The Christian Life Part 2 Volume 2, Section 5

The Christian Life Part 2 Volume 2 · Section 5

p. 183SECT. V. Of Christ's Intercession, or presenting his Sacrifice to God in Heaven, by way of Advocation for us.

I NOW proceed to the second Act of our Saviour's Priesthood, corresponding to that ancient Priesthood, in which it was typified and prefigured, viz. his presenting his Sacrifice to God in Heaven, thereby to move God, as our Advocate, to be merciful and propitious to us. In discoursing of which I shall endeavour,

First, To explain the nature of that Advocation which he performs by presenting his sacrificed body in Heaven.

Secondly, To shew the admirable tendency of this Method of God's communicating his graces and favours to us, through the Intercession and Advocation of our Saviour to reduce and reform Mankind.

As for the First, viz. the Nature of this our Saviour's Advocation for us in Heaven, it may be thus defined, It is a solemn address of our blessed Saviour to God the Father in our behalf, wherein by presenting to him his own Sacrificed body, and by continuing and perpetuating the presentation of it, he doth effectually move and solicite him graciously to receive and accept our Prayer, and to impower him to bestow on us all those graces and favours, which p. 184in consideration of his Sacrifice God hath promised to us. For the better understanding of which Definition I shall distinctly explain the several parts of it, which are these four:

First, It is a solemn address of our blessed Saviour to God the Father in our behalf.

Secondly, This Address is performed by the presenting his Sacrificed body to the Father in Heaven.

Thirdly, It is continued and perpetuated by the perpetual Oblation or presenting of this his sacrificed body.

Fourthly, In vertue of this perpetual Oblation he doth always successfully move and solicite God; and this,

First, To receive and graciously accept our sincere and hearty Prayers; and,

Secondly, To impower him to bestow on us all those graces and favours which in consideration of his Sacrifice God hath promised to us.

I. This Advocation of Christ in Heaven is a solemn address to the Father in our behalf. And this is implied in the very word Advocation; for the proper business of an Advocate is to address in the behalf of his Client, to the Party with whom he is concerned, or to plead the Cause of his Client with some Person with whom he hath some difference, or from whom he expects some favour. Now S. Iohn tells us, that we have an Advocate with the Father, Iesus Christ the righteous, 1 John 2.1. which must therefore necessarily imply his addressing to the Father in our behalf, in order to the composing that difference which sin hath made between him and us, and to the obtaining p. 185for us his mercy and favour. For in this sence the Greek word foreign, which we here render Advocate, is generally used among all Authors, vide Outram de Sacrif. p. 360. And so also the word Intercession signifies to address for one person to another, in order to the reconciling some matter of difference between them, or to the obtaining from the one some favour for the other. And therefore since Jesus Christ is said to intercede for us at the right hand of God, Rom. 8.34. this Intercession also must necessarily imply his making application to God in our behalf. For so the Phrase foreign, which we render to intercede for, signifies to advocate or plead the cause of another; as on the contrary foreign doth always signifie to accuse, Rom. 11.2. 1 Maccab. 8.32. and 1 Maccab. 10.61. and 1 Mac. 11.25. And consequently when our Saviour is said foreign, it must necessarily denote his addressing himself to God as our Advocate, to plead our cause, and solicite our interest; and accordingly, Heb. 9.24. we are told that Christ is entered into Heaven it self, now to appear in the presence of God for us, which phrase cannot without infinite force be otherwise understood, than of his appearing for us as our Advocate to God. By all which it appears that in this his intercession for us, our Saviour addresses to God the Father, from whose bountiful hands he procures and receives all those blessings and favours which he derives to us. So that the Father is the Fountain whence all our blessings flow, and the Son is the Channel that receives them thence, and conveys them down to us. For, as he is Mediator, the Son can bestow nothing p. 186on us in his own right, independently from the Father, whose Minister he is, and by whose Commission and Authority he acts; And since they are all his Father's goods which he bestows upon us, he cannot justly bestow them without his leave and consent, the obtaining of which is the great business of his Intercession, whereby he continually moves and solicites the Father to grant to him those good things in our behalf, which as the high Almoner of the Father's graces and favours he bestows upon us. So that whatsoever he gives to us he receives of the Father, and whatsoever he receives of the Father he procures by his intercession with, and address to him in our behalf.

