority 
 than the written, they pretended to assi^gn first to the 
 whole congregation, next to the Sanhedrim (answer- 
 ing to the popish councils) and lastly and chiefly to 
 the high priest ; which method served till the break- 
 ing up of their polity, when, after the destruction of 
 their temple and city, they caused it to be, not in 
 part, like the papists, but wholly written out. 
 
 107. In opposition to the popish doctrine of tradi- 
 tions- and the boundless license of assumption and 
 priestcraft which it sanctions, it is the first principle 
 of Protestantism that the Holy Scriptures are the only 
 and all-suflicient rule of faith and practice. 
 
 108. In the 13th chapter of the Apocalypse, the 
 rise of this diabolical system of wickedness, and, to 
 some extent, the arrogance and power of the Papac}^, 
 are indicated. In the 17th and 18th chapters, that 
 system and power under the figure of a woman, sym- 
 bolizing the city of Rome, mystical Babylon, the mo- 
 ther of all the idolatries and abominations of Popery, 
 sitting on the beast which ascended out of the bottom- 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 127 
 
 less pit, and repiesenting or personating- the papacy, 
 are more fully described and their destruction foretold, 
 in terms which plainly show that Satan was the insti- 
 g-ator and chief agent of the entire scheme. "And I 
 saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of 
 names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten 
 horns; and the woman was arrayed in purple and 
 scarlet-color, and decked with gold and precious stones 
 and pearls, having- a golden cup in her hand full of 
 abominations and filthiness — and upon her forehead 
 was a name written, Mystery., Babylon the G)-eat, the 
 Mother of Harlots and ahomi7iations of the earth. And 
 I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, 
 and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus ; — the beast 
 shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and g-o into 
 perdition — the seven heads are seven mountains on 
 which the woman sitteth — the ten horns are ten kings 
 — and the woman is that great city which reigneth 
 over the kings of the earth. Babylon is fallen, is 
 fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the 
 hold of every foul spirit — come out of her, my people; 
 that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye re- 
 ceive not of her plagues. Rejoice over her, thou 
 heavens and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God 
 hath avenged you on her. And with violence shall 
 that great city, Babylon, be thrown down — for by her 
 sorceries v/ere all nations deceived. And in her was 
 found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all 
 that were slain upon the earth." 
 
 109. The stupendous scheme of idolatry, arrogance 
 and dominion exhibited in the church of the dragon 
 or Popish beast, is in all points antagonist to the 
 
128 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 church, authority, work, kingdom, person and glory 
 of Christ; a deceitful counterfeit and rival of them in 
 design, tendency and administration. 
 
 110. Of the next and succeeding steps in the pro- 
 gress of idolatry, suffice it to say, that they coniprised 
 every species of immorality and wickedness ; but most 
 prominently, perhaps, those expressly forbidden in 
 the moral law, and in the precepts of the Gospel. 
 The Apostle, in the brief specification of the crimes of 
 the heathen, above quoted, enumerates all those pro- 
 hibited in the second table of the law:, disobedience 
 to parents, murder, adultery, stealing, lying, (cove- 
 nant-breaking, deceit, etc..) covetousness. 
 
 111. Let any one inform himself of the actual state 
 of morals in any community of pagan idolaters, an- 
 cient or modern, and whether favored with the lights 
 of science, literature and arts, as Egypt or Greece in 
 their early and most prosperous periods, or otherwise; 
 let him consider the state of morals, not only among 
 the ignorant multitude, but among the best informed, 
 the rulers, the philosophers, and especially the priests; 
 and he will be forced to conclude that they are held 
 in bondage to the evil one, and urged on in the indul- 
 gence of their depraved passions, by diabolical influ- 
 ence. How else can the various unnatural crimes, so 
 notoriously tolerated and practiced in such communi- 
 ties, or the incredible corruption and degradation of 
 worshipping and sacrificing to objects which they con- 
 ceive to be personifications of vice, impiety and ma- 
 levolence, be accounted for? Or let him consider the 
 case of the Popish hierarchy and community during 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 129 
 
 the period of imchccked domination prior to the Re- 
 formation, when, if the very h'mitcd disclosures which 
 have heen published, are at all to be relied on, the 
 utmost extravagance of impiety and licentiousness 
 reigned alike among ecclesiastics and people, espe- 
 cially in Rome, the seat of the beast ; impiety and 
 licentiousness, in which, without disguise or shame, 
 popes, cardinals and bishops led the way — rioting in 
 beastly indulgences, and making a mock of all sacred 
 things. 
 
 112. A late writer thus characterizes Popery as 
 Satan's master-piece: "The Papacy — that deepest 
 conception, and mightiest achievement of Satan; into 
 which he hath admitted the whole canon of truth, 
 and yet contrived that it should teach only error; into 
 which he hath admitted the whole revelation of light, 
 and yet contrived that it should breed only foul and 
 pestilent darkness. Oh! it is an ample net for catch- 
 ing men, a delusion and bondage made for the world! 
 No partial error, like that of the Gnostics, framed out 
 of mystic imaginations — or that of the Arians, framed 
 out of the proud arguments of reason — or that of the 
 Munster Anabaptists, framed out of the licentiousness 
 of the will; but a stupendous deception, and universal 
 counterfeit of truth, which hath a chamber for every 
 natural faculty of the soul, and an occupation for every 
 energy of the natural spirit. Pagan Rome is Satan's 
 work, constructed with his own materials of ambition, 
 arms, policy and knowledge; but Papal Rome is Sa- 
 tan's work, constructed with the materials of God 
 revealed in his holy word." — Monk of Cimies» 
 
130 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 113. "We form no consistent idea of the Papacy, 
 unless we distinctly admit into our conception of it 
 the pretension to a perpetual supernatural efficacy, 
 attending it in every step and act, and vivifying its 
 whole frame-work of offices, worship and administra- 
 tions. The very highest profession of spirituality, and 
 of immediate divine agency, and of continued miracu- 
 lous authentication and support, is the ground which 
 the Romish despotism assumes; nor can it defend itself 
 a moment, if this ground be abandoned. The infalli- 
 bility of the Pope ; the real presence in the eucharist; 
 the unvarying efficacy of the sacraments; the succes- 
 sion of miracles and powers of healing; the efficacy 
 of the intercession of the saints; the patronage of in- 
 dividuals and of communities by the saints; the power 
 of masses for the release of souls; the priest's authority 
 to remit sin and to bind it ; and, indeed, every dogma 
 and practice of the church, is a portion and proper 
 consequence of the one doctrine, that the [papal] 
 church is a divine institution, maintained and admin- 
 istered, from age to age, by the very same almighty 
 energy that gave it birth. This doctrine is, in fact, 
 the core of Popery: genuine Protestantism is its op- 
 posite." — Spiritual Despotism.) p. 234. 
 
 114. In whatever point of view we consider the 
 heathen and popisli systems of idolatry, their charac- 
 ter and objects, we shall be forced to conclude that 
 they owe their origin and continuance to Satan. 
 
 They are in all respects at war with the true inter- 
 ests and welfare of the human race, and on that 
 ground claim him as their author and patron. 
 
 They are in all respects antagonist to the work of 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 131 
 
 Christ, and the salvation of those redeemed by him; 
 and for that reason, are to be ascribed to Satan. 
 
 Their final overthrow and extinction is to be the 
 consequence of Christ's victory over Satan ; when he 
 will establish his own king-dom and dominion, deliv- 
 ered from all enemies, freed from all delusion, impos- 
 ture and corruption. In this victory, his divinity and 
 supremacy over all creatures are to be most signally 
 vindicated. 
 
 115. The dominion and lordship of the Mediator 
 over all creatures is declared in the Scriptures, in 
 connection with his titles and endowments of office 
 and authority, and with the purposes of his mediation. 
 He was appointed heir of all things. All power in 
 heaven and earth was given unto him. Angels, autho- 
 rities and powers were made subject unto him. — Epii. 
 i. 20, 22; Phil. ii. 9-11; Psalm viii. 6; 1 Pet. iii. 
 22, &c. 
 
 116. Hence we are not only taught that his lordship, 
 rule and dominion extends over holy angels and men, 
 but also over the fallen angels, and that his control 
 and victory over them are signalized by public and 
 visible manifestations of his power. Thus Col. ii. 15 : 
 " Having spoiled principalities and powers he made 
 a show of them openl}^, triumphing over them in it" 
 — paraphrased by MacKnight, as follows: "Having 
 spoiled evil angels of every denomination, of their 
 usurped power, Christ hath showed them openly as 
 vanquished, triumphing over theni by his cross." 
 And in his notes, i aving in view the early progress 
 of the Gospel, and referring to Ephesicins, iv. 8, he 
 
132 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 observes that, " By lurnin!^- the heathens from the 
 power of Satan to God, Christ showed that the evil 
 spirits, who formerly ruled them, were vanquished and 
 stripped of tlieir power;" and referring- to 2 Cor. ii. 
 14, that St. Paul " represents Christ himself or his 
 apostles, as riding in triumph through the world, with 
 the evil spirits following the triumplial car in chains, 
 and exposed to public view as vanquished enemies." 
 Again, " The evil angels, by exciting the Jews to 
 crucify Christ, thought they had put an end to his 
 pretensions ; but by his death, having spoiled them of 
 their usurped dominion, he triumphed over them by 
 the cross." Agreeably to all which, our Lord speak- 
 ing to his disciples of his own death, said, John xii. 
 31, " Now shall the ruler of this world be cast out;" 
 and xvi. 11, " the ruler of this world is judged." 
 
 117. In harmony with all this it may be observed 
 that the extraordinary policy and proceedings of Satan, 
 during our Lord's public ministry — his taking pos- 
 session of the bodies of men, as if to counterfeit the 
 incarnation, and avail himself of outward and visible 
 means of^deceiving men, and opposing the Mediator, 
 were no less openly and publicly thwarted and ex- 
 posed. He was cast out, and his subjection to the 
 authority and power of Christ was publicly manifested. 
 
 118. "That Christ should conquer fallen angels, 
 was promised from the foundation of the world. Gen. 
 iii. 15. The seed of the woman, the Messiah, was 
 to break the serpent's head, despoil him of his power, 
 and bring him into subjection; which he performed 
 accordingly, Col. ii. 15. 'He spoiled principalities 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 133 
 
 and powers.' The New Testament is full of instances, 
 as to his executing liis power and authority over evil 
 angels. Man, having sinned by the instigation of 
 Satan, was, by the just judgment of God, delivered 
 up to his power, Hcb. xi. 14. The Lord Christ 
 undertaking to recover lost man from under his power, 
 by destroying his works, 1 John iii. 8 and to bring 
 them again into favor with God, Satan with all his 
 might sets himself to oppose him in this work, and 
 failing in his enterprise, being utterly conquered, he 
 became absolutely subjected unto him, trodden under 
 his feet." — Owen on the Lordship of Christy p. 365 ab. 
 
 119. In respect to this prolonged and mighty con- 
 flict, it remains to notice it in relation to individuals 
 who are reclaimed from the service of Satan, and in 
 relation to the final victory and triumph of the Me- 
 diator. Sinners who are converted, are delivered 
 from the power of Satan and brought out of his king- 
 dom into the kingdom of Christ. They renounce 
 their allegiance to Satan, turn from their rebellion, 
 are reconciled to God, and worship, serve, and obey 
 him. They renounce Satan and his works, and 
 thenceforth resist and oppose his attacks upon them, 
 his secret wiles, his fiery darts, his malignant influ- 
 ence, his imposing, deceitful, and ceaseless tempta- 
 tions. In the deliverance of souls from bondage to 
 Satan there is a manifestation of Divine power, com- 
 parable to that exhibited in the resurrection of Christ 
 from the dead: they are rescued from captivity ; the 
 power of Satan, their captor, is overcome. 
 
 120. The final vanquishment of this powerful and 
 
134 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 malignant adversary and all his adlierents, is depicted 
 as the result of a terrific encounter, a conflict and tri- 
 umph, in the view of the whole universe. From the 
 opening heaven the Son of God appears in the 
 majesty and glory of his mediatorial character, fol- 
 lowed by hosts of his redeemed people. His eyes are 
 as a flame of fire ; on his head are many crowns, 
 which, with his incommunicable name, indicate his 
 Divinity. His vesture is dipped in blood, by which 
 and his name, " the Word of God," his incarnation 
 and atonement are signified. Out of his mouth goetli 
 a sharp sword, by which and the name '' King of 
 kings and Lord of lords," his regal ofl5ce is repre- 
 sented. The beast, the Romish papal power and its 
 confederates, the kings of the earth and their armies, 
 are gathered together to make war against him who 
 thus gloriously appears with all power in heaven 
 and earth. The beast, the vicegerent of Satan, and 
 his adherents, are taken and cast alive into a lake of 
 fire. " The dragon, that old serpent, Avhich is the 
 devil and Satan," is cast into ilie bottomless pit, and 
 confined " that he should deceive the nations no 
 more " till loosed again after a thousand years, to 
 give for a brief space new proofs of his unsubdued 
 malignity, and his influence over fallen men, when 
 he is again cast with all the agents of wickedness into 
 the lake of fire to be tormented for ever and ever. 
 
 Thus is that Scripture fulfilled which declares, that 
 the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy 
 the works of the devil. Michael, the great prince of 
 the redeemed, and his angels, fought against the 
 dragon ; and the dragon fought, and his angels, and 
 prevailed not, but were cast down. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 1. President Edwards, in his history of the Work of 
 Redemption, takes a comprehensive A-ievv ofvthe prin- 
 cipal events and dispensations iii the jirogress of that 
 work as carried forward by the Mediator, and of the 
 opposing- ag-ency of Satan as his antagonist. With 
 tlie ex'ception that he considers the work of mediation 
 as having commenced at the fall, his views appear to 
 be generally similar to those expressed herein. He 
 considers the work of redemption as including not 
 only all the works of Providence and grace after the 
 fall, but all that were preparatory and in order to 
 it, as the creation of the universe — of angels to be 
 employed in connection with this work, of men to be 
 subjects of it — and the eternal counsels and covenant 
 in which the whole originated. And he considers the 
 second person of the Trinity, in his mediatorial office, 
 as the only medium of divine manifestation, by whom 
 alone the Invisible One, the Divinity, is made known 
 to angels or men. To him he ascribes pre-eminence 
 in all things, " For tliis great work of redemption is 
 all his work : He is the great Redeemer, and there- 
 fore the work of redemption being, as it were, the 
 sum of God's works of providence, this shows the 
 glory of our Lord Jesus Christ as being above all, and 
 through all, and in all. That God intended the 
 
136 ' THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 world for his Son's use, in the affair of redemption, 
 is one reason that is to be given why he created the 
 world by him ;" vol. 2, p. 387. To Christ as Media- 
 tor, by whom all the manifestations of the Divine 
 perfections are made, he ascribes all the Divine ap- 
 pearances to the patriarchs, to Moses, the children of 
 Israel, the prophets, and others, recorded in the Old 
 Testament : and he necessarily, from these views, 
 treats his work as consisting of outward and visible 
 manifestations to angels and men. 
 
 2. The following extracts from the treatise referred 
 to, Works vol. 2, ed. of 1808, will exhibit his views 
 on these topics : 
 
 " When I say, this work of redemption is carried 
 on from the fall of man to the end of the world, it is 
 not meant, that nothing was done in order to it be- 
 fore the fall of man. There were many things done 
 in order to this work of redemption before that. Some 
 things were done before the world was created ; yea, 
 from all eternity. The persons of the Trinity were, 
 as it were, confederated in a design and a covenant 
 of redemption ; in which covenant the Father had 
 appointed the Son, and the Son had undertaken the 
 work ; and all things to be accomplished in the work 
 were stipulated and agreed. And besides these, there 
 were things done at the creation of the world, in order 
 to that work, before man fell ; for the world itself 
 seems to have been created in order to it. The work 
 of creation was in order to God's works of providence; 
 so that if it be inquired, which of these kinds of works 
 is the greatest, the works of creation or the works of 
 providence ? I answer, the works of providence ; be- 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 137 
 
 cause God's works of providence are the end of his 
 works of creation, as the building an house, or the 
 forming" an engine or machine, is its use. But God's 
 main work of providence is this great work. 
 
