this Section teaches, in addition —

1st. That the covenanted Head of the redeemed

* 184

Church is not the divine Word, absolutely considered, but the incarnate God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has received a divine appointment to be Mediator between God and man.

2d. That the mediatorial office, in the exercise of which Christ accomplishes our redemption, embraces three distinct functions, viz.: those of a Prophet, of a Priest and of a King.

3d. That, as Mediator, Christ is Head and Saviour of his Church, Heir of all things and Judge of the world.

A mediator is one who intervenes between contesting parties for the sake of making reconciliation. The term is sometimes applied to independent and disinterested parties called in to arbitrate a difficulty ; sometimes to a dependent messenger or agent of one of the parties to the contest employed to carry overtures to the other party. In this sense Moses was a mediator between God and the people of Israel. Deut. v. 5; Gal. iii. 19. Sometimes it is applied to an intercessor employed by the weaker party to influence the stronger.

The Scriptures apply the term, in a higher sense than any of these, to Christ. They teach that he intervenes between God and man, not merely to sue for peace and to persuade to it, but, armed with plenipotentiary power, efficiently to make peace and to do all that is necessary to that end.

The things necessary in order to this great end fall into two classes — (a) those that respect God, and (b) those that respect men.

As it respects God, it is absolutely necessary, in order to reconciliation, that the Mediator should pi'opitiate

16*

the just displeasure of God by expiating the guilt of sin, and that he should supplicate in our behalf, and that he should actually introduce our persons and services to the acceptance of the Father.

As it respects men, it is absolutely necessary that the Mediator should reveal to them the truth concerning God and their relations to him, and the conditions of acceptable service ; that he should persuade and enable them to receive and obey the truth so revealed; and that he should so direct and sustain them and so control all the outward influences to which they are subjected that their deliverance from sin and from the powers of an evil world shall be perfected.

Hence the mediatorial office involves all the three great functions of prophet, priest and king, and Christ discharged them all, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation. These are not three distinct offices meeting accidentally in one office, but three functions inhering essentially in the one office of mediator. And they each so belong to the very essence of the office thnt the quality peculiar to each gives character to evei y mediatorial action. When he teaches, he is always a priestly and kingly prophet. When he offers sacrific e or intercession for sin, he is always a prophetical ai.d royal priest.

(1.) Christ is a prophet. A prophet is a spokesman; one sent from God to man to make known the divine will. In this sense Moses and all inspired men were prophets. But Christ was the personal "Word of God'' incarnate, he who had eternally been " in the bosom of God" and " known the Father," and consequently as mediatorial prophet is that original fountain of revelation of which all other prophets are the streams. He is the Prophet of all prophets, the Teacher of all teachers.

" He executeth the office of a prophet in his revealing to the Church in all ages, by his Spirit and word, in divers ways of administration, the whole will of God, in all things concerning their edification and salvation." L. Cat., Q. 43. That this representation is true is proved from the fact that the Scriptures (a) explicitly call him a prophet. Compare Deut. xviii. 15, 18 and Acts iii. 22 ; vii. 37 ; Heb. i. 2. (6.) Teach that he executed the functions of a prophet before his incarnation. Isa. ix. 6 ; Mai. iii. 1 ; Job xxxiii. 23 ; 1 Pet. i. 11. (c.) Teach that he executes the office of a prophet since his incarnation. Matt. xi. 27 ; John iii. 2 ; vi. 68 ; Rev. vii. 17 ; xxi. 23.

(2.) Christ is a priest. A priest is (a) one taken from among men, (6) to appear in the presence of God and to treat in behalf of men, and (c) in order thereto to make propitiation and intercession. It is declared to be essential to the priest (a) that he be a man chosen to represent men before God. Aaron always bore before the Lord for a memorial a breastplate with the names of all the tribes of Israel engraved upon it. Ex. xxviii. 9, 12, 21, 29. (6.) He must be chosen of God as his special election and property. Num. xvi. 5 ; Heb. v. 4. (c.) He must be holy and consecrated to the Lord. Lev. xxi. 68; Ex. xxxix. 30, 31 ; Ps. cvi. 16. (d) They have a right both to draw near to Jehovah and to bring near — i. e.y to offer sacrifices and intercessions. Lev. xvi. 3-1 5. (e.) He must have an acceptable sacrifice to offer. Heb. viii. 3. Christ is in this sense a true priest, and he executeth this office "in his once offering himself a

