Contemplate now this mystery. A Mediator ! that Mediator, God! — that God, man! — that Deity in- carnate, suffering! — those sufferings, vicarious! — his whole obedience, too, accepted as vicarious, and im- puted to sinful man ! — man, so rescued, brought into a state of peace with God ! — man, so rescued, restored to the Divine image, approved of his God, justified before the whole assembled universe, and exalted to a throne of glory ! and all in perfect consistency with the honour of God himself; yea, and all the Divine perfections glorified in this very way ! — What shall we say ? We are amazed : we are confounded : we can scarcely believe our own statement : it must surely be " a cunningly-devised fable." But no : it is God's plan for the salvation of a ruined world ; and, in the contemplation of it, we can do nothing but exclaim with the Apostle, " O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding outd !"
Now this Gospel is, as I am to shew in the next place, the great instrument which God is pleased to employ for the restoration of the world to him : and the riches of his power as so exerted, and as effecting the complete deliverance of man from his fallen state, is now, in the Second place, to be set before you.
It will be remembered, that whilst, in the eyes of the self-righteous Jews, the Gospel was a stumbling- block, and amongst the conceited Greeks was ac- counted foolishness, the Apostle declared it to be " the wisdom of God, and the power of GodV It seemed, to those who confided in their own wisdom, inconceivable that the salvation of man should ever be effected by means which they judged so unsuited to the end. But the Apostle hesitated not to affirm, that the Gospel would surely answer all the ends for which it had been ordained ; would prove alike
'l Rom. xi. 33. « 1 Cor. i. 24.