II. This address is performed by the presenting his sacrificed body to the Father in Heaven. For thus, as was shewed before, the High Priest's address to God, for the People, consisted in presenting the bloud of the sacrifice to him, in sprinkling it upon and before the Mercy-Seat, which was the Throne of the divine Majesty. For he made no vocal Prayer for them in the Holy of Holies, and consequently he performed not his intercession by words, but by actions; and the principal action he performed there was sprinkling the bloud of the Sacrifice, which action was a very significant Intercession, importing this Sense, O God, I beseech thee, accept this bloud which I offer thee for the lives of thy People which are forfeited to thee. And accordingly our blessed Saviour after he had offered up himself a Sacrifice for our sins upon Earth, ascends into Heaven, the true Antitype of the Holy of Holies, and there presents not his bloud but his sacrificed body to the p. 187Father, that body which not long before bled and died on the Cross, and which, as it seems probable, carried with it all the wounds it received in its Crucifixion; for by the story of Thomas it is certain it retained them after its Resurrection. And by thus presenting his sacrificed body to the Father, he did what the High Priest did when he sprinkled the bloud of his Sacrifice, i. e. he interceded for us with God; and indeed he interceded more prevalently by this significant action, than if he had used all the Eloquence of Men and Angels. For his wounds are vocal, and his bloud speaks, yea, and not only speaks better things for us than the bloud of Abel spoke, but also expresses what it speaks far more powerfully and emphatically than it is possible for any verbal Oratory to do. So that by the presenting to his Father his wounded and bleeding body, which carries with it an inexhaustible fountain of Rhetorique and Persuasion, he makes the most moving and pathetical intercession for us, the sense of which is this, though the full force and Emphasis of it no Language can express, O my Father behold this sacrificed body of mine, which, by thy consent and approbation, hath been substituted to bear the punishment which was due to thee from Mankind; and through the wounds of which I have chearfully poured out the precious bloud of God, as a ransom for the sins of the World; for the sake of this bloud therefore be thou so far propitious to those miserable sinners it was shed for, as, upon condition they shall repent, to accept it in exchange for the lives of their Souls which are forfeited to thee, to release them from the Obligation they are under to die eternally, and p. 188upon their final perseverance in well-doing to crown them with eternal life; and that this bloud which at thy command I have willingly shed for them may not, through their inability to repent and persevere, be utterly ineffectual to them; O send thy Holy Spirit to assist their weak faculties, to excite their endeavours, and co-operate with them. This is the Language of Christ's sacrificed body in Heaven, and these are the better things which his bloud bespeaks for us. For his bloud bespeaks those good things for us in Heaven for which he shed it upon Earth, i. e. the remission of our sins, and our eternal life; of which blessings his bloud being the price that God had promised to accept, his presenting it to him in Heaven not only speaks for, but humbly demands them, as carrying with it the unanswerable claim of an accepted Price to a stated Purchace. So that this address which Christ makes for us to God in heaven is not performed by him after the manner of a prostrate Supplicant, with bended knees, up-lifted hands, and lowly supplications, but in such a manner as comports with the Kingly Majesty he is advanced to, and so as at the same time to assert his own right of purchace in the blessings he addresses for, and yet to acknowledge God to be the supreme fountain and disposer of them. And this the Scripture tells us he performs by appearing in the presence of God for us, and presenting his sacrificed body to him as a standing motive to prevail with him to be propitious to us, and to crown us with all those graces and favours in consideration of which he laid down his life for us. And accordingly he is said to offer himself to God for us in p. 189heaven, Heb. 9.25. and to offer his one Sacrifice, i. e. to God in heaven, for sin for ever, Heb. 10.12. By which offering or presenting his Sacrifice to God, he doth at once claim for us by the right of his purchace all those good things for which he paid down the price of his bloud, and also by a silent desire pray to God to bestow them upon us, whereby he acknowledges him to be the sovereign disposer of them. So that this significant action of Christ's presenting his sacrificed body to God is both a Claim and a Prayer, or rather it is a Prayer backt and enforced with a rightful claim to the blessings he prays for. For so for that particular blessing of the Spirit, he himself tells us, I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, John 14.16. not that he offers up any other Prayer to the Father but what his wounds and bloud continually make, which with incessant importunity do move and solicite God in our behalf; but his meaning is this, by presenting that Sacrifice to my Father in Heaven, which I am going to offer on the Cross, and by which, among other blessings, I shall purchace of my Father his Holy Spirit for you, I will pray him to send his Holy Spirit to you, I will pray him by my wounds and bloud, which are a thousand times more moving and eloquent than any vocal Prayer I can offer in your behalf; for while they pray him to send his Spirit to you, they lay an undeniable claim to what they pray for, as being the dear and inestimable price by which I am purchasing his Spirit for you. From all which it is evident that this address which Christ now makes for us to his p. 190Father in Heaven, consists in the presenting his sacrificed body to him, by which he both prays to him, and claims what he prays for.

III. It is by the continued and perpetual oblation or presentment of this his sacrificed body to the Father that Christ continues and perpetuates this his address or intercession in our behalf. For the fi…st presenting or o…lation of his sacrificed body in Heaven was the beginning and commencement of his intercession, and the whole progress of his intercession is nothing but that same oblation continued and perpetuated. For as the High Priest was interceding for the people all the time that he was presenting the bloud of the Sacrifice before the Lord, so Christ is interceding for us all the while that he is presenting his sacrificed body in Heaven. For it is by the presence of his sacrificed body that he intercedes, and therefore so long as his body is present in Heaven, so long he must be interceding by it in our behalf. So that between the Iewish High Priest's Intercession and Christ's there is this vast difference, that the former presented himself in the Holy of Holies with his Sacrifice, and consequently interceded by it, but once a year, viz. on the great day of Expiation, whereas the latter continually presents his Sacrifice in Heaven, and so doth continually intercede by it; and whereas the bloud which the High Priest presented was so mean and inconsiderable that the whole vertue of it was still spent in one Act of Intercession, as not being available enough for him to intercede with it twice, insomuch that in every new act of Intercession he was still fain to present new bloud; the bloud of Christ was of p. 191that infinite moment and value as that though he makes a continued and perpetuated Intercession by it, yet the vertue and efficacy, the power and prevalency of it with God remains fresh and unimpaired, so that he needs not sacrifice again that so he may have new bloud to present, but with that which he shed 1600. years ago he still intercedes for us with the same effect and success as when he first presented it to his Father in Heaven. Upon which account there was no need that he should offer himself often, as the High Priest entered into the holy place every year, with bloud of others: for then must he have often suffered, since the foundation of the World; but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself, Heb. 9.25, 26. So that Christ's one Sacrifice being of perpetual vertue and efficacy, and being, as such, perpetually presented to the Father in heaven, he therewithal makes a continued and uninterrupted Intercession for us, and will continue to do so to the end of the World. Hence we are said to be sanctified through the offering of the body of Iesus once for all, Heb. 10.10. And whereas every Priest standeth daily ministring and offering oftentimes the same Sacrifices which can never take away sin, this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever sate down on the right hand of God, vers. 11, 12. and this offering his one Sacrifice for sins in heaven being for ever, it is a perpetually continued act of Intercession for us. For so it is said that he ever lives to make intercession for us, Heb. 7.25. i. e. he ever lives in Heaven, so as by his perpetual presence there to make perpetual Intercession p. 192for us. And upon the account of the perpetuity of this his Priestly Act of Intercession he is said to have an unchangeable Priesthood not barely because he continues for ever, for so he might have done and yet …eased to have been a Priest, but because he continues for ever exercising his Priesthood, or presenting his Sacrifice, Heb. 7.24. And hence also he is said to be a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedeck, that is, not only to be a Royal Priest, as Melchisedeck was, which, as I shewed before, was the proper Character of Melchisedeck's Priesthood, but to be a Royal Priest for ever, Heb. 7.17. For Melchisedeck was not only a Royal Priest, but also a Type or Shadow of an eternal Royal Priest; and that, as he was without Father, and without Mother, without descent, or Genealogy, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a Priest continually, Heb. 7.3. where the Phrase foreign, without descent, or Genealogy, explains what is meant by without Father, and without Mother, i. e. without any Father or Mother mentioned in the Genealogies of Moses; so the Syriac version, whose Father and Mother are neither of them recorded in the Genealogies; in which he very much differed from the Aaronical Priests, whose Fathers and Mothers names were constantly recorded in the Jewish Genealogies, as appears from Esdr. 11.62. and so also Philo on the Decalogue tells us, foreign, i. e. the descent and Progeny of the Priests is kept with all manner of exactness. So that there being no Genealogy at all of Melchisedeck in Scripture, p. 193he is introduced into the History like a man dropt down from Heaven, for so the Text goes on, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, i. e. in the History of Moses, which, contrary to its common usage, when it makes mention of great men, takes no notice at all of the time, either of Melchisedeck's birth or death; and herein he is made like unto the Son of God, i. e. by the History of Moses, which mentions him appearing and acting upon the Stage without either entrance or exit, as if like the Son of God he had abode a Priest continually. So that as Moses's History treats of Melchisedeck, without taking any notice of his beginning or end, as if he were a Royal Priest for ever, so Christ in truth and reality is a Royal Priest for ever, because by the perpetual Oblation and presenting his Sacrifice to the Father, he perpetually exercises his Priesthood, and makes a continued intercession for Mankind.

