and Authentick and that cannot be gainsaid Gabriel saith he make this Man understand the Vision Dan. 8.16 And again saith he to another Run speak to this young Man saying Jerusalem shall be inhabited as Towns without Walls Jerusalem had been in Captivity had lost many Evidences of God's Favour and Love by Reason of her Sin and her Enemy stept in to augment her Sin and Sorrow But there was a Man among the Myrtle trees that were in the bottom that did prevail with her God to say I am returned to Jerusalem with Mercies And then commands it to be proclaimed That his Cities through Prosperity should yet be spread abroad Zech. 1.11 12 13 14 15 16 17. Thus by Virtue of our Advocate we are either made to receive our old Evidences for Heaven again or else are made to understand that they yet are good and stand valid in the Court of Heaven nor can they be made ineffectual but shall abide the test at last because our Advocate is also concerned in the Inheritance of the Saints in Light. Christians know what it is to lose their Evidences for Heaven and to receive them again or to hear that they hold their Title by them But perhaps they know not how they come at this Privilege Therefore the Apostle tells them they have an Advocate And that by him as Advocate they enjoy all these Advantages is manifest because his Advocates Office is appointed for our Help when we sin that is commit Sins that are great and heinous If any Man sin we have an Advocate By him the Justice of God is vindicated the Law answered the Threatnings taken off the Measure of Afflicton that for Sin we undergo determined our Titles to eternal Life preserved and our comfort of them restored notwithstanding the Wit and Rage and Envy of Hell. So then Christ gave himself for us as a Priest died for us as a Sacrifice but pleadeth Justice and Righteousness in a way of Justice and Righteousness for such is his Sacrifice for our Salvation from the Death that is due to our soul or high Transgressions as an Advocate Thus have I given you thus far an Account of the Nature End and Necessity of the Advocateship of Jesus Christ And should now come to the use and Application only I must first remove an Objection or two Obj. But what need all these Offices of Jesus Christ or what need you trouble us with these nice Distinctions 't is enough for us to believe in Christ in the general without considering him under this and that Office. Answ. The Wisdom of God is not to be charged with needless doing when it giveth to Jesus Christ such Variety of Offices and calleth him to so many sundry Imployments for us They are all thought necessary by Heaven and therefore should not be counted superfluous by Earth And to put a Question upon thy Objection What 's a Sacrifice without a Priest and what 's a Priest without a Sacrifice And the same I say of his Advocates Office what 's an Advocate without the Exercise of his Office And what need of an Advocates Office to be exercised if Christ as Sacrifice and Priest by God was thought sufficient Each of these Offices are sufficient for the perfecting of the Work for which they are designed but they are not all designed for the self same particular thing Christ as Sacrifice offereth not himself 't is Christ as Priest does that Christ as Priest dieth not for our Sins 't is Christ as Sacrifice does so Again Christ as a Sacrifice and a Priest limits himself to those two Imploies but as an Advocate he lances out into a third And since these are not confounded in Heaven nor by the Scriptures they should not be confounded in our Apprehensions nor accounted useless 'T is not therefore enough for us that we exercise our thoughts upon Christ in an undistinct and general way but we must learn to know him in all his Offices and to know the Nature of his Offices also Our Condition requires this It requireth it I say as we are guilty of Sin as we have to do with God and with our Enemy the Devil As we are guilty of Sin so we need a Sacrifice and because we are also Sinners we need one perfect to present our Sacrifice for us to God We have need also of him as Priest to present our Persons and Services to God. And since God is just and upon the Judgment-Seat and since also we are subject to sin grievously and again since we have an Accuser who will by Law plead at this Bar of God our Sins against us to the end we might be condemned we have need of and also have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous Alas How many of God's precious People for the want of a distinct Knowledge of Christ in all his Offices are at this day sadly baffled with the Sophistications of the Devil To instance no more than this one thing When they have committed some heinous Sin after Light received How are they I say tossed and tumbled and distressed with many Perplexities They cannot come to any Anchor in this their troubled Sea. They go from Promise to Promise from Providence to Providence from this to that Office of Jesus Christ but forget that he is or else understand not what it is for this Lord Jesus to be an Advocate for them Hence they so often sink under the Fears that their Sin is unpardonable and that therefore their Condition is desperate Whereas if they could but consider that Christ is their Advocate and that he is therefore made an Advocate to save them from those high Transgressions that are committed by them and that he waits upon this Office continually before the Judgment-Seat of God they would conceive Relief and be made hold up their Head and would more strongly twist themselves from under that Guilt and Burden those Ropes and Cords wherewith by their Folly they have so strongly bound themselves than commonly they have done or do Obj. 2. But notwithstanding what you have said this Sin is a deadly stick in my way It will not out of my Mind my Cause being bad but Christ will desert me Answ. 'T is true Sin is and will be a deadly stick and stop to Faith attempt to exercise it upon Christ as considered under which of his Offices or Relations you will And above all the Sin of Vnbelief is the Sin that doth so or most easily beset us Heb. 12.1 2. And no marvel for it never acteth alone but is backed not only with Guilt and Ignorance but also with carnal Sense and Reason He that is ignorant of this knows but little of himself or of what believing is He that undertaketh to believe sets upon the hardest Task that ever was proposed to Man not because the things imposed upon us are unreasonable or unaccountable but because the Heart of Man the more true any thing is the more it sticketh