 " The creation of heaven was in order to the work 
 of redemption : it was to be an habitation for the re- 
 deemed — Matt. XXV. 34. Then shall the King say 
 unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my 
 Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from 
 the foundation of the world ;" p. 14, 15. 
 
 3. One of the chief things designed to be effected 
 by the work of redemption, " is to put all God's ene- 
 mies under his feet, and that the goodness of God 
 should finally appear triumphing over all evil. Soon 
 after the world was created, evil entered into the 
 world in the fall of the angels and man. Presently 
 after God had made rational creatures, there were 
 enemies who rose up against him from among them ; 
 and in the fall of man evil entered into this lower 
 world, and God's enemies rose up against him here. 
 Satan rose up against God, endeavoring to frustrate 
 his design in the creation of this lower world, to de- 
 stroy his workmanship here, and to wrest the govern- 
 ment of this lower world out of his hands, and usurp 
 the throne himself, and set up himself as god of this 
 world instead of the God that made it. And to these 
 ends he introduced sin into the world ; and having 
 made man God's enemy, he brought guilt on man, 
 and brought death and the most extreme and dreadful 
 misery into the world. 
 
 *' Things were originally so planned and designed, 
 that he might disappoint, and confound, and triumph 
 over Satan, and that he might be bruised under Christ's 
 
138 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 feet — Gen. iii. 15. The promise was given, that tlie 
 seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. 
 It was a part of God's original design in this work, to 
 destroy the works of the devil, and confound him in 
 all his purposes, 1 John iii. 8, ' For this purpose was 
 the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the 
 works of the devil.' It was a part of his design, to 
 triumph over sin and over the corruptions of man, and 
 to root them out of the hearts of his people by con- 
 forming them to himself." — p. 19, 20. 
 
 4. " God's design was perfectly to restore all the 
 ruins of the fall, so far as concerns the elect part of 
 the world by his Son. Man's soul was ruined by the 
 fall ; the image of God was ruined ; man's nature was 
 corrupted and destroyed, and man became dead in 
 sin. The design of God was to restore the soul of 
 man ; to restore life to it, and the image of God, in 
 conversion, and to carry on the restoration in sancti- 
 fication, and to perfect it in glory. Man's body was 
 ruined ; by the fall it became subject to death. The 
 design of God was to restore it from this ruin, and not 
 only to deliver it from death in the resurrection, but 
 to deliver it from mortality itself, in making it like 
 unto Christ's glorious body. The world was ruined, 
 as to man, as effectually as if it had been reduced to 
 chaos again ; all heaven and earth was overthrown. 
 But the design of God was to restore all, and as it 
 were to create a new heaven and a new earth. Isa. 
 Ixv. 17 : ' Behold I create new heavens and a new 
 earth ; and the former shall not be remembered nor 
 come into mind.' 2 Peter, iii. 13 : " Nevertheless, 
 we, according to his promise, look for new heavens 
 and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.' 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 139 
 
 " Another great design of God in the Avork of re- 
 demption, was to gather together in one all things in 
 Christ, in heaven and in earth, i. e. all elect crea- 
 tures."— p. 20, 21. 
 
 5. "As soon as ever man fell, Christ entered on 
 his mediatorial work. He had undertaken it before 
 the world was made. He stood engaged with the 
 Father to appear as man's JNIediator, and to take on 
 him that office when tliere should be occasio n, from 
 all eternity. But now the time was come," &c., 
 p. 26. [It is humbly conceived that he who executed 
 the office of Mediator, and did all that was to be done 
 preparatory thereto, commenced his mediatorial work, 
 not at the fall, but at the creation, w hich was prepa- 
 ratory and in order to the works of Providence.] 
 
 6. " When Satan, the grand enemy, had con- 
 quered and overthrown man, the business of resisting 
 and conquering him w^as committed to Christ. He 
 thenceforward undertook to manage that subtle, 
 powerful adversary. He was then appointed the 
 captain of the Lord's hosts — this lower world, with 
 all its concerns was, as it were, devolved upon the 
 Son of God : for, when man sinned, God the Father 
 would have no more to do with man immediately; he 
 would no more have any immediate concern w'ith 
 this world of mankind that had apostatized from him, 
 and rebelled against him. He would henceforward 
 have no concern with man but only through a Medi- 
 ator, cither in teaching men, or in governing or bestow- 
 ing any benefits on them." [Nor does it appear that he 
 had anything to do with them before, any more than 
 
140 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 after the fall, except through the Mediator ;] "and, 
 therefore, when we read in sacred history what God 
 did from time to time towards his church and people, 
 and what he said to them, and how he revealed him- 
 self to them, we are to understand it especially of the 
 second person of the Trinity. When we read of 
 God's appearing after the fall from time to time, in 
 some visible form or outward symbol of his presence, 
 we are ordinarily, if not universally, to understand it 
 of the second person of the Trinity, which may be 
 argued from John i. 18 : 'No man hath seen God 
 at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the 
 bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.' He is 
 therefore called, ' the image of the invisible God,' 
 Col. i. 15, intimating, that though God the Father 
 be invisible, yet Christ is his image or representation, 
 by which he is seen, or by which the church of God, 
 hatli often had a representation of him that is not in- 
 visible, and in particular, that Christ has often ap- 
 peared in a human form. Yea, not only was this 
 lower world devolved on Christ, that he might have 
 the care and government of it, and order it agreeably 
 to his design of redemption ; but also, in some re- 
 spects, the whole universe. The angels, from that 
 time, were committed to him in his mediatorial 
 office," &c. p. 27. [From what follows respecting 
 their being ministering spirits in the affairs of the 
 church, it must be inferred that they were committed 
 or subject to him before the fall.] — " Presently upon 
 the fall the Gospel was first revealed on earth. — Gen. 
 iii. 15. We must suppose, that God's intention of 
 redeeming fallen man was first signified in heaven, 
 before it was signified on earth, because, the business 
 of angels as ministering spirits required it." — 'p, 28. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 141 
 
 7. " Thus, it is exceedingly probable, if not 
 evident, that as Christ took on him the work of 
 Mediator as soon as man fell ; so he now immediate- 
 ly began his work of redemption in its effect, and 
 that he immediately encountered his great enemy the 
 Devil, whom he had undertaken to conquer, and res- 
 cued those two fnst captives out of his hands ; therein 
 baffling him, soon after his triumph, for the victory he 
 had obtained over them, whereby he had made them 
 his captives. And though he was, as it were, sure of 
 them and all tlieir posterity, Christ the Redeemer 
 soon showed him that he was mistaken, and that he 
 was able to subdue him, and deliver fallen man." — 
 p. 35. 
 
 8. " The Church of God, that used to be a restraint 
 on the wicked world, diminished exceedingly, [after 
 the days of Enoch], and so wickedness went on with- 
 out restraint. And Satan, that old serpent the Devil, 
 that tempted our first parents, and set up himself 
 as god of this world, raged exceedingly; and every 
 imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was only 
 evil continually, and the earth was fdled with vio- 
 lence. It seemed to be deluged with Avickedness, 
 as it was with water afterwards ; and mankind, in 
 general, wer3 drowned in this deluge ; almost all 
 were swallowed up in it. And now Satan made a 
 most violent and potent attempt to swallow up the 
 Church of God ; andhad almost done it." — pp. 43, 44. 
 
 9. " Satan seems to have been in a dreadful rage 
 just before the flood, and his rage then doubtless was, 
 as it always has been, chiefly against the church of 
 
142 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 God to overlhiow it; and he had filled the earth with 
 violence and rage against it. He had drawn over 
 almost all the world to be on his side, and they listed 
 under his banner against Christ and his church. 
 We read, that 'the earth was filled with violence,' 
 and doubtless, that violence was chiefly against the 
 chinch, in fulfillment of what was foretold, I icill put 
 enmity between thy seed and her seed.'''' — p. 45. 
 
 10. "The land of Canaan was the most con- 
 veniently situated of any place in the world for the 
 purpose of spreading the light of the Gospel. The 
 Devil seeing the advantage of this situation of the 
 nations for promoting the great work of redemption, 
 and the disadvantage of it with respect to the interests 
 of his kingdom, afterwards \i. e. after the confusion 
 of Babel], led away many nations into the remotest 
 parts of the world, to that end, to get them out of the 
 way of the Gospel. Thus, he led some into America ; 
 and others into northern cold regions, that are almost 
 inaccessible." — p. 52. 
 
 11. " Because this great mystery of the incarnation 
 and sufferings of Christ was here representad, [in the 
 burning bush] therefore, Moses says, ' I will turn 
 aside and behold this great sight.' A great sight he 
 might well call it, when there was represented God 
 manifest in the flesh, and suffering a dreadful death 
 and rising from the dead. This glorious Redeemer 
 was he that redeemed the church out of Egypt, from 
 under the hand of Pharaoh ; as Christ b)'^ his death 
 and sufferings, redeemed his people from Satan, the 
 spiritual Pharaoh. In that redemption, Christ did 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 143 
 
 not only redeem the people from the Egyptians, but 
 he redeemed them from the devils, the gods of Egypt; 
 for befoie, they had been in a state of servitude to 
 the gods of Egypt, as well as to the men. And 
 Christ, the seed of the woman, did now in a very re- 
 markable manner fulfil the cmse on the serpent in 
 bruising his head. Exod. xii. 12 : ' For, I will pass 
 through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite 
 all the first born in the land of Egypt, both man and 
 beast, and against all the gods of Egypt will I exe- 
 cute judgment.' Hell was as much and more en- 
 gaged in that affair than Egypt was. The pride and 
 cruelty of Satan, that old serpent, was more concern- 
 ed in it than Pharaoh's. He did his utmost against 
 the people, and to his utmost opposed their re- 
 demption. But it is said, that when God redeemed 
 his people out of Eg)"pt, he broke the heads of the 
 dragons in the waters, and broke the head of Le- 
 viathan in pieces, and gave him to be meat for the 
 people inhabiting the wilderness. Psalms Ixxiv. 12, 
 14 : ' The people of Israel went out with an high 
 hand, and Christ went before them in a pillar of 
 cloud and fire.' There was a glorious triumph over 
 earth and hell in that deliverance. And when 
 Pharaoh and his hosts, and Satan by them, pursued 
 the peole, Christ overthrew them in the Red Sea." 
 -p. 71. 
 
 12. " The true religion lasted among some other 
 people, besides the Israelites, a while after Abraham. 
 But it did not last long; and it is probable tiiat the 
 time of their total rejection, and giving up to idolatry, 
 was about the time when God separated the children 
 
144 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 of Israel from Egypt to serve bim ; for they are often 
 put in mind on that occasion, that God liad now sepa- 
 rated them to be bis peculiar people; or to be distin- 
 guished from all other people npon earth, to be his 
 people alone ; to be his portion when others were 
 rejected. This seems to hold forth thus much to us, 
 that God now chose them in such a manner, that this 
 visible choice of them was accon]panied with a visible 
 rejection of all other nations in the world; that God 
 visibly came, and took up his residence with them, as 
 forsaking all otlier nations. And so as the first call- 
 ing of the Gentiles after Christ came, was accompanied 
 with a rejection of the Jews, so the first calling of the 
 Jews to be God's people, when they were called out of 
 Egypt, was accompanied with a rejection of the Gen- 
 tiles. Thus all the Gentile nations throughout the 
 whole world, all nations, but only the Israelites, and 
 those that embodied themselves with them, were left 
 and given up to idolatry; and so continued a great 
 many ages, even from this time till Christ came. 
 They were concluded so long a time in unbelief, that 
 there might be a thorough proof of the necessity of a 
 saviour ; that it might appear by so long a trial, past all 
 contradiction, that mankind were utterly insufficient 
 to deliver themselves from that gross darkness and 
 misery, and subjection to the devil that they had fallen 
 under;" &c. — Seep. 75. 
 
 13. " God saw it to be a needful and convenient 
 time now to commit his word to writing; and, there- 
 fore, Christ wrote the ten commandments on tables of 
 stone, with his own finger; and after this the whole 
 law;" kc.—Seejy. 78. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 145 
 
 14. "It is observable, that when Christ appeared 
 to manage the affairs of his church in this period, he 
 often appeared in the form of that nature that he took 
 upon him in his incarnation. It was in an human 
 form in which Christ appeared to the seventy eklers, 
 of which we have an account, Exod. xxiv. 9, 11, 
 'Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, 
 and seventy elders of Israel : and they saw the God 
 of Israel : and there was under his feet, as it were, a 
 paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were the body 
 of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobl is of 
 the children of Israel he laid not his hand : also, they 
 saw God, and did eat and drink.' So Christ appeared 
 afterwards to Joshua in the form of the human nature, 
 Josh. V. 13, 14, 'as captain of the host of the lord.' 
 And so he appeared to Gideon, Judges vi. 11. And 
 so also to Manoah, Judges xiii. 17, 21. Here Christ 
 appeared to Manoah in a representation both of his 
 incarnation and death. Clirist thus appeared, time 
 after time, in the form of that nature he was afterwards 
 to take upon him, because he now appeared on the 
 same design, and to carry on the same work, that he 
 was to appear in that nature to work out and carry 
 on."— p. 92. 
 
 15. " Jesus Christ, the person that the prophet 
 Isaiah spoke so much of, once appeared to him in the 
 form of the human nature. We have an account of 
 it in the 6th chapter of his prophecy. 'I saw also the 
 lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and his 
 train filled the temple.' This was Christ that Isaiah 
 now saw, as we are expressly told in the New Testa- 
 ment.— tS'ee John xii. 39, 41."— p. 130. 
 
146 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 16. '' Daniel gives an account of a very remarkable 
 appearance of Christ in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace. 
 It is manifest that he appeared in the form of man." 
 — Daniel iii. 25, p. 148. 
 
 17. ^'God suffered the devil to do his utmost, and 
 to establish his interest, by setting up the greatest, 
 strongest and most glorious kingdoms in the world 
 that he could, before the depised Jesus overthrew him 
 and his empire. Christ came into the world to bring 
 down the high things of Satan's kingdom, that the 
 hand of the Lord might be on every one that is proud 
 and loft}^, and every high tower, and every lofty 
 mountain, as the prophet Isaiah says, chap. ii. 12, &c. 
 And therefore these things were suffered to rise very 
 high, that Christ might appear so much the more 
 glorious in being above them." — p. 138. 
 
 18. "Just before Christ was born, the Roman empire 
 was raised to its greatest height; Augustus Ceesar, as 
 he was the first, so he was the greatest of all the 
 Roman emperors; he reigned in the greatest glory. 
 Thus the power of the heathen world, which was 
 Satan's visible kingdom, was raised to its greatest 
 height, after it had been rising higher and higher, and 
 strengthening itself more and more from the days of 
 Solomon to this day, which was about a thousand 
 years. Now it appeared at a greater height than it 
 ever appeared from the beginning of Satan's heathen- 
 ish kingdom, which was probably about the time of 
 the building of Babel." — p. 166. 
 
 19. " Another reason why Christ did not come soon 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 147 
 
 after the ilood probably was, that the earth might be 
 full of people, etc., and that his victory over Satan 
 might be attended with the more glory in the multi- 
 tude of his conquests. It was not proper that Christ 
 should come before the Babylonish captivity, because 
 Satan's kingdom was not then come to the height. 
 It was the will of God, that his Son should make his 
 appearance in the world in the time of this the great- 
 est and strongest monarchy, [the Roman] which was 
 Satan's visible kingdom in the world; that, by over- 
 coming this, he might visibly overcome Satan's king- 
 dom in its greatest strength and glory, and so obtain 
 the more complete triumph over Satan himself." — pp. 
 184, 185. 
 
 20. "Christ's incarnation was a greater and more 
 wonderful thing than ever had come to pass. I would 
 observe the great notice that was taken of it in heav- 
 en and on eaith. How it was noticed by the glorious 
 inhabitants of the heavenly world, appears by their 
 joyful songs on this occasion, heard by the shepherds 
 in the night. This was the greatest event of Provi- 
 dence that ever the angels had beheld. The glorious 
 angels had all along expected this event. They had 
 taken great notice of the prophecies and promises of 
 these things all along : for we are told that the angels 
 desire to look into the aflairs of redemption. — 1 Pet. 
 i. 12. They had all along been the ministers of 
 Christ in this affair of redemption, in all the several 
 steps of it down from the very fall of man." — p. 187. 
 
