II. The excellency of this way —
Waving many things whereby this topic might be illustrated, we shall content ourselves with observing, that this way of access to God,
1. Gives us a wonderful discovery of God him- self—
[What an astonishing view does this give us of the Divine nature ! Here we see manifestly the existence of three persons in the Godhead. Here we see the Father, to whom we are to draw nigh, together with the Son, through whom, and the Spirit, by whom, we are to approach him. These are evidently distinct, though subsisting in one undivided essence. More- over the offices of the Three Persons in the Trinity are so appropriate, that we cannot speak of them otherwise than they are here declared : we cannot say, that through the Spirit, and by the Father, we have access to Christ; or that through the Father, and by Christ, we have access to the Spirit: this would be to confound what the Scripture keeps perfectly distinct. The Father is the Original Fountain of the Deity: Christ is the Mediator, through whom we approach him : and the Spirit is the Agent, by whom we are enabled to approach him. That each of these divine Persons is God, is as plainly revealed, as that there is a God : and yet we are sure that there is but one God. It is not for us to unravel this mystery ; but with humility and gratitude to adore that God, who has so mysteriously revealed his nature to us.
While we are led thus to view God as he exists in himself, we cannot but contemplate also his goodness to us. What greater mark of it can be conceived, than that the sacred Three should so interest themselves in our salvation ? That the Father should devise such a way for our acceptance with him ; that the Son should open the way by his meritorious death, and his prevailing intercession ; and that the Holy Spirit should condescend to guide us into it, and to keep us in it, even to the end ! That these offices should be sustained and executed for the salvation of such insignificant and worth- less, yea, such guilty and rebellious creatures, may well excite our wonder, and furnish us with matter of endless praise and thanksgiving.]
2. Is calculated to produce the most salutary effects on the minds of men —
[What consideration can be more awakening than that which necessarily arises from the subject before us ? Was such a dispensation necessary in order to our restoration to the Divine favour ? Must the Father send his only Son to die for