IV. This address being made by the continued Oblation or presenting of his sacrificed body to the Father, is in the vertue thereof always effectual and successful. For his Sacrifice, as hath been shewn at large, was the price of his purchace of those blessings he intercedes for; the price which God by a solemn agreement with our Saviour had obliged himself to admit and accept. For the only blessings he intercedes for, are those which are specified in the New Covenant, which New Covenant God granted to Mankind in consideration of the meritorious Death and Sacrifice of our Saviour; and accordingly when he went to offer up himself a Sacrifice for us, he tells us that it was foreign, according to what was determined, or p. 194agreed on between his Father and himself, Luke 22.22. And hence our Saviour tells us, that his Father in consideration of what he was to suffer, did foreign, Covenant to him a Kingdom, Luke 22.29. which Kingdom includes a Kingly power to bestow upon his faithful Subjects the Rewards of his Religion, which are the blessings of the New Covenant; and of this Covenant, by which God obliged himself in consideration of Christ's Death, to bestow this Kingly power upon him, that of Heb. 10.7. seems to be intended, then said I, Lo I come, in the Volume of the Book it is written of me, to do thy will O God; where foreign, which we render the Volume of the Book, may perhaps be more truly translated the Instrument, Indenture, or Covenant that is between thee and me. For so the Hebrew foreign, to which the Greek foreign answers, signifieth any sort of writing, and particularly a Bill, Deut. 24.1. according to which sence, foreign must here signifie the volume or folding of a Bill, or, which is all one, an Indenture or Covenant. When therefore he s…ith, Lo I come, in the Indenture or Cov…nant which is between thee and me, by which thou has… bequeathed or covenanted to me a Kingdom, or power to bestow such and such blessings on my faithful Subjects, in this Covenant, I say, it is exprest or written, that I should come to do thy will, i. e. to offer up that body which thou hast prepared for me, a Sacrifice for the sins of the World, ver. 5. And indeed how could it have been foretold of him, as it is Isa. 53. that he should justifie many by bearing their iniquities, and that he should see the travail of his soul, i. e. for our p. 195Salvation, and be satisfied, had not the Father obliged himself by Contract and Covenant to justifie and save us, in consideration of his Sacrifice? And indeed this whole Prediction carries with it a Promise from the Father to Christ, that upon the consideration of his Death and Sacrifice he should be effectually impowered to save and justifie us.

Since therefore the Sacrifice of Chri…t was the great consideration upon which the Father granted to him the blessings of the New Covenant in our behalf, and since it is by presenting that Sacrifice, and in the vertue of it, that he intercedes with the Father for those blessings, we may confidently assure our selves he cannot fail of success, because he intercedes with a righteous God, of whom by presenting to him the consideration of his grant, he hath acquired a right to obtain the blessings he intercedes for. For now he intercedes for us with the price of our Redemption in his hands, so that he doth not act precariously, or as a meer Orator, that begs and supplicates without any claim, and so may be denied and rejected without any injustice, but whatsoever he asks he asks in the right of his Sacrifice, by accepting of which inestimable consideration the Father hath obliged himself to grant what he aks for. So that now he cannot be denied those Favours which he craves in our behalf, without manifest injustice, because by mutual Contract between himself and his Father he hath purchased to himself a right to obtain them, and hath bought and paid for them with his own bloud. And how can we imagine that the most just and holy God can ever be so outragiously unjust to his own Son, as to be deaf to his Intercessions, while p. 196he intercedes in the right of that precious bloud, which his Son freely paid, and he as freely accepted, in consideration of those blessings he intercedes for? It being therefore evident, by what hath been said, that the Intercession of Christ is a most effectual and successful address to the Father, to all the intents and purposes for which it is made, it now remains only that we give an account to what intents and purposes it is that he makes this address to the Father:

First, Therefore it is to move and solicite him graciously to receive and accept our sincere and hearty Prayers; and,

Secondly, To obtain of him Power and Authority to bestow on us all those Graces and Favours which in consideration of his Sacrifice God hath promised us.

