there is no Occafion particularly to point

them out.

In this Paffage to the Philippians the Apostle does not exprefly draw the Comparison between the first and second Adam: But the Account he gives of the Conduct and Spirit of the fecond Adam, is fo strong a Contraft to the corrupt Affections of the firft, that there can be but little Doubt of his Meaning.

Look into the History of Mofes: There you will find that Adam was created after the Image of God, and had Dominion given him over the Creatures of the Earth; by which he became Lord of this lower World. St. Paul, in the Words of the Text, tells us, that Chrift was in the Form of God; which gave him a Dominion over the Works of Nature, which had their Being and owed their Prefervation to his Power. Mofes gives an Account, how Adam, through Difobedience and a vain Ambition, fell from the Dignity in which he was created, and entailed. Mifery upon his Defcendents. St. Paul fays, that Christ, through Obedience and Submiffion to the Will of the Father, has fet us an Example, by which, if the fame Mind be in us, we

may

may recover what is loft. Mofes tells us, that Adam was tempted to eat the forbidden Fruit, upon the Hopes the Tempter gave him, that it would make him like to God, and increase him in Knowledge, to know Good and Evil: He thought it fuch an advantageous Proposal, that he catched at the Opportunity, and eagerly embraced the Offer. St. Paul's Account is, that Chrift, who had a Right by Nature to appear in the Majefty and Glory of God, yet voluntarily laid it aside, and lived and died in the World, in Fashion as a Man. What Adam got by this bold Attempt, we all know: He run, like an eager and hungry Fish, to feize the Bait, but was miferably deceived; he loft the Prey, and swallowed only the Hook: But Chrift, for a Recompence of his Obedience, was highly exalted, and had a Name given him, which is above every

Name.

If we admit of this Reference to the Cafe of the first Adam, it will determine the Senfe of those Words, which in our Tranflation are rendered, He thought it no Robbery to be equal with God: For, in that Cafe, the Oppofition between the two Characters would TOOSID 3 require,

require, that it should be said of Adam, that he thought it a Robbery to be equal with God; which is absolutely inconfiftent with the Account of Mofes, and to the View and Reafoning of St. Paul.

DISCOURSE

8#

ND being found in Fashion as a Man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto Death, even the Death of the Crofs. He was in the Form of God; but he was not fond of retaining, or making shew of the Glories belonging to the divine Form, but took upon him the Form of a Servant, being made in the Likeness of Men. This was great Humility: But this was not all; for, being Man, he ftill defcended lower quitted the Dignities and Honours, which even as Man he might have retained; fubmitted to the meaneft Condition of the Sons of Men, a Condition expofed to Scorn and Contempt

1

D 4

Contempt and ill Ufage; and at laft became obedient unto Death, and that not the common Death of Mankind, but of the vileft of Slaves, even the Death of the Crofs. The Humility then of Chrift is here plainly represented to us under two Views: In one View the Apostle confiders Chrift, who was in the Form of God, defcending fo low as to become Man: In the other, he confiders Chrift in the Fashion of a Man, defcending yet lower, and taking upon himself the meaneft Condition, and undergoing the most ignominious Death, that either the most miferable or the most wicked of Mankind had ever experienced.

I have endeavoured to explain all that belongs to the firft Inftance of Humility, by confidering what the State was from which Chrift defcended, and what the State and Condition to which he defcended. I fhall now confider this fecond Inftance of the Humility of Chrift Jefus in the fame Method, and lay before you, as far as I can difcern the Apoftle's Meaning, the true Senfe and Import of the Words of the Text. In the firft Inftance we learnt what St. Paul's Opinion was concerning our Saviour before his Incarnation; in this we

fhall