»7. To preserve that mixed aifection which best becomes the present state we are in. Our state is mixed, and we act best under a mixed affection. God would have us not only love him, but fear him ; and therefore he is represented as a mighty God as well as a gracious Saviour, that we may come to him with reverence, and yet with confi- dence. That is the proper temper of a gracious spirit in all our addresses to God : Ps. ii. 10, ' Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling,' Fear mixed and tempered with love is most regular, so is love that is guided with fear ; therefore, when you pray to him, and worship him, and serve him, remember he is the ' great God ; ' but lest that should breed bondage and dejection in your spirits, remember he is also ' our Saviour.' How sweet would this be, if we could but make use of both these titles whenever we have to do with him ! Our aflections should be mixed as Christ's titles are. It is said of the church. Acts ix. 31, ' They walked in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.' This doth well together — fear God and rejoice in God. Do not dally with a Saviour, and please yourselves in cherishing a loose comfort, when you neglect duty, and are touched with no awe of God ; and then do not indulge a legal dejection ; the ' great God,' whom you dread and reverence is your ' Saviour,' Therefore are the titles of Christ mixed, to beget a sweet temperature of fear and love. So much for the conjunct consideration of the words,
II, Let us come to handle them apart particularly, but briefly —
First, Of the style of his power, ' The great God.' Here is a preg- nant testimony of the deity of Christ.
Doct. That Jesus Christ, together with the Father and the Holy Ghost, is the great God.
He is called ' the great God,' partly in opposition to those Xeyofievot 6eol, that are only called gods, the vanities of the gentiles. There are
234 SERMONS UPON TITUS II. 11-14 [SeR. XVIII.
many that are called gods : 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6, ' For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be gods many, and lords many), but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.' And partly in opposition to the gods of man's making ; so the devil is gotten to be a god : ' The god of this world hath blinded the eyes of them which believe not,' 2 Cor. iv. 4. So we read of those ' whose god is their belly,' Phil. iii. 19. As the strength of men's desires run out, so they set up many gods, either Mammon or Bacchus. And partly in opposition to those representative gods, magistrates, who are called gods : Ps. Ixxxii. 6, ' I said ye are gods.' They resemble God in their power and sovereignty, and admini- stration of justice, and large opportunity of doing good. But the chief reason why Christ is called 'the great God' is to show that he is not inferior to the Father ; to remove the scandal of his abasement ; he is not a God by courtesy or grant, but by nature, equal in power, and majesty, and glory, to God the Father.
To confirm this I shall prove — (1.) That considering his work, he ought to be God ; no inferior mediator could serve the turn ; (2.) That he is God, and able to perform this work.
First, Consider his work, and so he ought to be God. The work of the Mediator could be despatched by no inferior agent. Consider the Mediator in all his offices, as prophet, priest, and king.
1. For his prophetical office. As a prophet, he was to be greater than all prophets and apostles. It is above man's capacity to be the great doctor of the church. In regard of his outward work, the dis- covery of the gospel, and of the riches of God's grace, it could be made by none but he that was in the bosom of the Father : 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.' None could tell us what bowels, what affections, what purposes of grace the Father had concerning sinners, but Christ that was in his bosom : Mat. xi. 27, ' No man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.' As an external lawgiver in the gospel, Christ, the great doctor of the church, ought to be authentic, a lawgiver from whose sentence there is no appeal, a lord in his own house : Heb. iii. 4-6, ' For every house is builded by some man, but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after ; but Christ as a son over his own house.' Moses was but a servant, who received the external law from Christ upon Mount Sinai ; it was Christ whose voice shook the mount, Heb. xii. 26. But chiefly in regard of his inward work, as he is to be a fountain of wisdom to all the elect : 1. Cor. i. 30, ' But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,' Men may teach the ear, but Christ must teach the heart. Blind men cannot see the sun though it shine ever so clearly. Light has come into the world, but darkness comprehends it not ; we must have eyes as well as light, now it is only divine power can open the eye of our understanding, and give us spiritual illumination.