1S8 CONFESSION OF FAITH.

sacrifice without spot to God, to be a reconciliation for the sins of his people, and in making continual intercession for them." L. Cat., Q. 44. That this is true is proved from the fact that the Scriptures declare (a) that Christ possessed all the characteristic marks and qualifications of a priest. He became a man for this purpose. Heb. ii. 16; iv. 15. He was chosen of God, as was Aaron. Heb. v. 5, 6. He was perfectly holy, and had right of immediate approach to the Father. (6.) He is declared to be a priest in the Old Testament. The entire order of priests and the ceremonial of sacrifice was typical of him. Zech. vi. 13; Isa. liii. 10; Dan. ix. 24, 25. (c.) The gospel history declares that he actually discharged all the functions of a priest. He has made propitiation by a sacrificial bearing of the penalty due to sin. Eph. v. 2; Heb. ix. 26; 1 John i. 2. He has made intercession and he ever lives to intercede. Rom. viii. 34 ; Heb. vii. 25. The work of Christ was the substance of which the entire ceremonial of the temple was the shadow. Col. ii. 17.

His priesthood is said not to have been of the order of Aaron, because, although Aaron and his priesthood were types of Christ, and existed simply for the purpose of showing forth his work, yet they were inadequate to represent him fully and in all relations. They were inadequate chiefly (a) with respect to the incomparable dignity and excellence of his person. (6.) The infinite value of his sacrifice. Heb. x. 1. (c.) The manner of their consecration. Heb. vii. 20-22. (d.) They were constantly succeeding each other as dying men. Heb. vii. 23, 24. (e.) He was a minister of a greater and more perfect tabernacle. Heb. ix. 11, 24.

(/.) They were made priests — he was a royal and prophetical priest. Zech. vi. 13; Rom. viii. 34; Heb. viii. 1,2.

His priesthood is said to have been of the order of Melchisedec, because (a) like him he was a royal priest. (6.) Like him, he had no predecessors or successors in office. He was the only one of his line, (c.) Because he was an eternal priest ; " Thou art a priest for ever of the order of Melchisedec.'^ Heb. vii. 17.

(3.) Christ is sovereign Head over all things to his Church. Eph. i. 22; iv. 15; Col. i. 18; ii. 19. He executeth the office of a king (a) in calling out of the world a people to himself, and giving them offices, laws and discipline, by which he visibly governs them ; (6) in bestowing saving grace upon his elect, rewarding their obedience and correcting them for their sins, preserving and supporting them under all their temptations and sufferings ; (c) restraining and overcoming all their enemies, and powerfully ordering all things for his own glory and their good ; and also (d) in taking vengeance on the rest, who know not God and obey not the gospel.

This lordship differs from that which belongs essentially to the Godhead : (a.) Because it is given to him by the Father as the reward of his obedience and suffering. Phil. ii. 6-11. (6.) The object and design of this mediatorial kingship has special reference to the upbuilding and glory of the redeemed Church, (c.) The dignity and authority belong not to his deity abstractly, but to his entire person as God-man. This power and lordship Christ already possesses, and it extends over all creatures in all worlds. Matt, xxviii. 18; Eph. i. 17-23; Phil. ii. 9-11; Jer. xxiii. 6; Isa. ix. 6; Ps. ii.

6 ; Acts ii. 29-33. And of this kingdom there shall be no end. Dan. ii. 44 ; Isa. ix. 7.

Thus Christ has been shown, as Mediator, to be — 5th. Head and Saviour of his Church, and Heir of all things, that is, sovereign ruler and disposer of all things throughout all worlds. Eph. i. 10. That element of Christ^s dominion which shall be exercised in his judging men and angels at the end will be considered under Chapter xxxiii.

