or abated himſelf of the all-fulneſs of glory he had equally with p2e; - | God the Father, that confidering the diſproportion betwixt the 2,24, : Creature and the Creator ; he in the Eyes of thoſe, amongſt 7x); whom he tabernacled, appear'd to have nothing of repuration4 0, k left him, Dar. 9. 26. *Tis not ſaid the Form of God was cut off, jj, or did empty it (elf ; But he who did ſuffer i» the Form of God, made himſelf of no account ; did empty, abate, or abaſe himſclf, (ſo the Apofile elſewhere AQively and Paſhvely uſeth the word, I Cor. 9. 15. With 2 Cor. 9. 3.) and that indeed whiles ſubſſting in the Form of God (according to agreement, Zach. 6. 12. and 12. 7.) not by laying aſide the nature of God, but in ſome 9- ther way, 7. e. his own way kept ſecret till he was pleaſed to maniteft it, Rom. 16. 25. Col. 1. 26. by freely coming in the Heſh, 1 7im. 3. 16. Heb. 10. 7. which is ſuch an aſtoniſhing wonder, and myfterious abaſement, as gains the greateft veneration from his Saints. Thus for a little time laying aſide, at his own plea- ſure withdrawing, and going afide from his glorious Majeſty, he lefſen'd himſelf for the Salvation of his People. He had a li- berty not to ſhew his Majeſty, Fulneſs arid Glory, during his pleaſure, ſo that he could (as to our Eyes) contra and ſhadow it, Fokn 1. 14. Col. 2. 9. His condeſcention was free and uncor- ſtrained with the conſent of his Father, Fokn 3. 13. So that tho' the Scripture ſaith, The moſt high dwelleth not in Temples made with hands; yet the Son of the Higheſt, z Kings 8. 27. Iſa. 66. 1. Mark 5. 7. Ads 7. 43. can at his own plealure ſhew, or eclipſe his own glorious brightneſs, abate or let out his ful- neſs, exalt or abaſe himſelf in reſpe& of us. However, in his own ſimple and abſolute nature, he be without variablenels, or ſhadow of turning, Fam. 1. 17. being his Father's equal, and ſo abides moſt ſimple and immutable; yet reſpeRively to kis ſtate, and what he had to manage for the Redemption of loft Man; with regard to the diſcovery he made of himſelf in the revelation of his Divine Properties, the acknowledgment and celebration of them, by the Creatures, he emptied himſelf, not by ceaſing, to be what he was before, equal with his Father, or laying down the eſſential Form of God, according to which he was equal to God; but by taking the form of a Servant, wherein he was like to Men, 7. e. alſuming ſomething to himſelf he had not before, v3. The humane nature; vailing himſelf, as the Sun is ſaid to þe vailed, not in it ſelf, but in regard of the intervening Cloud, Mar. 27. 39- to 45. what could hinder that he ſhould not manifeſt his excel- lency now more, then leſs clearly ? Men one while acknowleds- ing and praiſing it, another while, neither acknowledging Or praiſing of it, then again praiting of it yet more ſparingly- He by taking the form of a mean Man, might ſo obſcure the dignity of his Perſon, as to the acknowledgment of him to be the” Son of God equal with his Father, that in vouching him- ſelf to be ſo, he might be accounted a Blaſphemer, Fohn 10. 36- and during, that appearance, not ſeem to be the moſt high even as a King by laying afide the tokens of his Royalty, and putting on the habit of a Merchant, when all the while he ceaſeth not to be King,] or the higheſt in his own Dominions: Hence the moſt high may be conſider'd, either in regard of his nature, wherein he holdeth the higheſt degree of pertection, Or in regard of thoſe perſonal Aa he performs in the butinels 03 our Salvation. In the former, Chrift is the moſt High; the latter, our Mediator. <o the Form of God, was the ter from which, and the Form of a Servant, the rerm to which, he mov'd in his demiſſon, or abaſement, which did not fimp!y lye in an aſſumption or union of the Humane Nature to the Divine, for this doth abide ſtill in Chriſt highly exalted, but in taking the form of a Servant, which with the humane nature h2 took, by being ſent forth, made of a Woman under the Law, Gale 4. 4+ but by his Reſurregion, and Glorification, left that
to be altogether equal with God, as ſubſiſting in the ſame nature:
lation
Cl
ll
Chap. "
42,
L109,
Heb,