"give his Son, to be our incarnate Saviour; "what a Miracle is this of condefcending Good"nefs? Or rather, What are all Miracles, what "are all Myfteries, to this ineffable Gift?" HAD the higheft Archangel been commiffioned to come down, with the Olive-Branch of Peace in his Hand, and to fignify his eternal Maker's Readiness to be reconciled; on our bended Knees, with Tears of Joy, and a Torrent of Thankfulness, we ought to have received the tranfporting News. But when, instead of such an angelic Envoy, He fends His only-begotten Son, his Son beyond all Thought illuftrious, to make us the gracious Overture;-fends Him from the "Habitation of his Holiness and Glory," to put on all the innocent Infirmities of Mortality, and dwell in a Tabernacle of Clay; fends Him, not barely to make us a tranfient Vifit, but to abide many Years in our inferior and miferable World;-fends Him, not to exercise Dominion over Monarchs, but to wear out his Life in the ignoble Form of a Servant; and, at laft, to make his Exit under the infamous Character of a Malefactor! Was ever Love like this? Did ever Grace ftoop fo low?-Should the * This reminds me of a very noble Piece of facred Oratory, where, in a fine Series of the most beautiful Gradations, the Apoftle difplays the admi rably the Sun be fhorn of all his radiant Honours, and degraded into a Clod of the Vallies; should all the Dignitaries of Heaven be depofed from their Thrones, and degenerate into Infects of a Day; great, great would be the Abafement. But nothing rably condescending Kindnefs of our Saviour. He thought it no Robbery, it was his indifputable Right, to be equal with the infinite, felf-exiftent, immortal GOD.-Yet, in Mercy to Sinners, He emptied Himself of the incommunicable Honours, and laid afide the Robes of incomprehenfible Glory. When He entered upon His mediatorial State, inftead of acting in the grand Capacity of univerfal Sovereign, He took upon Him the Form of a Servant. And not the Form of those miniftring Spirits, whofe Duty is Dignity itself; who are throned, though adoring. He took not on Him the Nature of Angels, but ftooped incomparably lower. Affumed a Body of animated Duft, and was made in the Likenefs of Men; thofe inferior and depraved Creatures. Aftonishing Condefcenfion! but not fufficient for the over-flowing Richness of the Redeemer's Love. For, being found in Fashion as a Man. He bumbled Himfelf farther ftill. Occupied the lowest Place, where all was low and ignoble. He not only fubmitted to the Yoke of the Divine Law, but also bore the Infirmities, and miniftred to the Neceffities of Mortals. He even washed the Feet of others, and had not where to lay His own Head. Yea, He carried His meritorious Humiliation to the very deepest Degrees of poffible Abafement. He became obedient unto Death. And not to a common or natural Death, but a Death more infamous than the Gibbet, more torturous than the Rack even the accurfed Death of the Crofs. Phil. ii. 6, 7, 8. thing to Thine, moft bleffed JEsus; nothing to Thine, thou Prince of Peace; when for us Men, and for our Salvation, Thou didft not abhor the coarse Accommodations of the Manger, Thou didft not decline even the gloomy Horrors of the Grave. 'Tis well, the facred Oracles have given this Doctrine the moft reiterated and inconteftable Evidence. Otherwife, fo prodigious a Favour must stagger our Belief. Could HE, who launches all these planetary Globes through the illimitable Void, and leads them on, from Age to Age, in their extensive Career; could He refign his Hands to be confined by the girding Cord, and his Back to be ploughed by the bloody Scourge ? -Could HE, who crowns all the Stars with inextinguishable Brightness, be Himself defiled with Spitting, and disfigured with the thorny Scar? It is the greatest of Wonders, and yet the fureft of Truths. O! YE mighty Orbs, that roll along the Spaces of the Sky, I wondered, a little while ago, at your vast Dimensions, and ample Circuits. But now my Amazement ceases; or rather, is intirely fwallowed up by a much more Atupendous Subject. Methinks, your enormous Bulk is fhrivelled to an Atom; your prodigious Revolutions are contracted to a Span; while I inuse upon the far more elevated Heights and unfatho VOL. II. K unfathomable Depths; the infinitely more ex tended Lengths, and unlimited Breadths, of this Love of GOD in CHRIST JESUS* WHILE I behold this vaft Expanse, I fee a Mirror, that represents, in the most, awful Colours, the Greatness of the Creator's Glory, and the Heinoufnefs of human Guilt.-Ten thousand Volumes; wrote on purpose, to display the Aggravations of my various Acts of Difobedience; could not fo effectually convince me of their inconceivable Enormity, as the Confideration of that all-glorious Perfont; who, to make an Atonement for them, fpilt the last Drop of his Blood.-I have finned, may every Child of Adam fay, and what shall I do unto Thee, O Thou ObServer of Men? Shall I give my First-born for my Tranfgreffion, the Fruit of my Body for the Sin of my Soul? Vain Commutation! and fuch as would be rejected by the bleffed GOD, with the Eph. iii. 18, 19. † Quò quisque altiùs afcendit in agnitione CHRISTI, ed profundius peccati atrocitatem cognofcet. Job vii. 20. Not Preferver, as it ftands in our Verfion, but Obferver of Men. Which Phrafe, as it expreffes the ftrict and inceffant Inspection of the divine Eye; as it intimates the abfolute Impoffibility, that any Tranfgreffion fhould efcape the divine Notice; is evidently moft proper, both to affign the Reason, and heighten the Emphafis, of the Contes. the utmost Abhorrence.. Will all the Poten tates, that fway the Sceptre in a Thousand Kingdoms, devote their facred and honoured Lives, to rescue an obnoxious Creature from the Stroke of Vengeance? Alas! it must coft more, vastly more, to expiate the Malignity of Sin, and fave a guilty Wretch from Hell.-Will all the Principalities of Heaven be content to affume my Nature, and refign themselves to Death for my Pardon? Even this would be too mean a Satisfaction K 2 Milton fets this Thought in a very poetical and ftriking Light.-All the Sanctities of Heaven stand round the Throne of the fupreme Majefty. GOD forefees and foretels the Fall of Man; the Ruin, which will unavoidably enfue on his Tranfgreffion; and the utter Impoffibility, of his being ever able to extricate himself from the Abyfs of Misery. He, with his whole Pofterity, muft die ; After which affecting Representation, intended to raise the most tender Emotions of Pity, the following Inquiry is addreffed to all the furrounding Angels; Say, heav'nly Pow'rs, where fhall we find fuch Love? Which of you will be mortal, to redeem Man's |