A mediator is one who interposes between two parties at variance, to prociu-e-a reconciliation. Before the fall, there was no need of a mediator betv/een God and man ; for, thqngh there was an infinite distance in nature, yet, there was no variance between these parties. But upon the fall the case was altered ; God was dishonoured, and highly offended ; man was alienated from God, and subjected to his judicial displeasure ; and as man was unable to satisfy the claims of tlie divine law which he had violated, if he was to be restored to the favour of his oifended sovereign, the interposition of another person was requisite, to atone for his guilt, and lay the foundation of peace. This is the office and work assigned to Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God and man ; and the present section relates to his divine appointment to this office, and the donation of a people to him as his seed.

I. It pleased God, from all eternity, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, his only begotten Son, to be the mediator between God and man. God being the party oifended by the sin of man, to him belonged the right of admitting satisfaction by another in the room of the personal transgressors. But he not only admitted of a vicarious satisfaction ; he also, in the exercise of boundless grace and unsolicited

96 CONFESSION OF FAITU. [cHAP. Vllf.

love, provided one equal to the arduous undertaking, in the appointment of his own Son to his mediatory office. Our Lord did not engage in the work of mediation without a special call and commission from his Father. From eternity he was chosen and appointed to execute the office of mediator between God and man ; hence he is said to be "set up from everlasting," and "fore-ordained before the foundation of the world."— Prov. viii. 23 ; 1 Pet. i. 20. When he was on earth he often declared, that what he did in accomplishing the work of our redemption, he did by a special commission from the Father, and in obedience to his will. — John. vi. 38. The divine appointment of Christ to his mediatory office affords a striking proof of the love of the Father, who " sent his only begotten Son to be the propitiation for our sins," and lays a firm foundation for our trust in Christ. Without the appointment of his Father, his work would not have been valid in law for our redemption ; but this appointment assures us, that the whole work of his mediation is most acceptable to God, and affords us the highest encouragement to rely upon his finished work for our eternal salvation. II. The Father, from all eternity, gave to Christ a people to be his seed, and to be by him brought to glory. That a definite number of mankind, who were chosen by God in the exercise of rich and sovereign grace, were given to Christ, is manifest from the distinction made betwixt them and the world. Christ designates them" the men that were given him out of the world," and declares that he prayed "not for the world, but for them whom the Father had given him." — John xvii. 6, 9. In these passages the world is opposed to those that were given to Christ, and this must convince every unprejudiced mind that the persons given to Christ are a definite number, selected by God from the v/orld of mankind. They Avere given to Christ to be his seed. It was not left uncertain whether Christ, as the reward of his mediatory work, would have a people to serve him ; it was stipulated that he should have a seed, in whom he would see the travail of his soul. — Is. liii. 10, 11. They were given to him that he might redeem them, and bring them to glory. He was not merely to procure for them a possibility of salvation, but to secure for them a full and final salvation ; and none that were given to him shall -be lost. " This is the Father's will which hath sent me," says Christ, " that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." — John. vi. 39.

•Section II. — The Son of God, the second person in

the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance, and equal with the Faither, did, when the fulness of time was come, take upon him man's nature,^" with all the essential properties and common inlirmities thereof, yet without sin;" being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the w^omb of the Virgin Mary, of her substance. ^^ So that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion.^^ Which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.^*

I Johni. 1, 14. IJohnv. 20. Phil. M' Luke 1.35. Col. ii. 9. Rom. ix. ii. 6. Gal. iv. 4. | 5. 1 Pet. iii. 18. 1 Tim. iii. 16.

II Heb. ii. 14, 16, 17 ; iv. 15. I '* Rom. i. 3, 4. 1 Tim. ii. 5. 12 Luke i. 27, 31,35. Gal. iv. 4. |

EXPOSITION.

This section relates to the constitution of the person of the Mediator. In opposition to Socinians and Unitarians, who maintain that Christ was merely a man, and had no existence before he was born of Mary; and in opposition to Arians, who, though they admit the pre-existence of Christ, maintain that he is a creature, and existed prior to his incarnation only as a super-angelic spirit ; our Confession teaches, that Christ not only existed before his incarnation, but was from all eternity the Son of God, of one substance, and equal with the Father ; and that, in the fulness of time, he assumed a complete human nature into union with the divine, so that he is both very God and very man, having two distinct natures, yet but one person.