I. One intent or purpose of Christ's making this address to the Father, is to move and solicite him graciously to receive and accept our sincere and hearty Prayers. For thus the Incense which the Priests offered twice a day upon the Golden Altar, and which the High-Priest offered once a year in the Holy of Holies, was a Symbol or Emblem of the Prayers of the People, which they mystically offered up to God with it; and hence the Psalmist, Let my prayers be set forth before thee as Incense, Psalm 141.2. and S. Iohn calls the Odours that filled the Golden Vials, the prayers of the Saints, Rev. 5.8. and that the Prayers of the Saints were offered with the Incense upon the Golden Altar, is evident from Rev. 8.3. And accordingly while the High-Priest was offering the Incense in the Holy of Holies, the People p. 197in their Court offered up their silent and mental Prayers to God; for so Ecclus. 50.15, 18, 19, 21. we read that whiles Simon the High-Priest was offering the Incense to God, all the People fell on their faces to the ground, and besought the Lord most High in prayer, till the Ministry of the Lord was done, i. e. till the High-Priest had offered the Incense; and S. Luke makes mention of the Peoples praying without in the time of Incense, Luke 1.10. By all which it is evident, that this fuming of the Incense by the Priests and High-Priest, was nothing but a mystical Oblation of those Prayers to God, which the People were pouring out while the Mystery was performing. Since therefore the High-Priest was a Type of Christ, and his entrance into the Holy of Holies a Type of Christ's entrance into Heaven, his offering Incense there, which was a mystical Oblation of the Prayers of the People, must necessarily be a Type of Christ's offering and recommending our Prayers to his Father, which he promised his Disciples he would perform when he came to Heaven, John 16.26, 27. In that day ye shall ask in my name, and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you, which in our Saviour's way of expression (which is, when he mentions two things, to pass by, and seemingly deny the one, that so he may the more illustrate and amplifie the other, Vide John 12.4. Joh. 5.45, 46, 47.) plainly implies that he would, for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me. And therefore it is through him that we are said to have access unto the Father, Eph. 2.18. and by him to have access to the divine grace, Rom. 5.2. and in him to have p. 198boldness and access with confidence, Eph. 3.12. and Rev. 8.3. he is represented as that Angel of the Covenant, who at the Golden Altar before God, doth offer up the prayers of the Saints, incensed by the merit of his Sacrifice. For it is the Sacrifice of Jesus that hallows and consecrates all our prayers and good works, the best of which have so many sinful defects and imperfections cleaving to them, as would render them abominable to the pure and holy God, were they not purged and expiated by this great Propitiation. And though Prayer be a duty we stand eternally obliged to by our continual dependence upon God, yet in this degeneracy of our Nature there are so many sins do still accompany our Prayers, as that were they not expiated by some very acceptable and meritorious satisfaction, the cry of them would drown the cry of our Prayers, and for ever hinder their access to the divine ear and aceptance. So that it is only in the vertue of that Sacrifice with which our Saviour intercedes for us in Heaven, that our Prayers have admittance thither; it is his bloud alone that purifies our polluted Supplications, and out-cries the guilt of those sins that go along with them. For by presenting that Sacrifice to his Father, with which he made satisfaction for our sins on the Cross, he continually moves and solicites that those sinful defects which cleave to our Prayers may be pardoned and remitted; upon which motion of his our Prayers are continually purged from the guilt of those defects, and thereupon introduced into the divine acceptance as pure and innocent, spotless and unblemished devotions. And as by presenting his Sacrifice p. 199he purges the guilt of our Prayers, so he enforces and seconds them. For, as hath been shewn before, the very presenting his Sacrifice is a Symbolical Prayer for those very blessings which we pray for; and not only so, but a Prayer that is enforced with a just claim, and doth plead the right of Purchace to all the blessings it sues for, and so cannot justly be denied or rejected. And when he thus prays with us, and continually joyns the cry of his Bloud to the cry of our Prayers, we may safely depend upon it, that we shall prevail, and find free access to the Throne of God's grace and acceptance. And hence we are said to have boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies, that is, to draw near by Prayer to God, by the Bloud of Iesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail, that is to say, his flesh, Heb. 10.19, 20. And our Saviour himself assures us, that whatsoever we shall ask in his name, he will do it; and again he repeats it, If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it, John 14.13, 14. that is, he will procure it for us, by joyning his Intercessions with our Prayers, for so ver. 16. he explains himself, I will pray the Father.

II. The other intent and purpose of his making this Address or Intercession for us to the Father, is, to obtain of him Power and Authority to bestow on us all those graces and favours which in consideration of his Sacrifice God hath promised us. It is not to move the Father to bestow on us the blessings of the New Covenant immediately with his own hand that our Saviour intercedes, but to impower himself, as Mediator between the Father and us, to bestow them upon us, according p. 200to the terms and conditions upon which they are proposed to us. For though it is most certainly true, that every good and perfect gift comes down from above, even from the Father of Lights, yet it is as certain that they come not down to us from the Father immediately, but are all derived to us through the hands of the Son, who by his continual Intercession obtains continual power and authority of the Father to derive and confer on us all those heavenly gifts. So that as the High Priest, when he had presented the bloud of the Sacrifice in the Holy of Holies, was Authorized by God to bless the people, vide 1 Chron. 23.13. even so our blessed Saviour▪ by presenting his meritorious Sacrifice in Heaven, and in the vertue thereof interceding for us with the Father, is continually authorized by him effectually to bless us, i. e. to confer on us the blessings of the New Covenant upon the terms and conditions that they are therein proposed. For this power he obtains of God by his perpetual Intercession; and hence he is said to be able to save all those to the utmost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for us, Heb. 7.25. where his power, or ability to save us to the utmost, i. e. to confer on us all the blessings of the New Covenant, is expresly attributed to his ever living to make intercession for us, which is a plain Argument, that the intent of his Intercession is to move God to authorize him to save us, seeing that in answer to his Intercession he is continually impowered and authorized thereunto. For it is to be considered, that this power and authority, and the exercise of it, appertains to his Kingly Office, which he first arrived p. 201to, and still continues in, by vertue of his Intercession; and indeed herein consists the Royalty of his Priesthood, in that by interceding for us as Priest in the vertue of his Sacrifice, and continuing to do so, he first obtained, and still continues vested with Kingly Power and Authority to bestow on us those heavenly blessings he intercedes for; and it is to this purpose that he intercedes, not that the Father would bestow them on us immediately, but that he would put and continue it in his power to bestow them, as Mediator between the Father and us; so that he acquired and holds his Royalty by his Priesthood, and that Kingly Power by which he gives us the blessings of the New Covenant, God gave and continues to him by way of answer and return to his Priestly Intercession. And hence he is said upon his offering one sacrifice for sin for ever, i. e. upon the perpetual Oblation of his Sacrifice in Heaven, to have sate down on the right hand of God, i. e. in the Throne of his Kingly Power and Authority, Heb. 10.12▪ and accordingly Eph. 4.8. we are told, that upon his ascending up on high, i. e. to present his sacrificed body in heaven, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men, which necessarily implies, that he had received power and authority from his Father to give them; and so Psal. 68.18. whence these words are quoted, expresses it, He received gifts for men, i. e. upon the presenting his Sacrifice, as Priest, he received of the Father those Gifts for men which by his Kingly power he afterwards distributed among them. So that what he gives by his Kingly power, he receives by his Priestly, and both the gifts which he gives, and the p. 202authority by which he gives them, are the fruits and returns of that perpetual Intercession which he makes by his Sacrifice. And that by his Intercession our Saviour hath acquired this Royal power of giving us the blessings of the New Covenant he himself doth plainly enough intimate; for thus of the Spirit, which is one of those great blessings, he tells his Disciples, It is expedient for you that I go away, i. e. to Heaven to intercede for you, for if I go not away the Comforter will not come, i. e. he will not come but upon my Intercession; but if I depart I will send him unto you, namely, by that Royal Authority which upon my Intercession I shall receive from the Father, Ioh. 16.7. And accordingly St. Peter tells the Jews that Christ being exalted by the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, i. e. upon his Intercession in Heaven, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear, i. e. the miraculous vertues of the Holy Ghost, Acts 2.33. And so for remission of sins, he tells us, that he hath the Keys of hell and death, Rev. 1.18. i. e. power to bind or loose, to pardon or condemn; and lastly for eternal life, he expresly tells the Church of Laodicea, To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me on my Throne, even as I have overcome, and am sate down with my Father on his, Rev. 3.21. By all which it is abundantly evident that Christ hath a Royal power delegated to him from the Father upon his intercession, to grant and bestow all the blessings of the New Covenant upon those that comply with its terms and conditions. For so all the graces and favours of God are in Scripture said to be p. 203derived in, by, or through Jesus Christ; for so Eph. 1.3. God the Father is said to bless us with all spiritual blessings in or through Christ; and Rom. 6.23. Eternal life is said to be the gift of God through Iesus Christ our Lord; and we are said to be heirs of God, or inheritors of his blessings, through Christ, Gal. 4.7. which plainly implies, that though it is from God the Father originally that all our mercies are derived, yet it is through God the Son immediately that they are all derived to us, and that whatsoever God bestows upon us he bestows by the hand of Jesus Christ, whom upon his first Oblation of his precious Sacrifice in heaven, and continual intercession with it, he constituted and continues the Royal distributer of all his graces and favours to the World. And therefore since there is no doubt but that that which he obtains by his intercession is the thing which he intercedes for, it necessarily follows, that the thing which he intercedes for is power to bestow on us the blessings of the New Covenant, because he hath actually obtained that power by his Intercession.

