inclined to help them. And there is a compassion that proceeds from pure love to the miserable, when the person that expresses it, is above all the assaults of evil, and incapable of all affections that might lessen his infelicity, and yet applies himself to relieve the afflicted; and such was God's towards man.

If it had been a tolerable evil under which we were fallen, the mercy that recovered us, had been less; for benefits are valued by the necessity of the receiver. But man was dis

inherited of paradise, an heir of hell, his misery was inconceivably great. Now the measure of God's love is proportionable to the misery from whence we were redeemed. If there had been any possible remedy for us in nature, our engagements had not been so great: but only he that created us by his power, could restore us by his love.

Briefly; it magnifies the divine compassion, that our deliverance is full and entire. It had been admirable favour to have mitigated our misery, but we have a perfect redemption, sweetened by the remembrance of those dreadful evils that oppressed us. As the three Hebrew martyrs came unhurt out of the fiery furnace; the hair of their heads was not singed, nor their coats changed, nor the smell of the fire passed on them, Dan. iii. 27; so the saints above have no marks of sin and misery remaining upon them, not the “least spot or wrinkle" to blast their beauty, nor the least trouble to diminish their blessedness; but for ever possess the fulness of joy and glory, a pure and triumphant felicity.

II. The greatness of the divine love towards fallen man appears in the means by which our redemption is accomplished; and those are the incarnation and sufferings of the Son of God.

1. The incarnation manifests his love upon a double account-in regard of the essential condition of the nature he assumed-its servile state and meanness.

(1.) The essential condition of the human nature assumed by our Redeemer, discovers his transcendent love to us; for what proportion is there between God and man? Infinite and finite are not terms that admit comparison, às greater and less; but are distant, as all and nothing. The whole world before him is but "the drop of a bucket,” that hath scarce weight to fall; and the small dust of the balance," that is not of such moment as to turn the scales; it is "as nothing," and "counted less than nothing, and vanity,” Isa.

xl. 15, 17. The Deity in its own nature includes independence and sovereignty. To be a creature implies dependance and subjection. The angelical nature is infinitely inferior to the divine, and man is lower than the angels; yet "the Word was made flesh."

Add to this, he was not made as Adam in the perfection of his nature and beginning the first step of his life in the full exercise of reason and dominion over the creatures, but he came into the world by the way of a natural birth and dependance upon a mortal creature. The eternal wisdom of the Father stooped to a state of infancy, which is most distant from that of wisdom, wherein though the life, yet the light of the reasonable soul is not visible; and the mighty God, to a condition of indigence and infirmity. The Lord of nature submitted to the laws of it. Admirable love, wherein God seemed to forget his own greatness and the meanness of the creature! This is more endeared to us by considering,

(2.) The servile state of the nature he assumed. An account of this we have in the words of the apostle, Phil. ii. 5-8; “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who being in the form of God;" that is, enjoying the divine nature with all its glory, eternally and invariably; as to be in the form of a king, signifies not only to be a king, but to have all the conspicuous marks of royalty, the crown, sceptre, throne, the guards and state of a king. Thus our Saviour possessed that glory that is truly divine, before he took our nature, John xvii. 5. The angels adored him in heaven, and by him princes reigned on the earth. It is added, "he thought it not robbery to be equal with God," that is, being the essential image of the Father, he had a rightful possession of all his perfections; yet he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men :" this is a lower degree of condescension, than assuming the naked human nature. A servant is not simply a man, there being many men of higher quality, but a man in a low state. Now he that was in the form of God, lessened himself into the form of a servant ; that is, he took the human nature without honour, attended with its infirmities; so that by the visible condition of his life, he was judged to be an ordinary person, and not that under that meanness the Lord of angels had been concealed.

This will more distinctly be understood, if we consider the lowness of his extraction, the poverty of his birth, and the

tenour of his life whilst he conversed with men.

