C. The Mediation of Jesus Christ.

the Mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ is, unquestionably, a doctrine of the Scriptures, directly asserted in plain terms, and referred to, or assumed as true, by many other less express declarations of the Lord himself and his Apostles. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged, that this doctrine, as commonly held and maintained, is one of those which create, in many minds, a great prejudice against the Christian Religion, and which promote, or confirm them in, their denial of the Scriptures as a Revelation from God. It is affirmed by Deists, that the doctrine of the Mediation of Jesus Christ, supposes, in the first place, that the Essential Nature of God is something very different from love, since, if God truly were love, he could not require the intervention of another to induce him to show mercy towards his creatures: and still less could he require the presence of such a Mediator continually, continually to keep him in the forgiving disposition to which he had been brought, and to remind him (as if Omniscience could forget) of the wants of his creatures, and their need of his pity and compassion. They also contend, that it supposes the actual existence of two Divine Beings: for to affirm, they say, that the various Persons of the Trinity make and are but one God, bears contradiction on the face of it, when One is described as intreating the mercy of the other for the human race, and the other grants his mercy in compliance with such intreaty. Besides, they allege, it is a further absurdity to call these two equal Persons: when the power of giving or withholding what is solicited abides with one of them alone, and the other only obtains the benefits which he desires for the objects of his kind solicitude, by continual and urgent intreaty.

It is with pain, my candid and reflecting brethren, that I remind you of these objections which the enemies of the Christian religion make to the doctrine of the Mediation of Jesus Christ: and it is with more pain that I add, that all which they allege respecting it is but too well-founded, as it regards the doctrine as generally taught. I have looked over many of the modern expositors of Scripture, in hopes that I should find in some of them a view of the subject which would not be liable to such objections: but I have looked in vain. All that I have consulted represent the matter precisely as it is represented in the statement I have just given as the objections of the Deist: all decidedly regard the Mediation of Jesus Christ as the interference of One Divine Person with another in the way of request and intreaty. And some greatly exult in, and dwell largely on the circumstances of, such a mode of mediation. The more reluctant they can represent the One Person to be persuaded, and the more urgent and even servile the other in persuading him, the greater honour they think they do to both. They describe the Mediator as pleading his merits, and even displaying before the eyes of the Father his yet open wounds, to move him to have mercy. Consider the subject seriously, ye Candid and Reflecting! The mediation of Jesus Christ, is, most unquestionably, a genuine Scripture doctrine: but is it not truly lamentable, that it should be so set forth in the doctrines received as those of the Christian Religion, to be made actually monstrous in the eye of Reason, and to give such specious "occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme?" Ought not every one who is concerned for the honour of God, and for the vindication of his Word, and of the Christian Religion as founded upon his Word, eagerly to accept a view of the subject, if one can be presented, which upholds the doctrine of Mediation as actually true in itself, but removes this gross and degrading mode of considering it? which accepts what is truly given respecting it in Scripture, evinces this to be in full harmony with all the genuine perceptions of Reason, and proves it to be completely consistent with the pure and unmixed goodness of Deity, with the Supreme Divinity of Jesus Christ, and with the Absolute Unity of the Divine Person and Essence ? I do not, however, desire, to carry you away by your feelings or your wishes. Look candidly, and cautiously, if you please, at the view of it which we accept as part of the doctrines of Faith and Life to be held by the New Church signified by the New Jerusalem: consider the nature of the Scripture style and phraseology; weigh the testimony of Scripture, and examine the explanations of it, as we offer them to you: and then decide, either for the view of the doctrine of Mediation which divides the Divine Being into two completely separate Persons, of opposite natures, or for that which requires to support it only One God, and he a God of love, in One Divine Person. According to the view which has been largely supported in the preceding section, it was the One Jehovah who assumed Humanity in the Person of Jesus Christ; and the Humanity thus assumed is what is properly called in Scripture the Son of God. When, as we have seen, the angel announced to Mary his approaching birth, he said, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Most certainly, it was not the essential Divine Nature of the Lord that was born of the Virgin Mary, but only the Human Nature: but that which was to be born of her was to be called the Son of God: this title then is properly, as we have fully evinced, the Name of the Lord's Human Nature. This Human Nature it was, as we have seen in the first part of this section, which became, or was made, a sacrifice to God; the meaning of that phrase being, a thing devoted, consecrated, and hallowed to God. This, we have fully ascertained, was the case with the Lord's Human Nature, when it was completely glorified, or sanctified, or so assimilated to the Nature of the Divine Essence itself, as to form completely one Person Herewith, comprehending the whole of it in itself as the body comprehends the soul, being made the full and adequate Organ for its operations upon human minds, adapting those operations to the state in which the human mind now stands, so as to render them far more efficacious in restoring degenerate man to his proper order, than could be the case with the operation of the pure "Divinity unclothed and unmodified by a Glorified Humanity; just as the body of man is the full and adequate organ for the operations of his soul, adapting those operations so as to produce effects upon the objects of this natural world around it, in a manner which it would be impossible for his soul alone to accomplish, unclothed with the body.

