[METHOD OF THE DISCOURSE.]
FIRST, I shall show you more particularly this Advocate's office, or what and wherein Christ's office as Advocate doth lie. SECOND, After that, I shall also show you how Jesus Christ manages this office of an Advocate. THIRD, I shall also then show you who they are that have Jesus Christ as their Advocate. FOURTH, I shall also show you what excellent privileges they have, who have Jesus Christ as their Advocate. FIFTH, And to silence cavillers, I shall also show the necessity of this office of Jesus Christ. SIXTH, I shall come to answer some objections; and, LASTLY, To the use and application.
[WHEREIN CHRIST'S OFFICE AS ADVOCATE DOTH LIE.]
FIRST, To begin with, the first of these-namely, to show you more particularly of Christ's office as an Advocate, and wherein it lieth; the which I shall do these three ways First, Touch again upon the nature of this office; and then, Second, Treat of the order and place that it hath among the rest of his offices; and, treat of the occasion of the execution of this office.
First, To touch upon the nature of this office It is that which empowers a man to plead for a man or one man to plead for another; not in common discourses and upon common occasions, as any man may do, but at a bar, or before a court of judicature, where a man is accused or impleaded by his enemy; I say, this Advocate's office is such, both here and in the kingdom of heaven. An advocate is one of our attorneys, at least in general, who pleads according to law and justice for one or other who is in trouble by reason of some miscarriage or of the naughty temper of some that are about him, who trouble and vex, and labors 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 executes in heaven. Wherefore he says, "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. Eze 38:22. Jer 2.)
For though in some places of 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 Father's 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 employ 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.
Second. 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 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 further dangers.
Christ, as priest, doth always work of service for us, because in our most spiritual things, there may be faults and spots, and these he taketh away, of course, by the exercise of that office; for he always wears that plate of gold upon his forehead 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, which are often found in the skirts of the children of God. Now, there are they that Satan taketh hold on; these are they that Satan draws 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 clothed with filthy garments, then Satan stood at his right hand to resist him; 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 the 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 exercises his priestly and advocate offices. 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, Psa 110:1,4), but his standing is occasional, when Joshua is indicted or when hell and earth are 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 was seconded by the fallen angels before the face of God, it is said, "the Lord Jesus stood on the right hand of God," (Acts 7:55)-to wit, to plead; for so I take it, because standing is his posture as an Advocate, not as a Priest; for, as a Priest, he must sit down; but he standeth as an Advocate, as has been shown afore (Heb 10:12). Wherefore,