are forgiven or shall we not much matter what manner of Lives we live because we are set free from the Law of Sin and Death God forbid Let Grace teach us another Lesson and lay other Obligations upon our Spirits My little Children saith he these things I write unto you that you sin not What things why tidings of Pardon and Salvation and of that nearness to God to which you are brought by the precious Blood of Christ. Now lest also by this last exhortation he should yet be misunderstood he adds and if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous I say he addeth this to prevent desponding in those weak and sensible Christians that are so quick of feeling and of decerning the Corruptions of their Natures For these cry out continually That there is nothing that they do but it is attended with sinful Weaknesses Wherefore in the Words we are presented with two great truths First with a Supposition that Men in Christ while in this World may Sin. If any man sin any man none are excluded for all or any one of the all of them that Christ hath redeemed and forgiven are incident to Sin. By may I mean not a Toleration but a Possibility For there is not a Man not a Just Man upon the Earth that doth good and sinneth not Eccles. 7.20 1 Kin. 8.46 Secondly the other thing with which we are presented is an Advocate If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous Now there lieth in these two truths two things to be enquired into as 1 What the Apostle should here mean by sin 2. And also what he here doth mean by an Advocate If any man sin we have an Advocate There is ground to enquire after the first of these because tho here he saith they that sin have an Advocate yet in the very next Chapter he saith such are of the Devil have not seen God neither know him nor are of him There is ground also to enquire after the Second because an Advocate is supposed in the Text to be of use to them that sin If any Man sin we have an Advocate 1. For the First of these to wit what the Apostle should here mean by Sin If any Man Sin. I answer since there is a difference in the Persons there must be a difference in the Sin. That there is a difference in the Persons is shewed before one is called a Child of God the other is said to be of the wicked One. Their Sin differ also in their Degree at least for no Child of God sins to that Degree as to make himself uncapable of Forgiveness For he that is born of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not Chap. 5.17 18. Hence the Apostle says there is a sin unto Death Mat. 12.32 which is the Sin from which he that is born of God is kept The sins therefore are thus distinguished The Sins of the People of God are said to be sins that Men commit the others are counted those which are the Sins of Devils First the Sins of God's People are said to be Sins which Men commit and for which they have an Advocate tho they who sin after the example of the wicked one have none When a Man or a Woman saith Moses shall commit a Sin which Men commit they shall confess their Sin and an atonment shall be made for them Numb 5.5 6 7. Mark It is when they commit a Sin which Men commit Or as Hosea has it when they transgress the Commandment like Adam Hos. 6.7 Now these are the Sins under consideration by the Apostle and to deliver us from which we have an Advocate with the Father But for the Sins mentioned in the third Chapter since the Persons sinning go here under another Character they also must be of another Stamp to wit a making Head against the Person Merits and Grace of Jesus Christ these are the Sins of Devils in the World and for these there is no Remission These they also that are of the wicked one commit and therefore sin after the similitude of Satan and so fall into the Condemnation of the Devil Secondly but what is it for Jesus to be an Advocate for these If any Man sin we have an Advocate An Advocate is one who pleadeth for another at any bar or before any Court of Judicature but of this more in its place So then we have in the Text a Christian as supposed committing Sin and a Declaration of an Advocate prepared to plead for him If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father And this leads me first to enquire into what by these words the Apostle must of necessity presuppose For making use here of the Similitude or Office of an Advocate thereby to shew the preservation of the sinning Christian He must 1. Suppose That God as Judge is now upon the Throne of his Judgment For an Advocate is to plead at a Bar before a Court of Judicature Thus it is among Men and for as much as our Lord Jesus is said to be an Advocate with the Father it is clear that there is a Throne of Judgment also This the Prophet Micaiah affirms saying I saw the Lord sitting upon a Throne and all the Host of Heaven standing by him on the Right hand and on the Left 1 Kin. 22.19 20. Sitting upon a Throne for Judgment for from the Lord as then sitting upon that Throne proceeded that Sentence against King Ahab that he should go and fall at Ramah gilead And he did go and did fall there as the award or fruit of that Judgment That 's the First 2. The Text also supposeth that the Saints as well as Sinners are concerned at that Bar for the Apostle saith plainly That there we have an Advocate And the Saints are concerned at that Bar because they transgress as well as others and because the Law is against the Sin of Saints as well as against the Sins of other Men. If the Saints were not capable of committing of Sin what need would they have of an Advocate 1 Chr. 21.3 4 5 6. 1 Sam. 12.13 14. Yea though they did sin yet if they were by Christ so set free from the Law as that it could by no means take cognisance of their Sins what need would they have of an Advocate none at all If there be twenty places where there are Assizes kept in this Land yet if I have offended no Law what need have I of an Advocate specially if the Judge be Just and knows me altogether as the God of Heaven does But here 's a Judge that 's just and here 's an Advocate also an Advocate for the Children an Advocate to plead for an Advocate as such is not of use but before a Bar to plead therefore here is an Offence and so a Law broken by the Saints as well as others That 's the Second thing 3. As the Text
