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uphold; mine Elect in whom my foul delight"eth," If. xlii. 1. And the apostle, infpired from the fame original, expreffeth himself to the fame purpote; though from the view of Chrift's divinity, confiders it as a ftupenduous act of condefcenfion in him: "Who being in the form of "God (faid he) thought it no robbery to be equal "with God, but made himself of no reputation, "and took upon him the form of a fervant," Phil. ii. 6, 7.

Our Lord in his humiliation, not only bore the defignation of a fervant, but confidered himself as fuch, and therefore came to do his Father's work, to negotiate the errand and bufinefs of heaven. However voluntary and cheerful in the whole, he acted ftrictly by commiffion; and, in the execution of it, ftudied the Father's approbation, as his fole couftituent in that refpect; "My meat (faid he) is to "do the will of him that fent me, and to finish "his work," John iv. 34. " I seek not mine own

will, but the will of the Father which fent me," John v. 30. and again, "I have glorified thee on "earth, I have finished the work which thou gav "eft me to do," John xvii. 4.

In the execution of his Father's will, our Lord, as Man-Mediator, acted a dependence upon the Father, for what ftrength, through bearing and confolation he needed. Confidered as man, viewed as a creature, his circumftances required daily fupplies from heaven, as to foul and body both. Accordingly, for thefe, in the station of a fervant, as well as in the capacity of a fon, he was properly and perfonally a believer: "Behold my fervant, (faid the "Father, pointing at the Meffiah) whom I uphold," If. xlii. I. In his divine nature, Chrift was independent; whence, in fo far as the Father upheld him, he must be confidered as man; and the Fa

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ther's propofing thus to minifter unto him, fuppofes a correfponding temper of mind, in his immaculate human nature, to wait for fuch difpenfation or interpofition. The different anfwers which our Lord made to Satan's temptations in the wilderness of Judea, are beautiful expreffions of this believing dependence. "He faid, man fhall not live by bread "alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of "the mouth of God." Again, "Thou shalt not

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tempt the Lord thy God:" and again, "Thou "fhalt worship, the Lord thy God, and him only "fhalt thou ferve," Matth. iv. 4, 7, 10. all which, as he quoted from the Old Teftament fcriptures, he applied to himself. And the apostle, fpeaking of the life of Chrift as Man-Mediator, fays, "We

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having the fame fpirit of faith," namely, that prevailed in him, and was exercifed by him, "ac"cording as it is written, I believed, and therefore "have I spoken," 2 Cor. iv. 13. where Paul quoting the 10th verfes of the cxvi pfalm, evidently applies it to Jefus Chrift, as an expreffion of his believing dependence on the Father.

Having thus entered upon his Father's work, our Lord looked for, and expected, the promifed period of his humiliation, with the reward to follow upon it, refpecting himfelf in particular, and his people in general. "Surely (faid he by the prophet) my judgment is with the Lord, and (as it "is in the marginal reading) my reward is with "my God," If. xlix. 4. "The things (faid he,

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applying the prophecies of his fufferings and "death) concerning me have an end," Luke xxii. 37. The prophecies, would he have faid, concerning my humiliation, have an appointed time, for their gradual, but final accomplishment; when my humiliation itself fhall intirely and eternally cease. "Hereafter (faid he to Nathaniel) you shall A 3

"fee

"fee heaven open, and the angels of God afcend"ing and defcending upon the Son of man," John i. 51. And to the high priest, when pannelled as a malefactor before him, we find him faying, "Hereafter ye fhall fee the Son of man fitting on "the right hand of power, and coming in the "clouds of heaven," Matth. xxvi. 64. All manifeft declarations of his waiting for the Father's reward, as well as for the period of his own humiliation.

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Our Lord waiting patiently for the Father, points the manner in which his fervice was performed, and his believing dependence exercised.