Having thus given as plain and as brief an account as I could of this second Priestly Act of our Saviour, viz. his Intercession for us in Heaven by the continual Oblation of his Sacrifice there, I proceed in the second place to shew the admirable tendency of this method, of God's communicating his Graces and Favours to us through the intercession of our Saviour, to reduce and reform Mankind; which will plainly appear by considering the following particulars:

p. 204First, This method naturally tends to excite in us a mighty aw and reverence of God's Majesty.

Secondly, It also tends to give us the strongest conviction of God's hatred and abhorrence of our sins.

Thirdly, It also tends most effectually to secure us from presuming upon God's mercy while we continue in our sins.

Fourthly, It tends to encourage us to draw near to God with Chearfulness and freedom.

Fifthly, It tends to give us the most ample assurance of his gracious intentions towards us if we repent and return to our duty.

I. This method of God's communicating his Favours to us through our Saviour's intercession is naturally apt to excite in us a mighty aw and reverence of the divine Majesty. For in this degenerate condition wherein our Nature is inverted and turned upside down, and our sensitive faculties have got the ascendant of our Reason, rational Objects have incomparably less force on, and prevalence with us, than material and sensitive. And hence it is that we are so unapt to be affected with the Majesty of God, though in it self infinite and incomprehensible, because it being purely spiritual, is objected only to our Faith and Reason, and doth not strike upon our sense with the Rays of a visible glory. And hence it was that under the Old Testament God so frequently exhibited himself to mens eyes, in sensible appearances, as particularly sometimes in a humane shape, and sometimes in a body of light or of shining flame, that so by making an impression of his great Majesty on their sense he might affect them p. 205with a sutable aw and dread of it. And for the same reason that he conversed with them in these sensible appearances, he also treated with them by a Mediator on Mount Sinai; for God commanded that bounds should be set round about the Mountain which the People were forbid upon peril of death to break through unto the Lord to gaze, and only Moses, their Mediator, together with his Brother Aaron, were permitted to ascend the Mount, and to have immediate access to him; and by thus keeping them at a distence from his sacred presence, and only suffering them to approach him by their Mediator, he took an effectual course to inspire their minds with a reverential aw of his divine Majesty, which is in it self so infinitely sacred and August that it seems it would have been an high Prophanation in them to have conversed with it immediately. And accordingly God by keeping us at a distance from him, and allowing us to have access to him only by our Mediator, expresses the greatness of his Majesty, which is too sacred to be mingled in conversation with us, too sublime to admit of the immediate addresses of poor Mortals, yea, and which no Mortal must approach without the Mediation of his own Eternal Son; for thus Plato in his Sympos. gives it as an instance of the Majesty of God, foreign. i. e. God doth not mingle himself with men, but all the converse and intercourse between him and us is transacted by the Mediation of Demons. And if it were thought so great an instance of God's Majesty, that he would not be approached p. 206by us without the Mediation of Angels, to what an infinite height must he be exalted above us, when no less a person than he who is God-man can so much as give us access to him, or present our Prayers and Supplications at his feet. O! what an awful sense therefore of the Majesty of God should this consideration beget in our minds! For how can we think of him without dread and reverence when we consider how he is secluded by the infinite sacredness of his own Majesty from all immediate converse and intercourse with us, and how he is exalted so infinitely above us, as that we cannot have access to him so much as by our Prayers and Supplications without the interposition of a Mediator who is greater than the greatest of all the Kings on Earth, or Angels in Heaven? Surely he who can thus think of God without being struck into a profound aw and reverence of his Majesty, must have a mind so hardened against all the impressions of Reason, as that no wise thought can ever move or affect it.