As man was created in the image and likeness of God, and thus has a trinity in himself, of soul, body, and their operative energy, formed after the image of the Trinity in his Creator of Divinity, Humanity, and their Operative Energy, so may we discern in man, likewise, an image of the mediation of Jesus Christ. Man's body operates as a medium, by which his soul acts upon persons and things around him; and by which, again, impressions from these are conveyed to his soul: thus, man's body is, in both respects, the medium of communication between his soul and things around it. Just so, the Glorified Humanity of Jesus Christ is the medium by which the Divine Essence acts upon man, and by which, again, man has access even to the Inmost Divine Essence. In both respects, then,—as conveying the gifts of salvation from God to man, and as affording to man access to God,—the Glorified Humanity of Jesus Christ is the medium of communication. The analogy is most perfect and complete. As man's soul, without his body, cannot communicate with the world; and objects in the world could not make their state, their presence, nor even their existence, known to his soul,—the body being a medium expressly formed for communication with the world, and given to the soul for that purpose; so, when man had sunk into the natural state in which he now exists, the pure and unclothed Deity could no longer operate upon him in a saving manner, and he could have no access to, no adequate communication with, the Author of his existence. Therefore Jehovah, out of his infinite love to mankind, clothed himself with Human Nature; and having glorified that Human Nature by wonderful divine means, so as to make it the express image, and adequate instrument of action, of his Essential Divinity, he has provided an eternal Medium of communication between himself and his creatures. The operation, then, of this Glorified Human Form, which has become the Investiture, and, as it were, the very Body of the Godhead, in affording to man the means of approaching to God, and in conveying the gifts of salvation,—the communications of the Holy Spirit, from God to man, is what is meant by the Scripture doctrine of the Mediation of Jesus Christ.

This is a view of the subject which entirely clears the doctrine of the Mediation of Jesus Christ from the inconsistencies generally attached to it, makes it perfectly unexceptionable in the eye of Reason, completely takes away the objections alleged against it by the Infidel, and removes the ground of his rejection of the Scriptures on that account. Instead of militating against the glorious and blessed truth, that God, in his essential nature, is love, this view of the Mediation of Jesus Christ supposes and establishes that truth; as it was nothing but the Infinite Love of the Lord that led to the assumption by him of the Human Essence, to afford a medium for restoring the communication between his creatures and himself. Instead of militating against the Absolute Unity of the Deity, this view of Mediation supposes and confirms it; as it does not regard the Mediator as a Separate Person from the Godhead, but as his proper Person itself, being a Glorified Form brought forth from himself, and put on, as the Medium of manifesting himself to man. And instead of militating against the Supreme Divinity of Jesus Christ, it assumes that he, as to his Divine Nature, is Jehovah from eternity, and, as to his Divine and Human Natures in union, is the Only God of heaven and earth.

All the general truths, then, of the Word of God, as well as all the suffrages of Reason, concur in supporting this view of the nature of the Mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. If the Unity which the Scriptures assert for the Deity is to be preserved; if the Supreme Divinity of Jesus Christ is to be maintained; if the first attribute and essential of the Godhead is to be allowed to be Love:—then this must be the true view of the nature of the Mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every other way of proposing it violates these great truths,—the first truths of all religion,—these first truths of the Revelation of God: If then these are truths, every other way of understanding this sublime subject must be erroneous.

But, independently of this inferential conclusion, what is the direct testimony of the Bible upon the subject ?

