referring to Christ, and calls upon them to regard him as that very Mediator, whom God had sent in answer to the petitions which had been offered by their fore- fathers at Mount Horebf.
Here it should be remembered that we are speak- ing, not from conjecture, but from infallible authority; and that the construction we are putting on the text is, not a fanciful interpretation of our own, but God's own exposition of his own words.
Behold then the sentiment expressed in our text, and the commendation given to it by God himself: it is a sentiment, which is the very sum and substance of the whole Gospel: it is a sentiment, which who- soever embraces truly, and acts upon it faithfully, can never perish, but shall have eternal life. The preceding sentiment, that we are incapable of stand- ing before an holy God, is good, as introductory to this ; but this is the crown of all ; this consciousness that we cannot come to God, and that God will not come to us, but through Christ. This acquiescence in him as the divinely appointed Mediator ; this ac- ceptance of him as "the Way, the Truth, and the Life ;" this sentiment, I say, God did, and will, approve, wheresoever it may be found. The Lord grant that we may all embrace this sentiment as we ought ; and that, having tasted its sweetness and felt its efficacy, we may attain by means of it all the blessings which a due reception of it will ensure!
The third thing to be noticed is, Their engagement to yield unqualified obedience to every thing that should be spoken to them by the Mediator. This, if viewed only as a general promise of obedience, was good, and highly acceptable to God ; since the obedience of his creatures is the very end of all his dispensations towards them. It is, to bring them to obedience, that he alarms them by the denunciations of his wrath, and encourages them by the promises of his Gospel : when once they are brought to love his law, and obey his commandments, all the designs of his love and mercy are accomplished ; and nothing remains
f Acts iii. 22, 23.