And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which wor- shipped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord Now, to him that worketh is the reward not rec- koned of grace, but of debt; but to him that ness. &c. SERMON XXIII. PREACHED ON CHRISTMAS DAY. HEBREWS, II. 14. Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him power of death, that is, that had the the devil: 03 23 world is not THE Redeemer of the ashamed, as the Apostle informs us in the 11th verse of the chapter from which our text is taken, to call all those who are sanctified by the grace of God, his brethren" for both He that sancti, fieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one; for which cause he is not asham ed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee: forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Our nature being that of flesh and blood, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God by eternal generation, one with God, co-equal, co-essential, and co-eternal, took upon him our nature, and became in all things like unto his brethren, as to human body and soul. The incarnation of the Son of God is one of the grand mysteries of our holy religionGod manifest in the flesh. And if so essential a doctrine be not cordially em braced and felied upon, the Christian religion is little better than the systems of the heathen world; for, unless the Son of God had taken upon him our flesh, he could never have suffered; and conse quently could never have atoned for the |