The passages of the Bible in which the term "Mediator" is made use of, are but five in the whole;—all in the Epistles of Paul. In one of these, the Mediator referred to is Moses: in three others, Jesus Christ is spoken of as the Mediator of the New Covenant, in the same sense as Moses was the mediator of the Old: and in the remaining one, he is called the "Mediator between God and man," in a way that leads directly to the proper nature of the Doctrine of Mediation.

The word Mediator, being pure Latin, does not convey, to the person who is acquainted with no language but the English, an idea of its original meaning. It is commonly understood, therefore, only in its secondary sense, as one who acts as a conciliator, or reconciler, between two other parties, bringing them to a state of agreement. This meaning does undoubtedly belong to the word, as it is used in the Scriptures and elsewhere, and is properly included in the doctrine of the Mediation of Jesus Christ: yet it does not suggest the primary and grammatical meaning of the term. The word Mediator is formed from the word medium, which signifies, the middle between two extremes. A. Mediator, therefore, is one who stands in the middle,—who goes between two opposite parties, and acts as a medium by which they are brought into communication and thus into agreement, and are kept from coming into hostile collision. The etymology, and thus the grammatical meaning, of the Greek word used in the New Testament, answers exactly to that of the Latin word, Mediator, by which we translate it.

According, then, to this grammatical meaning of the word Mediator, we have the exact idea which we have shown to belong to the doctrine of the Mediation of Jesus Christ. His Glorified Humanity is properly a Medium between the incomprehensible Divine Essence and the finite and now corrupt nature of man; and supplies the means by which communication between them can be opened, and reconciliation can be effected.

But, in a less strict sense, a Mediator, in the language of the New Testament, signifies, one who brings a communication from God to man, and is made the instrument for establishing a dispensation. Thus in the Epistle to the Galatians (Ch. iii. 19, 20), Moses is called the Mediator of the law, which he delivered to the Israelites: of which the Apostle there says, that it was "ordained by angels by the hand of a Mediator:" to which he adds, "Now a Mediator is not a mediator of one: but God is one." Here he speaks of the law as being given from God to Moses by the ministry of angels, and as being delivered by Moses to the people: who thus coming, and that only secondarily, between the people and God, and being the instrument of delivering to them what otherwise they could not have received, is denominated a Mediator. Just in the same manner, the same Apostle thrice applies the name of Mediator to Jesus, in the Epistle to the Hebrews. After speaking of the typical priesthood and service of the tabernacle established by Moses, he says of Jesus, "But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the Mediator of a better covenant, established upon better promises:"* where, by "the Mediator of a better covenant" he obviously means, the medium of dispensing and establishing such a covenant. In the same manner, he says, in the next chapter, "And for this cause he is the Mediator of the new testament: that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance:"+ meaning still, that he was the medium of dispensing the new testament or covenant. He uses the same phrase again, in chap, xii., when telling the Hebrew converts of the privileges they enjoyed by becoming Christians; among which he states, that they are "come to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant" In these passages, the Apostle evidently means precisely the same thing as he expresses in quite different terms at the commencement of the Epistle; which he begins thus: "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things; by whom also he made the worlds."

* Ch. viii. 6. + Ch. ix. 15. # Ch. ii. 5,

These passages, then, speak of Jesus as being the Medium of conveying to man the blessings of the gospel-dispensation; but do not offer anything very explicit as to his work of mediation, in general. This however is done in the only remaining passage in which Jesus is called a Mediator: This is in the first Epistle to Timothy. The Apostle, after directing prayers to be made for all men, and assigning as a reason, that "it is the will of God that all men should be saved, and should come to the knowledge of the truth," adds this remarkable statement; showing, both in what manner the Lord Jesus is a Mediator, and that the benefits of his mediation extend to all mankind. "For (says he) there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus."# Most remarkable is the accurate discrimination of the language which the Apostle here uses,—"the man, Christ Jesus." In no other place throughout his writings does he employ the same phrase. He indeed often transposes the order of the Lord's names, and calls him "Christ Jesus," instead of "Jesus Christ," without, as far as I have been able to observe, any intended difference of idea: but never does he elsewhere speak of "the man, Christ Jesus." What does he mean by it here ? Does he intend to teach us that Christ Jesus is merely a man: which is an argument the Unitarians endeavour to draw from these words ? Never was an argument founded on a more unsubstantial basis; since the Apostle abundantly shows, throughout his writings, that he knew the Lord Jesus to be a very different being from a mere man. Indeed, he positively declares that Jesus Christ is not a man, when he says to the Galatians (Ch. i. 11, 12), that he "received not the gospel" which he preached "of man, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ:" which would be a contradiction in terms if he supposed Jesus Christ to be a man. Very different conceptions must he have had of him than as being merely a man, when he says, in the passage I just quoted from the beginning of the Epistle to the Hebrews, that "God hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son, by whom he made the worlds:" and when he adds, "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person;"—where, as noticed above, the word used in the original does not signify Person, but Substance or Essence; so that the declaration actually affirms the Son to be the Manifested Form of the Incomprehensible Divine Essence; being precisely the doctrine which I am endeavouring to recommend on this glorious subject.