I. Jesus Christ not only existed prior to his incarnation, but is the eternal Son of God, of one substance and equal with the Father. The pre-existence of Christ is confirmed by numerous testimonies of Scripture. That he existed bofore John the Baptist, is affirmed by John himself, who " bare witness of him," saying, " He that cometh after me is preferred before me : for he was before me." — John i. 15. That he existed before Abraham is affirmed by Christ himself, who told the Jews, " Before Abraham was, I am." — John viii. 58. That he existed before the flood is evident from the words of the Apostle Peter, who affirms, that by the Spirit Christ " went and preached unto the spirits in prison ; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark Avas a-preparing."— o

1 Pet. iii. 19, 20. That he existed before the foundation of the world is no less evident, for the Scripture teaches us that all things were created by him, and in his valedictory prayer he thus expressed himself: "Now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." — John xvii. 5. Christ also declares that he " came doAvn from heaven," and speaks of his " ascending up where he was before " (John iii, 15, vi. 62) ; which cleiirly imports, that he had a residence in heaven before he took our nature.*

We are not left to conjecture what that nature was in which Christ subsisted prior to his incarnation. We are assured that " he was in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God ;" that " in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." — Phil. ii. 6 ; John i. 1. But tjie supreme Deity of Christ has been established in a preceding chapter, and we shall not now resume that subject. It will be proper, however, in this place, to offer a few remarks concerning the Sonship of Christ. The title of sons of God is applied in Scripture to various orders of beings, but Christ is styled the Sou of God in a sense altogether peculiar to himself ; hence he is called God's own 'Son — his proper Son — the only begotten of the Father. Ills Sonship is not founded upon his mission, no^' upon his miraculous conception, nor upon his resurrection, as is supposed by many; but he is the Son of God by an eternal, necessary, and ineffable genrvation. This truth is confirmed by many passages of Bcripture, the application of Avliich to the eternal generation of the Son of God has been vindicated by many learned divines.f We can only refer the reader to Ps. ii. 7 ; Prov. viii. 24, 25 ; Mic. v. 2 ; John i. 14. The denial of our Lord's eternal Sonship tends to subvert the doctrine of the Trinity ; it also throws a veil over the glory of the worlc of redemption ; for the grace of the second person in becoming incan.iate, obeying, and suffering — the love of the first in sending him, and delivering him up to sufferings and death for us — and the infinite value of his atonement, are all in Scripture made to turn upon his essential dignity as the Sou of God. We cannot pretend to explain the manner of the eternal generation of the Son ; but to deny it upon the ground that it is incomprehensible by us would be prepostei-ous ; for, upon the same ground, we might a«

* The pie-existence of Christ is ably treated in Archbishop Magee's celebrated work on Atonenient,— Illustrations, No. I; Hill's Lectures, vol i, p. 289 ; Wilson on the Person of Christ, ch. ii.

t See Witsius on ti)e Creed, Diss. 12 ; Gib's Contemplations, pp. 207-227.

well deny the subsistence of three distinct persons in one Godhead. Though the eternal generation of the Son be to us an inconceivable mystery, yet of one thing we are certain, that it necessarily implies the Son's equality with the Father. The Jews understood our Lord's claim to Sonship as a claim to equality with the Father, and consequently to proper Deity ; and he sanctioned the interpretation which they put upon his words, by declaring, " I and my Father are one." — Jolin X. 30, 33.

II. In the fulness of time, the Son of God assumed a complete human nature into lanion with his divine person. This article of our faith has been opposed by heretics of various descriptions,and the statements of our Confession are iiitended to meet the heresies which have been broached in dilFerent periods.

