that could be conferred on him, or on any creature. Paul exults in the honour of being a minister. Peter and others rejoiced that they were thought worthy to suffer for God: they never dreamed of condescension or grace. If Christ, therefore, had been nothing but a man, he could not be said to have stooped in any thing that he did: his being thought worthy to be engaged in the service of God, would have been glory and distinction in itself. And as to love-love which is represented as infinite, sublime, boundless; love, which is said to pass knowledge; love, to comprehend which is to be filled with all the fulness of God: how could that be displayed by a man like ourselves? It is no reply to say that he delighted in poverty, that he died for our sakes, or for our benefit; for on the supposition of his being a mere man and a prophet, his own benefit is involved in all this as well as ours: love to himself as well as love to us, would have led him to do all he did. Besides, in this sense, others have condescended and suffered for our sakes as well as he: nay, others have done so far more than he; for many of his servants and Apostles suffered more exquisite torture, and lived a much longer time, and were thus exposed to a much greater course of suffering. It is not said, Herein is love, that Paul, or Peter, or Barnabas, laid down his life for our sakes. Besides all this, there was another circumstance on the side of Christ, which, as it increased his advantages, diminished his trial; I mean, that he had the prospect before him of an almost immediate resurrection, which all others that suffered had not. And as believers in Christ's simple humanity, are also believers in the sleep of the grave, this hypothesis was an immense advantage on the side of Christ, and diminished, in this sense, the virtue of his sufferings in comparison with those of the Apostles. So that not only is it impossible to see how any grace could have been displayed by Christ if he were only man, but the very idea appears ridiculous; for, as man, he was exalted and dignified by every thing he sustained.

These are plain remarks: they do not depend on learning, or talent, or the knowledge of languages, or of metaphysics, or any thing of the kind. They are plain, common sense remarks, which would have occurred to yourselves on a careful attention of the subject; and, to my mind, they are utterly fatal to the interpretation of the passage opposite to that we have given. I now propose to notice the subject for our religious improvement.

The passage contains, first, a fact stated; secondly, the design to be accomplished by it; thirdly, the knowledge you are supposed to have of the whole transaction: "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the first place, here is A FACT STATED, THAT CHRIST BEING RICH

BECAME POOR.

This includes two things under it. First, He was rich in the possession of the ineffable glory which he had with the Father before all worlds, of which he speaks himself in the Gospel by John. I learn nothing specific as to the essential nature of Christ from the passage under consideration; only I learn the fact of his glorious pre-existence. Other passages enlarge on that idea, especially in the first chapter of John. From that and other places we learn that he partook of the divine nature—“ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And as to the particular action to which the text refers, we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews, “Forasmuch then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise

took part of the same." "For, verily, he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham." If you interpret this passage, that "he took not hold on the nature of angels"-that he did not put forth his power to help them when they sinned, but of man, when he sinned, it will be evident that he was capable of doing it. From this and other passages we learn, that, though he could not change the attributes of his nature, he suspended their glorious manifestation; and, taking the human nature into mysterious union with himself, he appeared in our world. I learn that this was a voluntary act, and that he existed in such a mode that he had the power to lay aside his effulgence. Secondly, He was rich, not only in glory, but in virtue. He was the object of supreme complacency with the Father for his immaculate perfection. The Father is said to have delighted in him. He was denominated his "dear Son," his "only and best beloved Son." This character could not be put off. Though he did never divest himself of his actual virtue, yet his relative position to law was altered. Though he could not become poor, in the sense of being a sinner, he did in the sense of being treated like one. Though he could not take sinful flesh, he did take the likeness of sinful flesh. He stood in the stead of those who were sinners. He submitted to die, "the just for the unjust." Our sins, in their consequences, were laid upon him. He was regarded by the law as a debtor; and his life was the forfeit of such moral poverty. I throw out of all con-sideration the mere circumstance of worldly poverty, it is not worth consideration. In looking at this passage, we are to look at it in a spiritual light: and in this view, though he was filled with the effulgence of the manifestation of the glory of the Father, yet, in relation to law, he became poor; and though there was nothing which he was obliged to pay, yet he submitted to die.