As then Paul so well knew that the Lord Jesus Christ was not a mere man, how came he to call him a man here—"the man, Christ Jesus?" Might he not as well have said, simply, "there is one Mediator between God and man, even Christ Jesus, or Jesus Christ?" If he had, he would not have conveyed so precisely the truth he intended. Those to whom he wrote well knew that Jesus is God as well as man,—that he has a Divine Nature as well as a human: Had, then, the Apostle expressed himself in this general manner, it might have been supposed, that he was the Mediator as to both natures,— that, both as to his Divinity and his Humanity, he acted as Mediator between God and man. This would have been false: to guard against it, therefore, the Apostle carefully limits the Lord"s Mediator-ship to his Humanity alone, by using the accurately descriptive phrase, "the Man, Christ Jesus," This completely excludes his purely Divine Nature from any concern in this function of Mediation, and most justly and accurately limits it to his Humanity only. After we have shown so fully, in the preceding Section, that the Son is not a separate Person from the Father, but is his Glorious Human Form or Person; it can scarcely be necessary to offer any considerations to evince, that the Mediator, in like manner, is not a person subsisting separately from the God with whom he mediates. But if direct proof of this, were required, the Apostle here supplies it We have seen that by calling the Mediator, "the man, Christ Jesus," he limits the function of Mediation to his Humanity, and excludes from it his Divinity. But is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, then, divided into two persons? Does his Divine Nature constitute a person by itself, and his Human Nature a person by itself ? Such must actually be the fact, if the Mediator, spoken of here, is actually a separately subsisting person; for it is only the Humanity,—"the man, Christ Jesus," that is the Mediator. The Mediator, then, cannot be a separately subsisting person, unless the Humanity of Jesus Christ is a person subsisting separately from his Divinity. No rational being will affirm such an absurdity: although there have been doctrines broached in the world, and some now subsisting, which make very near approaches to it (See the next Section, Part III). But I need not appeal to any rational person, to ask whether Jesus Christ can be imagined to be actually two persons. If not, since it is his Glorified Humanity alone which is the Mediator, the Mediator is obviously not to be conceived of as a separately subsisting Person.

It is common in Scripture to personify principles, and speak of them as if they were persons, without its being intended that they actually are so: because, otherwise, the Scripture simplicity of style could not be preserved, but there would be continual need of abstract terms and metaphysical definitions. Thus, in all that the Lord Jesus Christ said to his disciples respecting himself, his Father, and the Holy Spirit, he expressly declares that he spake in proverbs. "These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh when I shall no longer speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father" (John xvi. 25). By proverbs he means the same as are elsewhere called parables: and it is peculiarly the character of the parabolic form of speech to deal in personifications. As we are not to conceive of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as separately existing persons; so neither are we to conceive of the Mediator, who is the Son, as a separately existing person. The Mediator is the Glorified Humanity of Jesus Christ; so called as being the Medium by which man has access to God, and by which divine graces and blessings are dispensed from God to man.

I will illustrate this view of the subject a little further, by quoting a few texts, which, without containing the word "Mediator," or "mediation," refer to the Lord's Glorified Humanity as being such a Medium of communication between man and his Maker.