 21. " He suffered the buffetings of Satan in an un- 
 common manner. We read of one time in particular, 
 
148 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 when he had a long conflict with the devil, when he 
 was in the wilderness forty days, with nothing but 
 wild beasts and devils; and was so exposed to the 
 devil's power, that he was bodily carried about by 
 him from place to place." — f. 212. 
 
 " Now [at the crucifixion] the angels beheld the 
 most wonderful thing that ever they saw." — p. 216. 
 
 22. " One design of Christ in what he did in his 
 humiliation, was to lay a foundation for the overthrow 
 of Satan's kingdom. First, an end is brought to the 
 former state of the church — the state wherein it was 
 subject to carnal ordinances — and then an end is 
 brought to the Jeu'ish state, in the destruction of their 
 city and country; and then, after that, an end is 
 brought to the old heathen empire, — and the next 
 step is the finishing of Satan's visible kingdom in the 
 world, upon the fall of Antichrist, and the calling of 
 the Jews ; and last will come the destruction of the 
 outward frame of the world itself." — p. 230, 232. 
 "Upon the fall of Antichrist, an end is put to Satan's 
 visible kingdom on earth, to establish Christ's king- 
 dom, which is an eternal kingdom. The very frame 
 of this corruptible world shall come to an end, to 
 make way for the church, to dwell in another dwell- 
 ing place, which shall last to eternity." — p. 233. 
 
 23. " In this way [the gradual progress of things] 
 the glory of God's wisdom in the manner of doing 
 this, is more visible to the observation of creatures. 
 If it had been done at once, in an instant, or in a very 
 short time, there would not have been such opportu- 
 nities for creatures to perceive and observe the partic- 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 149 
 
 ular steps of divine wisdom, as when the work is 
 gradually accomplished, and one effect of his wisdom 
 is held forth to observation after another. It is wisely 
 determined of God, to accomplish his great design by 
 a wonderful and long series of events, that the glory 
 of his wisdom may be displayed in the whole series, 
 and that the glory of his perfections may be seen, ap- 
 pearing, as it were, by parts, and in particular suc- 
 cessive manifestations : For if all that glory which 
 appears in all these events had been manifested at 
 once, it would have been too much for us. 2d. Satan 
 is more gloriously triumphed over — God could easily, 
 by an act of almighty power, at once have crushed 
 Salan ; but by giving him time to use his utmost 
 subtlety to hinder the success of what Christ had done 
 and suffered, he is not defeated merely by surprise, 
 but has large opportunity to pl3diis utmost power and 
 subtlety again and again, to strengthen his own in- 
 terest all that he can by the work of many ages. At 
 length Christ's kingdom is fully set up, and Satan 
 perfectly and eternally vanquished." — pp. 240, 241. 
 
 24. "I proceed to take notice of the opposition 
 which was made to this success of Christ's purchase 
 [prior to the destruction of Jerusalem]. Satan, who 
 lately was so ready to triumph and exult, as though 
 he had gained the victory in putting Christ to death, 
 now finding himself fallen into the pit which he had. 
 digged, and finding his kingdom falling so fast, and 
 seeing Christ's kingdom make such amazing progress, 
 such as never had been before, we may conclude he 
 was filled with the greatest confusion and astonish- 
 ment, and hell seemed to be effectually alarmed by it 
 S 
 
150 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 to make the most violent opposition against it. And 
 first the devil stirred up the Jews, who had before 
 crucified Christ, to persecute the church," etc. — ^p. 
 262. 
 
 25. "But when Jerusalem was destroyed, the Jews 
 were put out of a capacity of much troubling the 
 church. Now, therefore, the devil turns his hand else- 
 where, and uses other instruments." — p. 266. 
 
 26. '^ A great part of the first three hundred years 
 after Christ was spent in violent and cruel persecu- 
 tions of the church by the Roman powers. Satan was 
 very unwilling to let go his hold of so great a part of 
 the world, and every way the chief part of it, as the 
 countries contained in the Roman empire were, of 
 which he had had the quiet possession for so many 
 ages; and therefore, when he saw it going so fast out 
 of his hands, he bestirred himself (o his utmost: all 
 hell was, as it were, raised against it to oppose it with 
 its utmost power. Satan thus exerting himself by the 
 power of the heathen Roman empire, is called the 
 great red dragon in Scripture." — p. 269. 
 
 27. " It was remarked by both heathenand Christian 
 writers in those days, that the famous heathen oracles 
 in their temples, where princes and others for many 
 past ages had been wont to inquire and receive an- 
 swers in an audible voice from their gods, which were 
 answers from the devil ; I say, those oracles were 
 now silenced and struck dumb, and gave no more 
 answers ; and particularly the oracle at Delphos, 
 which was the most famous heathen oracle in the 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 161 
 
 whole world, w^liich both Greeks and Romans used 
 to consult, began to cease to give any answer, even 
 from the birth of Christ ; and the false deity who was 
 worshipped, and used to give answers from his oracle 
 in that temple, being once inquired of why he did 
 not now give answers as he was wont to do, made 
 this reply, as several heathen historians who lived 
 about those times relate — ' There is an Hebrew boy, 
 says he, who is king of the gods, who has com- 
 manded me to leave this house, and be gone to hell, 
 and therefore you are to expect no more answers.' 
 And many of the heathen writers who lived about 
 that time, speak much of the oracles being silenced, 
 as a thing at which they wondered, not knowing 
 what the cause should be. Plutarch, a heathen writer 
 of those times, wrote a particular treatise about it, 
 which is still extant, and Porphyry, has these words : 
 ' Since Jesus began to be worshipped, no man has 
 received any public help or benefit by the gods.' 
 Thus did the kingdom of Christ prevail against the 
 kingdom of Satan."— pp. 271, 272. 
 
 28. " Satan having lost ground so much, notwith- 
 standing all his attempts, now (under the tenth per- 
 secution) seemed to bestir himself with more than 
 ordinary rage. Those who were then in authorit}'- 
 set themselves with the utmost violence to root out 
 Christianity, by burning all Bibles, and destroying all 
 Christians ; and therefore they did not stand to try or 
 convict them in a formal process, but fell upon them 
 wherever they could ; sometimes setting fire to houses 
 where multitudes of them were assembled, and burn- 
 ing them all together ; and at other times slaughter- 
 
152 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 ing multitudes together, so that sometimes their 
 persecutors were quite spent with the lahor of killing 
 and tormenting them; and, in some populous places, 
 so many were slain together that the blood ran like 
 torrents. It is related that seventeen thousand mar- 
 tyrs were slain in one month's time, and that during 
 the continuance of this persecution, in the province 
 of Egypt alone, no less than one hundred and forty- 
 four thousand Christians died by the violence of their 
 persecutors, besides 700,000 that died through the fa- 
 tigues of banishment, or the public works to which 
 they were condemned. This persecution lasted for 
 ten years together ; and as it exceeded all foregoing 
 persecutions in the number of martyrs, so it exceeded 
 them in the variety and multitude of inventions of 
 torture and cruelty. The heathen persecutors thought 
 they had finished their work, and boasted that they 
 had utterly destroyed the name and superstition of 
 the Christians, and had restored the worship of the 
 gods."— jp. 273. 
 
 29. " This revolution [the subversion of the heathen 
 idolatry in the Roman empire, by Constantino,] was 
 the greatest revolution and change in the face of 
 things that ever came to pass in the world since the 
 flood. Satan, the prince of darkness, that king and 
 god of the heathen world, was cast out. The roaring 
 lion was conquered by the lamb of God, in the strongest 
 dominion that ever he had, even the Roman empire." 
 —j>. 275. 
 
 30. "What came to pass now is also represented 
 by the devil's being cast out of heaven to the earth — 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 153 
 
 to the meaner and move barbarous nations, &c. Sa- 
 tan tempted Christ, and promised to give him the 
 glory of the kingdoms of the world, but now he is 
 obliged to give it to him." — p. 276. 
 
 31. "I would consider the events of the first part 
 x>f this period, reaching from the destruction of the 
 
 heathen empire to the rise of Antichrist. And here 
 first I would take notice of the opposition Satan made 
 in this space of time to the church. It was either by 
 corrupting the church of Christ with heresies, or by 
 new endeavors to restore paganism. Satan infested 
 the church with heresies. The two principal, and 
 those which did most infest the church, were the Arian 
 and Pelagian heresies. Before the fourth century 
 was finished, the greater part of the Christian church 
 were become Arians. They denied the doctrine of 
 the Trinity, and the divinity of Christ, and the Holy 
 Ghost, and maintained that they were but mere crea- 
 tures. The Pelagian heresy arose in the beginning of 
 the next century. He (Pelagius) denied original sin, 
 and the influence of the spirit of God in conversion, 
 and held the power of free will," &c. — pp. 282, 282. 
 
 32. "The other kind of opposition, which Satan 
 made against the church, was in his endeavors to re- 
 store paganism. And his first attempt to restore it 
 in the Roman empire, was by Julian, the apostate. 
 Another way that Satan attempted to restore paganism 
 in the Roman empire, was by the invasions and con- 
 quests of heathen 7iations. These nations, [the Goths, 
 Vandals, &c.,] who now took possession of the west- 
 ern empire, were heathens; so that by their means 
 
154 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. , 
 
 heathenism was again for a while restored, after it 
 had been rooted out."— 7?;;. 283, 284. 
 
 33. "I woukl take notice of the great works of the 
 devil against the kingdom of Christ from Constantino 
 to the destruction of Antichrist. Satan had done great 
 things against the Christian church before, but had 
 been bafiled once and again. Michael and his angels 
 had obtained a glorious victory. How terrible was 
 his opposition during the continuance of the heathen 
 empire; and how glorious was Christ's victory and 
 triumph over him in the time of Constantino! It 
 pleased God now to prepare the way for a yet more 
 glorious victory over him, to suffer him to renew his 
 strength, and to do the utmost that his power and 
 subtlety can help him to; and therefore he suffers him 
 to have a long time, to lay his schemes, and to esta- 
 blish his interests, and make his matters strong; and 
 suffers him to carry his designs a great length indeed, 
 ahiiost to the swallowing up of his church; and to 
 exercise a high, and proud, and almost uncontrolled 
 dominion in the world, a long time before Christ 
 finally conquers and subdues, and utterly ruins his 
 visible kingdom on earth, as he will do in the time 
 of the destruction of Antichrist. Thus gloriously 
 triumphing over him after he has done the utmost 
 that his power and subtlety can extend to, and show- 
 ing that he is above him, after he has dealt most 
 proudly, and lifted himself highest of all. 
 
 " The two great works of the devil which he in this 
 space of time wrought against the kingdom of Christ, 
 are his creating his Antichristian and Mahometan 
 kingdoms, which have been, and still are, two king- 
 
, THE MEDIATORIAL AVORK. 155 
 
 doms of great extent and streng-tli, both together swal- 
 lowing up the ancient Roman empire ; the kingdom 
 of Antichrist swallowing up the western empire, and 
 Satan's Mahometan kingdom the eastern empire. As 
 the Scriptures in the Book of the Revelation represent 
 it, it is in the destruction of these that the glorious 
 victory of Christ, at the introduction of the glorious 
 times of the church will mainly consist. And here 
 let us briefly observe how Satan erects and maintains 
 these two great kingdoms of his in opposition to the 
 kingdom of Christ. 
 
 " With respect to the kingdom of Antichrist. This 
 seems to be the masterpiece of all the contrivances of 
 the devil against the kingdom of Christ, and is evi- 
 dently so spoken of in Scripture. We find no enemy 
 of Christ one half so much spoken of in the prophecies 
 of Revelation as this ; and the destruction of no enemy 
 is spoken of as so glorious and happy for the church. 
 The craft and subtlety of the devil, above all, appears 
 in this work of his. This is a contrivance of the devil 
 to turn the ministry of the Christian church into a 
 ministry of the devil, and to turn these angels of the 
 churches into fallen angels, and so into devils. And 
 in the tyranny and superstition, and idolatry, and 
 persecution, which he sets up, he contrives to make 
 an image of ancient paganism, and more than to 
 restore what Avas lost in the empire by the overthrow 
 of paganism in the time of Constantine : so that by 
 these means the head of the beast which was wound- 
 ed unto death in Constantino, has his deadly wound 
 healed in Antichrist. Rev. xiii. 3. And the dragon 
 that formerly reigned in the heathen Roman empire, 
 being cast out thence, after the beast with seven 
 
156 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 heads and ten horns rises up out of the sea, gives him 
 his power, and seat, and great authority ; and all the 
 world wonders after the beast. 
 
 " He claimed the power of a temporal prince, and 
 so was wont to carry two swords, to signify that both 
 the temporal and spiritual sword was his ; and claim- 
 ed more and more authority, till at length he, as 
 Christ's vicegerent on earth, claimed the very same 
 power that Christ would have if he was present on 
 earth and reigned on his tJirone, or the same power 
 that belongs to God, and used to be called God on 
 earth ; and used to be submitted to by all the princes 
 of Christendom."— PJ9. 286, 289. 
 
 34. "I come now to speak of his Mahometan king- 
 dom, which is another great kingdom of mighty power 
 and v^ast extent, set up by Satan against the kingdom 
 of Christ. He set this up in the eastern empire, as 
 he did that of Antichrist in the western." — p. 290. 
 
 35. "I proceed to show what opposition has been 
 made, to the success of Christ's purchase b}^ the Re- 
 formation, by Satan and his adherents ; observing as 
 we go along, how far they have been baffled, and how 
 far they have been successful. 
 
 " The opposition which Satan has made against the 
 reformed religion, has been principally of the follow- 
 ing kinds, viz: that which was made. First, by a gen- 
 eral council of the church of Rome [that of Trent 
 which continued twenty-five years] ; Second, by secret 
 plots and devices ; Third, by open wars and invasions; 
 Fourth, by cruel oppression and persecution; and 
 Fifthf by bringing in corrupt opinions. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 157 
 
 "The doctrines and practices of the church of 
 Rome, which were chiefly condemned by the Reform- 
 ed, were confirmed by the decrees of their council; 
 and the corruptions, in many respects, wove carried 
 higher than ever before; and they uttered blasphe- 
 mous reproaches and curses against the reformed re- 
 ligion, and all the reformed church was excommuni- 
 cated and anathematized by them; and so, according 
 to the prophecy, they blasphemed God." — f. 299. 
 
 3G. "Satan has opposed the Reformation with cruel 
 persecutions. The persecutions with which the Pro- 
 testants, in one kingdom and another, have been per- 
 secuted by the church of Rome, have in many respects 
 been far beyond any of the heathen persecutions 
 which were before Constantine the Great, and beyond 
 all that ever were before. So that Antichrist has 
 proved the greatest and crudest enemy to the church 
 of Christ tliat ever was in the world, in this, as well 
 as in all other respects; agreeably to the description 
 given of the church of Rome, Rev. xvii. 6., and xviii. 
 24. 
 
 37. "The heathen persecutions had been very 
 dreadful; but now persecution, by the church of 
 Rome, was improved and studied, and cultivated as 
 an art, or science. Such ways of afflicting and tor- 
 menting were found out, as are beyond the thought 
 and invention of ordinary men, or men who are un- 
 studied in those things, and beyond the invention of 
 all former ages. And that persecution might be man- 
 aged the moreefTectually, there were certain societies 
 of men established in various parts of the popish do- 
 minions, whose business it should be to study and im- 
 
158 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 prove, and practice perscculion in its highest perfec- 
 tion, which are those societies called the Courts of In- 
 quisition.^^ — p. 301. 
 
 38. "Soon after the Reformation, there were terri- 
 ble persecutions in various parts of Germany; and 
 especially in Bohemia, which lasted for thirty years 
 together. The countries of Poland, Lithuania and 
 Hungary, were in like manner deluged with Protes- 
 tant blood. Also, Holland and the other low coun- 
 tries, were for many years a scene of nothing but the 
 most affecting and amazing cruelties, being deluged 
 with the blood of Protestants. In France, it is reck- 
 oned, that within thirty years, there were martyred 
 about 900,000. Thus did the devil and his great 
 minister, Antichrist, rage with such violence and cru- 
 elty against the church of Christ! The last kind of 
 opposition that Satan has made to the Reformation is 
 by corrupt opinions. Satan has opposed the light of 
 the Gospel, which shone forth in the Reformation, 
 with many corrupt o^Dinions which he has brought in 
 and propagated in the world." — irp. 301, 304. 
 