We

Secondly, THE Design to be aCCOMPLISHED. He condescended to become poor, "that we through his poverty might be made rich." Upon this language, and in illustration of it, I make the following observations. We suppose our poverty to be analagous to that attributed to him. There was a sense in which we needed to be made rich, or else all this need not have been undertaken. ought to have it expressly impressed on our minds, that this very representation of what Christ did, proves that we were poor in the following senses :— First, we were poor in having lost the glory and dignity with which we were originally invested. There was some great distinction enjoyed by Adam; and the apostacy introduced by him having greatly injured our nature, I think it is rather difficult to form a very clear and proper idea of Adam's original moral circumstances. I think the idea has been placed too high; and I think it has been placed too low. I think there are persons who have taken part in the high view of Adam's condition, who have had such lofty ideas of his intellect and moral feeling, as seemed to make it perfectly impossible that he could be tempted, or fall, or that any thing like weakness should attach to him. I have heard others so describe the character and moral circumstances of Adam, as made him very little different from ourselves. Both these extremes are to be avoided. If we reduce Adam and the moral condition of his mind to a similarity with ourselves, or nearly so, we destroy the meaning of all the language that speaks of the consequences of the fall; you seem to make them comparatively nothing. And having gone thus far, you will naturally take the second stepyou will imbibe low ideas of the remedy, and of the Redeemer. You will be led to think it cannot be that any thing great is to be required to restore us-that

t is a very insignificant matter after all. Therefore I take a very high idea of the injury which we sustained by the fall of Adam; and consider that by it we have lost the glory and the dignity with which we were originally invested.

Then, Secondly, we are poor in being sunk in positive and practical sin, in the ungodliness of the heart, and in the manifestation of moral evil seated in the heart. This has been the condition of the world in all ages. History, observation, consciousness, every thing concurs to corroborate and confirm the representation of Scripture as to this being the case.

Thirdly, we were poor in the sense that we had nothing to pay. We were bankrupts as well as debtors. We could not come into judgment with God. We could not answer the demands of law. We could not offer any adequate consideration to God, in virtue of which he might pass over our transgressions. We could not bring any thing which the law would accept in lieu of our sins. That we might come before God and be accepted, our Lord Jesus Christ became poor; that is, he became mean, he descended to the law. This he was not bound to do by any obligation of justice; but he did so because he loved us; and thus he rendered our being rich, possible and easy.

Christ became poor, and so made us rich, first, by laying the foundation for our pardon in his sacrificial and vicarious death. The law had no claim upon him, but he voluntarily gave it a claim; he voluntarily became accountable, and he died; and thus he rendered to it that which, in the eye of the lawgiver, constituted a sufficient consideration for its violation, while he passed over the transgressions of those that pleaded the sacrifice. There was a sufficiency of compensation to the broken and violated law. There was not a literal compensation to the law-so that we have still no claim upon justice-but there was such a moral compensation to the law as was promised to be accepted by the lawgiver. And we have a claim upon the moral integrity and faithfulness of Him who has promised, who has bound himself by that promise, and who will be true to himself and to us; our moral relation to God being thus altered by our justification.

Then, secondly, the work of Christ in his humiliation is represented as a ground, in virtue of which the Holy Spirit is dispensed-that Spirit by which we are renewed in righteousness and true holiness, after the image of Him who created us-that Spirit by which we are again constituted the children of God, heirs of God, the temple of God, and so on. We are thus sanctified: and God hath delighted in us, and we are thus recovered to the spiritual life which had departed from us at the fall. Our nature is not only changed, but we are made partakers of the divine nature.

And, thirdly, by the united operation of these happy and cheering effects flowing from the work of Christ, we are permitted to rejoice in the hope of being richer in the next world than we can be in this. We now know something of "the riches of his grace," but we read also of his "riches in glory." We read of the inheritance of the saints of which they are to be put in possession. All distinctions of glory and grandeur are used to describe the justified state. We are to rise above, and be for ever emancipated from, all the poverty which we feel here, We are to be made rich, not only by regaining what we lost, but by being put in possession of infinitely more than could have been ours, had we passed through our first period of probation with success. And ever as eternity revolves, shall we be delighted to confess, that we owe all we enjoy to the poverty of Messiah in the days of his flesh for our song will

be, Honour and glory to the Lamb, to Him who died for us by becoming man, who, being found in fashion as a man, humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, and who thus by his poverty manifested his love, by making us rich, and constituting us kings and priests unto God, even his Father.

We have in the next place to notice, THE Knowledge wHICH YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO POSSESS OF ALL THIS. "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who though he was rich, yet for your sakes became poor, that ye through his poverty might be made rich,"

In the first place, You know it is true. You know that Christ did thus condescend. You know it is a fact, a fact which the Apostles preached, and which we preach, and which the whole Scripture confirms and corroborates, without which the old economy was without meaning and without use, that in the fulness of time God sent forth his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. You know it is a truth without which all these are meaningless. You know that he did become poor, and that so he displayed his grace. This is an appeal to reason, an appeal to judgment-judgment and reason guided by evidence in support of the truth.