The manner in which our Lord performed his Father's work, was no less peculiar than the work itself. Arduous, difficult, and dangerous as it was, he undertook it with whatever oppofition he met, from men and devils, friends and foes, he entered upon it: and to whatever contempt and fufferings his doing fo behoved neceffarily to expole him, he, bleffed be he, went through with it. At a certain time, when the Pharifees, who did all in their power, by secret fraud, as well as by open force, to explode the credit of his miffion, and mar the fuccefs of his miniftry; when they, with a view to intimidate the Saviour, faid unto him, "Get thee out hence, for Herod will kill "thee;" he, mindful, for his Father and the people, of his covenant, "faid unto them, Go ye and "tell that fox, Behold, I caft out devils and do

cures to-day, and to-morrow, and the third day "I fhall be perfected: nevertheless, I muft walk "to day, to-morrow, and the day following; for "it cannot be, that a prophet perish out of Jeru

falem," Luke xiii. 31, 32, 33. Nay, on the ac

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complishment of his work and warfare, he was fo much fet, that even a favourite apoftle must be feverely reprimanded, if he but open his mouth ia oppofition to it: for when Peter, hearing his mafter's fufferings and death foretold, faid, "Be it "far from thee Lord, this fhall not be unto thee;" the evangelist informs us, that "Jefus turned and "faid unto him, Get thee behind me Satan, thou art an offence unto me, for thou favoureft not "the things that be of God, but those that be of "men," Matth. xvi. 22, 23.

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In his humiliation, our Lord was taken in no lurch, furprised by no circumstance, he did not previously fee, weigh, and confider. With a holy compofure, peculiar to himself, he took an accurate fore-view, made a particular furvey, of alt the different parts, the various particulars, of that work his Father gave him to do; without being thence tempted, at least without being determined, to throw up his commiffion, refign his office, or defert his ftation. "From that time forth (fays the evangelift) Jefus began to fhew unto his difciples, how that he must go unto Jerufàlem, and füffer many things of the elders, and "chief priests, and fcribes, and be killed," Matth. xvi. 21. "As Jonas (faid our Lord to the Phari

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fees) was three days, and three nights, in the "whale's belly; fo fhall the Son of man be three

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days, and three nights, in the heart of the earth," Matth. xii. 40. The very inftrument of his being delivered into the hands of finful men was known to him at the firft: "For he knew (fays the evangelift) from the beginning, who fhould betray him," John vi. 64. Were men to read the defigns of providence, refpecting their fufferings, before hand; any patience, competent or poffible for them, would not ftand the first fight; the most

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patient of them could not do otherways than fink, before they were actually laid under the trial, caft into the furnace. But in this, as in every other regard, the Mafter has the pre-eminence over the fervants, and the head over the members.

As the Saviour met with no furprise, he expreffed no grudge, fret, or difguft at any part of his Father's will. 66 The cup (faid he) which the Fa"ther hath given me, fhall I not drink?" Joha xviii. 11. Nor did he infinuate the leaft refentment against the ungenerous, unreafonable, malicious inftruments of his trial, fafferings and death. For though" he was oppreffed and afflicted, yet he o"pened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the flaughter, and as a sheep before her fhear"ers is dumb, fo he openeth not his mouth," If. liii. 7. O patience truly divine what holy, what noble, matchlefs and expreffive filence is here!

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Befides, our Lord bore with the unteachablenefs of his difciples, the flownefs of his followers, to believe what the prophets had spoken; and bore it with a tenderness, delicacy and forbearance, which, unlefs in the love of the Father, had no precedent, knew no parallel. For, according to the apoftle's defcription of a high priest, to which our Lord's character anfwered, as face anfwers to face in a glafs; or rather, of which our Lord's character was the true, fpotlefs, matchlefs original; he must be one, "who can have compaffion on "the ignorant, and on them that are out of the

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way," Heb. v. 2. Nay, we are called to con"fider him that endured fuch contradiction of finners against himself," Heb. xii. 3. Though he could have destroyed them, he bore with them, and bore with them, when their cruelty and refentment were directly levelled against his perfon, doctrine, intereft and works; in which his prince

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