 39. "Satan has ever had a diead of having his 
 kingdom overthrown, and he has been opposing of it 
 ever since Christ's ascension, and has been doing great 
 works to fortify his kingdom and to prevent it, ever 
 since the day of Constantino the Great. To this end, 
 he has set up those two mighty kingdoms of Anti- 
 christ and Mahomet, and brought in all tlie heresies 
 and superstitions, and corrupt opinions which there 
 are in the world. But when he sees all begin to fail, 
 it will rouse him up exceedingly. If Satan dreaded. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 159 
 
 being" cast out of the Roman empire, how much more 
 does he dread being cast out of the whole world. 
 
 "It seems as thoug'h, in this last great opposition 
 which shall be made against the church to defend the 
 kingdom of Satan, all the forces of Antichrist, and 
 Mahometanism, and heathenism, will be united; all 
 the forces of Satan's visible kingdom, through the 
 whole world of mankind. And therefore it is said, 
 that the 'spirits of devils shall go forth unto the kings 
 of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them 
 together to the battle of the great day of God Almigh- 
 ty.' There will be, some way or other, a mighty 
 struggle between Satan's kingdom and the church, 
 and probably in all ways of opposition that can be ; 
 and doubtless gieat opposition by external force; 
 wherein the princes of the world, who are on the 
 devil's side, shall join hand in hand." — pp. 334, 335. 
 
 40. "Now [at the close of that battle] the business 
 is done for Satan and his adherents. Satan's last and 
 greatest opposition is conquered; all his measures are 
 defeated. The devil is utterly baffled and confound- 
 ed, and knows not what else to do. He and his most 
 powerful instruments are taken captive." — p. 336. 
 
 41. " In this victory will be a most glorious dis- 
 play of divine power. Christ shall therein appear in 
 the character of King of kings and Lord of lords. — 
 Rev. xix. 16. Now Christ shall dash his enemies 
 even the strongest and proudest of them to pieces. 
 Consequent on this victory, Satan's visible kingdom 
 on earth shall be destroyed." — p. 337. 
 
160 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 42. " A little before the end of the world, there 
 shall be a very great apostacy. Satan shall begin to 
 set up his dominion again in the world. This world 
 shall again become a scene of darkness and wicked- 
 ness. The bottomless pit of hell shall be opened, 
 and devils shall come up again out of it, and a dread- 
 ful smoke shall ascend to darken the world. This 
 apostacy will be most like the apostacy of the devils 
 of any that ever had before been : for the devils 
 apostatized and turned enemies to Christ, though they 
 enjoyed the light of heaven ; and these will aposta- 
 tize and turn enemies to him, though they have en- 
 joyed the light and privileges of the glorious times of 
 the Church."— PJ9. 355, 356. 
 
 43. " We have seen, how Satan, the great dra- 
 gon, that old serpent, who has set up himself as god 
 of this world, will be cast into the lake of fire. We 
 began at the head of the stream of divine provi- 
 dence, and have followed and traced it through its 
 various windings and turnings, till we are come to 
 the end of it, and we see where it issues. As it began 
 in God, so it ends in God. We may see by what has 
 been said, how Christ in all things has the pre-emi- 
 nence. For this great work of redemption is all his 
 work. What has been said shows how all the pur- 
 poses of God are purposed in Christ, and how he is be- 
 fore all and above all, and all things consist by him, 
 and are governed by him, and are for him. — Col. i. 
 15-18. 
 
 " We see that whatever changes there are, and 
 however highly Christ's enemies exalt themselves, 
 that yet finally all his enemies become his footstool. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 161 
 
 and he reigns in uncontrolled power and immense 
 glory. 
 
 " Hence we may see what a consistent thing divine 
 providence is. If we behold the events of Provi- 
 dence in any other view than that in which it has 
 been set before us, it will all look like confusion, 
 like a number of jumbled events coming to pass with- 
 out any order or method. It is with God's work of 
 providence, as it is with his work of creation ; it is 
 but one work. God's providence may not un- 
 fitly be compared to a large and long river, having 
 innumerable branches, beginning in different regions, 
 and at a great distance one from another, and all 
 conspiring to one common issue." — pp. 381, 382. 
 
 44. " God's power gloriously appears in conquer- 
 ing Satan. Christ, our Michael, has overcome him. 
 His power gloriously appears in conquering him in 
 that kingdom, wherein his pride and subtlety, and 
 cruelty, above all appears, viz. : the kingdom of 
 Antichrist. It gloriously appears in conquering him 
 in that greatest and strongest combination and oppo- 
 sition of the devil and his adherents against Christ 
 and his church, just before the fall of Antichrist, 
 wherein his visible kingdom has a fatal blow given to 
 it, on which an universal downfall of it follows all 
 over the world." — p. 386. 
 
 45. " From what hath been said, we may see the 
 glorious wisdom of God. It shows the wisdom of 
 God in creating the world, in that he has created it 
 for such an excellent use, to accomplish in it so glori- 
 ous a work. And it shows the wisdom of divine 
 
162 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 providence, that he bring-s such great good out of such 
 great evil, in making the fall and ruin of mankind, 
 which in itself is so sorrowful and deplorable, an oc- 
 casion of accomplishing such a glorious work. — And 
 how glorious doth the wisdom of God appear in that 
 long course and series of great changes in the world 
 in bringing such order out of confusion, in so frustrat- 
 ing the devil, and so wonderfully turning all his 
 most subtle machinations to his own glory, and the 
 glory of his Son Jesus Christ !" — pp. 287, 288. 
 
 46. The foregoing extracts may serve to show how 
 the author was led by his profound knowledge of the 
 Scriptures, his comprehensive views of the purposes 
 and works of God, of the apostacy and ruin of man 
 by the instigation of Satan, and of the works of pro- 
 vidence and redemption, and his views of the leading 
 doctrines of revelation, to represent the work of the Medi- 
 ator so prominently as a conflict with the great adversary 
 and his adherents. He contemplated the whole as a 
 connected, consistent, perfect scheme; originating and 
 ending with him who declares himself the Alpha and 
 Omega, the first and the last. He considered the 
 ereation as preparatory to the great scene of provi- 
 dential dispensations and moral exhibitions which 
 were to follow ; the stage on which the great drama 
 was to proceed in the view of angels and of men. 
 
 47. Regarding all the works of providence as 
 having relation to the work of redemption, the divine 
 dispensations towards idolatrous nations, and all op- 
 posing, persecuting, hostile governments, combina- 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 163 
 
 tions and powers, biouglit pioiiiinently cind con- 
 stantly to his view, the malevolent agency and object 
 of the great adversary, the instigator of man's revolt, 
 the implacable and ceaseless enemy of Christ and 
 his church. It seems to have been evident to him 
 that it was the constant purpose and effort of Satan 
 to frustrate and defeat the Mediator's work, especially 
 with respect to the redemption of man and the gov- 
 ernment of this world, and to exterminate the church ; 
 and that such will continue to be the constant object 
 of his utmost efforts, till he shall be totally vanquished 
 and crushed by a transcendant exhibition of the power 
 of Christ; and, on the other hand, that by his works 
 of providence and the progress of his dispensations, 
 the Mediator has restrained and baffled him ; counter- 
 acted and thwarted his machinations and exhibited 
 His supremacy by triumphing over him from time to 
 time ; though his final victory is delayed to allow 
 time for all the manifestations originally intended, 
 whether of the divine perfections, or of the depravity 
 of fallen angels and men, 
 
 48. Hence, he particularly notices the occasions 
 when by the devices and malice of Satan the church 
 has been greatly reduced in numbers, and all but ex- 
 terminated, and has been preserved, and her great 
 enemy thwarted by signal interpositions of the wisdom 
 and power of Christ. Thus, when the church was 
 reduced to the family of Noah, he destroyed the whole 
 world of the ungodly by the deluge. When the de- 
 scendants of Noah were seduced into idolatry, he 
 interposed by calling Abraham, and preserving the 
 church in the line of his family. When it was again 
 
164 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 reduced, and nearly swallowed up in the idolatrous 
 abominations of Egypt, he rescued his people by the 
 hand of Moses, punished their oppressors, and de- 
 stroyed Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea. When 
 it was nearly extinguished in the captivity in Baby- 
 lon, he again interposed and brought it back to Jeru- 
 salem. When corrupted and almost subverted by 
 Pharasaic, Sadducean, and other heresies, he person- 
 ally appeared incarnate. When harassed and 
 threatened with utter ruin by persecution under 
 pagan Rome, he overthrew the idolatrous institutions 
 of that power. When corrupted, oppressed and per- 
 secuted by the beast of papal Rome, he interposed by 
 the Reformation ; and when that Antichrist and his 
 infidel and idolatrous confederates shall engage in the 
 future and greatest conflict, he will conquer the dragon 
 who gave power to the beast, and subvert all ene- 
 mies. 
 
 49. Now, regarding the great scene Avhich has been 
 passing on this earth as designed for the purpose of 
 manifesting the divine perfections and instructing 
 intelligent creatures, and therefore designed to be 
 seen, it occurs to observe that a large portion of the 
 manifestations to be made required the visible acts of 
 men. The purposes and doings of Satan evidently 
 required the visible instrumentality and agency of 
 men. Hence, his agency is so generally veiled in 
 that instrumentality, and is therefore so liable to be 
 resolved into the mere agency of men. Men being 
 fallen and depraved, act in character^when they act in 
 conformity with his designs and by his instigation ; 
 and, as interested spectators of each other, they are 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK 165 
 
 prone to ascribe the worst acts to mere human motives 
 and passions. It is perhaps one of the chief devices 
 of Satan, so to deceive and impose upon men, as to 
 hide himself from their observation, and hinder them 
 from suspecting that he is their tempter, deceiver, 
 and enemy. To what else are his wiles and his sub- 
 tle machinations directed ? To what other end does 
 he blind their minds and rule in their hearts ? 
 
 50. In scarcely one of the instances recorded in the 
 Scriptures, in which his agency is declared to have 
 been concerned, would it otherwise have been any 
 more likely to be suspected than in numberless other 
 instances in which it is not declared ; and, indeed, in 
 numberless instances every day. Was there, for ex- 
 ample, any thing special in the instance in which he 
 is represented to have spoken as a lying spirit by pre- 
 tended prophets, to distinguish that from any other 
 instance of false prophesying 1 Or any thing in 
 David's numbering Israel by his instigation, to distin- 
 guish that act, or mark it with more turpitude than 
 is discoverable in the destruction of Uriah 1 Or in the 
 case of Job, did any thing occur which would not 
 have been readily ascribed to natural causes and hu- 
 man motives, if the agency of Satan had not been 
 expressly recognized in the narrative ? 
 
 51. So of the numerous instances recorded in the 
 New Testament of tlie actions and sufferings of men 
 under his influence. Those who were healed by the 
 power of Christ owed their diseases to the malice of 
 Satan — they were oppressed by the devil. But their 
 diseases do not appear to have been different from 
 
166 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 those occurring at other periods. The concomitants 
 of possession in those from wliom evil spirits were cast 
 out, were deafness, dumbness, and others common to 
 every age. The agency of Satan- in the case of An- 
 nanias and Sapphira, had it not been specially re- 
 corded, would not be suspected from any thing pecu- 
 liar and apparent in the acts which they committed. 
 
 52. These facts, by which it is rendered certain 
 that the agency of Satan has been joined with that of 
 men, in numerous instances and at different periods, 
 where, but for the Scripture record, nothing would have 
 appeared to indicate his interference, are sufficient, 
 when considered in connection with his character — 
 the constant object of his rebellion, rage and subtlety, 
 and the intimations of Scripture respecting his wiles 
 and devices, and his ceaseless activity in tempting, 
 deceiving and betraying man — to justify the belief 
 that his agency is no less concerned in countless other 
 instances of impiety and wickedness on the part of 
 men, and indeed so universally in all their sinful acts 
 as to account for its being said, in the words of inspi- 
 ration, that he " rules in the hearts of the children of 
 disobedience ;" "that he is god of this Avorld," " tiiat 
 he deceiveth the whole world," " that the wicked are 
 his children, his captives, his subjects." 
 
 53. Consistently with what is said above, of the 
 cases in which his agency is announced in the Scrip- 
 tures, it is to be observed that he, in like manner and 
 for like reasons, in claiming and receiving the hom- 
 age and worship of men, conceals himself under the 
 forms and images of idolatry. He instigates and de- 
 
THE- MEDIATORIAL WORK. 167 
 
 ludes the worshippers, but interposes some visible 
 symbols of his presence and power, while he keeps 
 behind the scenes. Even if he could render himself 
 personally visible, he could hardly hope in that case 
 to secure the homage and submission of his worship- 
 pers ; and though his symbols may be erected every- 
 where, he could not be personally present in innu- 
 merable different places. 
 
 54. It is obvious to suppose that, if in all his influ- 
 ence and interference with men, his agency and his 
 evil purposes were distinctly recognized, the freedom 
 of their wills would be affected by additional and dif- 
 ferent motives from those by which they are legiti- 
 mately and properly governed ; and in such a case 
 the course of events might, and perhaps necessarily 
 would be widely different from that which now occurs. 
 As things actually are, in this respect, the guilt of their 
 actions is all their own, and the guilt of Satan's acts 
 is all his own. 
 
 55. So on the other hand, in the case of converted 
 men ; all the virtue and praiseworthiness of their holy 
 acts belongs to them, though there be an influence of 
 the Holy Spirit concerned in ever)^ one of them. 
 Such acts are performed in view of rational and Scrip- 
 tural motives, and are strictly their own acts. They 
 are conscious of no influence but that of such motives; 
 though as matter of doctrine and theory they know 
 that their first and all their subsequent holy acts, and 
 especially their most distinguished acts of piety, self- 
 denial and obedience, are occasioned, or to be referred 
 to the divine influence. 
 
168 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 56. Whatever of mystery there may be in either of 
 these cases is to be referred either to what relates to 
 the nature of free agency in rational creatures, or 
 what relates to the actual system of visible manifesta- 
 tion. 
 
 57. With respect to the latter, it is plain that nei- 
 ther the effects of the divine influence or agency in 
 the one case, nor the reality, object, or results of the 
 agency of Satan in the other, could be manifested 
 otherwise than by the outward and visible, audible or 
 otherwise observable acts of men. 
 
 58. If, therefore, in referring to the acts of wicked 
 men, whether of impiety towards God, or of falsehood 
 and cruelty towards each other, we ascribe them to 
 the instigation of Satan, we do not transcend the war- 
 rant of Scripture either in respect to his agency, or 
 their accountability. Their acts are in innumerable 
 instances not less atrocious, not less impious, injurious 
 and abominable than those mentioned in the Scrip- 
 tures as directly instigated by Satan. Their infidelity 
 and impiety, their idolatries and blasphemies, com- 
 mitted even with the Bible in their hands ; their dis- 
 honesty, covetousness and oppression ; their cruelties, 
 persecutions and murders, are, to say the least, not 
 less flagrant and horrible than any of those of infernal 
 instigation which are noticed in the Scriptures. The 
 truth is that they are subject to him, his captives, under 
 his tyrannical and malevolent influence, led by him at 
 his will. He is their enemy, deceiver, tempter, de- 
 stroyer. By them, he, in a great measure, carries on 
 his hostility to the Mediator and his redeemed people, 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 169 
 
 and by their instrumentality his evil designs and acts 
 are rendered visible. He tempts men when he sees 
 by their conduct that they are predisposed to act out 
 the wickedness which he instigates. Thus in the 
 case of David, Ananias and others specially men- 
 tioned in the Scriptures. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE "WORK OF THE MEDIATOR CONSIDERED AS INDICATING BY 
 THE NATURE AND TASTJSESS OF ITS OBJECTS AND THE 
 EVENTS AND ANALOGIES OF ITS PROGRESS, THE VISIBILITY 
 AND GLORY OF HIS FUTURE MANIFESTATIONS. 
 