That it is by the Lord's Glorified Humanity that man has access to the Divinity, the Apostle Paul strikingly declares in the Epistle to the Hebrews. He says, "Having therefore, brethren, boldness [which ought to be, liberty] to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh:—let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith."* By the flesh of Jesus, the Apostle evidently means his Human Nature, and by it, he says, we Lave access to the holy of holies, meaning, to the Inmost of Deity.

Jesus Christ while on earth, when he speaks of himself as distinct, from his Father, means, by that mode of phraseology, to speak of his-Humanity as distinct from the Divine Essence, Now he says, "No man cometh unto the Father but by me:"+ a clear declaration, that only in and by his Glorious Person is communication to be had with the Essential Divinity. When this is joined, as it is in the sacred narrative, with what he immediately afterwards said to Philip,, remarked upon in the last Section, the evidence of the truth becomes irresistible. It is impossible to affirm more strongly, that the Person of Jesus, or his Glorified Humanity, is the only Medium of communication between man and the Divine Essence,—the only vehicle, so to speak, in and by which the pure Divinity can be seen or comprehended. Similar is the statement of the Evangelist John himself: "No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him:"—where the word in the original means, as already noticed, "hath manifested him," or "brought him forth to view." Thus, as the Lord Jesus Christ is the Divine Form which gives man access to God, so is he represented as being also the Medium which reveals the Godhead, and all things belonging to it, to man. "All things," saith he in; Matthew, "are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him."# So, in other passages, he is represented as receiving in himself all things belonging to the Father, and then, as the only Medium of communication between man and the Father, dispensing them to mankind. "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; even so he that eateth me shall live by me." $—"When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me."|| "He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you."@

* Ch. ix. 19. + John xiv. 6. # Ch. xi. 27. $ John vi. 57. || Ch. xv. 26. @ Ch. xvi. 14, 15.

Many similar declarations might be adduced; but these may suffice for our present purpose. They abundantly represent the true nature of the Mediation of Jesus Christ, and show that it consists in his glorified Humanity's acting as a Medium, by which access is afforded for man to God, and divine benefits,—even the gifts of salvation, which are the communications of the Holy Spirit, are conveyed, from God to man.

The reader, I am sure, will be gratified by seeing the above idea beautifully illustrated by Dr. Watts, "The sun in the natural world," he observes, "is a bright emblem of Divinity, or the Godhead; for it is the spring of all light and heat and life to the creation.—Now if we should suppose this vast globe of fire, which we call the sun, to be inclosed in a huge hollow sphere of crystal, which should attemper its rays like a transparent veil, and give milder and gentler influences to the burning beams of it, and yet transmit every desirable or useful portion of light or heat; this would be a happy emblem of the Man, Christ Jesus, in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. It is the Lamb of God, who, in a mild and gracious manner, conveys the blessings originally derived from God, his Father, to all the saints. We partake of them in our measures in this lower world, among his churches here on earth; but it is with a nobler influence, and in a more sublime degree, the blessings of paradise are diffused through all the mansions of glory, by this illustrious medium of conveyance, Jesus the Son of God" (Works, vol. vii. p. 148). This emblem is as just as it is striking, provided we guard against one or two misapprehensions which may arise from it. Though the Son of God, or the Divine Humanity, is the medium of conveying all blessings to men and angels, we are not to regard it as a mere passive conveyance, but an infinitely active one. He says, "As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself:" (John v. 26) thus the Divine Energies or Holy Spirit are not simply transmitted from the Divine Essence through the Humanity, but are first received by the Humanity, and thence, by its own life and activity derived from its perfect union with the Divine Essence, dispensed to mankind; precisely as is expressed in the words quoted above, "whom I will send unto you from the Father." Secondly: although it is true that the rays of Godhead are "attempered" by the Humanity, they are not thereby weakened or blunted; but, on the contrary, are rendered, as to their influence on man, far more penetrating and powerful; so that Watts's crystal sphere must be considered as operating, with respect to man, in the manner of a magnifying lens. Thus the prophet, in regard to the effect on man of the assumption of humanity by Jehovah, uses these strong figures: "In that day, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days; in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of her wound." (Isa. xxx. 26). Be it also observed, that if the sun inclosed in a crystal sphere is, as suggested by Watts, a just emblem of the Father and Son of the Scriptures, we see how impossible it is to regard them as two persons; we see that their relation is precisely that of the soul and the body; and we see how idle it must be to seek for God, anywhere but in the Person of Jesus Christ: to which conviction Dr. Watts himself is reputed to have arrived before he died.