Condemnation that by the Law of Sin and Death was due thereto This is then the occasion that Christ taketh to plead as Advocate for the Salvation of his People to wit the Cause he pleadeth the Cause of his People Not every Cause but such and such a Cause the Cause that is very bad and by the which they are involved not only in Guilt and Shame but also in danger of Death and Hell. I say the Cause is bad if the Text be true if Sin can make it bad yea if Sin it Self be bad If any Man sin we have an Advocate An Advocate to plead for him for him as considered guilty and so consequently as considered in a bad Condition 'T is true we must distinguish between the Person and the Sin and Christ pleads for the Person not the Sin. but yet he cannot be concerned with the Person but he must be with the Sin for tho the Person and the Sin may be distinguished yet they cannot be separated He must plead then not for a Person only but for a guilty Person for a Person under the worst of Circumstances If any Man sin we have an Advocate for him as so considered When a Man's Cause is good it will sufficiently plead for it self yea and for its Master too specially when it is made appear so to be before a Just and Righteous Judge Here therefore needs no Advocate the Juâ—ge himself will pronounce him righteous This is evidently seen in Job Thou movest me against him this said God to Satan to destroy him without a Cause Job 2.3 Thus far Job's Cause was good wherefore he did not need an Advocate his Cause pleaded for its self and for its owner also But if it was to plead good Causes for which Christ is appointed Advocate then the Apostle should have written thus If any Man be righteous we have an Advocate with the Father Indeed I never heard but one in all my Life preach from this Text and he when he came to handle the Cause for which he was to plead pretended it must be good and therefore said to the People see that your Cause be good else Christ will not undertake it But when I heard it Lord thought I if this be true what shall I do and what will become of all this People yea and of this Preacher too Besides I saw that by the Text the Apostle supposeth an other Cause a Cause bad exceeding bad if Sin can make it so And this was one Cause why I undertook this work When we speak of a Cause we speak not of a Person simply as so considered For as I said before Person and Cause must be distinguished Nor can the person make the Cause good but as he regulates his Action by the Word of God If then a good a righteous man doth what the Law condemns that thing is bad and if he be indicted for so doing he is indicted for a bad Cause and he that will be his Advocate must be concerned in and about a bad Matter and how he will bring his Client off therein doth lie the Mystery I know that a bad Man may have a good Cause depending before the Judge and so also good Men have Job 31. but then they are bold in their own Cause and fear not to make mention of it and in Christ to plead their Innocency before the God of Heaven as well as before Men Psal. 71.3 4 5. 2 Cor. 1.23 Gal. 1.20 Phil. 1.8 But we have in the Text a Cause that all Men are afraid of a Cause that the Apostle concludes so bad that none but Jesus Christ himself can save the Christian from it It is not only sinful but Sin it self If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Wherefore there is in this Place handled by the Apostle one of the greatest Mysteries under Heaven To wit That an innocent and holy Jesus should take in hand to plead for one before a just and righteous God that has defiled himself with Sin. Yea that he should take in Hand to plead for such an one against the fallen Angels and that he should also by his Plea effectually rescue and bring them off from the Crimes and Curse whereof they were verily guilty by the Verdict of the Law and Approbation of the Judge This I say is a great Mystery and deserves to be pry'd into by all the godly both because much of the Wisdom of Heaven is discovered in it and because the best Saint is or may be concerned with it Nor must we by any means let this truth be lost because it is the truth the Text has declared it so And to say otherwise is to belye the Word of God to thwart the Apostle to sooth up Hypocrites and to rob Christians of their Privilege and to take the Glory from the Head of Jesus Christ Luk. 18.11 12. The best Saints are most sensible of their Sins and most apt to make Mountains of their Mole-hills Satan also as has been already hinted doth labour greatly to prevail with them to sin and to provoke their God against them Job 2.9 by pleading what is true or by surmising evilly of them to the end they may be left with him to be try'd that they may be accused by him Great is his malice towards them great is his Diligence in seeking their Destruction wherefore greatly doth he desire to sift to try and winnow them if perhaps he may work in their Flesh to answer his Design that is to break out in sinful Acts that he may have by Law to accuse them to their God and Father Wherefore for their Sakes this Text abides that they may see that when they have sinned they have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous And thus have I shew'd you the Nature the Order and Occasion of this Office of our blessed Lord Jesus I come now to shew you How Jesus Christ doth manage this his Office of an Advocate for us And that I may do this to your Edification I shall choose this Method for the opening of it First shew you how he manages this Office with his Father Secondly I shall shew you how he manages it before him against our Adversary How he manages this his Office of Advocate with his Father First He doth it by himself by no other as Deputy under him No Angel no Saint no Work has place here but Jesus and Jesus only This the Text implies we have an Advocate speaking of one but one one alone without an Equal or an Inferior We have but one and he is Jesus Christ. Nor is it for Christ's Honour nor for the Honour of the Law or of the Justice of God that any but Jesus Chrisâ— should be an Advoâ—â—â—e for a sinning Saint Besides to assert 〈◊〉 contrary what doth it but lessen Sin and make the Advocateship of Jesus Christ superfluous It would lessen Sin should it be removed by a Saint or Angel It would