 1. The mediatorial work of Christ has been con- 
 templated as comprising the creation, preservation, 
 and government of all creatures ; as characterized by 
 outward and visible manifestations ; and as including 
 a prolonged conflict with Satan and his adherents. 
 The view which has been taken naturally suggests 
 the inquiry. Whether the future is to be in like man- 
 ner characterized by similar and more glorious out- 
 ward and visible manifestations 1 Whether the Son 
 of God in finally obviating the ruins of the fall, con- 
 summating his triumph over all enemies, and success- 
 fully establishing his empire, will again personally 
 appear, not as before in a state of humiliation, but in 
 the majesty and splendor of his regal office 1 That 
 such may be the case will, doubtless be admitted by 
 all. That it will be, is the decided conviction of 
 some, founded on their view and mode of interpreting 
 the prophecies. The following observations and sug- 
 gestions are offered as obviously arising from the pre- 
 ceding view, which obliges us to suppose that the 
 result of the conflict which has hitherto given to the 
 scene on earth so much of its character, and of the 
 final consummation of the purposes and dispensations 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 171 
 
 of the past, will be signalised in such a manner as 
 to display to the universe the transcendent majesty, 
 glory, righteousness and power of the Mediator. 
 
 2. It has been noticed as indicated in the Scrip- 
 tures, that the great scene, which, since the creation, 
 has been passing on the earth, has been diligently 
 and closely observed by the created intelligences of 
 other worlds, that they attain their knowledge of the 
 invisible One in the same way as man : namely, by 
 observing his works, and the various ]nanifestalions 
 of his perfections, counsels, and purposes, which are 
 brought within their cognizance; and, that these 
 means of knowledge are exhibited to them as well as 
 to men, by the Son of God, in the official and peculiar 
 relation which he sustains to all intelligent creatures, 
 as the medium of divine manifestation, intercourse 
 and fellowship. 
 
 3. All created natures are therefore deemed to be 
 concerned in his work. In its connection with them 
 it forms the great moral scene of the universe. In its 
 progress a vivid exhibition is made of the apostacy, 
 corruption and wickedness of fallen angels and men ; 
 of the curse denounced upon the earth and its inhab- 
 itants ; of the inadequacy of all human devices, all 
 means and motives addressed to men as moral agents, 
 all providential restraints, divine laws, promises, 
 warnings and threatenings, to reclaim and save any 
 of the fallen race ; and of the interposition of infinite 
 wisdom, power and grace to rescue a portion of the 
 human famil)'-, counteract and vanquish the adver- 
 sary, subvert all enemies, retrieve the ruins of the fall, 
 
172 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 renovate the earth, and fill the universe with the 
 praises of the unfallen and the redeemed. The 
 manifestations of this scene are displayed in the view 
 of the heavenly hosts to instruct them, to fortify them 
 against the wiles of Satan, and confirm them in their 
 allegiance, and so to unite angels and men in per- 
 petual obedience, fellowship and love, and reconcile 
 or harmonize all things in heaven and earth. The 
 visibility of these manifestations is calculated greatly 
 to enhance their moral influence. They most strik- 
 ingly exhibit the malignity of sin, the degradation 
 and misery consequent upon it, the wonders of divine 
 mercy, and the beauty of holiness. Taken altogether, 
 they may be supposed to present all possible forms 
 and degrees of evil and of good ; all possible con- 
 trasts of sin and misery, with holiness and happiness; 
 and all possible conditions and trials of free agency 
 in creatures, together with the riches of the wisdom 
 and knowledge of God. 
 
 4. Now it is supposed that the nature and objects of 
 this entire procedure, require a continuance of similar 
 manifestations, and an outward and visible triumph, 
 and exhibition of divine supremacy and glory, at its 
 consummation, on the theatre of its earlier progress 
 and of its great events, the apostacy, the hostile agen- 
 cy of Satan, the humiliation and suflTerings of Christ, 
 the recovery and rescue of the redeemed. To the 
 vision of the prophets, accordingly, such manifesta- 
 tions are supposed to have been depicted. In the 
 portraitures vouchsafed to them of the future, they are 
 supposed to have seen the personal advent of the Son 
 of God in power and great glory with his holy angels, 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 173 
 
 wresting the empire of the world from the great ad- 
 versary, subverting Antichrist, and all idolatry and 
 wickedness, conquering and imprisoning Satan and 
 his host, raising the dead, renewing the earth, and 
 establishing the throne of his righteous and everlast- 
 ing kingdom. 
 
 5. If he created and governs the world in order to 
 manifest the Divine perfections by his works of provi- 
 dence and grace; if he became incarnate for this pur- 
 pose; if for this he has maintained a protracted con- 
 flict with Satan and his faction, and will at length 
 visit upon them the retributions of justice, it is but 
 reasonable to expect that the closing of the scene 
 should, in the grandeur of the manifestations to be 
 made, exceed those which preceded; that the majesty 
 of his person, tlie glorjf of his mediatorial office, the 
 greatness of his triumph over all enemies, the magni- 
 ficence of his regal state, the ^^erfect vindication of all 
 his ways, the exaltation and bliss of his followers, the 
 renovation of the earth, the undivided homage of 
 saints and angels, should be publicly and conspicu- 
 ously displayed to the whole universe. 
 
 6. If the office and work of the Mediator comprised 
 the creation of angels and of the material universe, 
 as well as the dispensations and events which relate 
 directly to man; if the method of outward and visible 
 manifestation, has relation as well to angels as to 
 men, and if it was in this view a necessary adjunct 
 of the moral system ; then it is supposed to be in har- 
 mony with all the conditions and purposes of the 
 
174 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 scheme that its consummation should be signalized 
 by the visible presence, rule, and triumph of the 
 Mediator. 
 
 7. Such a result is inferred also from those Scrip- 
 tures, which relate to the union in Him of all holy 
 beings in heaven and earth, as a leading and ultimate 
 purpose of his mediation ; as in Ephesians i. 9-11 : 
 "Having made known unto us the mystery of his 
 will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath 
 purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the 
 fullness of time [the final dispensation], he might gather 
 together in one, all things in Christ, both which are 
 in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him: in 
 whom we also have obtained an inheritance, being 
 predestinated according to the purpose of Him, who 
 worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." 
 And Rev. v. 11-13. "And I beheld, and I heard 
 the voice of many angels round about the throne, 
 and the beasts and the elders ; and the number of 
 them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thou- 
 sands of thousands ; saying with a loud voice, worthy 
 is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and 
 riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and 
 glory, and blessing : and every creature which is in 
 heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and 
 such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard 
 I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, 
 be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto 
 the Lamb forever and ever." See also, Colossians i. 
 10 J Heb. xii. 22, 23 j Heb. i. 2, 6. 
 
 8. Man, in his state of apostacy and rebellion, was 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 175 
 
 truly opposed to the angels who persevered in their 
 allegiance, as to his Creator. His course of revolt 
 was at war with their fidelity and happiness, and a 
 reconciliation to them and to God was hindered by 
 the same obstacle. The mediatorial work, therefore, 
 had reference in this respect to angels and men, and 
 hence they jointly worship, serve and praise the Me- 
 diator. 
 
 9. The rebellion of Satan and his angels, and that 
 of man, constituted an open and public revolt against 
 the authority and government of God, the prosecution 
 of which has been signalized, on the part of man, by 
 outward and visible acts of wickedness, and on the part 
 of Satan by ceaseless hostility to the Mediator and the 
 measures of his administration. The scene and object 
 of his machinations, brought him into immediate con- 
 nection with material and visible things, on which ac- 
 count it may be supposed to be necessary that his pro- 
 ceedings, in their connection with the visible conduct of 
 man, should be counteracted and eventually triumphed 
 over by public and visible displays of the supremacy 
 and power of Christ. That course of diabolical and 
 human wickedness combined, which, for example, 
 has been exhibited in the wide-spread and impious 
 system of idolatrous worship, in the proscriptions and 
 martyrdoms of prophets, apostles, and confessors, the 
 persecutions of the church, and the wars of nations — 
 whereby the lives of multitudes, of whom the world 
 was not worthy, have been sacrificed, the Divine 
 authority has been set at naught, the cause of re- 
 bellion maintained, and the subversion of the church 
 
176 THE MEDIATORIAL Vv' R K . 
 
 attempted, may be supposed to require a counterpart 
 of signal and visible retribution, such as is referred to 
 in one of the scenes of the Apocalypse, chap. vi. 9, 
 10 : " And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw 
 under the altar the souls of them that were slain for 
 the word of God, and for the testimony which they 
 held ; and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How 
 long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and 
 avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 
 And white robes were given unto every one of them, 
 and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet 
 for a little season, until their fellow-servants also, 
 and their brethren that should be killed as they were, 
 should be fulfilled." Under the next seal, the visita- 
 tion of judgment is set forth under the most striking 
 figures derived from the convulsions of the physical 
 and political worlds, and from the consternation of 
 the wicked, wiio are represented as calling to the 
 rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them 
 from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and 
 from the wrath of the Lamb. In like manner, the 
 retributive dispensations recorded in the Scriptures as 
 having been inflicted, were conspicuously public and 
 visible; and with respect to those which are threaten- 
 ed and future, the heavens and earth, angels and 
 saints, apostles and martyrs, are called on to rejoice, 
 as if beholding in them the supremacy, righteousness 
 and glory of the mediatorial King. Psalmxcvi.il- 
 14; Jeremiah li. 47, 49; Rev. xviii. 20; xix. 1, 2. 
 In Rev. xiv. 10, it is said, that they who worship the 
 beast and his image, shall be tormented " in the 
 presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of 
 the Lamb." 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 177 
 
 10. The course of divine dispensations in relation to 
 the Jews, has been so marked by outward and visible 
 manifestations, the ministry of angels, and the an- 
 nouncements of prophecy, as to appear strongly to 
 indicate the probability, at least, of a renewal of visible 
 interpositions in respect to them, and in the consum- 
 mation of the system with which they are connected. 
 
 11. The present or Gentile dispensation, or times of 
 the Gentiles, during which Jerusalem is to be trodden 
 down, and of which the termination is to be coincident 
 with that of the repudiation of the ancient covenant 
 people, presents a course of events with respect to that 
 people, and to the Christian church and the world, 
 likely, it is supposed, from the general analogy of the 
 system, to be followed by visible exhibitions, on the 
 part of the mediator, of a far more striking and deci- 
 sive character than those of any preceding series. 
 
 12. Under the Jewish dispensation, with its oracular 
 announcements and teachings of inspiration, its sys- 
 tem of legal and ceremonial services and restraints, 
 its judgments and mercies, its miracles and wonders, 
 the depths of human depravity and the inefficacy of 
 such instrumentalities to overcome it, were sufiiciently 
 demonstrated to show the necessity of the atonement, 
 and of that work of the Holy Spirit which is emphati- 
 cally termed a new creation. 
 
 13. Under the Gentile dispensation, a far different 
 trial of man and of means and inducements for his 
 reformation and recovery is made. The atonement 
 
178 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 having been accomplislicd ; ihc mission of the Spirit 
 granted; the exclusiveness of the Jewish system abo- 
 lished; the way of salvation clearl}^ revealed, life and 
 immortality brought to light, the door of mercy set 
 open, and the most powerful motives to obedience 
 addressed to the hearts and consciences of men; there 
 has been presented, in proportion as the light and ad- 
 vantages have exceeded those of the preceding period, 
 a more surprising exhibition of the depravity of Jiian, 
 than before, and of the insulRciency of motives, know- 
 ledge, persuasion, ordinances, promises and threaten- 
 ings, to effect in him a saving change. The gospel, 
 under the ministry of the Apostles and their immediate 
 successors, was, by extraordinary effusions of the Spirit, 
 rendered extensively and rapidly successful. But 
 soon its glory was obscured and its efficacy hindered, 
 by the prevalence of error in doctrine, a growing de- 
 pendence on human efforts and outward forms, and 
 the indulgence of pride, woildliness and all the forms 
 of outward evil, and every species of internal corrup- 
 tion. Under these circumstances the churches, even 
 those of Asia, the most flourishing and purest perhaps 
 of those planted by tlie Apostles, declined and became 
 corrupt and extinct. The great truths of the gospel 
 were obscured and suppressed; error, delusion, super- 
 stition and idolatry prevailed over the nominal Chris- 
 tian world. The like experience on the continent of 
 Eurojie followed the effusion of the Spirit and the 
 revival of the pure doctrines of the gospel, at the 
 Reformation, though this occasion was distinguished by 
 some extraordinary circumstances, which, to human 
 view, were adapted to support]the cause of truth and 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 179 
 
 righteousness, and to deter the church and the world 
 from relapsing again into falsehood, delusion and 
 darkness. The enormities of imposture, idolatr}^, 
 tyranny and corruption of the Romish system, were 
 exposed to public view; the Scriptures were translated 
 into various languages, and by the art of printing were 
 , dispersed abroad among tlie people ; the sway of 
 ecclesiastical tyranny was checked, and the rights of 
 conscience were extensively recognized. With these 
 and other important circumstances in its favor, the 
 cause of truth would have been maintained, had it 
 depended upon the wisdom and virtue even of sancti- 
 fied man to perpetuate it. But who can bring a clean 
 thing out of an unclean'? The spectators of this scene, 
 visible and invisible, were yet to be more fully inform- 
 ed and convinced of the nature and desperateness of 
 the apostacy and depravity of man, and the total in- 
 sufficiency of everything of the nature of means and 
 instruments, everything short of the power of Goc!, to 
 rescue him from tlie dominion of Satan, renew him, 
 bring him under tlie covenant and into the relations 
 of the spiritual kingdom of Christ, and preserve him 
 through faith unto salvation. It was yet to be more 
 fully and convincingly shown that apostacy from God 
 is an evil so enormous, so deadly, that to obviate and 
 surmount it, under any possible circumstances, the 
 efforts of creatures are as futile, as they would be 
 to create a world; that they are as inadequate since 
 as they were before the atonement was made; as 
 ineflfeetual under the Christian as under the Jewish 
 dispensation; and that Christ came indeed to save that 
 which was lost, to redeem souls that were in a state 
 
180 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 of enmity and opposition to Him, under condemnation, 
 and held in captivity by their destroyer; and that to 
 Christ alone is their redemption and deliverance to be 
 ascribed. 
 
 14. The Gentile dispensation, instead of being- 
 merely a sequel and improvement of the Jewish, is 
 rather to be considered as founded on different prin- 
 ciples, and as accomplishing- its objects in a different 
 'way. It is a dispensation of grace, and has for its 
 special object, that of taking out of different nations 
 an elect people unto the name of the Lord. The 
 Jewish was a dispensation of law, and of types and 
 carnal ordinances. The present is a dispensation of 
 the Spirit. The former embraced a nation. The 
 latter recognizes as its subjects those only in whose 
 hearts that spiritual kingdom is established which 
 consists in righteousness and peace and joy in the 
 Holy Ghost. " The dispensation of the fullness of 
 times," which is^to succeed the present, will, it is sup- 
 posed, be one of visible manifestation of the presence, 
 power, triumph, and reign of the Mediator in his 
 kingly office. 
 
 15. The effect of such visible manifestation, in per- 
 son, with all the accompaniments of majesty and 
 glory, may well be supposed to be such as appears to 
 be intimated in those Scriptures which refer to the 
 subject — the overthrow of Antichrist, the confinement 
 of Satan, the conversion of multitudes, &c. 
 
 Such a manifestation, with respect to the conversion 
 of the Jews, would, it may be presumed, be decisive, 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 181 
 
 in relation to the necessary change in the convictions 
 of their understandings, and removal of their un- 
 belief. 
 
 In the case of Paul, to whom he personally ap- 
 peared, saying, " I have appeared to thee for this 
 purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both 
 of those tilings which thou hast seen, and of those 
 things in the which I will appear unto tliee," Acts 
 xxvi. 16, all doubt, unbelief, and hesitation appear 
 to have been instantly removed. He ' saw a light 
 from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, and 
 heard a voice speaking unto him.' 
 
 If the glory of the future is to surpass that of tlie 
 earlier periods, must we not expect that such visible 
 manifestations as have heretofore been most glorious, 
 will be more abundantly exhibited hereafter? If 
 miracles have at former periods attended and sig- 
 nalized the personal manifestations of the Mediator, 
 what can be more congruous, more probable, or more 
 scriptural, than the expectation that the future will 
 be characterized by similar and'more glorious inter- 
 positions of that nature ? 
 
