Use 3d. Branch 1. If Christ be a great king, submit to him. Say not, as those Jews, " We have no king but Casar," — no king but our lusts. This is to choose the bramble to rule over you, and " out of tlie bramble will come forth a fire," Judg. ix. Submit to Christ willingly. All the devils in hell submit to Christ ; but it is against their will, they are his slaves, not his subject's. Submit cheerfully to Christ's person and his laws. Many would have Christ their Saviour, but not their Prince ; such as will not have Christ to be their king to rule them, shall never have his blood to save them. Obey all Christ's princely commands ; if he commands love, humility, good works, be as the needle which points which way so- ever the loadstone draws.
Branch 2. Let such admire God's free grace, who were once under the power and tyranny of Satan, and now Christ hath made them of slaves to become the subjects of his kingdom. Christ did not need subjects, he hath legions of angels ministering to him ;. but in his love, he Ifath honoured you to make you his subjects. O how long was it ere Christ could jirevail with you to come under his banner ! How mucJi opposition did he meet with, ere you would wear this Prince's colours ! But at last omnipotent grace overcame you. When Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, an angel came and beat off his chains. Acts xii. 7., so, when thou M'ert sleeping in the devil's arms, that Christ should, by his Spirit smite thy heart, and cause the chains of sin to fall off, and make thee a subject of liis king- dom. O admire free grace ! Thou who art a subject of Christ, art sure to reign> with Christ for ever.
R
ISO
OF CHRIST'S HUMILIATION.
OF CHRIST'S HUMILIATION IN HIS INCARNATION.
I Tim. ili. 16. Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh.
Quest. XXVIT. WHEREIN did Christ's humiliation consist ?
Ans. In his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross.
Christ's humiliation consisted in his in- carnation, his taking flesh and being born. It was real flesh Christ took ; not the image of a body (as the Manichees erroneously held) but a true body ; therefore Christ is said to be " made of a woman," Gal. iv. 4. As the bread is made of the wheat, and the wine is made of the grape, so Christ is made of a woman, his body was part of the flesh and substance of the virgin. This is a glo- rious mystery, " God manifest in the flesh." In the creation, man was made in God's image ; in the incarnation, God was made in man's image.
Quest. How came it about that Christ was made flesh ?
Ans. It was by his Father's special desig- nation. Gal. iv. 4., " God sent forth his Son, made of a woman." God the Father did in a special manner appoint Christ to be incarnate, which shews how needful a call is to any business of weight and impor- tance : to act without a call, is to act with- out a blessing. Christ himself would not be incarnate, and take upon him the work of a Mediator till he had a call. " God sent forth his Son, made of a woman."
Quest. But ivas there no other way for the restoring of fallen man but this, that God s/u)uld tokefesh ?
Ans. We must not ask a reason of God's will ; it is dangerous to pry into God's ark ; we are not to dispute but adore. The wise God saw this the best way for our redemp- tion that Christ should be incarnate; it was not fit for any to satisfy God's justice but man ; none could do it but God ; therefore, Christ being both God and man, he is the fittest to undertake t1iis work of redemption.
Quest. JVhy was Christ born of a U'omati ?
Am. 1. That God might fulfil that j)ro-
mise. Gen. iii. 15., The seed of the woman shall break the serpent's head. — 2. Christ was born of a woman, that he might roll away that reproach from the woman which she had contracted by being seduced by the serpent. Christ, in taking his flesh from the woman, hath honoured her sex ; that as at the first the woman had made man a sinner ; so now, to make him amends, she should bring him a Saviour.
Quest. Why teas Christ born of a virgin ?
Ans. 1. For decency. It became not God to have any mother but a maid, and it became not a maid to have any other sod but a God.
A. 2. For necessity. Christ was to be an high priest, most pure and holy. Had he been born after the ordinary course of nature, he had been defiled ; all that spring out of Adam's loins have a tincture of sin, but, that ' Christ's substance might remain pure and immaculate,' he was born of a
virgin.
A. 3. To answer the type. Melchisedec was a type of Christ ; he is said to be " without father and without mother." Christ being born of a A-irgin, answered the type ; he was without father and without mother ; without mother as he was God, without father as he was man.