at the Day of Account the whole tale to God of those that he has given him Further this would dishearten Sinners and make them afraid of venturing their Cause and their Souls in his Hand and would as I said before either prove his Propitiation in some Sense ineffectual or else himself defective in his pleading of it But none of these things must be supposed He will throughly plead the Cause of his People Mic. 7. execute Judgment for them bring them out to the Light and cause them to behold his Righteousness Priv. 3. Thirdly The Plea of Satan is groundess and that 's another Privilege For albeit thou hast sinned yet since Christ before has paid thy Debt and also paid for more since thou hast not yet run beyond the Price of thy Redemption it must be concluded That Satan wants a good bottom to ground his Plea upon and therefore must in Conclusion fail of his Design True there is Sin committed there is a Law transgressed but there is also a Satisfaction for this Transgression and that which super-abounds So â—ho there be Sin yet there wants a Foundation for a Plea. Joshua was cloathed with filthy Garments but Christ had other Garments prepared for him Change of Raiment Wherefore Iniquity as to the Charge of Satan vanishes And the Angel answered and said Take away the filthy Garments from him This intimates that there was no Ground no sufficient Ground for Satan's Charge and to him he said behold I have caused thine Iniquity to pass from thee and will cloath thee with Change of Raiment Josh. 3.4 Now if there be no Ground no sound and sufficient Ground to build a Charge against the Child upon I mean As to Eternal Condemnation for that 's the thing contended for then as I said Satan must fall like Lightning to the Ground and be cast over the Bar as a corrupt and illegal Pleader But this is so as in part is proved already and will be further made out by that which follows They that have indeed Christ to be their Advocate are themselves by Virtue of another Law than that against which they have sinned secured from the Charge that Satan brings in against them I granted before that the Child of God has sinned and that there is a Law that condemneth for this Sin But here is the thing this Child is removed by an Act of Grace into and under another Law. For we are not under the Law Rom. 6.14 chap. 8.1 and so consequently there is now no Condemnation for them Wherefore when God speaketh of his dealing with his he saith it shall not be by their Covenant Ezek. 16.61 That is not by that of the Law they then being not under the Law. What if a Plea be commenced against them a Plea for Sin and they have committed Sin a Plea grounded upon the Law and the Law takes Cognisance of their Sin Yet I say the Plea wants a good bottom for that the Person thus accused is put under another Law. Hence he says Sin shall not have Dominion over you for you are not under the Law. If the Child was under the Law Satan's Charge would be good because it would have a substantial Ground of Support but since the Child is dead to the Law Gal. 2.16 and that also dead to him for both are true as to Condemnation Rom. 7.6 how can it be that Satan should have a sufficient Ground for his Charge tho he should have Matter of Fact sufficient Matter of Fact that is Sin for by his change of Relation he is put out of the reach of that Law. There is a Woman a Widow that oweth a Sum of Money and she is threatned to be sued for the Debt now what doth she but marrieth so when the Action is commenced against her as a Widow the Law finds her a married Woman what now can be done Nothing to her she is not who she was she is delivered from that State by her Marriage If any thing be done it must be done to her Husband But if Satan will sue Christ for my Debt he oweth him nothing And as for what the Law can claim of me while I was under it Christ has delivered me by Redemption from that Curse being made a Curse for me Gal. 3.13 Now the Covenant into which I am brought by Grace by which also I am secured from the Law is not a Law of Sin and Death as that is from under which I am brought Rom. 8.2 but a Law of Grace and Life so that Satan cannot come at me by that Law and by Grace I am by thâ—t secured also from the Hand and Mouth and Sâ—ingâ— of all other I mean still as to an eternal Concern Wherefore God saith if we break his Law the Law of Works he will visit our Sin with a Rod and our Iniquity with Stripes but his Covenant his new Covenant will he not break Psal. 89.30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37. but will still keep close to that and so secure us from eternal Condemnation Christ also is made the Mediator of tha Covenant and therefore an Advocate by that For his Priestly Office and Advocateship are included by his Mediation Wherefore when Satan pleads by the Old Christ pleads by the new Covenant for the Sake of which the Old one is removed In that he saith A new Covenant he hath made the first Old now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away Heb 8.13 So then the Ground of Plea is with Jesus Christ and not with our Accuser Now what doth Christ plead and what is the Ground of his Plea Why he pleads for Exemption and Freedom from Condemnation tho by the Law of Works his Children have deserved it And the Ground for this his Plea as to Law is the Matter of the Covenant it self For thus it runs For I will be merciful to their Vnrighteousness and their Sins and Iniquities will I remember no more ver 12. Now here is a Foundation a Foundation in Law for our Advocate to build his Plea upon a Foundation in a Law not to be moved or removed or made to give Place as that is forced to do upon which Satan grounds his Plea against us Men when they plead before a Judge use to plead matter of Law. Now suppose there is an old Law in the Realm by which Men deserve to be condemned to Death and there is a new Law in this Realm that secureth Men from that Condemnation which belongs to them by the old and suppose also that I am compleatly comprehended by all the Provisoes of the new Law and not by any tittle thereof excluded from a share therein And suppose again that I have a brangling Adversary that pursues me by the old Law which yet cannot in Right touch me because I am Interested in the New my Advocate also is one that pleadâ— by the new Law where only there is a Ground of Plea Shall not now mine Adversary