 16. Now since the introduction and the progress 
 hitherto of this great scene have been so largely and 
 strikingly characterized by outward and visible mani- 
 festations, both on the part of the Son of God in the 
 works of creation and providence, the moral govern- 
 ment of the world, the revelation of his will, the in- 
 terposition of miracles, the institution, preservation, 
 ordinances and government of the church, the dis- 
 pensations of temporal evils and retributions to the 
 9* 
 
182 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 Avicked, and his incarnation, obedience, death, resur- 
 rection, ascension, recognition on high, and reception 
 of the homage of the heavenly hosts ; and on the 
 part of fallen beings in the whole course of their re- 
 bellion and wickedness : and since the objects of these 
 manifestations, the information and instruction of the 
 whole universe of intelligent creatures, the union of 
 all holy beings, the vindication of the Divine govern- 
 ment, and subversion of all opposition to it, and in 
 the final result, the fulfillment of the joy set before 
 the Mediator ; it is deemed every way natural and 
 congruous that the closing, like the preceding exhi- 
 bitions, should be visible and public, to be observed 
 in like manner, and differing from them only by their 
 surpassing splendor, and the visible grandeur and 
 majesty of their occurrence. 
 
 17. If the manifestation of the Divine perfections 
 by outward and visible means was the original pur- 
 pose of the material creation, then may it continue 
 to be instrumental in accomplishing that purpose 
 during the whole period of such manifestation. If it 
 was not inconsistent with the majesty and glory of 
 the Son of God to take matter into connection with 
 his person, then may it be consistent for him to reign 
 on earth, and to put such glory upon that nature in 
 which he had endured the cross and triumphed in his 
 conflict with the powers of darkness, as to render it fit 
 that he should visibly in his glorified body receive the 
 homage of angels and men. And since it is made 
 known to us that the ph3'sical nature of man is capa- 
 ble of such transformation and refinement, as to render 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 183 
 
 it like unto the g-lorified body of Christ, there can be 
 nothing improbable in the supposition that the earth 
 itself may be so renovated, purified and adorned, as to 
 be a congenial and fit abode of redeemed and glorified 
 beings, and of sucli transcendent visible manifestations 
 as may attend the regal glory and triumph of Imma- 
 nuel. The earth, in the perfect state in which it was 
 created, was designed and fitted to be the perpetual 
 abode of man, in case of his obedience — the enduring 
 scene of his immortality in holiness and happiness. 
 The curse and blight which ensued upon his apos- 
 tacy, rendered it fit only for the abode of a fallen race. 
 But it is the part of the second Adam, the Lord from 
 heaven, to supercede that curse, retrieve the ruins of 
 the fall, and renovate and restore the earth to its 
 original perfection, and fit it to be the abode of the 
 ransomed in a state of holiness and happiness superior 
 to that which would have resulted had the apostacy 
 not taken place ; — -superior on account of their asso- 
 ciations and relations to Him, in consequence of His 
 interposition. Thus while the works of Satan will 
 be destroyed, his designs and purposes defeated, and 
 the revolt of man overcome, the original design and 
 appropriation of the earth will be signally and glori- 
 ously accomplished. 
 
 18. For since the trial and apostacy of an order of 
 spiritual beings, gave place to a wider and far diflferent 
 course of things in connection with matciial existences 
 and visible exhibitions, commenced and carried for- 
 ward to the present time in the view of the intelligent 
 universe, it would seem reasonable to expect that its 
 
184 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 consummation should be of like character, and to 
 construe the propliecies accordingly, in so far as they 
 appear to forwarn us of outward and visible manifesta- 
 tions. It would seem repugnant to the analogy of the 
 whole procedure hitherto, to suppose that the hosts 
 of rebellion and wickedness, after so long a career of 
 outward conflict, should be finally subverted by a 
 spiritual and invisible influence; that in the destruc- 
 tion of those enemies there should be an exercise only 
 of Omnipotent power, instead of such a manifestation 
 of the divine perfections by the Mediator as had pre- 
 viously been exhibited, and as would comport with 
 the closing of such a scene, Avherein the Divine govern- 
 ment is to be fully vindicated, and the most striking 
 contrasts of holiness and sin, justice and mercy, are 
 to be presented, and the work of redemption triumph- 
 antly finished ; or to suppose that the holy angels after 
 witnessing a prolonged visible conflict with the powers 
 of darkness, the introduction of scenes and trains of 
 events not yet completed, and the occurrence of com- 
 binations and proceedings of apparently doubtful issue, 
 should not witness a consummation characterized by 
 the like forms of manifestation. 
 
 19. If the manifestations of the Divine perfections 
 provided for in this great scene, required the presence 
 and instrumentality of material existences and accom- 
 paniments, and if this world was appointed to be the 
 scene of those manifestations in their commencement 
 and early progress, then it cannot be objected to on 
 account of its insignificance, or its physical nature, as 
 unfit or unsuited to be the scene of the like manifes- 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 185 
 
 tations during the whole period and at the close of the 
 entire dispensation. If it was suited to be the scene 
 of the humiliation and vicarious sufferings of the Re- 
 deemer, it may be no less suited to be the scene of his 
 public and visible triumph over all enemies, exaltation 
 of his friends, and glorious consummation of his work. 
 If it was adapted to be the scene of those manifesta- 
 tions which attended his presence in the tabernacle, 
 and the exercise of his authority as chief magistrate 
 and ruler of his chosen people in the wilderness, it 
 may be no less adapted to be the scene of the counter- 
 part of those manifestations, his visible reign over his 
 redeemed people, as head over all things to the church. 
 Assuredly the theatre of manifestation derives its im- 
 portance, not from its physical extent, nor from the 
 number or consequence of its inhabitants, but from the 
 nature of the manifestations themselves. These, by 
 contrast with the comparative insignificance of the 
 place of exhibition, may have a glory and a signifi- 
 cance not possible under any other circumstances. 
 Thus, in the most wonderful and surprising instance, 
 when the eternal Son took on him the nature, not of 
 angels, but of men, he took the form of a servant, 
 and sojourned with persons in the humblest walks of 
 life. They who looked for displays of worldly pride 
 and grandeur were offended ; but to the intelligent 
 universe the manifestations of the Divine perfections 
 which were made in this scene, were doubtless of such 
 engrossing interest and surpassing glory, that they 
 could be aided only by the widest contrast with the 
 terrestrial and outward circumstances of their exhibi- 
 tion — such that a display of worldly greatness, pride 
 
186 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 or power, would have been to the last degree incon- 
 gruous. 
 
 20. Now in view of the outward and visible mani- 
 festations which have marked the progress of the 
 mediatorial work hitherto, an analogy ib presented 
 strongly favoring that construction of the prophecies 
 which indicates a future period of far more conspicious 
 and glorious exhibitions of the person and rule of the 
 Mediator, than have yet been made. 
 
 21. The atonement accomplished by the sufferings 
 and death of Christ, who l)ore the penalty of the 
 broken law, and satisfied the claims of justice, was the 
 decisive measure in the mediatorial work, by which 
 the success of the entire system was rendered certain; 
 that measure by which the policy of the great adver- 
 sary was confounded, his rebellion checked, and his 
 power broken; that by which the pardon and salvation 
 of sinners was rendered consistent with righteousness; 
 that by which all holy beings were brought into rela- 
 tions of harmony and fellowship. Hence the promi- 
 nence given to this measure in the typical rites of the 
 Jewish dispensation, and its answerable conspicuity 
 in their fulfillment on the cross. And hence likewise 
 the union of saints and angels at the close of the scene, 
 in acts of worship and praise to the lamb that was 
 slain. 
 
 22. The manifestations hitherto made in addition 
 to those incident to the works of Creation, relate es- 
 pecially to the prophetic and sacerdotal offices of the 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 187 
 
 Mediator. These, in connection witli the administra- 
 tion of the Spirit in the effectual application of the 
 Gospel to the elect, are preliminary. His regal office 
 is yet to be signalized in the triumph and consumma- 
 tion of his v/ork, the destruction of his enemies, and 
 the universal acknowledgment of his supremacy and 
 glory. It would seem to be in keeping with the a,na- 
 logy, tendency and purpose of the wliole procedure, 
 that its results in his triumphant reign should be as 
 remarkable for the greatness and splendor of visible 
 manifestations — in comparison with a preceding state 
 of humiliation and suffering — as an exhibition of regal 
 triumph can be in comparison with a state of poverty, 
 lowliness and persecution. 
 
 23. In conformity with this view and anticipation, 
 we are given to understand that on taking possession 
 of his kingdom, he will dissolve and remodel the 
 earth and its atmosphere, restoring them to a state 
 suited, as'they were originally, to be the abode of the 
 righteous. " By the word of God the Heavens were 
 of old, and the earth standing out of the water, and 
 in the water ; whereby, the world that then Avas, 
 being overflowed with water, perished ;" that is, says 
 MacKnight, "lost its primitive constitution and form, 
 by which means, and b}^ the alteration made in its 
 atmosphere, it became a habitation less healthy and 
 fruitful, and less pleasant than formerly; as may be 
 gathered from the shortening of the life of man after 
 the flood, and the present appearance of the earth 
 which is that of a ruin." 
 
 24. " The everlasting possession of Canaan which 
 
188 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 was promised to all the seed, and which must be sure 
 to them all, means the possession of a greater and 
 better and more enduring country than the earthly 
 Canaan, and of which the earthly Canaan was the 
 emblem or type. Now, what country can that be, 
 which all believers are to inherit forever, but the new 
 heaven, and the new earth, which Peter tells us the 
 righteous expect to dwell in, after the destruction of 
 the present material fabric? And as they are to pos- 
 sess it after they regain their bodies, it must be a ma- 
 terial habitation, suited to tlie incorruptible and 
 immortal nature of their new l)odies. This also St. 
 Paul hath shown, by telling us that Abraham and his 
 seed were made 'heirs of the world,' by God's prom- 
 ise, Romans, iv. 13. In like manner Christ hath 
 shown this, when he said, Luke, xx. 25. ' They 
 which are counted worthy to receive that world,' &c. 
 This creation of the new heaven and the new earth, 
 our Apostle, in his sermon to the Jews, hath called, 
 ' the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken 
 by the mouth of all his holy Prophets, since the world 
 began,' Acts, iii. 21. Our Lord himself hath expressly 
 told us, that his disciples are not to be received into 
 the place he hath gone to prepare for them, till he 
 come,' again. The new heaven and the new earth 
 are the common expectation of all Christians, who 
 are therefore admonished to endeavor earnestly to be 
 found of Christ, spotless and irreproachable, in peace." 
 — Ibid., JYotes on 2 Peter, iii. 13. 
 
 25. From the various Scriptures which refer to the 
 subject, it is quite evident that our Lord's kingly 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 189 
 
 office and reigii has a relation to the material world, 
 and to saints and men with material bodies, and will 
 partake largely of outward and visible manifestations. 
 The resurrection of his own body as the earnest and 
 pattern of the resurrection of his saints ; his bodily 
 ascent into heaven, and the assurance that he will so 
 come in like manner as he was seen to ascend ; the 
 scene at his transfiguration, and the references through- 
 out the Old and New Testaments, to his titles and 
 office-work as king, the events to be accomplished 
 under his triumphant rule, and the association of his 
 redeemed people with him as their captain, leader, 
 and elder brother, may be cited in support of this 
 view. 
 
 26. An illustration tending to the same conclusion 
 may be derived from the course pursued by the great 
 adversary, .since his incipient vanquishment and 
 subjugation during our Lord's personal presence on 
 earth, in his strenuous and ceaseless effi)rts to corrupt, 
 counterfeit, and oppose the Gospel, and exterminate 
 the church. While the propagation of the Gospel 
 was sustained by the visible results of miraculous in- 
 terpositions, these efforts were employed in bloody 
 and relentless persecutions, through the instrumen- 
 tality of the hosts and powers of paganism which were 
 still left subject to his domination. To these succeeded 
 the propagation of error and falsehood, and the ad- 
 vance of the mystery of iniquity, with all power and 
 signs and lying wonders, and all deceivableness of 
 unrighteousness ; resulting, as if in anticipation and 
 imitation of the visible supremacy and reign of the 
 Head of the Church, and King of Kings, in the estab- 
 
190 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 lislimcnt of a counterfeit Church, usurping all autho- 
 rity over the world, and combining in its head the 
 prophetical, sacerdotal and regal offices, and in its pro- 
 ceedings, all possible show of outward jjomp, supre- 
 macy and rule. 
 
 27. This view of the mediatorial work in respect 
 to its scope, and the sublimity and glorj'- of its con- 
 summation is commended to the faith and hope of 
 those who look for and desire the glorious appearing 
 of the great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 " who shall change our vile body, that it may be 
 fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to 
 the working, whereby he is able even to subdue all 
 things unto himself." — Phil. iii. 21. 
 
 28. That the manifestations to be made by Christ 
 when he shall " come again" — when he shall come 
 to destroy Antichrist and expel the great adversary 
 from the earth, will be such as relate especially to 
 his regal office, may with great confidence be inferred 
 from several other considerations. The general strain 
 and apparent import of tlie prophetic announcements 
 which refer to him as king, and the nature of the 
 events predicted, the total overthrow and subjugation 
 of enemies, which moral and spiritual influences Iiad 
 failed to subdue, may be referred to in support of this 
 view. So also tlie altered state of the church in re- 
 spect to its ecclesiastical and external aspect, relations 
 and rites. Tlie church hitherto has been, and until 
 the time referred to will remain, in a depressed and 
 suffering condition. It is then to triumph. In its 
 relations to the world it has been su])ject to opposition 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 191 
 
 and persecution. It is then to be exempted fiom 
 enemies. Its ordinances have been adapted to its 
 imperfect and suffering condition, commemorative of 
 its initiatory state, and of the humiliation and suffer- 
 ings of the absent Lord and Redeemer. A great 
 change in these respects is to take place when he 
 comes again. In regard to the holy supper, it is 
 said, " as often as ye eat of this hread and drink of 
 this cup, ye do shew forth the Lord's death till he 
 come ;" apparently signifying that when he comes 
 that commemoration will no longer be required or 
 appropriate ; that its use as a remembrancer of his 
 death will be superceded by his presence, and the 
 new and wondrous scene of regal majesty and glory 
 in which he will appear. If the language imports a 
 cessation of the ordinance when he comes, something 
 more than a spiritual coming, something diverse from 
 what characterizes the present dispensation, must be 
 inferred. 
 
 " Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming 
 of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the 
 precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for 
 it — be ye also patient — stablish your hearts, for the 
 coming of the Lord draweth nigh." — James v. 7, 8. 
 These, and many other exhortations of similar import, 
 imply that a new and quite different state of things 
 externally would attcDd the coming of Christ; that he 
 would then manifest himself in some new and extra- 
 ordinary manner on their behalf, so that the patience 
 required by their present dcpresssed and suffering 
 state would no longer be required, their cause would 
 be vindicated, they would have a present and power- 
 ful protector. They had now his spiritual presence. 
 
192 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 They would (hen behold iheir King, the conqueror 
 of their enemies, the giver of victory and triumph to 
 his people. 
 
 29. Much of what is future in relation to the king- 
 dom and administration of the Mediator, will, it is 
 evident, have all the characters of outward and visi- 
 ble manifestation. The church of Christ will con- 
 tinue to be a visible body, visible to men and angels, 
 on earth and in heaven. On earth, it will continue 
 to be composed of those who publicly profess and 
 visibly appear to be followers of Christ ; and in hea- 
 ven, it will appear and be recognized as the purchased 
 possession, the mystical body, the redeemed family 
 of Christ. 
 
 Until tlie final subjugation of all enemies, the con- 
 duct of wicked men will continue to be a visible 
 spectacle to angels and men. 
 
 Death and its attendant circumstances will continue 
 to be as visible as heretofore, till that enemy shall be 
 destroyed. 
 
 The resurrection of the bodies of men will be a 
 public transaction, attended by manifestations of 
 wondrous power and grandeur, rendering their bodies 
 again visible ; those of the saints, like those of Moses 
 and Elias at the transfiguration, or like the glorified 
 body of Christ ; and those of the wicked such as shall 
 be suited to their final state of misery. 
 
