He that intends to build high, lays the foundation deep and low. Christ must have a distinct glory in heaven, transcending that of angels and men, (for the saints will know him from all others bv his glory, as the sun is known from the lesser stars.) And, as" he must be exalted infinitely above them, so he must first, in order thereunto, be humbled and abased as much below them : " His form was marred more than any man's ; and his " visage more than the sons of men.'1 The ground colours are a deep sable, which afterwards are laid on with all the splendour and glory of heaven.
Method requires that we first sprak to this state of Humiliation,
And, to that purpose, I have read this scripture to you, which presents you the Son under an (almost) total eclipse. He that was beautiful and glorious, Isa. iv. 2. yea, glorious as the only begotten of the Father, John i. 14. yea, * the glory, James ii. 1. yea, the splendour and " brightness of the Father's glory,11 Heb. i. 3. was so vailed, clouded, and debased, that he looked not like himself; a God, no, nor scarce as a man; for, with reference to this humbled state, it is said, Psal. xxii. 6. " I am a worm, and no " man:" q. d. rather write me worm, than man: I am become an object among menf, as that word, Isa. liii. 3. signifies. This hu- miliation of Christ we have here expressed in the nature, degrees, and duration or continuance of it.
1. The nature of it, graws/vwtfsv suvrov, he humbled himself.
* The Hebrew words Ilia1:'! ^^h in Isa. iv. 2. literally, signify, for beauty and for glory. The words Inffa Xpi$x rr,g ba^iS, in James ii. 1. signify, Jesus Christ, tfic glory ; and avavyac/JjO, rra oo^g, the brightness <f glory.
I The scorn of men, an abject among men.
SERM. XVIII. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 225
1. The word imports both a real and voluntary abasement* Real ; he did not personate a humbled man, nor act the part of one, in a debased state, but was really, and indeed humbled ; and that not only before men, but God. As man, he was hum- bled really, as God in respect of his manifestative glory: and, as it was real, so also voluntary : -j* It is not said he was humbled, but he humbled himself: he was willing to stoop to this low and ab- ject state for us. And, indeed, the voluntariness of his humilia- tion made it most acceptable to God, and singularly commends the love of Christ to us, that he would chuse to stoop to all this ig- nominy, suffering, and abasement for us.
2. The degrees of his humiliation ; it was not only so low as to become a man, a man under law; but he humbled himself to become " obedient to death, even the death of the cross." Here you see the depth of Christ's humiliation, both specified, it was unto death, and aggravated, even the death of the cross : not only to be- come a man but a dead corpse, and that too hanging on a tree, dying the death of a malefactor.
8. The duration, or continuance of this his humiliation : it con- tinued from the first moment of his incarnation, to the very mo- ment of his vivification and quickening in the grave. So the terms of it are fixed here by the apostle ; from the time he was found in fashion as a man, that is, from his incarnation, unto his death on the cross, which also comprehends the time of his abode in the grave ; so long his humiliation lasted. Hence the observation is,
Doct. That the state of Christ, from his conception to his iesurrection, was a state of deep abasement and humiliation.
We are now entering upon Christ's humbled state, which I shall cast under three general heads, viz. his humiliation, in his incarna- tion, in his life, and in his death. My present work is to open Christ's humiliation, in his incarnation, imported in these words, He was found in fashion as a man. By which you are not to con- ceive that he only assumed a body, as an assisting form, to appear transiently to us in it, and so lay it down again. J It is not such an apparition of Christ in the shape of a man, that is here intend-
* But he speaks not of a feigned and counterfeit, but of a true and real humilia- tion. Zanch. in loc.
f He was not humbled by another, like the fallen angels who were by God thrown headlong into the infernal pit. Ibid.
\ In these few words he confirms the things he had said before of the true nature of man (which he calls the form of a servant) assumed by the Son of God into unity of person, by which he was made like to men iu all things, sin excepted. Zanch.
226 TIIF. FOUNTAIN' OF LIFfc. SERM. XVIII.
ed ; but his true and real assumption of our nature, which was a special part of his humiliation ; as will appear by the following par- ticulars.
I. The incarnation of Christ was a most wonderful humiliation of him, inasmuch as thereby he is brought into the rank and order of creatures, who is over all, " God blessed for ever,'1 Rom. ix. 5. This is the astonishing mystery, 1 Tim. iii. 16. that God should be manifest in the flesh ; that the eternal God should truly and properly be called the Man Christ Jesus, 1 Tim. ii. 5. It was a wonder to Solomon, that God would dwell in that stately and magnificent temple at Jerusalem, 2 Chron. vi. 18. " But will ifc God in very deed dwell with men on earth ! Behold the hea- " ven, and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee ; how much " less this house which I have built ?" But it is a far greater wonder that God should dwell in a body of flesh, and pitch his tabernacle with us, John i. 14. It would have seemed a rude blasphemy, had not the scriptures plainly revealed it, to have thought, or spoken of the eternal God, as born in time ; the world's Creator as a creature ; the Ancient of Days, as an infant of days.
The Heathen Chaldeans told the king of Babel, that the " dwei- " ling of the gods is not with flesh," Dan. ii. 11. But now God not only dwells with fleshj but dwells in flesh; yea, was made flesh, and dwelt among us.