We speak of these things in a poor, low, broken manner, — we teach them as they are revealed in the Scripture,— we labour by faith to adhere unto them as revealed ; but when we come into a steady, direct view and consideration of the thing itself, our minds fail, our hearts tremble, and we can find no rest but in a holy admiration of what we cannot comprehend. Here we are at a loss, and know that we shall be so whilst we are in this world ; but all the ineffable fruits and benefits of this truth are communicated unto them that do believe.
It is with reference hereunto that that gi'eat promise concerning him is given unto the church, Isa. viii. 14, " He shall be for a sane-
IN HIS CONDESCENSION AS MEDIATOR. 331
tuaiy" (namely, unto all that believe, as it is expounded, 1 Peter ii. 7, 8) ; " but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence," — "even to them that stumble at the word, being disobedient; where- unto also they were appointed/'
He is herein a sanctuary, an assured refuge unto all that betake themselves unto him. What is it that any man in distress, who flies thereunto, may look for in a sanctuary ? A supply of all his wants, a deliverance from all his fears, a defence against all his dangers, is proposed unto him therein. Such is the Lord Christ herein unto sin-distressed souls ; he is a refuge unto us in all spiritual distresses and disconsolations, Heb. vi. 18. See the exposition of the place.^ Are we, or any of us, burdened with a sense of sin ? are we per- plexed with temptations ? are we bowed down under the oppression of any spiritual adversary ? do we, on any of these accounts, " walk in darkness and have no light?" One view of the glory of Christ herein is able to support us and relieve us.
Unto whom we betake ourselves for relief in any case, we have re- gard to nothing but their ^vill and their power. If they have both, we are sure of relief And what shall we fear in the will of Christ as unto this end? What will he not do for us? He who thus emptied and humbled himself, who so infinitely condescended from the prerogative of his glory in his being and self-sufficiency, in the susception of our nature for the discharge of the office of a mediator on our behalf, — will he not relieve us in all our distresses ? will he not do all for us we stand in need of, that we may be eternally saved ? will he not be a sanctuary unto us ? Nor have we hereon any ground to fear his power ; for, by this infinite condescension to be a suffering man, he lost nothing of his power as God omnipotent, — nothing of his infi^nite wisdom or glorious grace. He could still do all that he could do as God from eternity. If there be any thing, therefore, in a coalescency of infinite power with infinite condescension, to consti- tute a sanctuary for distressed sinners, it is all in Christ Jesus. And if we see him not glorious herein, it is because there is no light of faith in us.
This, then, is the rest wherewith we may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshment. Herein is he " a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest ; as rivers of water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a gi-eat rock in a weary land." Hereon he says, " I have satiated the Aveary soul, and have refreshed every sorrowful soul." Under this consideration it is that, in all evangelical promises and invitations for coming to him, he is proposed unto distressed sin- ners as their only sanctuary.
Herein is he " a stone of stumbline, and a rock of offence " unto
' In Dr Oweu's work entitled, " Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews."
§32 THE GLOEY OF CHRIST
the unbelieving and disobedient, who stumble at the word. They cannot, they will not, see the glory of this condescension ;— they neither desire nor labour so to do, — yea, they hate it and despise it. Christ in it is " a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence " unto them. Wherefore they choose rather utterly to deny his divine per- son than allow that he did thus abase himself for our sakes. Rather than they '^^dll own this glory, they will allow him no glory. A man they say he was, and no more ; and this was his glory. This is that jorinciple of darkness and unbelief which works effectually at this day in the minds of many. They think it an absurd thing, as the Jews did of old, that he, being a man, should be God also ; or, on the other hand, that the Son of God should thus condescend to take our nature on him. This they can see no glory in, no relief, no refuge, no re- freshment imto their souls in any of their distresses; therefore do they deny his divine person. Here faith triumphs against them ; it finds that to be a glorious sanctuary which they cannot at all discern.