 The reunion of the souls of men with material 
 bodies will require for them a dwelling-place adapted 
 to that condition of their existence, to which they 
 can have appropriate relations, and therefore having 
 visibility. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 193 
 
 The final judgment will be a public and visible 
 transaction, in which the creatures to be judged will 
 undoubtedly be within the view and observation of 
 each other. 
 
 Now, it is asked, will these stupendous events, re- 
 lating to visible scenes, the subjugation of enemies, 
 the resurrection and the judgment, be accomplislied 
 by a spiritual and invisible influence ? Will the con- 
 summation of a system, which at earlier periods was 
 characterized by visible appearances of the Mediator, 
 be perfected by his spiritual appearance only ? Are 
 the Scriptures which announce his second coming, 
 his coming for the destruction of Antichrist, imprison- 
 ment of Satan, and introduction of a state of blessed- 
 ness on earth, to be so construed as to import only a 
 spiritual coming ? 
 
 30. Death, the dissolution of the body, was one of 
 the consequences of sin. Death is therefore one of 
 the works, one of the results of the working of Satan, 
 which is to be destroyed by Christ. He is to van- 
 quish Satan in this respect by exhibiting his power 
 over this result of the apostacy, by raising the dead. 
 
 By death and its attendant circumstances, the ma- 
 lignant nature and power of sin and Satan are visibly 
 represented to all intelligent spectators, to angels as 
 well as to men. The resurrection also is a public 
 and visible transaction, and when the special pur- 
 pose of it as a conquest over Satan is considered, and 
 the peculiarity and the greatness of the work also, and 
 the events of judgment and retribution which are to 
 follow, in which the Mediator is personally to preside, 
 it seems reasonable and even necessary to understand 
 
194 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 the Sciipluie stLitements respecting that transaction, 
 as importing- the presence and visible manifestation 
 of the supremacy and power of Christ. 
 
 31. With respect to those future events which are 
 connected with the destruction of Antichrist, and 
 are to precede the Millenium, they are for the most 
 part as set forth in Scripture, to be external and visi- 
 ble. Immense changes, visible and conspicuous to 
 the view of angels and men, are to take place through- 
 out the world. The visible institutions, governments, 
 and idolatries of the Romish and Pagan world are to 
 be subverted. The civil and ecclesiastical, and out- 
 wardly the religious state of the whole world, Protestant, 
 anti-christian, and Pagan, are to be changed. The 
 dead in part are to be raised. A new and unprece- 
 dented scene which will be hailed with rapturous joy 
 by all holy spectators in heaven and earth is to ensue. 
 A greater revolution in all the affairs of the earth than 
 has ever yet taken place, is to be effected; a revolu- 
 tion destined not merely to change the forms of op- 
 pression, wickedness and misery, not to substitute for 
 the existing a new and untried class of evils ; but a 
 revolution by which all evils, and the instigator and 
 agents of evil shall be expelled and driven out of the 
 earth. Will not He who is to come forth in his ma- 
 jesty as a conqueror to effect this revolution, accom- 
 plish it by manifestations as public and visible, as are 
 the objects and results to be effected by his interpo- 
 sition ? 
 
 32. In the manifestations made by the Mediator, 
 extreme and wonderful contrasts are presented. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL -WORK. 195 
 
 They may be said to characterize all his works, whe- 
 ther of creation, providence, or grace ; by which is 
 indicated not only their design and adaptation for the 
 instruction of creatures, who by beholding extremes 
 and opposites in contrast with each other, are iraj^ress- 
 ed and instructed more eflectually and rapidly than 
 by any other method ; but also, the probability that 
 they will continue to characterize his work hereafter. 
 
 33. Thus, in the works of creation, the widest ex- 
 tremes which our minds are capable of conceiving, are 
 exhibited and contrasted, as well in the natures of 
 things as in their vastness or the opposite, and their 
 relations and uses. Eternity and time, spirit and 
 matter, light and darkness, heat and cold, motion and 
 rest, attraction and repulsion, and innumerable other 
 like instances, are presented in striking contrast. So 
 in the moral world, all intellectual and moral quali- 
 ties and conditions, are exhibited in contrast with their 
 opposites ; as holiness, with sin ; wisdom, with folly ; 
 right, witii wrong ; truth, with falsehood; happiness, 
 with mercy; pleasure, with pain; joy, with grief; 
 hope, with despair ; blessedness, with misery ; and 
 justice, benevolence, mercy, obedience, faith, love, 
 humility, submission, and all other moral qualities 
 and acts, states and conditions. 
 
 34. The works of providence and grace are a com- 
 plete mirror of contrasts, as obvious in all their variety, 
 if attentively consideied — in relation to the visible 
 world, and to individuals, families, and nations, as 
 growth and decay in plants, health and sickness, 
 prosperity and adversity, peace and war, liberty and 
 oppression, life and death, in man. 
 
196 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 35. " The infinity of workls, and the narrow spot 
 of earth which we call our country or our home ; the 
 eternity of ages, and the few hours of life ; the 
 almighty power of God, and human nothingness : it 
 is impossible to think of these in succession, without 
 a feeling like that which is produced by the sublimest 
 eloquence.*' — Brown's Philosophy, vol. 2, p. 38. 
 
 36. But this method of manifestation and instruc- 
 tion is most strikingly exemplified in the character 
 and person of the Mediator. The utmost extremes 
 are combined and contrasted in him. In him the 
 divine and human natures are united. The infinite 
 and finite ; eternity and time ; self-existence and de- 
 pendence ; supreme authorit}' and obedience ; the 
 proprietorship of all things and poverty; infinite glory 
 and the lowest humility ; infinite holiness and justice 
 and infinite grace and compassion ; infinite majesty 
 and perfect meekness ; absolute sovereignty and per- 
 fect resignation, meet in him. The author and giver 
 of life submits to death. The just one dies for the 
 unjust. He who exercises and vindicates divine jus- 
 tice submits to injustice. He who was holy, harm- 
 less separate from sinners, is treated as a sinner, 
 suflfers for sinners. He who was infinitely exalted 
 above all creatures, manifested in his intercourse with 
 creatures the utmost conceivable condescension. — 
 ''Christ is the creator and great possessor of heaven 
 and earth : He is sovereign Lord of all : He rules over 
 the whole universe and doth whatever pleaseth him : 
 His knowledge is without bound : His wisdom is per- 
 fect, and what none can circumvent : His power is 
 infinite, and none can resist him : His riches are 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 197 
 
 immense and inexhaustible : His majesty is infinitely 
 awful, and yet he is one of infinite condescension. 
 None are so low or inferior, but Christ's condescension 
 is sufficient to take a gracious notice of them. He 
 condescends not onl}^ to the angels, humbling himself 
 to behold the things that are done in Heaven, but he 
 also condescends to such poor creaUues as men; and 
 tliat not only so as to take notice of princes and great 
 men, but those tliat are of meanest rank and degree, 
 the " poor of the world." Such as are commonly des- 
 pised by their fellow creatures, Christ does not despise. 
 Christ condescends to take notice of beggars, and of 
 servants, and people of the most despised nations. 
 He that is thus high, condescends to take a gracious 
 notice of little children. "Suffer little children to 
 come unto me." Yea, which is much more, his con- 
 descension is sufficient to take a gracious notice of the 
 most unworthy, sinful creatures., those that have infi- 
 nite ill-deservings. Yea, so great is his condescension, 
 that it is not only sufficient to take some gracious no- 
 tice of such as these, but sufficient for everything that 
 is an act of condescension. It is great enough to take 
 their nature upon him, that he may be one with 
 tliem ; yea, it is great enough to abase himself yet 
 lower for them, even to expose himself to shame and 
 spitting ; yea, to yield up himself to an ignominious 
 death for them> 
 
 " Such a conjunction of such infinite highness and 
 low condescension, in the same person, is admirable. 
 We see, by manifold instances, what a tendency a 
 high station has in men, to make tJiem to be of a 
 quite contrary disposition. If one worm be a little 
 10 
 
198 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 exalted above another, by having- more dust, or a 
 bigger dunghill, how much does he make of himself? 
 What a distance does he keep from those that are 
 below him ! And a little condescension is what he 
 expects should be made much of, and greatly ac- 
 knowledged. Christ condescends to wash our feet 5 
 but how would great men, (or rather the bigger 
 worms) account themselves debased by acts of far 
 less condescension?" — F.i>\vab.ds^ Sermon on the Ex- 
 cellency of Christ^ 
 
 37. Now in view of this method of manifestation 
 and instruction, these diversified and wondrous con- 
 trasts, and of their purpose and use, it is obvious to 
 ask whether the analogy of the past, and the object 
 of all his interpositions will not require a personal 
 and visible manifestation on his part, when he comes 
 to vindicate his ways, to fulfil his promises, and to 
 be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them 
 that believe ; to- vanquish his and their adversary, 
 and to destroy all the visible works of Satan, and put 
 all his visible enemies under his feet 1 Can the sys- 
 tem of manifestation by contrasts be otherwise com- 
 plete 1 Can the majesty, supremacy and glory of 
 Christ, which, as the opposites of condescension, 
 humility and suffering, have hitherto been but par- 
 tially displayed, be otherwise adequately manifested 
 to the view of the dependant universe ? Can a spi- 
 ritual, invisible influence, on that occasion, however 
 it might illustrate his divinity, be supposed adequate- 
 ly to manifest his character as God-man, his majesty, 
 supremacy and glory as Mediator l 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK- 199 
 
 38. It was the office-work of Christ, the Mediator, 
 to manifest the Divine perfections by rev^elations, and 
 visible works and appearances. It is the high calhng- 
 and office-work, so to speak, of his redeemed people 
 to imitate and show forth his praises, in the exercise 
 of all the virtues and g-races which he exhibited ; to 
 be like him in mind and heart, in holiness, meek- 
 ness, and benevolence ; like him, who being rich for 
 our sakes became poor, who when he was reviled 
 reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened 
 not, but committed himself to him that judgeth right- 
 eously. We are to make our light so to shine before 
 men, that they may see our good works and glorify 
 our Father who is in heaven. We are to deny our- 
 selves, take up the cross and follow him. He was 
 made perfect through sufferings ; and we are to glorify 
 him in the fires of temptation and suffering, look- 
 ing unto him alone for succor and protection, while 
 as sojourners, we await with faith and patience his 
 coming and kingdom. 
 
 39. Let it be considered, then, whether the preced- 
 ing view of the mediatorial work, and of the analogies 
 of the outv/ard and visible manifestations of the past, 
 with those which are to be signalized in its period of 
 triumph and final consummation, does not, independ- 
 ently of any theory of interpretation, strongly favor 
 and commend that construction of the prophecies 
 which teaches, not the time when, so as to be de- 
 termined beforehand by any chronological reckoning, 
 but the reality and certainty of the personal advent 
 of the Mediator in power and glory with his holy 
 angels, to take possession of his kingdom, rule and 
 
200 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 judge his enemies, and in the splendor of his regal 
 triumph and reign, to complete his manifestations? 
 Whether this view is not more consonant to the great- 
 ness and majesty of the Son of God, to the nature 
 and relations of the work which he undertook, to the 
 victory over hostile powers which he achieves, to the 
 redemption and reconciliation he accomplishes, the 
 inheritance he gains, and all the high purposes of his 
 mediation, than any views of the future which are to 
 be obtained from any system of interpretation which 
 teaches only a spiritual coming 1 
 
 40. Is there not, in the nature of the case, com- 
 prising as it does a complete dispensation, of which 
 the scenes and events in its progress, are, at its close, 
 to have their perfect developement and illustration, a 
 strong ground of probability, that the ulterior will 
 differ from the earlier manifestations only by their 
 greater publicity and splendor 1 Is there not in the 
 fact, that the prophecies which went before respecting 
 the incarnation, ministry, death and resurrection of 
 Christ, were fulfilled to the letter, just ground to infer 
 that those predictions Avhich relate to his second 
 coming and his kingdom are to be literally accom- 
 plished 1 Is there not in the leading features of the 
 present dispensation ; the repudiation of the Jews ; 
 the mission of the Holy Spirit to gather out of the 
 Gentile nations an elected people ; the decline and 
 extinction both of the churches planted by the apos- 
 tles and of others of later date, when the purpose 
 of that mission had been fulfilled ; the rise and de- 
 velopment of the man of Sin and mystery of iniquity; 
 the reign of the Mahometan imposture over the coun- 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 201 
 
 tries which were first evangelized, including Palestine 
 and the Holy City ; the ever stinted and partial, and 
 often scarcely tolerated influence of the Gospel over 
 the governments and peoples nominally termed 
 Christian; the continued reign of darkness, delusion, 
 idolatry and misery over the general population of 
 the whole world ; the divisions, heresies and defec- 
 tions which have blighted every portion even of the 
 Protestant church ; the little succe-s and rapid de- 
 cline of the best efforts, to extend the sway of the 
 Gospel or arrest the tide of evil, in which the agency 
 of men, even the wisest and best men, has been 
 conspicuous ; the early corruption and decay of the 
 purest institutions, under the influence and manage- 
 ment of man ; the manifest inadequacy of the press, 
 of political and religious liberty, knowledge, science, 
 art, and all means, facilities and helps, to give effi- 
 cacy to the Gospel, or preserve its sway over the 
 hearts and lives of men, or do more than exhibit 
 man's insufficiency, and show that the excellence of 
 the power is all of God : in short, is there not in every 
 feature of this dispensation, in tlie state of the church 
 and of the world since the power of Christ ceased to 
 be miraculously interposed ; the fact, that since that 
 period the real, in distinction from the nominal and 
 counterfeit church, has barely been preserved, and 
 that for the most part in the seclusion and obscurity 
 of the wilderness sliielded from the view and reach 
 of the destroyer ; is there not in all the aspects and 
 lessons of the past, and in the present state and pro- 
 spects of the church and the world, abundant ground 
 to conclude, that to man has not been assigned the 
 task of subverting the thrones of darkness, destroying 
 
202 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 the institutions of idolatry, imposture and wickedness, 
 confining the arch leader, and vanquishing the hosts 
 and powers of rebellion : that such conquest and vic- 
 tory belong to Him alone who is King of kings, to 
 whom all power is given, who for the joy that was 
 set before him endured the cross, and to whom alone 
 in his victory and triumph will be ascribed the glory; 
 and that a new and different scene is to be introduced, 
 the dispensation of the fullness of times, in which the 
 power of Satan is to be utterly crushed, his evil in- 
 fluence suspended, and himself confined; the spell 
 and charm of delusion dissipated, and the darkness of 
 infidelity and error dispersed by the splendor of the 
 Sun of Righteousness ? 
 
 41. That the times of the Gentiles are fast drawing 
 to a close, and the commencement of a new dispen- 
 sation not far distant, is supposed to be indicated by 
 what is now passing in Protestant Christendom, in the 
 empire of papal domination, and in different parts of 
 the pagan world — and especially by the workings of 
 Satan in these two latter fields with all power and 
 lying wonders, and all deceivableness of unrighteous- 
 ness in them who believe not the truth, but have 
 pleasure in unrighteousness. 
 
 42. The separation of the sound from the unsound 
 in several of the leading Protestant churches within a 
 brief period, and the indications of a probable division 
 in the ranks of episcopacy, are characterized by 
 nothing more strikingly, than on the one part by an 
 increased reverence of the Lord Jesus Christ as God- 
 Man, the only Mediator, Prophet, Priest and King of 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 203 
 
 his church, increased reliance on his atonement and 
 intercession, and increased attachment to those doc- 
 trines of his word, which give all glory and praise to 
 him, and are most humbling to man; and on the other 
 part by derogatory views of Him and his work, exalted 
 views of man, the rapid growth of popish influence, 
 and the prevalence of delusive and atheistical theories 
 and schemes for abolishing the institutions, customs 
 and evils by which the human race is afflicted and op- 
 pressed, remodelling society, and realizing a paradise 
 of ideal perfectibility, without government. Sabbath 
 or church. These atheistical, man-exalting systems, 
 if not manifestly due to the immediate instigation of 
 Satan, must be acknowledged to be auxiliary to his 
 purposes, and altogether in harmony with them. And 
 when the Mediator in his providence rebukes and 
 defeats them, he counteracts the work of Satan. 
 
