among the sons of the mighty may be likened to our God?" This was grace indeed, that he who was "the everlasting Father; the Creator of the ends of the earth; the King eternal, immortal, invisible," should come and suffer, and bleed, and die in the room of feeble, mortal, miserable man; that the Creator should be condemned for the sin of the creature, and the creature justified through the righteousness of the Creator.Here is condescension the depth of which angels cannot fathom.

This grace appears still more astonishing, when we reflect,

3. That the Son of God submitted to all this reproach, endured all these sufferings for man in a state of actual apostacy from God, and rising up in rebellion against his throne. Had we retained our primitive innocence and dignity, it must have been pronounced immense condescension that the living God should assume our nature, and suffer for our advantage: But when we consider that he assumed this nature degraded by transgression; that he suffered for man, not arrayed in primitive innocence, but sullied and blackened with the foulest pollution; for man in actual and avowed hostilities against his God, shewing despite to his mercy, bidding defiance to his wrath, and spurning all his entreaties; that he should suffer for man in these circumstances is a display of grace that passeth all utterance, and understanding.

"Scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die: But God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." This same apostle exhibits the condescension of Christ as the highest possible example for us to imitate; he argues that we can never stoop too low for him who was thus humbled for us. "Let the same mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, took upon himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the

cross.

Permit me now to conclude this discourse with a few practical reflections.

1. We learn from this doctrine the rich, selfinoved, unmerited love of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Son is considered by many as altogether passive in the work of our redemption; as coming merely in the capacity of a servant to work out a justifying righteousness. But we ought to entertain more exalted conceptions of the everlasting Jesus. The very consideration that he became a servant was an ineffable display of his good will. All that he did for the recovery of perishing man was done voluntarily :

love the most pure, the most fervent, and divine was the moving cause. While love the most adorable prompted the Father not to spare his Son; love equally wondrous prompted the Son not to spare himself; to be emptied of his glory, to become acquainted with grief, to submit to every species of ignominy and agony for us: Greater love among men hath no man than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friend, but surely it is love infinitely greater that a God should lay down his life for man, and the Creator become a curse for his creature. When the Savior wept at the grave of Lazarus the spectators, lost in astonishment, remarked to each other, behold! how he loved him; but what is a tear to the effusion of his blood, the surrender of his life for our sakes. This is a consideration which holy men, moved by the Holy Ghost, often contemplated for inflaming their own hearts, and ours. He by HIMSELF purged our sins; he gave his LIFE a ransom for many; he gave HIMSELF for us to redeem us from all iniquity; had he given thousands of rams, and ten thousands of rivers of oil, the mercy had been great; had he appointed one order of rational beings to suffer by substitution for another the mercy had been greater, but that he should give HIMSELF is a display of mercy which suffers by passing through the feebleness of human expression or compre hension. By all our attempts to unfold it

to others, its glories are obscured, and its immensity appears diminished: To attempt describing it is like attempting to grasp the ocean, or measure infinitude with a line which is finite. This consideration ever transports the spirits of the just in glory, and at each new contemplation of it they are constrained to strike their harps on a higher string. To him that loved us, and, they do not add, gave us being, poured around us affluence of worldly enjoyment, promoted us to distinction on earth, and gave us victoy over death; their extatic imaginations instantly sieze redeeming love as the subject of their song, and washed us from our sins in his own blood; other blessings may attend as ministers, but the gift of HIMSELF must sit on the throne: This was first and highest in their hearts, this must therefore be first and highest in their song.

2. This doctrine presents to our minds the strongest possible argument for obeying every command of our gracious Lord and manifesting the warmest zeal for his glory. Can we stoop too low for him who stooped so low for us? Can we do too much for him who hath done so much for us? Lively conceptions of the humiliation and the suf ferings of Christ must silence all the murmurings of the flesh, and produce a most cheerful, ardent obedience to all his commands. Can we complain of a little weariness in his service, when the Lord of glory

was weary for our sakes; can we complain of a little reproach, or contempt in promoting his cause, when on our account he was reviled, and blasphemed, and buffeted, and treated with every mark of ignominy and scorn; can we refuse a little of our silver, or our gold in supplying the temporal wants of his poor, or propogating his gospel thro' the world, when he for our sakes became poor: All that a man hath will he give for his life, & all that a man hath will he give up rather than his life, but the love of Christ rose transcendant to this consideration and impelled him to lay down even his life for his people; and can we, under the impressions of his goodness, refuse a share of our perishable wealth when he requires it? Sooner let our hands forget their cunning than cease to contribute for the advancement of his cause; sooner let our tongue cleave to the roof of our mouth, than be silent from speaking forth his praise, or recommending his great salvation. The moment that our love languishes let us go to Gethsemane, or Calvary as a mean of enflaming it: There the smoking flax must instantly revive, and brighten into a flame. It is impossible for him to be cold who basks under the rays of this sun: It is impossible for him to feel indifferent to the Person or people, or interest, or glory of Jesus who diligently contemplates the ardor and immensity of his love to us.How powerful, how elevating was the effect