INFERENCES. From this subject we learn,-1. The greatness of the love of God to perishing sinners; seeing none but God in our nature could accomplish their redemption. 2. The value of the soul, which could not be redeemed but at the expense of the blood of God's eternal Son. 3. The comfort which arises to the soul from the indissoluble union of the two natures of Christ in one person. If this is everlasting, the union of believers with Christ is also everlasting. See John xiv. 19. 4. That all who are far from Christ shall perish for ever, if they leave this world without an interest in him. 5. How dignified man is! How dignified the believer is! inasmuch as his Redeemer assumed his nature, that he might die in his stead.-Heb. ii. 16. 6. The necessity of faith in Christ, seeing he is now exalted; it is by faith alone that we can behold him.-Mark xvi. 16. The Redeemer's Assumption of Human Nature. Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul; being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin. ANALYSIS AND PROOFS. We are here taught,― 1. That Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul. Heb. ii. 14." Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. Matt. xxvi. 33.-"My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." 2. That Jesus Christ, as man, was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost. Luke i. 35.-"The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee." 3. That Jesus Christ was born of the i. 31.-" Thou shalt bring forth a Son." she brought forth her first-born Son." Virgin Mary. Luke 4. That Christ was born, and continued to be without sin. Heb. iv. 15.-"He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." See also Heb. vii. 26. F EXPLANATION. Obs. 94.-Jesus Christ became man by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul. 1. It is said that Christ had a true body, to show that he had real flesh and bones, as we have; and that it was not the shape only and appearance of a human body, as some have fantastically supposed. That Christ had a true body, is evident from Scripture, and from his performing the various functions of life.-Luke iv. 39. 2. It is evident from Scripture that Christ had a reasonable soul. See Matt. xxvi. 38, and Luke xxiii. 46. If he had not had a reasonable soul, as well as a true body, he would have wanted the principal part of the human nature. 3. It is said that Christ took to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, to show that he existed before he assumed the human nature, and likewise that this was a voluntary act. Having voluntarily undertaken the sinner's cause, he rejoiced in the prospect of becoming man, and of working out our redemption.-See Gal. iv. 4; John vi. 62, and viii. 58; Prov. viii. 29, &c.; Micah v. 2; Heb. x. 7, 9. It may here be remarked, that Jesus Christ did not assume the person of a man. He assumed the human nature, but not a human person. His human nature never subsisted by itself, that is, it never had an existence separated or distinct from the person of the Son of God. Obs. 95.-Jesus Christ, as man, was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost. The soul and body of Christ were formed in a preternatural and miraculous manner, by the power of the Holy Ghost. 1. By his almighty power he formed a part of the substance of Mary into his human body; for, had not this been the case, Christ could not have been bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh; nor could he have been called the seed of Abraham, and of the family of David; nor could he have been said to spring from the tribe of Judah. 2. By the same divine power he created the soul of Christ immediately out of nothing, and formed it in the closest union with his human body. In this wonderful work, each of the Three Persons in the Godhead had a peculiar part to act : 1. The Father prepared a body for Christ; or, which is the same thing, a human nature.-Heb. x. 5. 2. The Holy Ghost formed it, by his overshadowing power, out of the substance of the Virgin. 3. The Son of God assumed the human nature thus prepared and formed into personal union with himself.-Heb. ii. 14, &c. Obs. 96.-Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary. With respect to his human nature, Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, who was of the seed of Abraham, and of the family of David, which was at that time in a very low condition. See his double genealogy in Matt. i. and Luke iii. See also Isa. xi. 1, liii. 2, and vii. 14, compared with Matt. i. 18, &c. It was necessary that Christ should be born of a Virgin, for the following reasons :-That the human nature of Christ might be found in its primitive purity; that it might be presented to God, as spotless as it was when man was first created; and that it might be free from original sin, which is conveyed to all the posterity of Adam by natural generation. Obs. 97.