A DESCRIPTION OF CHRIST. 9
proud piece of flesh. Men stand upon their distance. Tfhat ! shall I stoop to him ? I am thus and thus. We should descend from the heaven of our conceit, and take npon us the form of servants, and ahasc ourselves to do good to others, even to any, and account it an honour to do any good to others in the places we are in. Christ did not think himself too good to leave heaven, to conceal and veil his majesty under the veil of our flesh, to work our redemption, to bring us out of the cursed estate we Avere in. Shall we think ourselves too good for any sei'Adce ? Who for shame can be proud when he thinks of this, that God was abased ? Shall God be abased, and man proud ? Shall God become a ser\'ant, and shall we that are servants think much to serve our fellow-sen'ants ? Let us learn this lesson, to abase ourselves ; we cannot have a better pattern to look unto than our blessed Saviour. A Christian is the greatest freeman in the world ; he is free from the wi'ath of God, fi-ee from hell and damnation, from the curse of the law ; but then, though he be free in these respects, yet, in regard of love, he is the greatest servant. Love abaseth him to do all the good he can ; and the more the Spirit of Christ is in us, the more it will abase us to anything wherein we can be serviceable.
Then, again, here is comfort for us, that Christ, in whatsoever he did in our redemption, is God's servant. He is appointed by God to the work ; so, both God and Christ meet together in the work. Christ is a voluntary' in it, for he emptied himself, he took upon him the form of a servant, Phil. ii. 6, he came from heaven voluntarily. And then withal the Fa- ther joins with him, the Father appointed him and sent him, the Father laid him as the corner-stone, the Father sealed him, as it is, Johnvi. 27, the Father set him out, as it is, Eom. iii. 25. ' He hath set him out as the propi- tiatory.' Therefore, when we think of reconciliation and redemption, and salvation wi'ought by Christ, let us comfort om-selves in the solidity of the work, that it is a service perfectly done. It was done by Christ, God-man. It is a service accepted of God, therefore God cannot refuse the service of our salvation wrought by Christ. Christ was his servant in the working of it. We may present it to God, it is the obedience of thy servant, it is the satisfaction of thy servant. Here is that '^ill give full content and satis- faction to conscience, in this, that whatsoever Christ did, he was God's ser- vant in it. But we shall better understand the intent of the Holy Ghost when we have gone over the rest of the words, * Behold my servant v/hom I have chosen.'
Christ was chosen before all worlds to be the head of the elect. He was predestinate and ordained by God. As we ai'e ordained to salvation, so Christ is ordained to be the head of all that shall be saved. He was chosen eternally, and chosen in time. He was singled out to the work b}'' God ; and all others that are chosen are chosen in him. There had been no choosing of men but m him; for God saw us so defiled, lying in our filth, that he could not look upon us but in his Son. He chose him, and us in him.
Here is meant, not only choosing by eternal election to happiness, but a choosing to office. There is a choosing to gi-ace and gloiy, and a choos- ing to office. Here, it is as well meant, a choosing to office, as to grace and glory. God, as he chose Christ to gi-ace and glory, so he chose him to the office of Mediatorship. Christ did not choose himself ; he was no usurper. No man calls himself to the office, as it is in Heb. v. 4 ; but Christ was called and appointed of God. He was willing, indeed, to the work, he took it voluntary upon him ; but as Mediator, God chose him, God the Father and he joining together.
10 A DESCEIPTION OF CHRIST.
If we respect eternal salvation, or grace, or ofiice, Christ was chosen in respect of his manhood ; for, as it is well observed by divines, Christ is the head of all that are predestinate ; and the human nature of Christ could not merit its choice, it could not merit its incarnation, it could not merit union with the Godhead, it was merely from grace. How could Chi'ist's manhood deserve anything of God before it was ? Things must have a subsistence before they can work : our blessed Saviour is the pattern of all election, and his manhood could not merit to be knit to the second person ; as how could it, being a creature ? Therefore the knitting of the human nature of Christ to his divine, it is called the grace of union. The choosing of the human nature of Christ to be so gracious and glorious, it was of grace.