good Men into his Sive to sift them as Wheat that if possible he may leave them nothing but bran no Grace but the very husk and shell of Religion And when a Christian comes to know this should Christ as Priest or Advocate be hid from him what could bear him up But let him now remember and believe that we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and â—e forthwith conceiveth Comfort For an Advocate is to plead for me according as has been shewed afore that I may be delivered from the Wrath and Accusation of my Adversary and still be kept safe under Grace Further by telling of my Brother that he hath an Advocate I put things into his Mind that he has not known or do bring them to Remembrance which he has forgot To wit that tho he hath sinned he shall be saved in a way of Justice For an Advocate is to plead Justice and Law and Christ is to plead these for a Saint that has sinned Yea so to plead them that he may be saved This being so he is made to perceive that by Law he must have his Sins forgiven him That by Justice he must be justified For Christ as an Advocate pleadeth for Justice Justice to himself and this Saint is of himself a Member of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones Nor has Satan so good a Right to plead Justice against us tho we have sinned that we might be damned as Christ has to plead it tho we have sinned that we might be saved For Sin cannot cry so loud to Justice as can the Blood of Christ And he pleads his Blood as Advocate by which he has answered the Law wherefore the Law having nothing to object must needs acquit the Man for whom the Lord Jesus pleads I conclude this with that of the Psalmist Surely his Salvation is nigh them that fear him that Glory may dwell in our Land. Mercy and Truth are met together Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other Truth shall spring out of the Earth and Righteousness shall look down from Heaven Yea the Lord shall give that which is good and our Land shall yield her Increase Righteousness shall go before him and shall lead us the Way of his Steps Vse 8. Eighthly But what is all this to you that are â—ot concerned in this Privilege The Children indeed have the Advantage of an Advocate but what is this to them that have none to plead their Cause Jer. 30.12 13. They are as we say left to the wide World or to be ground to Powder between the Justice of God and the Sins which they have committed This is the Man that none but the Devil seeks after that is pursued by the Law and Sin and Death and has none to plead his Cause 'T is sad to consider the plight that such an one is in His Accuser is appointed yea ordered to bring in a Charge against him let Satan stand at his right Hand Ps. 109 6 7. in the Place where Accusers stand And when he shall be judged let him be condemned let there be none to plead for his Deliverance If he cries or offereth to cry out for Mercy or Forgiveness let his Prayer become Sin This is the Portion of a wicked Man. Terrors take hold on him as Waters a Tempest stealeth him away in the Night the East Wind carrieth him away and he departeth and as a Storm hurleth him out of his Place For God shall cast upon him and not spare he would fain free out of his Hand Men shall clap their Hands at him and shall hiss him out of his Place Job 27. â—0 21 22 23. And what shall this Man do Can he over-stand the Charge the Accusation the Sentence and Condemnation No he has none to plead hâ—s Cause I remember that somewhere I have read as I think concerning one who when he was carrying upon Mens Shoulders to the Grave cried out as he lay upon the Bier I am accused before the just Judgment of God and a while after I am condemned before the just Judgment of God. Nor was this Man but strict as to the Religion that was then on Foot in the World but all the Religion of the World amounts to no more than nothing I mean as to eternal Salvation if Men be denyed an Advocate to plead their Cause with God. Nor can any Advocate save Jesus Christ the righteous avail any thing at all Because there is none appointed but him to that Work and therefore not to be admitted to enter a Plea for their Client at the Bar of God. Obj. But some may say there is God's Grace the Promise Christ's Blood and his second Part of Priesthood now in Heaven Can none of these â—everally nor all of them jointly save a Man from Hell unless Christ also become our Advocate Answer All these his Advocates Office not excluded are few enough and little enough to save the Saints from Hell For the righteous shall scarcely be saved 1 Pet. 4.18 There must then be the Promise God's Grace Christ's Blood and him to advocate too or we cannot be saved What 's the Promise without God's Grace and what 's that Grace without a Promise to bestow it on us I say what Benefit have we thereby Besides if the Promise and God's Grace without Christ's Blood would have saved us wherefore then did Christ die Yea and again I say if all these without his being for us an Advocate would have delivered us from all those Disadvantages that our Sins and Infirmities would bring us to and into surely in vain and to no purpose was Jesus made an Advocate But Soul there is need of all and therefore be not thou offended that the Lord Jesus is of the Father made so much to his but rather admire and wonder that the Father and the Son should be so concerned with so sorry â—â—ump of Dust and ashes as thou art And I say again be confounded to think that Sin should be a thing so horrible of Power to pollute to captivate and detain us from God that without all this ado I would speak with Reverence of God and his Wisdom we cannot be delivered from the everlasting Destruction that it hath brought upon the Children of Men. But I say what is this to them that are not admitted to a Privilege in the Advocates Office of Christ Whether he is an Advocate or no the Case to them is the same True Christ as a Saviour is not divided He that hath him not in all shall have him in none at all of his Offices in a saving manner Therefore he for whom he is not an Advocate he is nothing as to eternal Life Indeed Christ by some of his Offices is concerned for the Elect before by some of them he is But such shall have the Blessing of them all before they come to Glory Nor hath a Man ground to say Christ is here or there mine before he hath ground
