man. Christ's office, as mediator, was to deal with God for man, and to deal for God with man. Now that he might be fit for both these transactions, for both i)arts of this office, he must partake of both natures. That he might effectually deal with God for man, he must be God, ' If a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him ?' saith Eli to his sons, 1 Sam. ii. 25. And that he might deal for God with man, he must be man. He must be God, that he may be fit to transact, treat, and negotiate with God ; and he must be man, that he may be fit to transact, treat, and negotiate with man. AVhen God spake unto Israel at Mount Sinai at the giving of the law, the people were not able to abide that voice or presence, and therefore they desired an Intei^uncius, a man like themselves, who might be as a mediator to go betwixt God and them, Exod. x;x. 18, 19. Now upon this very ground, besides many others that might be mentioned, it was very requisite that Jesus Christ should be both God and man, that he might be a meet mediator to deal betwixt God and man, Heb. xii. 18. Jesus Christ was the fittest person, either in that upper or in this lower world, to mediate between God and us. There was none lit to umpire the business between God and man, but he that was God- man. Job hit the nail when he said, ' Neither is there any days-man betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both,' Job ix. 33. There was a double use of the days-man, and his laying his hand upon them : (1.) To keep the dissenting parties asunder, lest they should fall out and strike one another ; (2.) To keep them together, and compose all differences, that they might not depart from each other. The application is easy. Man is not fit to mediate, because man is the per- son offending ; angels are not fit to mediate, for they cannot satisfy divine justice, nor pacify divine wrath, nor procure our pardon, nor make our peace, nor bring in an everlasting righteousness upon us. God, the Father, was not fit for this work, for he was the person offended ; and he was as much too high to deal with man, as man was too low to deal with God. The Holy Ghost was not fit for this work, for it is his work to apply this mediation, and to clear up the believer's interest in this mediation. So then there is no other person fit for this office but Jesus Christ, who was a middle person, betwixt both, that he might deal with both. Christ could never have been fit to be the mediator in respect of his office, if he had not first been a middle person in respect of his natures ; for, saith the apostle, Gal. iii. 20, ' Now a mediator is not a mediator of one ; but God is one.' ' A mediator is not a mediator of one,' that is, of one party, but is always of two differing parties to unite them ; ' not of one ;' that is, (1.) Not of one person, because mediation implies more persons than one ; it necessarily supposes different parties betwixt whom he doth mediate. Christ, to speak after the manner of men, lays his hand upon God, the Father, and saith, 0 blessed Father, wilt thou be at peace with these poor sinners ? wilt thou pardon them ? and wilt thou lift up the light of thy countenance upon them ? If thou wilt, then I will undertake to satisfy thy justice, and to pacify thy wrath, and to fulfil thy royal law, and to make good all the wrong they have done against thee. And then he layeth his hand upon the poor sinner, and saith, Sinner, art thou willing to be changed and renewed ? art thou willing to come
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under the bond of the covenant ? art thou willing to give up thy heart and life to the guidance and government of the Spirit ? Then be not discouraged, for thou shalt certainly be justified and saved. (2.) Not of one nature — the mediator must necessarily have more natures than one — he must have the divine and human nature united in his single person, or else he could never suffer what he was to suffer, nor never satisfy what he was to satisfy, nor never bring poor sinners into a state of reconciliation with Grod ; and it is further observable that the text last cited saith, ' God is one,' 1 Tim. ii. 5 ; viz., as he is essentially considered, and therefore as so he cannot be the mediator ; but Christ, as personally considered, he * is not of one,' that is, not of one nature, for he is God and man too, and therefore he is the only person that is fitted and qualified to be the mediator ; and it is observable that, when Christ is spoken of as mediator, his manhood is brought in, that nature being so necessary to that office : 1 Tim, ii. 5, ' For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.' Jesus Christ was God and man ; as man he ought to satisfy, but could not ; as God he could satisfy, but ought not. But consider him as God and man, and so he both could satisfy and ought to satisfy, and accordingly he did satisfy, according to what was prophesied of him : Dan, ix. 24, ' He did make reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness.' He did not begin to do something and then faint and leave his work imperfect, but he finished it, and that to the glory of his Father : John xvii. 4, * I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.' And it is good to observe the singularity and oneness of the person mediating ; not many, not a few, not two, but one mediator between God and man. There was none with him in his difficult work of mediatorship, but he carried it on alone. Though there are many mediators among men, yet there is but el? fx€aLT7)<}, one only mediator betwixt God and men: and it is as high folly and madness to make more mediators than one, as it is to make more Gods than one, Isa. Ixiii. 3. ' There is one God, and one mediator betwixt God and men ;' for look, as one husband satisfies the wife, as one father satisfies the child, as one lord satisfies the servant, and one sun satisfies the world, so one mediator is enough to satisfy all the world, that desire a mediator, or that have an interest in a mediator.! The true sense and import of this word fieatrr}^, a mediator, is a middle person, or one that interposes betwixt two parties at variance, to make peace betwixt them. Though /ieo-iVi;?, a mediator, be rendered variously, sometimes an umpire or arbitrator, sometimes a messenger betwixt two persons, sometimes an interpreter imparting the mind of one to another, sometimes a reconciler or peace-maker ; yet this word, /j,eaiT7]<i, doth most properly signify a mediator or a middler, because Jesus Christ is both a middle person, and a middle officer betwixt God and man, to reconcile and reunite God and man. This of all others is the most proper and genuine