In the second place, You know it in yourselves, as enriching you now. You have tasted that the Lord is gracious. You have been quickened by him. You know something of the glory of being his children. To use a beautiful expression of the Apostle, "you are enriched in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." So that you have hope toward God as pardoned; you are renewed as sanctified. To use another expression of the Apostle, you are rich in good works, produced by the power and influence of this truth on the heart. This is an appeal to Christian experience, and to the feelings of the Christian professor. Brethren, is it so? This is the application he meant it to have. Has it this application to you?

In the last place, you know it as the ground on which all your hopes are built for futurity, the source from which you derive grace upon earth, and to which you feel yourselves to be indebted for all the honour and glory which eternity will disclose. This is an appeal to Christian consistency; for it is only the consistent Christian that can feel the confidence that he is standing upon this rock, who can look forward now in time to what eternity will disclose.

From the whole subject you can learn such lessons as the following. In the first place, the importance which it becomes us to attach to all matters which are matters of pure revelation, of which this subject is one. There are some things, you are aware, which nature or reason itself may teach us. There are some ideas respecting God, his existence, and government, which you may obtain by the operation of your minds. It is a happiness to have these suggestions and speculations of our mental capacity established when God speaks to us by his word, and informs us we have thought aright. But these are not the true reasons which are to influence you; these are not the doctrines which are the most important, and which are vital. Those things which have never entered the heart independently of revelation, those things in that revelation which man could not perceive, are the things which are to be looked upon as of the highest importance; and one of these has occupied our attention this morning: the subject is a matter of pure revelation.

Secondly, you may learn the actual necessity that there is for the doctrines of

the cross to give coherency and consistency to the whole system of revealed truth. If my own mind has been impressed with any thing more than another, it has not been so much with the critical examination of any text, as with the impression which the whole system makes upon me. I feel that I require this truth to account for all this phraseology, and for all these feelings and views which are represented to enter in Christian truth and experience.

Thirdly, you may learn from the meaning we have given of this passage, how grace, or gracious goodness, is exercised towards us; and then you learn, the claims which Christ has upon our affections and our gratitude. "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet, believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." We are to confess ourselves his subjects. He has claims upon our obedience, and upon the best affections of the heart. We are to be at his disposal, and to act according to his direction and command.

Fourthly, you learn from the particular phraseology of the passage, the necessity that there is for your examining into the extent, the accuracy, and the influence of your knowledge of religious truth. What a shame it would be, if, when the language were addressed to you, "You know this," you were to reply, "No, I do not know it; I have never read nor thought of it; I have heard about it, but have never reflected upon this truth." May I be able to take this language and apply it with truth to you. There is something, you perceive, to be done by you. It is of no use for me to say, you know this, and you know the other, if you do not dwell upon it. There must be an examination on your part, into the extent and influence of your knowledge, that the language may be employed with propriety and with force.

Fifthly, you learn that Christian morality is animated and sustained by purely Christian motives. It is very observable, in reading the Scriptures, how the Apostle Paul associates almost every moral duty, almost every personal virtue, almost every excellency, in some way or other, with what we know of Christ, with our obligations to Christ. In addressing servants, he tells them to be honest, faithful, and obedient-why? That they may adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things. Husbands he exhorts to love their wiveswhy? Because Christ loved the Church. This is not worldly morality. We are not to be virtuous in our characters, and habits, and personal virtues, merely upon the same principle that other men are virtuous: we are to be animated by those views and those affections which are connected with the character and work of the Redeemer.

Lastly, It will be found that the riches of the Church, throughout eternity, will bear a proportion to the poverty by which they were obtained. This is a delightful thought. We can form no adequate idea of the depth of that infinite condescension and love which led Christ to become poor for our sakes: therefore we can form no adequate idea of what will be the result of it, what will be the effect of which it is the cause. There will be a proportion between the cause and the effect. The Church shall be lifted so high, and her riches shall be so transcendant, as the poverty of Christ was extreme and aggravated. I expect in heaven to enter upon higher happiness than I could obtain by successful probation on earth. If we had been placed under a certain law, and had passed through our probation successfully, our reward would not have been so great as the riches and glory that will descend upon us as the result of that poverty which Christ endured for us. If we could, we should now enter upon what