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be a church while the world stands: Matth. xvi. 18, "And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it:" Chap. xxviii. ult., "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." He defends every particular believer against them, so far that none of them shall ever perish: John x. 28, "I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." He defends the church, and every particular believer, by the communication of his grace to them, and the working of his providence for them: 2 Cor. xii. 9, "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Zech. iii. 9, "For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua: upon one stone shall be seven eyes, - behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day." He restrains all his and our enemies, bounding them by his power, as to the kinds, degrees, and continuance of their attacks on us: Job ii. 6, "And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand, but save his life." 1 Cor. x. 13, "There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." Rev. ii. 10, "Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days."

He completes our rescue, by conquering all his and our enemies : 1 Cor. xv. 25, "He must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet." They will be fully conquered at the last day: Rev. xx. 14, "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire." The enemy that will longest keep the field against us, is death: 1 Cor. XV. 26, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed, is death." For when the soul is in heaven, free from sin, the devil, and the world, the body lies in the grave under death. But our King will fully rescue us from death too, by the glorious resurrection of the last day: 1 Thess. iv. 16, "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first." 1 Cor. xv. 52, "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, (for the trumpet shall sound), and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

We are to receive Christ as our King, renouncing the dominion of sin, death, the devil, and the world, and wholly giving up ourselves to him, to be ruled by him as our head: Isa. xxvi. 13, “O

Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us : but by thee only will we make mention of thy name." Psalm ii. ult., "Kiss ye the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him." We are to make use of him as our King, daily applying and trusting to him, for life, strength, and defence, and victory over our enemies: 2 Tim. ii. 1, "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." 2 Cor. i. 10, "God delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will deliver us."

QUEST. 27. Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?

ANSW. Christ's humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.

EXPLICATION.

Christ's humiliation belonged to the condition of the covenant of grace, performed by himself: and it was then a voluntary thing in him Phil. ii. 7, 8, "Christ Jesus made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." He humbled himself, that he might execute his offices, especially his priestly office: Luke xxiv. 26, "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" And he humbled himself, putting himself in a state of humiliation, and humbling himself in that state.

Christ God-man put himself in a state of humiliation, emptying himself of his glory, and taking upon him the form of a servant : Phil. ii. 7, forecited. The form of a servant he took upon him, was the form of a bond-servant: Psalm xl. 6, "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened;" Marg. digged. Compared with Exod. xxi. 6, "Then his master shall bring him to the door, or unto the door-posts: and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever." He took upon him the form of a bond-servant, being made under the law: Gal. iv. 4, 5, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption

of sons." He was made under the law as a bond-servant, to redeem us that were under the law as bond-servants: Gal. iv. 4, 5, forecited, ver. 7, “Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." He did then transfer our state of servitude under the law upon himself: Is. xlix. 3, "Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified." And what lay upon him as so made under the law, was, to give it that perfect obedience in holiness of nature and life, that it required of us for life, and under the curse of it to bear our punishment: Matth. iii. 15, “Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Gal. iii. 13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." His obedience then, as well as his sufferings, was a part of his humiliation, Phil. ii. 8, forecited; forasmuch as he gave it in the form of a bond servant. But his state of humiliation is now over, and at an end; and it ended at his resurrection, Rom. xiv. 9, "To this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.”

Christ humbled himself in that state, performing the obedience, and bearing the punishment that it required. He humbled, performing the obedience which that state required, inasmuch as, in the form of a bond-servant, he was conceived and born of a woman, perfectly holy, and lived perfectly righteous: Psalm xl. 6, Marg. forecited, compared with Heb. x. 5, "Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me." Gal. iv. 4; Phil. ii. 7, 8, both forecited. His very being conceived and born of a woman, was a notable piece of humiliation in him; and that because he was the Son of God, Gal. iv. 4; Phil. ii. 7. He humbled himself, bearing the punishment which that state required, inasmuch as, all along from his conception to the grave, he submitted to the effects of the curse transferred from us on him, Gal. iii. 13, forecited.

He so humbled himself in his conception, being conceived of a woman of a mean and low state: Luke i. 48, "He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden." An evidence of the mean and low state of the mother of our Lord, is her being espoused to a carpenter: Matth. i. 18, “Mary was espoused to Joseph." Compared with chap. xiii. 55, "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary.

He so humbled himself in his birth, being born in a low condition. The low condition he was born in, was, that he was born in the small town of Bethlehem, in the stable of an Inn, and laid in a manger instead of a cradle, because there was no room for them in the Inn Mic. v. 2, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou

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be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel." Luke ii. 7, "And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn."

He so humbled himself in the course of his life, undergoing the miseries of this life. The kind of life that Christ had in the world, was a poor, sorrowful, despised, tempted, and toiled life, in which he felt weariness, hunger, and thirst: 2 Cor. viii. 9, "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." Compared with Matth. viii. 20, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Is. liii. 3, "He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." Psalm xxii. 6, "I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people." Luke iv. 13, "And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season." Acts x. 38, "Jesus of Nazareth went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil: for God was with him." Compared with Mark iii. 20, "And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread." John iv. 6, "Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well." Matth. iv. 2, " And when Jesus had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterwards an hungered." Compared with chap. xx. 18, " Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered."

He so humbled himself to an extremity, in respect of his soul and his spiritual life, "undergoing the wrath of God:" Is. liii. 10, "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin," &c. Psalm lxix. 1, "Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul," and xviii. 5, "The sorrows of hell compassed me about the snares of death prevented me." The wrath of God did operate on his soul, filling it with trouble, sore amazement, heaviness, and exceeding sorrow, and casting him into an agony, even to his sweating great drops of blood, and at length bringing over it a total eclipse of comfort, and as it were melting it within him: John xii. 27, "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour." Mark xiv. 33, 34, "And he taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy, and saith unto them,

Luke xxii. 44, " And and his sweat was as it the ground." Matth.

My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death." being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly were great drops of blood falling down to xxvii. 46, " And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a lond voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Psalm xxii. 14, “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels." That was a spiritual death, such as a holy soul was capable of. Now the wrath of God could justly fall upon Christ a person perfectly innocent, inasmuch as he stood surety for sinners: Heb. vii. 22, " By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament." Compared with Prov. vi. 1, 2, “My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth." 2 Cor. v. ult, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

He humbled himself to an extremity, in respect of his body, and his natural life, undergoing the cursed death of the cross: Phil. ii. 8," And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." He did really die, and not seem to die only: Mark xv. 44, 45, " And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead and calling unto him the centurion, he asked whether he had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph." His death was real, in that his soul was separated from his body: Luke xxiii. 43," And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise." Ver. 46, "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost." Yet neither was his soul nor his body separated from his divine nature in his death: Luke xxiii. 43, forecited. John xx. 13, "And they (the angels) say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him." The death he died, was the death of the cross: Phil. ii. 8, "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." The death of the cross was a painful, shameful, lingering, and cursed death, Christ's death on the cross. was a painful death, in that his body was fixed to the tree by nails driven through his hands and his feet: Luke xxiii. 33, “And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him." Psalm xxii. 16, "The wicked pierced my hands and my feet." It was a shameful death, in that he hung on the cross