II. This method of God's communicating his favours to us through our Saviour's Intercession tends also to give us the strongest conviction of God's hatred and abhorrence of our sins. For doubtless to convince us how deeply he resents our sinful behaviour towards him, the most effectual course he could take, next to that of banishing us from his presence for ever, was to exclude us from all immediate intercourse with him, and not to admit of any more addresses or supplications from us but by the hand of some Mediator. Hereby he plainly demonstrates how infinitely pure and abhorrent to sin his nature is, that he p. 207will not suffer a sinful Creature to come near him but by Proxy, nor accept of a service from a guilty hand, nor listen to a Prayer from a sinful mouth, till it is first hallowed and presented to him by a pure and holy Mediator. If therefore we are not infinitely conceited of our selves, this procedure of his cannot but lay us low in our own eyes, and make us deeply sensible of our own vileness and baseness. For how infinitely detestable must our sins be in his eyes, when notwithstanding all his kindness and benevolence towards us, he keeps us at such a distance from him, and will not be prevailed with, without some powerful intercession, so much as to hear our Prayers, or to have any kind of communication or intercourse with us? And accordingly you find that when the three Friends of Iob had treated him so despitefully and uncharitably, God to manifest his displeasure against them, commands them to make use of Iob's Mediation, Iob 42.7. My wrath, saith he to Elephas, is kindled against thee, and against thy two Friends, for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Iob hath: therefore take unto you seven Bullocks and seven Rams, and go to my servant Iob, and offer up for your selves a burnt Offering, and my servant Iob shall pray for you, for him will I accept, lest I deal with you after your folly; as if he should have said, that you may see how ill I resent your severe and cruel usage of that good man, know, that if you offer to address to me immediately for your selves, I will certainly throw your Prayers back upon your faces; as therefore you hope to be restored to my favour, go to that injured Friend of yours, and p. 208beseech him to mediate for you, and I will hear him though I will not hear you. And after the same manner doth God manifest his high displeasure against our sins, that he will not suffer us to approach him immediately, to present our Petitions to him with our own hands, but will have them all presented to him by a hand that is more acceptable to him than our own, and not only so, but by the greatest and most acceptable hand in the World, even that of his own Eternal Son, the Son of his Essence and delight, in whom he is for ever well pleased. For it is through him alone that we have access to the Father, whom our sins have so horribly incensed against us, that no Advocate in Heaven or Earth, less great and less dear to him than his own Son, can prevail with him to be reconciled to us upon our most unfeigned repentance, or so much as to accept of our humble Supplications. O good God! what a woful distance have my sins made between thee and me, that notwithstanding the infinite goodness and benignity of thy nature I cannot be admitted to thee, nor expect any favour at thy hands upon any less powerful interest or application than that of thine only begotten Son; but O stupid creature that I am, to make light of those sins that have so highly incensed thee against me, that none in Heaven or Earth but only that dearly beloved Son can prevail with thee to cast a propitious eye on me, or so much as to give me access to the footstool of the Throne of thy grace!

III. This way of God's communicating his favours to us through the intercession of Christ is also most apt to secure us from presuming upon p. 209God's mercy while we continue in our sins. There is no one thing doth more universally obstruct the reformation of men, than their confident presumption, that God will be merciful to them notwithstanding they persist in their rebellions against him. For all men have a natural notion of the infinite goodness and benevolence of the Divine Nature, together with which all bad men have a natural desire to sin without disturbance; when therefore their Conscience begins to clamour against their wickedness, and to vex and persecute them for it, the mercy of God is the usual Sanctuary they fly to. Peace, froward Conscience, cry they, God is a most gracious and merciful Being, hard to be provoked, and easie to be pacified; fear not therefore, his mercy is infinitely greater than my faults, and I am sure so good a God as he is can never find in his heart to destroy his Creature and Off-spring for such Peccadillo's as these. With such presumptions as these they commonly lull their Consciences asleep, and so sin on securely in despite of all the threats and warnings of Heaven that Thunder about their ears. Now to prevent such presumptions as these, and dash them quite out of countenance, there is no consideration in the world can be more effectual than this of God's communicating his mercies to us through the intercession of our Saviour. For if, notwithstanding the goodness of his nature, he will not be propitious to us, no not upon our repentace, without being moved thereunto by the powerful intercession of his own Son, how can we ever expect that he should be propitious to us whether we repent or no? Is it likely he should be more indulgent to us for our p. 210own sake, than he is for his Son's sake and our own together; or that, when all that his Son can obtain for us is to receive us into favour in case we will lay down our Arms, that we by our own interest should prevail with him to receive us while we persist in our obstinacy and rebellion; in short, if our repentance, which is the best thing we can render him, be not sufficient to move him to pardon us, without being seconded and enforced with the powerful Oratory of our Saviour's Intercession, what should move him when we have neither repentance nor a Saviour to intercede for us? For our Saviour will not intercede for us unless we repent, and our repentance will not prevail for us, unless he intercede; what hope have we therefore while we continue impenitent, when our repentance it self, which is the best thing we can do to move God to be propitious to us, is insufficient without Christ's intercession, and when without our repentance Christ will not intercede for us; and if the tears of a penitent suppliant will not prevail with him without an Intercessor, what hope is there that the affronts of an impenitent rebel should? But suppose we might reasonably presume upon the benignity of God's nature, that he will be propitious to us, notwithstanding our impenitence, yet it is to be considered, that now he hath placed the dispensation of his mercy in the hand of a Mediator, who is not left to dispose of it arbitrarily, as he shall think fit, but is confined and limited to dispose of it only to penitent offenders. For Christ's Trust can extend no farther than to dispence God's mercy to us upon the terms of that Covenant of which he is Mediator, which Covenant p. 211proposes mercy to us only upon condition of our repentance. So that now we can expect no mercy from God, but what passes through the hands of Jesus our Mediator, who cannot, without violating his trust, dispence the mercy of God to us except we repent and amend. For now God cannot dispence his mercy to us immediately, without displacing his Son from his Mediatorship, and his Son cannot dispence his mercy to us unconditionally, without transgressing the bounds and limits that are prescribed to him; and therefore since God hath restrained himself to dispence his mercy only through his Son, and restrained his Son to dispence it only to penitents, for us to presume upon the mercy of God while we continue impenitent, is the greatest nonsense in the world; it is to suppose either that God will cancel the Oeconomy of his mercy for our sakes, and resume the dispensation of it immediately into his own hands, meerly to favour and encourage us in our Rebellion against him, or that Christ will betray the trust which his Father hath reposed in him, and dispence his mercy to us contrary to his Orders; that is, either that God the Father will depose his Son for our sakes, or that God the Son will be unfaithful to the Father for our sakes, both which suppositions are equally absurd and blasphemous. Whilst therefore God proceeds with us in this established method of granting his mercy to us only through his Son, and confining his Son to dispence it to us only upon the conditions of the New Covenant; to flatter our selves with hopes of mercy while we continue impenitent, is to presume both against reason and possibility.

