to contemplate the mind which was in Christ Jesus, in order that they might be conformed or assimilated to it; and in the remainder of the Epistle for this day he explains the subject, shows the depth of the humiliation of the Lord Jesus, how very low He abased Himself from a state of the highest glory; but that the path of humiliation which He pursued, led Him subsequently to a state of exaltation, in which He receives worship and adoration from those in behalf of whom He so greatly abased Himself. From the words before us, let us,

First, Inquire, What was the mind which was in Christ Jesus?

Secondly, Observe the state of exaltation to which it led Him; and,

Thirdly, Consider the import of the exhortation.

May the Spirit of God apply His word to our hearts, that we may by means of it be edified and comforted. We are to inquire,

First, What was the mind which was in Christ Jesus, as it is laid open to us in the verses which follow the text? For the purpose of leading us to form right ideas on the subject, the apostle thought it needful to describe the person of Christ, or to make mention of His high dignity. Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. The form of God denotes that He had the appearance of being God. Some

persons have supposed that this expression refers not to His state in heaven, where His eternal power and Godhead are undisputed, but to the Divine appearances to the patriarchs and prophets under the old testament dispensation, which are here intimated to have been appearances of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was then called, from the office which He sustained, the Angel of the Lord, and the Messenger of the covenant,"1 and when He thus appeared, He acted as God, He did that which could only be performed by Divine power. In these appearances He was manifested to be the brightness of God's glory, and the express image of His person.72 It was no robbery, when in these cases He spoke of Himself as God; as He did when He appeared to Moses in the bush, and to the patriarchs on various occasions.

We find Him speaking in the days of His flesh, when He was about to leave this world, of the glory which He had with the Father before the world was.73 Then His glory was displayed in the heavenly world; where the celestial hosts worship Him as their Creator and their King, "in glory equal and majesty co-eternal" with the Father and the Holy Ghost. Had He therefore seen fit, when upon earth, to manifest His Divine glory to the world, He might have done so

71 Gen. xxii. 11. Mal. iii. 1. 72 Heb. i. 3. 73 John xvii. 5.

without any robbery. He would have displayed only His true and real character; since He is undoubtedly, as His apostle declared, Over all, God blessed for ever. To show however that glory did properly belong to Him, He gave to some of His disciples a glimpse of it in the holy mount, when He was transfigured before them, and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light.75 This made the evangelist St. John declare, We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father ;76 and the apostle Peter asserts, that He received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." But He charged His disciples not to make known what they had seen while He was in this world, because it was expedient that His glory should be veiled from those among whom He had condescended to take up His abode for a season, when He came to dwell with sinful men on earth.

The apostle having given this intimation of the Divine character and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, proceeds to speak of His humiliation: that He made Himself of no reputation, or literally, emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. This is the first point of our Redeemer's humi

74 Rom. ix. 5. 75 Matt. xvii. 2. 76 John i. 14. 77 2 Peter i. 17.

liation. He divested Himself of all appearance of the Divine glory. The Word who was in the beginning with God, and was God, was made flesh, and dwelt among us, as a Man among men.78 What a wonderful humiliation was this! that God should be manifest in the flesh," that the Lord of glory should appear in our world, as Immanuel, God with us,80 that He should pass through the regular gradations of infancy, childhood, youth, and manhood; so as to become intimately acquainted with the condition of each from His own experience, that it might be said of Him by His people, We have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one who was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin; from which the apostle infers, In that He Himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted.81

But He was not only a partaker of flesh and blood, He appeared further in a low condition of life, as a poor man. This was in order that the poorest and meanest might be encouraged to come to Him with confidence, and not be afraid of Him. And we find that they consequently thronged about Him, that the common people heard Him gladly; and came to make known to Him all their complaints and grief and sorrows. And He sent none of them empty away. He kindly

78 Johni.1,14. 79 1 Tim. iii.16. 80 Matt. i. 23. 81 Heb. iv. 15; ii. 18.

listened to all their humble supplications, and granted them that relief which they needed. What condescension, what humility was this!

But the humiliation of our Lord Jesus Christ was shown not merely by His assuming the nature of man, or appearing in the likeness of sinful flesh. This was only a step towards a still lower degree of abasement. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He was born of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.82 What an amazing humiliation was this! for the infinitely glorious

King of heaven to appear like one of His own creatures, and to obey and suffer in our stead; to suffer all the ignominy and shame which those whom He came to redeem could heap upon Him, until at length He expired in agony and pain upon the cross. Here humiliation was brought to its lowest degree. A crucified slave was considered to be in the most abject condition to which a human being could be reduced. The punishment of crucifixion was thought to be too degrading to be inflicted on a Roman citizen. Those only were put to death in this manner, who were looked upon as the most despicable and worthless outcasts of society. Yet to this ignominious, shameful, and painful death, the Lord of glory submitted to be put, when He ap