1. The Son of God took upon him man's nature — a real and perfect humanity. In the primitive times of the Christian Church this was denied by various sects, called Docetse, who held that Christ had not a real, but a mere shadowy body; while others, in later times, affirmed that Christ had a body, but not a soul.^' But the Scriptures declare that "the Word was made flesh," — that "God sent forth liis Son, made of a woman" — and that, " forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he himself likewise took part of the same." It would be impossible to find language that could more explicitly assert the reality of Christ's human nature. His apostles, who were admitted to familiar converse with him, were certain that it was not a mere phantom which they beheld, and were as fully persuaded of the reality of his body as of their own. " We have looked upon, and our hands have handled the Word of life." — 1 John i. 1. That Christ had a human soul is equally unquestionable. He " increased in wisdom and stature ;" the one in respect of his body, the other in respect of his soul. In his agony, he said, " My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death;" and on the cross, he committed it to his Father, saying, " Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit."

2. Christ was subject to the common infirmities of our nature, but was altogether without sin. He was subject to hunger and thirst, to weariness and pain, and other natural infirmities. On this account, he is said to have been sent

* The Arians and Eunomiaiis held that Christ had no part of the human nature, except merely the flesh ; but that the place of the soul was supplied by the indwelling of the Word. The AppoUinarians distinguished man into three parts— the bofiy, the sensible soul, and the rational soul ; the latter they held Christ did not possess, but the Word was substitiitedin its place.— Newland's Analysis of the Thirty- Nine Articles, p. 57.

100 CONFESSION OP FAITH. QcHAP. VIII.

into the world " in the likeness of sinful flesh." — Rom. \'iii. 3. JJut it was only the likeness of sinful flesh, for he had no sin in reality ; hence he is called " the holy one," " the holy child Jesus," and "a lamb without blemish and without spot." The perfect purity of our Lord's human nature was necessary to qualify hina for his mediatory work; for if he had been himself a sinner, he could not have satisfied for the sins of others. " Such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separated from sinners." — Heb. vii. 26.

3. The human nature of Christ was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and was formed of her substance. The body of Christ was not created out of nothing, neither did it descend from heaven, but was formed, by the agency of the Holy Spirit, of the substance of the Virgin; hence Mary is called the mother of Jesus, and he is called " the fruit of her womb," and " the seed of the woman." * — Luke i. 42, 43; Gen. iii. 15.

4, The Son of God assumed the human nature into union with the divine, so that two distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, are inseparably joined together in one person. This is asserted in opposition to certain errors whicli were broached in the fifth century. The Nestorians held that in Christ, " there w^ere two persons, of which the one was flimne, even the eternal Word ; and the other, which was human, was the man Jesus." A strong aversion to this error led the Eutychians into the opposite extreme. They taught that in Christ " there was but one nature;" his human nature being absorbed by the divine.f That the Godhead and the manhood are united in the one person of Christ, is confirmed by all those passages of Scripture which speak of two natures as belonging to our Saviour. — Isa. ix. 6; Rom. ix. 5; Matt. i. 18. The human nature of Christ never had a separate subsistence or personality of its own, but, from its first formation, was united to, and subsisted in, the person of the Son of God. This is called the hypostatical or personal union. Though this is an intimate union, yet the two natures ai-e not confounded, but each retains its own essential properties. But, in consequence of this union, the attributes and acts which are proper to one nature are ascribed to the person of Christ. He could only obey and suffer in the human nature, but his obedience and sufferings are predi-

* Besides some ancient heretics, certain Anabaptists, who appeared in England about the time of the Reformation, asserted that Christ brought down his human nature from heaven, and that it only passed through Mary, as the beams of the sun through glass.

t Mosheim's Eccl. Hist., cent, v., p. 2, ch. 5.

PECT. 3.] OF CHRIS 1' nil:: mediator. 101

cated of him as the Son of God— as the Lord of glory.— Heb. V. 8; 1 Cor. ii. 8. To represent our Saviour as having a human person distinct from his Godhead, is to divest his obedience and sufferings of their inherent value, and consequently, to subvert the grand doctrine of the redemption of the Church by his blood. It is, therefore, a most important article of our faith, that our blessed Sa-viour is " very God and very man, yet one Christ."* To this it is subjoined, that he is "the one mediator between God and man." The Papists would associate saints and angels with Christ in the work of mediation. They allow, indeed, that Christ is the only mediator of redemption, but they allege that there are other mediators of intercession. But the Scripture makes no such distinction; on the contrary, it expressly asserts that there is only one mediator, as there is only owe God. — 1 Tim. ii. 5.