What na

tion was more despicable in the esteem of the world than the Jews? They are called by Tacitus, 'Vilissima pars servientum.' Yet of their stock Christ disdained not to descend. And among the Jews, none were more vilified than the Galileans; and in Galilee, Nazareth was a contemptible village; and in Nazareth, the family of Joseph was very obscure, and to him our Saviour was nearly allied. His reputed father was a carpenter, and his mother a virgin, that offered two pigeons for her purification. He first breathed in a stable, and was covered with poor swaddling clothes, who was master of heaven and earth, and adorns all creatures with their glory. But love made him, who is heir of all things, renounce the privilege of his supernatural sonship. Inconceivable condescension! Therefore an angel was despatched from heaven, who appeared with a surprising miraculous light, the visible character of his dignity, to prevent the scandal which might arise from the meanness of his condition, and to assure the shepherds that the babe which lay in the manger, was the Redeemer of the world. The course of his life was a preface and preparative for the death of the cross. He had a just right to all that glory, which a created nature personally united to the Deity could receive. An eminent instance of it there was in his transfiguration, when glory descended from heaven to encompass him; that which was so short should have been continual, but he presently returned to the lowness of his former condition. "The fulness of the God-head dwelt in him bodily," yet in his humble state he was voluntarily deprived of those admirable effects which should proceed from that union. Strange separation between the Deity and the glory that results from it! God is light, and the Son is "the brightness of his Father's glory," yet in his pilgrimage upon the earth he was always under a cloud. Astonishing miracle, transcending all those in the compass of nature! yet the power of love effected it. He was made not only "lower than the angels," but less than all men, joining (0 amazing abasement!) the majesty of God, with the meanness of a worm, Heb. ii. Psalm xxii. The "high and lofty One," whom the prophet saw "exalted on a high throne," and all the powers of heaven in a posture of reverence about him, was despised and rejected of men;" they turned their eyes from him, not for the lustre of his countenance, but for shame, Isa. vi. liii.

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If the Lord had assumed our nature in its most honourable condition, and appeared in its beauty, the condescension were infinite; for although men are distinguished among themselves by titles of honour, yet as two glow worms that shine with an unequal brightness in the night, are equally obscured by the light of the sun; so all men, those that are advanced to the most eminent degree, as well as the most abject and wretched, are in the same distance from God: but he emptied himself of all his glory. "He grew up as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; there was no form or comeliness in him," Isa. liii. 2. From his birth to the time of his preaching, he lived so privately, as to be known only under the quality of the carpenter's son. There was a continual repression of that inconceivable glory that was due to him the first moment of his appearing among men. In short, his despised condition was an abasement not only of his divinity, but his humanity. And how conspicuous was his love in this darkening condescension! "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor," 2 Cor. viii. 9. He did not assume that which was due to the excellency of his nature, but what was convenient for our redemption, which was to be accomplished by sufferings.

Where can be found an example of such love? Some have favourable inclinations to help the distressed, and will express so much compassion as is consistent with their state and quality; but if, in order to the relieving of the miserable, one must submit to what is shameful, who hath an affection so strong and vehement, as to purchase his brother's redemption at the loss of his own honour? Yet the Son of God descended from his throne, and put on our vile mortality; he parted with his glory, that he might be qualified to part with his life for our salvation. How doth this exalt his compassion to us!

(3.) Add further, he took our nature after it had lost its primitive innocency. The natural distance between God and the creature is infinite; the moral between God and the sinful creature, if possible, is more than infinite; yet the mercy of our Redeemer overcame this distance. What an ecstasy of love transported the Son of God so far as to espouse our nature after it was depraved and dishonoured with sin ? He was essential innocence and purity, yet he came "in the likeness of sinful flesh," which to outward view was

not different from what was really sinful. He was the holy Lawgiver, yet he submitted to that law which made him appear under the character and disreputation of a sinner. He paid the bloody tribute of the children of wrath, being circumcised as guilty of Adam's sin; and he was baptized as guilty of his own.

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2. The most evident and sensible proof of the greatness of God's love to mankind, is in the sufferings of our Redeemer to obtain our pardon. He is called in scripture, man of sorrows :" the title signifies their number and quality. His whole life was a continual passion. He suffered the contradiction of sinners, who by their malicious calumnies obscured the lustre of his miracles and most innocent actions; he endured the temptations of Satan in the desert; he was often in danger of his life. But all these were nothing in comparison of his last sufferings. It is therefore said, that at the bare apprehension of them, he "began to be sorrowful," as if he had never felt any grief till then. His former afflictions were like scattered drops of rain but as in the deluge all the fountains beneath, and all the windows of heaven above were opened; so in our Saviour's last sufferings, the anger of God, the cruelty of men, the fury of devils broke out together against him. And that the degrees of his love may be measured by those of his sufferings, it will be fit to consider them with respect of his soul and his body. The gospel delivers to us the relation of both.

Upon his entrance into the garden, he complains, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." There were present only Peter, James, and John, his happy favourites, who assured him of their fidelity; there was no visible enemy to afflict him; yet his soul was environed with sorrows. It is easy to conceive the injuries he suffered from the rage of men, for they were terminated upon his body; but how to understand his inward sufferings, the wounds of his spirit, the cross to which his soul was nailed, is very difficult: yet these were inexpressibly greater, as the visible effects declare. The anguish of his soul so affected his body, that his "sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood," the miraculous evidence of his agony. The terror was so dreadful, that the assistance of an angel could not calm it. And if we consider the causes of his grief, the dispositions of Christ, and the design of God in afflicting him, it will further appear that no sorrow was ever like his.

The causes were,