relation or Habit of a Servant (being ſuch an one who was alſo a Son, and a Lord, Feb. 1. 2. with 3. 6.) when yet he retains the humane Nature ftill. As therefore he was of the Seed of David according to the Fleſh, Xo. 1. 2. though before he had not Fleſh: <o he took the form of a Servant in the likeneſs of Man, according to his humane Nature, although before he took that Form, he could not have humane Nature: He did not annihilate any thing he was beforez only of his own accord, bowed down himſelf, and vailed his own Glory, in taking our Nature, therein to be a Servant unto Death. & Taking (in the Greek, without any copu- }ative and before it) in oppoſition to being, or ſubſiſting; he was in the Form of God, which he had before, and took this which he had not then, into the nnity of his ſubſiſtence, by a perſonal uni- on, Heb. 2. 16. He was the Servant of God, Ta. 42. 1. Mat. 20. 28. in the whole work of his condeſcenfion, which was gradual, elſe the Apoftle's Art to engage the Philippians to condeſcenfion had not been cogent from Chriſt's Example. For, 1. He bein increate, did aflume to himſelf a Created (not Angelical, but) humane Nature with no reputation, in that regard taking the Form of 4 Servant, wherein he was like Man, as the next Clauſe explains this. *Twas an infinite, inconceivable condeſcenfion of the Son of God, to take our Nature into union with himſelf, whereby he who was very God in all things like unto his Father, became like unto as in all things, Sin only excepted, Rom. 8. 3. Jeb. 2. 17. Hence, 2. He did not immediately advance the Na- ture he took into Glory, but became a Servant in it to his Father, to perform the moſt difficult ſervice that ever God had to-do in the World ; he was not only in the likeneſs of finful Fleſh, affoon as a Man, Rom. $. 3. of the Seed of Abraham, Heb. 2. 11. to 15. but ſ{ubje& to the Law, Luke 2. 42, 51. Gal. 4. 4. ina mean condition from his Birth, deſpicable in the judgment of the World, his Mo- ther poor, Gr. 1/a. 53. 2, 3. Mat. 2. 14. & $. 20. & 13. 55. Mark 6. 3« Luke 2. 7, 22, 24. & 22. 27. ſo that in finiſhing his work he was expoſed to ſcorn, Pſul. 22. 6, 7. Iſa. 53. 1. 2. how- ever all the relation of his ſervice was to God the Father, as his Antecedent Correlate, To the farther clearing of what went before, .the Apoſtle adds. «© In the likeneſs or habit of Men, with- out any copulative particle, by appoſition, for fuller explication, (compare forecited parallel places) connoting his employment (ra- ther than condition) having, a true Body, and a reaſonable Sou! for this purpoſe, according to the Prophecy, to be Servant to his Father, J/a. 42. 1- And if the Adverſaries ſay, He only took on him the Form of a Servant, when be ſuffered himſelf 10 be beaten, &Cc. *Fis eaſily anſwered. Theſe were only Conſequents upon the Form of a Servant; one may be a Servant, and yet not beaten ; and when they ſo treated our Saviour, he accounted it deal- ing with him as a Malefadtor, Luke 22. 52. Chrift obeyed not Men, but God the Father, to whom alone he was Servant, when made Man, 7/al. 40. 6, 7, 8. *Tis the nature of Lord and Servant, to relate to each other. Every Servant (Brutes are not Servants) labouring in Service, accompanies the humane Nature, which is common to Chrift, with other Men, on whom it crept by the Fall; Chriſt regards none others Will, but the Will of his Father, how hard ſoever it was, even to the laying down of his Life for the reconciling of his Church to him. And be ſure he Died as a Man, and not only in the Habit of a Servant. Only in humane Nature could he (as it follows without a par- ticle in the Greek) be made like unto Mn, or in the likeneſs and habit of Men. The ##tleniſts do uſe words of ſimilitude, when they defign ſameneſs or the thing it ſelf, and that indeed eſſentially. For hower it be urg'd, that likeneſs be oppos'd to the ſame, and that which is true, Fohn 9. g. yet not always; as one Egg, is like to another, there is conveniency in quality, and that in ſubſtance is included. Chrift is like to other Men in humane Properties and an afflited State, ſo that the ſameneſs of Nature cannot be denied, Rom. 8. 3. Heb. 2. 16, 17. or rather ſameneſs of kind, though not of number, it being by a Synechdoche to be underfiood generally, Gen. 50. 3. Mas. 1. 15. Fohn 1. 14+ Heb. 4. 15. 1 John 1. 1. & 4+ 2, 3- The Properties of humane Nature are of the Eſſence he took, who was found in habit aS a Man, when yet he was ſeparate from Sinners, 2 Cor. 5. 21. with Zeb. 7. 26. yet the Apoſtle's buſineſs here, is not of Chriſt's linleſmeſs in that condition, but of his condeſcending love, in taking on him that condition, being ſent in the likeneſs of ſinful Fleſh, yet without Sin. Tis a likeneſs of Nature to all Men, and not a likneſs of Tnnocency only to the firft, Gey. 5. 1. that Paul here ſpeaks of. And as it is faid, The word was made Fleſh, ſo here Chrift is made in the likeneſs of Men, that we may un- derftand *tis the ſame numerical Perſon, who was in the Form- of God, that was made Man. The abaſement of God-man being ſo great, that he was made like to Man, 7. e. to meer and þare Man, though he was more. Nor only did he appear in many forms (as might be under the Old Teftament) or was Join'd to Man, but perſonally afſum'd a true Body and a reaſonable Soul, and ſo was very Man, as well as very God. For when *tis not ſaid fimply made Man, but with that addition, in the likeneſs, it is done to a notable limitation of his Station on each part on God's part it imports, Chrift did not lay afide the Divine Na- ture, but only (vail'd) his Majeſty and Power; on Man's, to excude Sin, viz. That he was true Man, yet only like to all other Men. But what is now the natural Affettion of all Men from the fall of Adam, and is an infirmity and abatement as to that, he was vithout Sin, and only in the likeneſs of tinful Fleſh.
8 And being found 4 in faſhion as a man e, he
26, humbled himſelf F, and * became obedient unto death