This is the way, also, in which the Lord Jesus Christ makes intercession for man: not by intreating a wrathful God to look on him with pity, but by affording the requisite Medium by which a defiled creature, like man, can approach the holiness of an infinite God, without perishing in the attempt, as a piece of earthly substance would do on approaching immediately to the sun. Can they who believe in intercession by intreaty, pretend to deny, that in heart they believe in at least two Gods, and those, also, of opposite natures ? For how can the God who supplicates and intreats, be the same God as he who is supplicated and intreated ? How can the nature of the God, who, without any feast on another's sufferings to appease his offended justice, intreats and supplicates another God to lay aside his wrath, be the same as that of him who only lays aside his wrath in compliance with such intreaty and supplication ? Nay, how can the God who cannot raise man to heaven of his own free motion, but must first obtain his forgiveness of another God by prayer and supplication, be any God at all ? Does not the supposition fully imply, that the Father and Son are as completely two Gods as any two human beings are two men, and that they differ as much from each other as a subject from an absolute sovereign ? All this fiction, also, respecting the Lord's mediating and interceding for man by praying to the Father, has been invented in direct contradiction to his own assurance: "I say not unto you," he declares, "that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God." (John xvi. 26, 27). It is in vain to offer to put this proof aside, as has been attempted, by referring to the instances, in John xvii., of the Lord's praying for his disciples: for does it follow, because the Lord prayed for his disciples before his complete glorification, that he prays for them now? Before his glorification he prayed for himself: does he pray for himself now ? As has been proved in the preceding section, since his glorification, or perfect union with the Father, he does not pray to, or address in any way, the Father at all, being One Person with him, it is in reference to the completion of this union that he here says, "I will not pray the Father for you: for the Father himself loveth. you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God." To believe that the Lord came out from God, is, we have seen in the last section, to believe that his Humanity is an immediate evolution from his Divine Essence—an actual manifestation, of what was always potentially included in the Divinity, ready to be put forth, for the salvation of man, when the fulness of state and time should have arrived. When this is acknowledged, the Father himself is said to love us, because the love which constitutes his, essence is then capable of being communicated to us and received by us. Hence again we see, that the Lord's Humanity is the Medium by which we gain access to his Divinity, and are brought into communication with it; just as by the medium of a man's body we gain access to, and have communication with, his soul. The Lord teaches the same truth in the most direct form when he says, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in out, and find pasture." What is the door but the medium of access ? And that, to obtain such access, we are not to address the naked Divinity immediately, but the Lord Jesus Christ as the Divine Person of the Father, he again teaches when he says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." (Ver 1.)

Consider this subject seriously, ye Candid and Reflecting! and examine whether this is not the only view of the Mediation of Jesus Christ which harmonises with all the great truths of Scripture and reason, and, without taking any thing away from what is really taught in the Scriptures, renders the subject invulnerable to any deistical objections. Jehovah assumed Humanity to make himself accessible to his fallen creatures. We are to avail ourselves of the Medium thus divinely appointed, and approach him therein. "Let us enter into the holiest by the new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh." Let us accept with thankfulness the saving blessings which his Glorified Humanity is the only Medium of conveying to man's soul.

In conclusion: May not these views of the New Church on the Atonement and Mediation of Jesus Christ be confidently recommended to the consideration of the Candid and Reflecting ? Do they not unfold the true doctrine of the Scriptures on these momentous subjects, in a manner which is calculated to recommend the Scriptures themselves to the more cordial acceptance of men of reason and reflection ? Do they not satisfactorily clear the Christian Religion. from the imputation of sanctioning doctrines at which all reason and common sense revolt, by showing that the sentiments on those subject? which bear that character are not those of the true Christian Religion, but are the mere fallacious conclusions of gross minds, that have looked at the Scriptures in a merely superficial manner ? Do they not evince, that the genuine doctrines of Scripture are here co-incident with, the views of sound reason, and true philosophy ? Ought not then the writings of the enlightened Instrument by whom these doctrines are deduced from the Scriptures, to be favourably regarded by all those to whom true philosophy, sound reason, and scriptural theology, are objects of esteem ?