I make my inference from hence : If such be the eternal, blessed nature of God, and his infinite distance from all creatures, if such be his infinite self-sufficiency and blessedness, that it is a hum bling of himself so much as to behold the most glorious things in heaven or the greatest things on earth, what great humiliation is it m the Son of God, who did not only look upon and behold us, and act kindly towards us, but took our nature upon him to be his own ! This is the self-humiliation which the apostle proposes unto us, and which for ever we are to be found in.
2. I shall show you wherein this humiliation of the Son of God did consist ; which will tend to the opening of the words. And because it is the centre, life, and soul, of religion, the main rock on which the church is built, and against which there hath been oppo sition in all ages, but never so fierce and subtle as in the days wherein we live, I shall show you first wherein it doth not consist, as far as may be apprehended, and then wherein it doth.
(1.) When Christ humbled himself, he did not leave, he did not re linquish, he did not forego, his divine nature. He did not cease to be God when he became man. The foundation of it lay here : He was " in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God," Phil. ii. 6. He was " in the form of God/' God hath no innate form but his nature, his being, his essence ; and therefore to be " in the form of God" is to be participant of the nature, essence, and being of God. What follows thereon? He " thought it not robbery to be equal with God" the Father, in dignity, power, and authority.
THE HUMILIATION AND CONDESCENSION OF CHRIST. 565
Because he was " in the form of God/' partaking of the divine essence, therefore he was " equal with God," in dignity, power, and authority : which nothing could give him but only his being in the form of God; for though there is an order in the persons of the Trinity, there is no distinction or inequality in the nature of God. Every one who is partaker of that nature is equal in that nature, in dignity, power, and authority. This was the state of Christ. He had the same nature with God the Father, he was " in the form of God ;" and had the same dignity, authority, and power, — "equal with God/' Here is the "terminus a quo." This the apostle states. He " took upon him the form of a servant." 'Exxsvuts, he did "empty himself, he did humble himself, and took upon him the form of a servant." When ? While he was God ; when he abode " in the form of God," and was " equal with God/'' then he " took upon him the form of a servant." This is that glorious condescension of Christ, which is the greatest of all gos pel mysteries, which is the life and soul of the church. He that is God can no more cease to be God, by any act of his own, or act upon him, than he that is not God can become God by any act of his own, or any act upon him. Christ could not cease to be God, — no more than a worm can make itself God. We say, Christ, being God, was made man for our sakes. The Socinians say, that, being a man, he was* made a god for his own sake; he was made equal unto God, in the same authority, but never "in the form of God." In brief, we say, " The Word was made flesh," — that is, had glorious authority and power given him in this nature. But Jesus Christ did not forego his divine nature ; that he could not do. The apostle speaks that with as much confidence as that God cannot cease to be God.
(2.) This condescension did not consist in any substantial conver sion of the divine nature into the human, though some of the Arians thought so of old; and some (too many), following their dotage to this day, say, ' " The Word was made flesh." But how ? As the water was made wine by a miracle, by a substantial conversion ; the sub stance of the water was turned into the substance of wine/ As there the accident of water ceased, and the accident proper to wine did accompany it, they would have it so here, — that the divine nature of Christ was created by the will of God before the world was made, and after, by a substantial conversion, was turned into human nature. They assert that that which is called the di vine nature was destroyed, as water was no more water when made wine. And so a human nature is produced that is of no affinity and cognation unto us ; not derived of Adam as we, but made of the substance of the divine Word. This is far from being a due repre sentation of this condescension of Jesus Christ.
(3.) It was not hereby, that the divine and human natures were