 43. These events are signally in contrast with the 
 hopes and expectations which for a length of time have 
 been cherished, throughout Protestant Christendom, 
 of a state of millennial blessedness to be gradually 
 but speedily brought about by the use of existing and 
 ordinary means. 
 
 44. The separations of churches, and the new 
 schemes of human device are strongl}^ marked by new 
 and wide spread exhibitions of tire spirit of popish 
 delusion and imposture on the one hand ; and on the 
 other by a clearer discernment of the working of Satan 
 in the Romish and all the subordinate man-exalting 
 systems of error. In place of a steady and growing 
 
204 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 progress of Scriptural truth and influence, supplanting- 
 atheism, falsehood and superstition, and undermining 
 especially the strong- holds of Romanism, new sig-ns 
 of life and vigor in the beast, and the false prophet, 
 are every where seen. The Popish power from being 
 long in a comparatively dormant state, has become 
 active and aggressive. Not only throughout nominal 
 Christendom, but in every part of the pagan world its 
 influences and its emissaries are at work. Wherever 
 Protestant missions have been sent, antagonist Popish 
 missions have followed. The spirit of Popery, and to 
 a large extent, its forms of superstition and idolatry, 
 are regaining their sway over the kingdoms and terri- 
 tories of the ten horned beast, including England, and 
 all the signals of progress and success are exhibited 
 with boldness and confidence. 
 
 45. These events, so contrary to the supposed spirit 
 of the age, as characterized by the distribution of the 
 Scriptures, the propagation of the Gospel by missions, 
 the progress of knowledge and science, the discon- 
 tinuance of war and culture of the arts of peace, the 
 amelioration of laws and growth of temperance, hu- 
 manity and industrial pursuits, cannot but be regarded 
 as portentous and alarming. 
 
 46. Is it too much to say that since the revival of 
 Missionary eflforts about the commencement of the 
 present century, there has been a great falling oflT in 
 regard to the true and only Scriptural grounds of con- 
 fidence of success in such efforts ? Have not mere 
 human benevolence and sympathy, human agency, 
 instrumentality and device, usurped the place of that 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 205 
 
 faiih, and that reliance upon the Mediator and the 
 Holy Spirit, which alone warrant any confidence of 
 real, or to any great extent even of seeming" success ? 
 Are not these efforts, like mere secular undertakings, 
 largely characterized as depending simply upon man 1 
 Is not the human sympathy and pecuniary benevo- 
 lence which they challenge and enlist, tlieir chief 
 element, that which they exhibit and boast as most 
 essential? Do they not proceed upon most inade- 
 quate views of the actual state and character of man 
 as a fallen being, and of the work of redemption and 
 mediation, through which alone there is deliverance 
 from sin and from the power of Satan ?* Do they 
 not as a whole and in their general aspect, proceed 
 as if upon the assumption, that the object to be accom- 
 plished required only pecuniary means and human 
 agency, influence and zeal ? Do they not, in a great 
 measure at least, proceed regardless of the nature and 
 ends of the present dispensation, unmindful of the 
 nature and scope of the mediatorial work, and of the 
 sovereignty, supremacy and glory of the Mediator 1 
 Do they not proceed much as they would if men were 
 not in a state of rebellion against God, but only in a 
 state of ignorance, degeneracy and depression; and 
 as if there were no mali o-nant powerful adversary to 
 
 * " There are two things especially that make modern fash- 
 ionable divines look on doctrines of revealed religion, of little import- 
 ance. One is their mistake about the conditions of salvation ; 
 another is, their mistake about the nature of true virtue, placing it 
 chiefly, and most essentially, in benevolence to men, and so little in 
 respect to God and Christ." — President Edwards, on Mysteries of 
 Scripture, vol. ii., § 18. 
 
 10* 
 
206 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 be overcome'? Do they not seem to assume that the 
 idolatrous nations, which, by the righteous judgment 
 of God have been so long left under the influence and 
 bondage of Satan, were in respect to the gospel and 
 the present dispensation on the same footing with 
 Protestant communities, where there are children of 
 the covenant and of the promise made to Abraham, 
 and were to be delivered and their cruel deceiver and 
 tyrant to be overcome and destroyed by human instru- 
 mentality and means 1 
 
 47. These questions proceed not from any disposi- 
 tion to undervalue the character, or disparage the 
 motives of holy and devoted men, who are embarked 
 in the cause of missions, nor from any want of zeal 
 for the object which they have in view ; but from 
 what is believed to be due to Him who is Head over 
 all things to the Church, and who claims and will 
 have the glory of being the destroyer of his and her 
 enemies, vanquishing Satan, and subverting the 
 thrones of darkness. Instead of enlarging upon the 
 subject, the following passage from the Princeton Re- 
 view is subjoined, including an extract from a sermon 
 preached by Rev. Francis Goode, before the Church 
 Missionary Society in Britain. 
 
 48. Extracts from the Review of " Mammon and 
 Anti-Mammon,^'' in the Biblical Repertory and 
 Princeton Review, for April, 1839. 
 
 The Reviewers quote a portion of the unseriptural 
 sentiments advanced by the author of "Mammon,'^ 
 as samples of the errors which were becoming widely 
 prevalent; such as, <' that in the creation of man. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 207 
 
 God designed that he should fabricate his own happi- 
 ness — that sin frustrated the Divine intention, de- 
 stroyed it even in its type and model — that by the 
 Gospel, God endeavors to regain what he had lost by 
 the fall — that by a spirit of worldly gain, an enter- 
 prise of mercy in which God had embarked his high- 
 est glory, and which involved the happiness of the 
 world, was arrested and lost — that he is yearning for 
 the happiness of the perishing world ; but such is his 
 Divine plan, that he has only the instrumentality of 
 his Church to work by, and that is so steeped in the 
 spirit of selfishness, that His grace is held under re- 
 straint — that self-love in man, is the principle which 
 impels him, and is not only consistent with piety, but 
 is the stock on which all piety in lapsed man is 
 g-rafted; that piety is only the principle of self-love, 
 carried out in the right direction, and seeking its Su- 
 preme happiness in God. That it is the act or habit 
 of a man who so loves himself, as to give himself to 
 God ; that selfishness is fallen self-love ; that sin is 
 evil and ruinous not because it is rebellion against 
 God, but because it is committed against the sinner 
 himself and is at war with his happiness; that the 
 great want of fallen humanity is a specific against 
 selfishness, the epidemic disease of our nature ; that 
 it is the glory of the Gospel that it was calculated and 
 arranged on the principle of restoring to the world the 
 lost principle of benevolence ; that the character of 
 Christ was formed on the principle of a laborious en- 
 deavor to recall^he departed spirit of benevolence, 
 and that in all he did, he thought of the world ; that 
 he instituted a Church for the express purpose of era- 
 ploying it for the benefit of the world ; that he consti- 
 
208 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 tuted the church, guardians of the most sacred 
 rights in the universe, trustees for the world, execu- 
 tors of the happiness he had bequeathed to man; 
 that no elements essential to success have been left 
 out of its arrangements ; that all those elements have 
 always been in the possession of the Church ; that 
 the Gospel has been threatened, age after age, with 
 failure, owing entirely to the selfishness of the church ; 
 that he consecrated the church to the high office 
 of converting the world ; that the church is now has- 
 tening to atone for the past, by instituting one society 
 after another ; and that it is not in accordance with 
 the declarations of Scripture, to ascribe the present 
 condition of the heathen to the divine sovereignty !" 
 
 In relation to these and other extracts of like pur- 
 port, the Reviewers in the course of their comments, 
 say, " An erroneous conception of the nature and 
 design of the church, we consider the leading error of 
 this author and of that system of theology which he 
 advocates, and which has gone far in England as it 
 has in this country to dethrone Christ, and to lead 
 men to question whether there be any Holy Ghost." 
 And again : " Such is the doctrine which is becoming 
 current in certain portions of the church, which with 
 a sickly affectation of piety, rather than allow the 
 condemnation and present outcast condition of the 
 heathen to be the manifestation of divine anger, and 
 of the ' righteous judgment' of God, strips God of all 
 that constitutes him supreme, infinite and glorious, 
 as the sovereign of the Universe." And finally : 
 " As we regard this subject of vital importance, and 
 one which has not been duly considered, we would 
 quote the language of the Rev. Francis Goode, the 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 209 
 
 author of 'The Better Covenant,' in his sermon be- 
 fore the Church Missionary Society, in April last :" 
 viz — 
 
 49. " There is yet one topic left with which I will 
 conclude : a topic intimately connected with Mission- 
 ary enterprize, and too important, in every way, to 
 be omitted ; though, to some of you perhaps, it may 
 seem, by what shall be said, rather to damp your 
 energies in this holy cause. I mean our legitimate 
 expectations : the prospects of success which the 
 word of God authorizes Christians to expect in this 
 work and labor of love. 
 
 '' I am aware that there are those, who look for 
 the universal establishment of the Gospel in the earth, 
 the promised enlargement and triumph of the church 
 in the latter day, as the result of efforts, such as this 
 and other Societies are making for the diffusion of the 
 light of life. By these they trust that the present 
 twilight of Christian principle will, gradually and im- 
 perceptibly, increase into the brightness of the day 
 of glory and universal blessedness, of which all pro- 
 phecy is full. My brethren, I should be extremely 
 sorry, on this interesting occasion, unnecessarily to 
 do violence to the prejudices of any ; but it is due to 
 truth to confess, that I have no such expectations. I 
 am deeply convinced, that they are grounded on en- 
 tirely mistaken views of the character of the present 
 Gentile dispensation. The times of the Gentiles, 
 (Luke xxi. 24,) which are now fast running out, 
 are times (as I conceive) in which God (according to 
 that remarkable, but little heeded testimony of St. 
 James) is visiting the Gentiles, to take out of them a 
 
210 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 people unto his name. (Acts xv. 14.) They are 
 times, therefore, of an election, and of an election 
 only, so long as they last ; and the most rapid and 
 superficial glance at the history of the church, 
 and especially of Christian missions, is sufficient to 
 show, that hitherto, at least, such has been the char- 
 acter of the dispensation throughout the 1800 years, 
 during which it has continued. No where has Chris- 
 tianity been permanent in anything like its original 
 purity. The light is gone out, which once shone so 
 bright in the seven churches of Asia. The same has 
 been the case with Carthage and its neighborhood — 
 Christian Egypt — Christian Persia — where are ihey? 
 These countries are Christian no longer. Christianity 
 has visited place after place, not retaining its con- 
 quests ; but remaining, perhaps for a few centuries, 
 at most, it has taken out a people and been content. 
 No where has there been an instance of a truly right- 
 eous nation ; of Christianity sanctifying the great 
 mass of a population ; of a people generally and truly 
 righteous ; acknowledging Christ as king, and order- 
 ing themselves by his laws. Such has been our ex- 
 perience hitherto, and such we believe it will be, 
 ''till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Then, 
 and not before, the present dispensation will be suc- 
 ceeded by a dispensation of glory, introduced by the 
 King himself, whose name is Jehovah our righteous- 
 ness. (Jer. xxiii. 6.) Then shall be seen in the 
 restored Jewish nation the first example of a truly 
 righteous nation ; as it is foretold of them, th)' people 
 shall be all righteous ; they shall inherit the land for 
 ever. (Isa. Ix. 21.) And then shall all those glorious 
 predictions receive their literal and full accomplish- 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 211 
 
 ment, which describe the reign of holiness and hap- 
 piness throug-hout the earth. The earth shall be 
 filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, 
 as the waters cover the sea. (Habuk. ii. 14.) From 
 the rising of the sun even unto the going down of 
 the same, my name, (saith Jehovah) shall be great 
 among the Gentiles ; and, in every place, incense 
 shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering. 
 (Mai. i. 11.) 
 
 "Thus the triumph, the full establishment of his 
 gospel in the earth, is reserved to Jesus himself: the 
 Light of the world — the Sun of righteousness. And I 
 feel that these sober and chastened views of the pro- 
 bable result of missionary exertion, in the present 
 dispensation, are of the utmost importance, if we 
 would escape discouragement, and mortification, at 
 the supposed faikne of legitimate hopes, in the conti- 
 nued prevalence of ungodliness, both at home and 
 abroad. A painful and very injurious reaction must 
 be the consequence of extravagant and unscriptural 
 expectation, as if the universal triumph of the Gospel 
 were to be achieved by any instrumentality, such as 
 is now employed. Beloved, ye are indeed the light 
 of the world ; but mistake not the character in which 
 ye shine. Ye are the candle of the Lord in the midst 
 of prevailing darkness. Ye may, ye shall illuminate 
 the night; but ye may not utterly dispel and annihi- 
 late it. It is Jesus himself, who is the sun. It is his 
 manifestation, which shall make that day of glory, to 
 which all prophecy directs our longing gaze. But in 
 the mean time, remember your privilege is not small. 
 It is the very same with that of apostles themselves, 
 and of prophets, and all the cloud of witnesses who 
 
212 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 preceded them; by all means to save some, (1 Cor. 
 xiv. 22) : to shine for Christ amidst sarronnding- gloom ; 
 yes, and by your blessed shining, to gather out to 
 Christ, in successive generations, a multitude which 
 no man can number, out of every kindred, and tongue, 
 and people, and nation, (Rev. vii. 9) . Let your light 
 then so shine before men, that they may see your 
 good works, and glorify j^our father which is in heaven. 
 Be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in 
 the work of the lord, for as much as ye know that 
 your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Amen. (1 
 Cor. XV. 58.) 
 
 50. The following are some of the passages in 
 which his future personal advent is expressly declared 
 or plainly assumed; and which cannot be interpreted 
 as meaning only a spiritual or invisible coming. 
 
 "This same Jesus which is taken up from you into 
 heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen 
 him go into heaven." — Acts i. 11. 
 
 "Behold he cometli with clouds and every eye shall 
 see him and they also which pierced him ; and all 
 kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him." — 
 Rev. i. 7. 
 
 " We which are alive and remain unto the coming 
 of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep ; 
 for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with 
 a shout," &c. — 1 Thes. iv. 15, 16. 
 
 "When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from 
 heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking 
 vengeance on them that know not God, and that 
 obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." — 2 
 Thes. i. 7, 8. 
 
THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 213 
 
 "The Son of Man shall come in the glory of his 
 Father with the his angels." — Matt. xvi. 27.. 
 
 "As the lightning cometh out of the east, and 
 shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming 
 of the Son of Man be."— Ibid. xxiv. 27. 
 
 " For as in the days that were before the flood, they 
 were eating, &c., so shall also the coming of the Son 
 of Man be."— Ibid. 24. 
 
 "Ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein 
 the Son of Man cometh. — Ibid. 24. 
 
 "When the Son of Man shall come in his glory 
 and all the holy angels with him." — Ibid. 
 
 " Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man 
 in heaven ; and then shall all the iribes of the earth 
 mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in 
 the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." 
 Ibid. xxiv. 30. 
 
 " When Christ who is our life shall appear, then 
 shall ye also appear with him in glory." Col. iii. 4. 
 
 " Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many : 
 and to them that look for him shall he appear the 
 second time without sin unto salvation." Heb. ix. 28. 
 
 " When the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall 
 receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." 
 1 Pet. v. 4. 
 
 " Abide in him ; that when he shall appear we 
 may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him 
 at his coming." 1 John ii. 28. 
 
 " We know that when he shall appear we shall 
 be like him, for we shall see him as he is." Ibid, 
 iii. 2. 
 
 " I give thee charge — that thou keep this com- 
 
214 THE MEDIATORIAL WORK. 
 
 mandment — until the appearing of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." 1 Tim. vi. 14. 
 
 " Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious 
 appearing of the great God and [even] our Saviour 
 Jesus Christ ; who gave himself for us." Titus i. 13. 
 
 " That the trial of your faith — might be found unto 
 praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus 
 Christ." 1 Pet. i. 7. 
 
 " Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord 
 come, who both will bring to light the hidden things 
 of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of 
 the hearts," &c. 1 Cor. iv. 5. 
 
 "As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, 
 ye do show the Lord's death till he come." Ibid, 
 xi. 26. 
 
 *'That which ye have already, hold fast till I come." 
 Rev. ii. 25. 
 
 " Ye come behind in no gift ; waiting for the coming 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. i. 7. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 
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 CAVLORO 
 
 
 
 PRINTED INU.S.A.