Miscarriage or of the naughty Temper of some that are about him who trouble and vex and labour to bring him into danger of the Law. This is the Nature of this Office as I said on Earth and this is the Office that Christ executeth in Heaven Wherefore he saith If any Man sin we have an Advocate one to stand up for him and to plead for his deliverance before the Bar of God Joel 3.2 Isa. 66.16 Ezek. 38.22 Jer. 2. For tho in some Places of the Scripture Christ is said to plead for his with Men and that by terrible Arguments as by Fire and Sword and Famine and Pestilence yet this is not that which is intended by this Text for the Apostle here saith he is an Advocate with the Father or before the Father to plead for those that there or that to the Fathers Face shall be accused for their Transgressions If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous So then this is the imploy of Jesus Christ as he is for us an Advocate He has undertaken to stand up for his People at God's Bar and before that great Court there to plead by the Law and Justice of Heaven for their Deliverance when for their Faults they are accused indicted or impleaded by their Adversary 2. And now to treat of the Order or Place that this Office of Christ hath among the rest of his Offices which he doth execute for us while we are here in a State of Imperfection And I think it is an Office that is to come behind as a Reserve or for an Help at last when all other Means shall seem to fail Men do not use to go to Law upon every Occasion or if they do the Wisdom of the Judge the Jury and the Court will not admit that every Brangle and foolish Quarrel shall come before them but an Advocate doth then come into Place and then to the Exercise of his Office when a Cause is counted worthy to be taken notice of by the Judge and by the Court. Wherefore he I say comes in the last Place as a reserve or help at last to plead and by pleading to set that right by Law which would otherwise have caused an increase to more doubts and to further Dangers Christ as Priest doth always works of Service for us because in our most spiritual things there may faults and Spots be found and these he taketh away of Course by the Exercise of that Office. For he always wears that Plate of Gold upon his Fore-head before the Father whereon is written Holiness to the Lord. But now besides these common Infirmities there are Faults that are highly gross and foul that oft are found in the Skirts of the Children of God. Now these are they that Satan taketh hold on these are they that Satan draweth up a Charge against us for And to save us from these it is that the Lord Jesus is made an Advocate When Joshua was cloathed with filthy Garments then Satan stood at his right Hand to resist him and then the Angel of the Covenant the Lord Jesus pleaded for his Help Zech. 3. By all which it appears that this Office comes behind is provided as a Reserve that we may have help at a pinch and then be lifted out when we sink in mire where there is no standing This is yet further hinted at by the several Postures that Christ is said to be in as he exerciseth his Priestly and Advocate 's Office. As a Priest he sits as an Advocate he stands Isa. 3.13 The Lord stands up when he pleads His sitting is more constant and of Course Sit thou c. but his standing is occasional when Joshua is indicted or when Hell and Earth is broken loose against his Servant Stephen For as Joshua was accused by the Devil and as then the Angel of the Lord stood by so when Stephen was accused by men on Earth and that Charge seconded by the fallen Angels before the Face of God 't is said the Lord Jesus stood on the Right Hand of God Act. 7.55 to wit to plead for so I take it because standing is his Posture as an Advocate Heb. 10. not as a Priest for as a Priest he must sit down but he standeth as an Advocate as has been shew'd afore Wherefore Secondly The Occasion of his exercising of this Office of Advocate is as hath beeâ— hinted already when a Child of God shall be found guilty before God of some heinous Sin of some grievous thing in his Life and Conversation For as for those Infirmities that attend the best in their most spiritual Sacrifices if a Child of God were guilty of ten thousand of them they are of Course purged through the much Incense that is always mixed with those Sacrifices in the golden Censer that is in the Hand of Christ And so he kept clean and counted upright notwithstanding those Infirmities And therefore you shall find that notwithstanding those common Faults the the Children of God are counted good and upright in Conversation and not charged as Offenders David saith the Text did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his Life save only in the matter of Uriah the Hiâ—â—ite 1 Kin. 15.5 But was David in a strict Sense without Fault in all things else No verily But that was foul in a higher degree than the rest and therefore there God sets a blot Ay and doubtless for that he was accused by Satan before the Throne of God For here is Adultery and Murder and Hypocrisie in David â—s doings Here is notorious matter a great Sin and so a great Ground for Satan to draw up an Indictment against the King and a thundering one to be sure shall be preferred against him This is the time then for to Christ stand up to plead For now there is room for such a Question can David's Sin stand with Grace or is it possible that a Man that has done as he has should yet be found a Saint and so in a Saved State Or can God repute him so and yet be Holy and Just Or can the Merits of the Lord Jesus reach according to the Law of Heaven a Man in this Condition Here is a Case dubious here 's a Man whose Salvation by his foul Offences is made doubtful Now we must to Law and Judgment wherefore now let Christ stand up to plead I say now was David's Case dubious Psal. 51. he was afraid that God would cast him away and the Devil hoped that he would and to that end charged him before God's Face if perhaps he might get Sentence of Damnation to pass upon his Soul. But this was David's Mercy he had an Advocate to plead his Cause by whose Wisdom and Skill in Matters of Law and Judgment he was brought off of those heavy Charges from those gross Sins and delivered from that eternal