p. 212IV. This way of God's communicating his Favours to us through the mediation of Christ is also most apt in it self to encourage us to approach him with Chearfulness and freedom. For it is a natural effect of guilt to suggest to mens minds dreadful and anxious thoughts of God, and whilst we are under such thoughts of him, how is it possible for us to approach him immediately, and without any Friend or Advocate to introduce and speak for us, with any chearfulness or freedom? For with what confidence can I address to an incensed and offended God, purely upon my own fund or interest, when I am conscious of a thousand times more evil in me to provoke him against me, than of good to recommend me to his favour? Unless therefore I am secured of some powerful friend in Heaven, that is infinitely more acceptable to God than I can modestly hope to be, and that will agitate for me, and solicite my cause with all his power and interest, my sense of the innumerable provocations I have given him to turn his back upon me, must either render me quite desperate of success at the Throne of his grace, or cause me to approach it with unspeakable horrour and confusion. So that my intercourse with God must either be wholly interrupted, or rendred very difficult and uneasie to me; because my slavish dread of him must either chase me from his Altars, or drag we to them with violence and reluctancy. And hence it is, that under the sense of our guilt we naturally fly to the Intercessions of others whom we believe to have more interest with God than our selves; because we cannot modestly promise our selves a free admittance and access to him upon our own account. p. 213Which probably was the Reason of the first institution of Demon-worship among the Heathens, whose minds being stung with the sense of their own guilts, they were not able to approach God without fearful despondence and anxiety; whereupon they began to cast about (as it is natural for guilty minds to do) how they might procure some other Beings, that were in great favour with God, to interpose with him in their behalf; and having learned by an universal Tradition, that there was a sort of middle Beings, called Angels or Demons, between the Sovereign God and Men, they began to address to these, and to bribe them with Sacrifices and sacred honours to intercede with God in their behalf. And hence Apuleius de Daemon. Soc. calls these Demons, Mediae potestates per quas & desideria nostra & merita ad Deos commeant; inter terricolas coelicolasque vectores hinc precum inde donorum; qui ultro citroque portant hinc petitiones inde suppetias, seu quidam utrumque interpretes & salutigeri; i. e. They are middle powers by whom our desires and merits are presented to the Gods; they go between Heaven and Earth, and carry from hence the Prayers of men, and from thence the Gifts of God; from Earth they go with Petitions, and from Heaven they return with Supplies, or they are the Interpreters of both Worlds, that do continually carry and report the mutual salutations of both to each other. By which it is evident that they thought it very necessary, in order to God's accepting their addresses, that they should be presented and recommended to him by some better Beings than themselves; their guilty minds, it seems, suggesting to them that p. 214it would be high presumption for such great offenders as themselves, to approach the divine Majesty, without being introduced and Patronized by some more pure and holy Beings. And I am very apt to think that the great cause of that Spirit of bondage which possessed the ancient Iews, and rendred them so diffident and tremulous in all their approaches to God, was their want of an explicite knowledge of the Mediator. For what dismal and melancholy expostulations do we frequently meet with in their addresses to God; such as, Wilt thou be angry for ever? Hast thou forgotten to be gracious? Wilt thou remember thy loving kindness no more? Which plainly shews, that their guilt suggested to them such frightful apprehensions of God, as did very much cramp their hope and confidence in him. And hence the Apostle opposes this Spirit of bondage in them to that Christian Spirit of Adoption, by which we cry Abba Father, i. e. by which we approach God with great freedom and assurance, and go to him as Children to a kind and merciful Father, Rom. 8.15. Now if you would know from whence this Christian freedom and assurance proceeds, the Author to the Hebrews will inform you, Heb. 10.21, 22. Having therefore an High-Priest over the houshold of God, i. e. to mediate and intercede for us, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith; and Heb. 4.14, 15, 16 the Apostle urges our having a compassionate High-Priest in Heaven to intercede for us, as an argument to encourage us to come boldly to the Throne of grace. And indeed what greater encouragement can we have to draw nigh unto God with an humble confidence, than this p. 215consideration, that the highest Favourite he hath in Heaven or Earth is our Advocate; and that he is not only infinitely concerned for us, as being akin to us by nature, and having a compassionate sense of our infirmities; that he doth not only imploy in our behalf all the favour and interest he hath with God as he is the Son of his Essence, and the Object of his delight, but that he ever intercedes for us in the right and vertue of that Meritorious Sacrifice with which he bought and purchased all those heavenly blessings he intercedes for. So that now all we have to do is to return to God by an unfeigned repentance, which if we do, he stands engaged to undertake our cause; and what may we not expect from the Patronage of so great and powerful a Mediator? For how great soever our past sins are, his interest in Heaven is far greater; how loud and clamorous soever our past Provocations are, his Bloud and Wounds are far louder; and how importunately soever our past guilts may imprecate the divine Vengeance upon us, his Intercessions do far more importunately and prevalently deprecate it. So that now we cannot reasonably doubt of a free admission to God in any case whatsoever wherein our Saviour will make use of his interest for us with God, and therefore since in all cases he doth continually imploy his interest for us, but only in that of our impenitence, every Penitent sinner in the World hath a door of access set open to him by the Intercession of Iesus, through which he may freely enter, and with an humble confidence apply himself to God for mercy, and for grace to help him in the time of need. Thus by the Mediation of our Saviour, God hath taken off that p. 216Imbargo which mens guilts had laid upon their commerce with Heaven, and made way for a free and generous intercourse between himself and his Creatures.

