[As] for the sense which they give us of this j^lace (for they are bold to venture at it), it hath been in part spoken to already. 1. Christ was in the world, as to outward appearance, no way instar Dei, but rather, as he says of himself, instar vermis. That he did the works of God, and was worshipped as God, was because he was God ; nor could any but God either do the one, as he did them, or admit of the other. 2. This is the exposition given us: ''' ' Christ was in the form of God, counting it no robbery to be equal to him;'' that is, whilst he was here in the world, in the form of a servant, he did the works of God, and was worshipped." 3. Christ was in the form of a servant from his first coming into the world, and as one of the people ; therefore he was not made so by any thing afterward. His he'mg bound, and beat, and killed, is not his being made a servant; for that by the apostle is afterward expressed, when he tells us why, or for what end (not how or wherein), he was made a servant, namely, " He became obedient to death, tlie death of the cross."
And this may suffice for the taking out of our way all that is excepted against this testimony by our catechists ; but because the text is of great importance, and of itself sufficient to evince the sacred truth we plead for, some farther observations for the illustra- tion of it may be added.
The sense they intend to give us of these words is plainly this, " That Christ, by doing miracles in the world, appeared to be as God, or as a God ; but he laid aside this form of God, and took upon him the form of a servant, when he sufl'ered himself to be taken, bound, and crucified. He began to be," they say, " in the form of God, when, after his ])aptism, he undertook the work of his public ministry, and wrought mighty works in the world ; which form he ceased to be in when he was taken in the garden, and exposed as a servant to all manner of reproach,"
That there is not any thing in this whole exposition answering the mind of the Holy Ghost is evident, as from what was said before, so also, 1. Because it is said of Christ, that h [j^op(pfi 0£oD vTcip^uv^ he was " in the form of God," before he " took the form of a ser- vant." And yet the taking of the form of a servant in this place doth evidently answer his being "made flesh," John i. 14; his being made " in the likeness of sinful flesh," Rom. viii. 3 ; his coming or
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being sent into the world, Matt. x. 40, xx. 28; John iii. 16, 17, etc. 2. Christ was still in the form of God, as taken essentially, even then when he was a servant; though, as to the dispensation he had submitted to, he emptied himself of the glory of it, and was not known to be the " Lord of glory," 2 Cor. viii. 9. 3. Even all the Avhile that they say he was in the form of God, he was in the form of a servant ; that is, he was really the servant of the Father, and was dealt withal in the world as a servant, under all manner of reproach, revilings, and persecutions. He was not more in the form of a ser- vant when he was bound than when he had not where to lay his head. 4. The state and condition of a servant consists in this, that he is not sui juris. No more was Christ, in the whole course of his obedience ; he did not any private will of his own, but the will of him that sent him. Those who desire to see the vindication of this place to the utmost, in all the particulars of it, may consult the confutation of the interpretation of Erasmus, by Beza, annot. in Phil. ii. 6, 7 ; of Ochinus and Lselius Socinus, by Zanchius in locum, et de Tribus Eloliim, p. 227, etc.; of Faustus Socinus, by Beckman, Exercitat. p. 1G8, et Johan. Jun. Examen Respou. Socin. pp. 201, 202 ; of Enjedinus, by Gomarus, Anal. Epist. Paul, ad Phil. cap. ii. ; of Ostorodius, by Jacobus a Porta, Fidei Orthodox. Defens. pp. 89, 150, etc. That which I shall farther add is in reference to Grotius, whose Annotations may be one day considered by some of more time and leisure for so necessary a work.
Thus then he : "O5 kv fiopf)fj Qs-ov Uvapy^Mv. " Mop(p'/i in nostris libris non significat internum et occultum aliquid, sed id quod in oculos incurrit, qualis erat eximia in Christo potestas sanandi morbos oranes, ejiciendi dsemonas, excitandi mortiios, mutandi rerum naturas, quae vere divina sunt ; ita ut Moses, qui tam magna non fecit, dictus ob id fuerit deus Pharaonis. Vocem iMopfri^ quo dixi sensu habes. Marc. xvi. 12, Esa. xliv. 13, ubi in Hebrseo n^^^ri; Ban. iv. S3, v. 6, 10, vii. 28, ubi in ChaldjBo VT; Job. iv. 16, ubi in Hebrteo nj^jori;"— " Mopcp'/i in our books doth not signify an internal or hidden thing, but that which is visibly discerned, such as was that eminent power in Christ of healing all diseases, casting out of devils, raising the dead, changing the nature of things, which are truly divine ; so that Moses, who did not so great things, was therefore called the god of Pharaoh. The word Mp(pr], in the sense spoken of, you have Mark xvi. 12, Isa. xliv. 13, where in the Hebrew it is ^'^J^^J?; Dan. iv. 33, etc., where in the Chaldee it is 1"'^; Job iv. 16, where in the Hebrew it is njinri/'