METHOD OF THE DISCOURSE. WHEREIN CHRIST'S OFFICE AS ADVOCATE DOTH LIE.
Third. The occasion of his exercising of this office of advocate is, as has been hinted already when a child of God shall be found guilty before God of some heinous sin or 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 is kept clean, and counted upright, notwithstanding those infirmities; and, therefore, you shall find that, notwithstanding those common faults, 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 anything that he commanded him, all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite" (I Kings 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, murder, and hypocrisy in David'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 Christ to stand up to plead; for now, there is room for such a question David's sin stand with grace? Or, is it possible that a man who 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 is a man whose salvation, by his foul offenses, 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; he was afraid that God would cast him away, and the devil hoped he would, and to that end charged him before God's face, if, perhaps, he might get a sentence of damnation to pass upon his soul (Psa 51). 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 condemnation, that by the law of sin and death, was due to it.
This is then the occasion that Christ taketh to plead, as Advocate, for the salvation of his people with, the cause: He "pleadeth the cause of his people" (Is 51:22). Not every cause, but such and such a cause; the very bad cause, 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 is true, if sin can make it bad, yea, if sin itself 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 bad condition. It 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 though 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.
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