V. And lastly, This way of communicating his Favours to us through the Mediation of Christ, is most apt to assure our diffident minds of God's gracious intentions to perform to us all the good things which he hath promised us upon our performing the conditions of them. It is true, if God had only promised them, we should have had abundant reason to believe him on his own bare word, without any farther security; but alas, to be diffident and distrustful is the inseparable property of guilty minds, and so great is our guilt and ill desert, and so inestimable are the blessings and favours which God promises us, that when we reflect upon both, and compare them together, it so confounds our Reason, and astonishes our Faith, that notwithstanding all the security God hath given us, we can hardly believe without trembling and diffidence. So that had not God given us some other security besides that of his own bare word and promise, it would have extreamly puzled our Faith to believe that God sincerely intended such mighty goods for such unworthy Subjects. For when ever we reflected on our own guilt and ill-desert, we must have looked upon God as our adverse Party, as one that was concerned only for his own right and honour, to retrieve from us that natural homage we owed him, and had hitherto unjustly detained from him; and we should have been but too apt to suspect, that when once he had obtained this end of us, he would be much less concerned to make p. 217good our right to his promise, than he was to recover his own to our duty. Now although this had been a most unreasonable suspicion after the God of Truth had passed his word to the contrary, yet there is nothing so unreasonable which guilty minds are not apt to suspect; and therefore out of great condescension to this pitiable infirmity of his sinful Creatures, God thought meet, upon his entrance into a New Covenant with us, not only to oblige himself thereby to bestow on us the most inestimable favours if we performed our part, but also to put the making good of his Obligation into a third hand, namely, into the hand of a Mediator, who by the nature of his Office is as much obliged to secure our right as God's, as being equally concerned for both parties; as well that God should make good to us what he hath promised, as that we should make good to him what he requires. So that now we have no longer to do with God immediately as our adverse party, but all our intercourse with him is by a Mediator, who by his Office is obliged to be on our side as well as God's, and to see that what he hath promised be performed to us, as well as that what he requires be performed by us. And hence our Saviour is called the Mediator of the New Covenant, and the Mediator of a better Covenant; which expressions plainly bespeak him to be an Authorized security on both sides, for the mutual performance to each other of what they stand respectively obliged to by this Covenant; and hence also he is called the Sponsor or surety of a better Covenant, because he stands engaged for the performance of both Parties, so far as it was possible for him p. 218to oblige them thereunto; for us, to oblige us by the strongest motives to repent and persevere in well-doing; and for God, to oblige him by the most powerful pleas to pardon and crown us with eternal life; the later of which he performs by his Intercession, wherein by continually pleading that precious bloud which God hath long since accepted in consideration of our pardon and eternal life, he continually obtains Power and Authority from God to bestow on us the blessings he intercedes for. So that now we have not only God's Word, but also the Suretiship of our Saviour to depend on; who not only stands engaged to us for God, that he shall perform all his promises to us, but hath also right and power upon the just claim of his Sacrifice to oblige him to perform them. So that, as God, in condescension to the pitiable diffidence of guilty minds, hath been graciously pleased to seal his Promises with his Oath; so, that he might leave us no umbrage of distrust, he hath superadded to both the collateral security of a Mediator for the performance of them; of a Mediator that hath purchased of him all the blessings he hath promised us, and paid for them with his own bloud, and so is not only obliged to sue for them at the Throne of his grace, but also Authorized to claim them at the Tribunal of his Iustice; and, in a word, of a Mediator in whose hands he hath actually deposited all the blessings he hath promised us, and made his Executor in trust for the performance of his bequests to the heirs of promise. So that now to distrust the performance of his Promise to us, is not only to suspect God's Word and his Oath, which are altogether p. 219as sacred and inviolable as his God-head, but also to question the security, and arraign the fidelity of a Mediator that died for us; that purchased for us with his own bloud all the blessings which God hath promised us, by vertue whereof he not only rightfully claims them of God, but hath also actually received them in our behalf. So that now we cannot be defeated of them unless he will with-hold them from us, and he cannot withhold them from us without violating his trust, since it is for us, and in our behalf that God hath deposited them in his hands; and can we imagine that he who was so true and kind a friend to us, as to lay down his life to purchase them for us, will be now so unkind and unfaithful together, as to detain them from us, when God hath intrusted him with them in our behalf, and fully impowered and authorized him to bestow them upon us? Having therefore the security not only of God's Promise and Oath, but also of our Saviour's kindness and fidelity, for the performance of God's part of the New Covenant if we perform ours, what an infinite encouragement must it give us to forsake our sins, and return to our duty? For now, if we repent, we have no more reason to question God's pardoning and forgiving us; if we persevere to the end in well-doing, we have no more cause to doubt of his crowning us with eternal happiness, than we have to distrust our present being and existence. If therefore the most ample assurance that God himself can give us of his mercy and our happiness, hath any force in it to oblige us to repent and amend, this our Saviour's Intercession you see fairly proposes to us; so that if p. 220this proposal doth not effectually influence our hope, and thereby excite and animate our endeavours, it is impossible that any encouragement should ever move or affect us.

And thus you see, in all these several particulars, how effectually this way of God's communicating his Favours to us through the Intercession of our Saviour, tends to our reformation and amendment; what a fruitful Topick of motives it is to induce us to repentance, and how pathetically it addresses to every affection in us that is capable of persuasion; what awful and reverential thoughts of Almighty God it suggests to our minds, to dispose our stubborn Wills to an humble submission to him; what a horrible representation it makes of our sins, and of God's wrath and indignation against them, and what a dreadful alarm it gives to our fear to rouse and awake us out of our sinful security; And, in a word, how powerfully it encourages us to draw near unto God, and to make our addresses to him with an humble and generous freedom, and what vast assurances it gives to our hope of his gracious intentions towards us, if we repent and amend. All which considered, one would think it were impossible for any man that believes and understands this wonderful method of mercy, not to be moved and affected by it; and certainly that man who hath obstinacy enough to withstand all its persuasions, and finally to defeat and baffle those powerful attempts which it makes to reclaim him, is a Creature not to be moved by Reason and Argument. For in this he hath conquered the greatest motives of all sorts that can be urged to persuade men, and p. 221when once he is got beyond the reach of persuasion, and no motive of ingenuity, or hope, or fear can affect him, his condition is desperate, and his obstinacy incurable. Wherefore, as we would not finally disappoint this wonderful contrivance of God to reclaim us, and thereby render our selves for ever desperate, let us at length be persuaded seriously to consider the Motives and Arguments it proposes to us, and never to cease urging and pressing them upon our own souls, till they have conquered our obstinate Wills and prejudiced Affections, and finally captivated us into a free compliance with their powerful persuasions. For if through our wilful neglect and inconsideration this mighty project of mercy prove utterly unsuccessful with us, it is certain we have sinned our selves past all hope of recovery, and it will be in vain to make any farther experiment on us. And when we have once baffled this last and most powerful remedy of the divine Goodness, what remains but that it should give us up, and utterly abandon us to the just desert and dire effects of our own folly and obstinacy!