-Jesus Christ was born without sin. As the birth of Christ was extraordinary, and as he was not a son of Adam by natural generation, he was in every respect free from every stain of depravity, which is inseparable from man when he comes into the world. It was absolutely necessary that Christ should be born without sin; because the human nature was united to the person of the Son by an indissoluble union; and also because it was to be a sacrifice for sin, which it could not have been, had it not been without spot and blemish. INFERENCES. From this subject we learn,—1. The great love of God and of Christ in the work of redemption, the love of God in giving his Son, and the condescension of Christ in becoming man. 2. The only way by which we can be delivered from sin, both original and actual. 3. How suitable a Saviour Christ is, who has a fellow-feeling of our infirmities,-being bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. 4. The great en couragement that sinners have to claim Christ as their own; seeing he is clothed in human nature. The Offices of the Redeemer. Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation. ANALYSIS AND PROOFS. We are here taught,—— 1. That Jesus Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the office of a prophet. Acts iii. 22.-"A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you." See also John vi. 14. 2. That Jesus Christ executeth the office of a priest. Heb. v. 10.--" Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec."-Psal. cx. 4. 3. That Jesus Christ executeth the office of a king. Psal. ii. 6." I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.” See also Matt. xxi. 5. 4. That these offices belong both to his state of humiliation and to his state of exaltation. EXPLANATION. Obs. 98. Jesus Christ is the prophet, the priest, and the king of his people. As Christ really acted the part of a Mediator between God and man, so also doth he really execute every part of the threefold office of prophet, priest, and king. These offices the Scriptures expressly ascribe to him. 1. That he is a Prophet, is evident from that ever memorable prophecy of Moses, recorded in Deut. xviii. 15-19. Compare this with Acts iii. 22, &c. See also Heb. xii. 25. 2. That he is a Priest, is evident from Psal. cx. 4, and many passages in the Epistle to the Hebrews. 3. That he is a King, is evident from Psal. ii. 6, and from other passages, where every thing necessary in this respect is represented as belonging to him. He hath a kingdom; a willing people as his subjects; a rod of iron, and a rod of peace; laws by which his kingdom is ruled; and a reward which he confers upon his people, and a punishment which he inflicts upon the disobedient. Christ did not take the honour of these offices to himself; but he was called or appointed to them in the same manner that Aaron was.-Heb. v. 4, &c. ; Isa. lxi. 1. Each of these offices has respect to the covenant of grace. His priestly office belongs to the condition of the covenant, or that part of it which respects his sacrifice; and his prophetical and kingly offices, together with the intercessory part of his priestly office, belong to the administration or management of the covenant. Each of them has also a relation to our misery. His prophetical office respects our ignorance and blindness of mind; his priestly office respects our guilt and danger; and his kingly office respects our pollution by sin, and our deliverance from it. Christ executes all these offices in reference to his people. This is evident from 1 Cor. i. 30.-" But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." As a prophet, he is made of God to us wisdom; as a priest, he is made of God to us righteousness; and as a king, he is made of God to us sanctification; and when he executes in regard to us all these offices, he is made of God to us redemption. The order in which Christ executes these offices in reference to his people, is the following:-his prophetical office must go before his priestly office, and his priestly office before his kingly office. He must first enlighten the mind, before he apply his righteousness to the soul; and before the soul can be made willing, his righteousness must be bestowed.-See Job xxxiii. 23, &c. But with respect to the natural order of these offices, the priestly office stands first; and this order we have in the 22d Psalm. He is there said first to have purchased salvation; then he is said to declare it; and, lastly, he is said to possess a kingdom, and to govern his subjects. -See Psal. xxii. 1–21, 22–26, and 27-31. That it was necessary that Christ should sustain and execute the threefold office of prophet, priest, and king, will be evident when we consider the following things :— 1. The threefold misery of man by nature: ignorance, guilt, and bondage. 2. The nature of salvation. Christ is necessary as a prophet, to reveal the way of salvation, and to make offer of it in the everlasting Gospel; as a priest, to purchase salvation; and as a king, to confer and apply, by his Spirit, the redemp |