would have been given to the Apostle Paul, who was more fully instructed in the mind and will of God than any other person : yet he knew of no other name but that of Jesus ; he renounced all hope " in his own righteousness, that he might be found in Christ x;" and "he determined to insist on nothing, in all his ministrations, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified y."
Whether therefore we consider the insufficiency of all the creatures to stand in the place of a Saviour to us, or the utter ignorance of all the Prophets and Apostles respecting the appointment of any creature to sustain that office, we may be sure that there is none other than the Person mentioned in the text, who is a man indeed, but is, at the same time, " God over all blessed for evermore."]
2. There cannot be — [We presume not to be wise above what is written ; or to say what God might have done if he had pleased : but we are fully warranted by the Scriptures to say, that, consistently with God's honour, as the Moral Governor of the universe, man could not have been saved without a Mediator: nor could any mediator besides Je sus have been found to execute all that was necessary for our salvation. It was necessary that the justice of God should be satisfied for the violations of his law ; that his holi- ness should be displayed in a marked abhorrence of sin ; that his truth should be kept inviolate by the execution of his threatenings ; and that his law should be honoured, as well by an obedience to its precepts, as by an enduring of its penalties. Now none but Jesus, who was God as well as man, could effect all these things, and therefore none but he could save us.
But there is yet another ground on which we may deny that any other could save us ; namely, that if we were indebted to any other, either for righteousness or strength, we could not join in the songs of the redeemed in heaven, but must separate from the heavenly choir2, and ascribe to ourselves, or to some other, (inasmuch as we were indebted to ourselves or them,) the honour of our salvation. And how would this comport with the dignity of Jehovah, who has determined " that no flesh should glory in his presence ? " It is in vain to say that the glory would ultimately accrue to him : for if we be saved by, or for, any thing of our own, we may, and must, so far take the glory to ourselves3: and that would create discord in heaven, and be irreconcileable with the honour of the Divine Majesty.] Address—
1. The careless —
x Phil. iii. 9. >r 1 Cor. ii. 2. * Rev. vii. 9, 10.
a Rom. iv. 2.