feel the Power of his Plea to the delivering of me and the putting of him to Shame Yes verily specially since the Plea is good the Judge just nor can the Enemy find any Ground for a Demâ—â— to be put in against my present Discharge in open Court and that by Proclamation Specially since my Advocate has also by his Blood fully satisfied the old Law that he might establish the New Heb. 10 9 10 11 12. Priv. 4. Fourthly Since that which goeth before is true it follows That he that entereth his Plea against the Children must needs be overthrown For always before just Judges 't is the Right that taketh place Judge the right O Lord said David or let my Sentence come forth from thee according to the Law of Grace And he that knows what strong Ground or bottom our Advocate has for his Pleadings and how Satan's Accusations are without sound Foundation will not be afraid he speaking in Christ to say I appeal to God Almighty since Christ is my Advocate by the new Law whether I ought to be condemned to Death and Hell for what Satan pleads against me by the Old. Satan urgeth that we have sinned but Christ pleads to his propitiatory Sacrifice and so Satan is over-thrown Satan pleads the Law of Works but Christ pleads the Law of Grace Further Satan pleads the Justice and Holiness of God against us there the Accuser is over-thrown again And to them Christ appeals and his Appeal is good since the Law testifies to theâ— sufficiency of the Satisfaction that Christ has made thereto by his Obedience Rom. 3.22 â—3 also since by another Covenant God himself has given us to Jesus Christ so delivered us from the Old. Wherefore you read nothing as an effect of Satans pleading against us but that his Mouth is stopp'd as appears by the 3. of Zechariah and that he is cast yea cast down as you have it in the 12. of the Revelations Indeed when God admits not when Christ wills not to be an Advocate and when Satan is bid stand at the right Hand of one accused Psal. 109.6 7. to inforce by pleading against him the things charged on him by the Law then he can prevail prevail for-ever against such a wretched one But when Christ stands up to plead when Christ espouses this or that Man's Cause then Satan must retreat then he must go down And this necessarily flows from the Text we have an Advocate a prevailing one one that never lost Cause one that always puts the Childrens Enemy to the rout before the Judgment-seat of God. This therefore is another Privilege that they have who have Jesus Christ for their Advocate Their Enemy must nâ—eds be overthrown because both Law and Justice is on the other side Priv. 5 Fifthly Thine Advocate has pity for thee and gâ—eat Indignation against thine Accuser And these are two excellent things When a Lawyer hath pity for a Man whose Cause he pleadeth it will ingage him much but when he has Indignation also against the Man's Accuser this will yet engage him more Now Christ has both these and that not of Humour but by Grace and Justice Grace to us and Justice to our Accuser He came down from Heaven that he might be a Priest and returned thither again to be Priest and Advocate for his And in both these Offices he levelleth his whole Force and Power against thine Accuser For this Cause was the Son of God manifest that he might destroy the Works of the Devil Joh. 3.8 Cunning Men will if they can entertain such an one to be their Advocate who has a particular Quarrel against their Adversary For thus think they he that is such will not only plead for me but for himself and to right his own Wrongs also and since if it be so and it is so here my Concerns and my Advocate 's are interwoven I am like to fare much the better for the Anger that is conceived in his Heart against him And this I say is the Childrens Case their Advocate counteth their Accuser his greatest Enemy aâ—d waiteth for a time to take Vengeance and he usually then takes the opportunity when he has ought to do for his People against him Hence he says The Dâ—y of Vengeance is in my Heart and the Year of my redeemed is come Isa 63.3 4. I do not say that this Revenge of Christ is as oft times is a Mans of Spite Prejudice or other irregular lettings out of Passions but it ariseth from Righteousness and Truth Nor can it be but that Jesus must have a Desire to take Vengeance on his Enemy and ours since Holiness is in him to the utmost bounds of Perfection And I say again that in all his Pleading as an Advocate as well as in his offering as a Priest he has a hot and slaming Desire and Design to â—ight himself upon his Fâ—â— and ours Hence he triumphed over him when he died for us upon the Cross and designed the spoiling of his Principality while he poured out his Blood for us before the Face of God Col. 2.14 15. we then have this Advantage more in that Christ is our Advocate our Enemy is also his and the Lord Jesus counts him so Priv. 6. Sixthly As thine Advocate so thy Judge holdeth thine Accuser for his Enemy also For it is not of Love to Righteousness and Justice that Satan accuseth us to God but that he may destroy the Workmanship of God. Wherefore he also sighteth against God when he accuseth the Children And this thy Father knows right well He must therefore needs distinguish between the Charge and the Mind that brings it Specially when what is charged upon us is under the gracious Prâ—mise of a Pardon as I have shewed it is Shall not the Judge then hear his Son for our Advocate is his Son in the Cause of one that he favours and that he justly can against an Enemy who seeks his Dishonour and the Destruction of his eternal Designs of Grace A Mention of the Judges Son goes far with Country-men and great striving there is with them who have great Enemies and bad Causes to get the Judges Son to plead promising themselves that the Judge is as like to hear him and to yield a Verdict to his Plea as to any other Lawyer But what now shall we say concerning our Judge's Son who takes part not only with his Children but with him and with Law and Justice in pleading against our Accuser Yea what shall we say when both Judge and Advocate and Law are all bent to make our Persons stand and escape whatever and how truly soever the Charge and Accusation is by which we are assaulted of the Devil And yet all this is true wherefore here is another Privilege of them that have Jesus for their Advocate Priv. 7. Seventhly Another Privilege that they have who have Jesus Christ for their Advocate is That he is undaunted and of a good Courage as to the
of Words as to the Freeness and Conditionality of them which we are not able so well to understand and therefore when Satan dealeth with us about them we quickly fall to the Ground before him we often conclude that the Words of the Promise are too narrow and strait to comprehend us we also think verily that the Conditions of some Promises do utterly â—â—ut us out from hope of Justification and Life But our Advocate who is for us with the Father he is better acquainted with and learned in this Law than to be baâ—â—eâ— out with a bold Word or two Isa. â—0 4 or with a subtil piece of Hellish Sophistication He knows the true Purport Intent Meaning and Sense of every Promise and piece of Promise that is in the whole Bible and can tell how to plead it for Advantage against our Accuser and doth so And I gather it not only from his Contest with Satan for Joshua Zech. 3. and from his Conflict with him in the Wilderness Mat. 4. and in Heaven Rev. 14. but also from the Practice of Satan's Emissaries here For what his Angels do that doth he Now there is here nothing more apparent than that the Instruments of Satan do plead against the Church from the pretended Intricacy Ambiguity and Difficulty of the Promise whence I gather so doth Satan before the Tribunal of God but there we have one to match him we have an Advocate with the Father that knows Law and Judgment better than Satan and Statute and Commandment better than all his Angels And by the Verdict of our Advocate all the Words and Limits and Extensions of Words with all Conditions of the Promises are expounded and applyed And hence it is that it sometimes falleth so out that that very Promise that we have thought could not reach us to comfort us by any Means has at another time swallowed us up with Joy unspeakable Christ the true Prophet has the right Understanding of the Word as an Advocate has pleaded it before God against Satan and having overcome him at the common Law he hath sent to let us know it by his good Spirit to our Comfort and the Confusion of our Enemy Again 2. There are many things relating to our Lives that minister to our Accuser occasions of many Objections against our Salvation for besides our daily Infirmities there are in our Lives gross Sins many horrible Backslidings also we oft-times suck and drink in many abominable Errors and deceitful Opinions of all which Satan accuseth us before the Judgment-Seat of God and pleadeth hard that we may be damned forever for them Besides Some of these things are done after Light received against present Convictions and Disswasions to the contrary against Solemn engagement to Amendment when the Bonds of Love were upon us Jer. 2.20 These are crying Sins they have a loâ—d voice in themselves against us and give to Satan great Advantage and Boldness to sue for our Destruction before the Bar of God. Nor doth he want Skill to aggravate and to comment profoundly upon all Occasions and Circumstances that did attend us in these our Miscarriges to wit that we did it without a Cause also when we had had we had Grace to have used them many things to have helpt us against such Sins and to have kept us clean and upright There is also a Sin unto Death 1 Joh. 5. and he can tell how to labour by Argument and Slight of Speech to make our Transgressions not only to border upon but to appear in the Hue Shape and Figure of that and thereto make his Objection against our Salvation He often argueth thus with us and fastneth the Weight of his Reasons upon our Consciences to the almost utter Destruction of us and the bringing of us down to the Gates of Despair and utter Destruction The same Sins with their aggravating Circumstances as I said he pleadeth against us at the Bar of God But there he meeteth with Jesus Christ our Lord and Advocate who entereth his Plea against him unravels all his Reasons and Arguments against us and shews the guile and falshood of them he also pleadeth as to the Nature of Sin as also to all those high Aggravations and proveth that neither the Sin in it self nor yet as joined with all its advantageous Circumstances can be the Sin unto Death Col. 2.19 because we hold the Head and have not made Ship wrack of Faith 1 Tim. 1.19 but still as David and Solomon we confess and are sorry for our Sins Thus tho we seem through our Falls to come short of the Promise with Pâ—â—er Heb. 4.3 and leave our Transgressions as stumbling Blocks to the World with Solomon and minister Occasion of a Question of our Salvation among the Godly Yet our Advocate fetches us oâ—â— before God and we shall be found safe and in Heaven at last by them in the next World who was afraid they had lost us in this But all these Points must be managed by Christ for us against Satan as a Lawyer an Advocate who to that end now appears in the Presence of God for us And wisely handleth the very Crisis of the Word and of the Failings of his People together with all those nice and critical Juggles by which our Adversary laboureth to bring us down to the Confusion of his Face 3. There is also the Threatnings that are annexed to the Gospel and they fall now under our Consideration They are of two sorts such as respect those who altogether neglect and reject the Gospel or those that profess it yet fall in or from that Profession thereof The first sort of threatning cannot be pleaded against the Professors of the Gospel as against those that never profess'd it Wherefore he betaketh himself to manage those Threatnings against us that belong to those that have professed and that have fallen in or from that Profession Psal. 109.6 Joshua fell in it Zech. 3.1 2. Judas fell from it And the Accuser stands at the Right Hand of them both to resist them before the Judgment of God. To resist them by pleading the Threatnings against them To wit that God's Soul should have no Pleasure in them If any Man draws back my Soul shall have no Pleasure in them Here 's a Plea for Satan both against one and t'other they are both Apostatized both drawn back and he is subtil enough to manage it Ay but Satan here is also Matter sufficient for a Plea for our Advocate against thee for as much as the next Words distinguish betwixt drawing back and drawing back unto Perdition every one that draws back doth not draw back unto Perdition Heb. 10.38 39. Some of them draw back from and some in the Profession of the Gospel Judas drew back from and Peter in the Profession of his Faith Wherefore Judas perishes but Peter turns again because Judas drew back unto Perdition but Peter yet believed to the saving of the Soul. Nor doth Jesus Christ when he seeth