the globe in which we dwell, contemplate the vegetable and animal worlds, behold creatures formed from senseless clay, endued with power of voluntary motion-when we behold man placed as at the head of this lower world, consider the curious structure of his frame, and that immortal something which dwells within him,-does not the contemplation constrain us to acknowledge, that all these are the effects of infinite wisdom and power? Shall we, like pious David, raise our eyes from this terrestial scene, and regard the boundless beauties which engage the attention in the upper regions? Shall we behold the sun and moon, and the stars which he hath formed? Shall we go farther, and contemplate the surprising order and delightful harmony of the heavenly bodies, trace the planets in their orbits, consider the laws by which they are governed, the regularity of their revolutions, and the sweet agreement which one part has with the whole, and their general tendency to the happiness and comfort of man-and can we help saying respecting them, These are

For ever singing, as they shine,

“The hand that made us is divine?”

Once more, shall we soar on meditation's wings to the place where the favoured Apostle once was taken, and faintly realize the nature of the spiritual world; contemplate the highest orders of beings who stand before the Majesty of heaven, and are the executors of his will and messengers of his pleasure; behold Raphael, and Gabriel, and Michael on their seats of glory, joining with innumerable companies of their sinless fellows, who sing their Creator's praise, and swell their lofty voices with the vast exertions of his power and the boundless perfections of his nature-shall we visit these scenes, and say, To whom do these all owe their original, from whom had they their birth? To the illustrious person whose perfections we are now contemplating, even Jesus the Son of God. For thus saith truth itself," All things were made by him, and without him was nothing made that was made. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, principalities or powers; all things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist." "Twas he that issued the heavenly mandate which commanded worlds to be. He said, "Let there be light, and there was light;" he said, Let angelic natures exist, and angels stood before him. He said, Let man be constituted from the dust of the earth, and so the clay assumed human forms, and received powers of intelligence from the Creator's hand. These are the operations of the Son of God, and who, that contemplates these vast productions of his hands, can cease exclaiming, Behold he is wonderful in working! He is rich or abundant in power.

We might here enlarge our ideas, and contemplate all the revealed perfections of God the Father: we might search the sacred oracles,

and there find them all applied or considered as belonging to God the Son. Justice, truth, and mercy, with essential power, happiness, and glory, a , all dwell in him to whom our text refers. He is rich, were we to regard the expression in a vulgar sense with respect to possession. The Redeemer has immensity of possession. We esteem that man rich who can look on an extensive part of this spacious globe, and say, "This is mine.'-But what ideas can we form of Him who can not only view this terrestrial ball, but regard all the creatures throughout infinite space, the huge orbs of light, the wonders of the nocturnal skies, and call them all his own?" for the earth is his and he made it: the cattle upon a thousand hills are the Lord's, yea, the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." As to the heavens, they are all at his controul; for as he once " spake and it was done, he commanded and all things stood fast," so when the wheels of time have run their rounds, he shall speak, and the pillars of nature shall shake He shall command, and universal conflagration shall ensue. "The elements shall melt with fervent heat, the heavens pass away as a scroll, the sun be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, when that great and terrible day of the Lord shall come.” Thus view the subject in what light we may, we behold the account strictly applicable to the ante-incarnate state of Jesus. He was eminently, essentially rich.

But we have now a different view to take of this Divine character. We have taken but a glance at the shadow of his perfections: yet must see enough to fill us with humble adoration, and sublime astonishment. But were we to realize what now calls for our attention, our astonishment and amaze (if possible) would be abundantly increased. "He was rich, but he became poor." He seemed to eclipse his glory and his greatness; for "though he thought it no robbery to be equal with God," yet " he took on himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man." He made his appearance in this world, not clad in robes of royalty or shining with the external beams of Divinity; but assuming the lowest form and the meanest character. Shall we behold him in his introduction to our world, his passage through it, and his exit from it?

"In the fulness of time," we are told," God sent forth his Son. He was born of a woman." But where shall we seek his birth-place? -in the metropolis of the country ?-shall we inquire for the most magnificent structure and most beautiful palace ?-there we may seek him in vain-these may give birth to earthly potentates, but it was not the the birth-place of the Lord of Glory. No ensign of earthly pomp marked the introduction of the Son of God amongst us. Witness, O ye eastern sages, and bear testimony, O ye humble shepherds-where did your honored eyes first behold your Saviour? Where did ye first behold your infant God? At Bethlehem, one of the meanest cities of Judah, you found him; and even there his first companions were the beasts of the field-his birth-place a

stable-his cradle a manger. As to his extraction, it is true he was of the lineage of David, but he sprung from an obscure part of that royal house. His reputed father was but of a mean occupation, and various circumstances related concerning him seem plainly to indicate his poverty.

Nor did the Redeemer rise higher in the scale of earthly honor during his abode among men. It might naturally be imagined, that though obscure in his birth, yet when he came forth in public life, and manifested himself the Son of God with power, that then great honour would have been paid him,—that then his character would have been highly respected, and his person proportionably revered. But the history of his life acquaints us, that he met with a far different reception. "He was as a root out of dry ground, despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." He became lower than any man-destitute, afflicted, tormented. He not only met with continued insult from the envious Jews, but was even destitute of those accommodations which are necessary to a comfortable existence below. Hence he complained that his circumstances were more necessitous than the winged fowl or savage beast. "The foxes have holes," (said the suffering Saviour,) "and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." And it is a well known fact, that so indigent was Jesus, that he could not satisfy the demands of the Roman Governor, but must work a miracle to pay a trifling tax for himself and his disciples. Thus poor became He who was so immensely rich.

Nor was it a transitory affliction. It followed him from the manger to the sepulchre; for being falsely accused by his malicious. countrymen, we find him subjected to every insult and suffering to which poverty and ignominy could expose the vilest wretch that ever knew what existence meant. Let us view him in the

High Priest's hall. Behold Him whom angels worshipped, now spit upon by men; Him who swayed the general sceptre of nature, now mocked with a contemptible reed; Him whose head was late emblazoned with all the glory of Divinity, now wearing a crown of cruel thorn: Him who was the universal Lawgiver, who bound kings and loosened princes at his pleasure, now exposed to the Roman scourge, whilst the ploughers made long their furrows in his sacred body. Thus exercised with a variety of torture, let us follow him to the shameful tree, his lips exposed to the vinegar and gall, and his ears to the unjust taunts of the deriding rabble. In this extremity of torture he remained for the space of three hours, and gave up the ghost. Humiliation and poverty not only attended him to the close of life, but even after his death, his body was enclosed in another man's sepulchre. Thus humble and thus poor became the Son of God. His life began in shame, and ended in ignominy as to all external appearances. Thus lived and thus died the Lord of glory, who though he was rich, "yet became poor."

II. But let us consider the very important end and design of Christ's abasement.

And here how must our gratitude, love, and praise succeed our admiration and astonishment. We behold the great God, the most exalted of personages, at once assuming a character mean and contemptible. We inquire, in an excess of wonder, for the cause of this great transaction; and the reply is this, "that ye through his poverty might be rich." Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth, at this vast display of matchless grace. In order to excite this grateful wonder we might profitably contemplate our own circumstances, independant of those riches which we receive through this astonishing medium. For as no man can be well acquainted with the excellency of any gift until he is sensible of his need thereof, so a poor sinner cannot possibly put a just estimation on those riches which flow to him through the humiliation of Christ, until he is brought to an affecting sense of his native indigence and poverty. In what situation then was man, as Jesus found him? Truly he was not that glorious creature which our first parent was when he came out of the hands of his Maker. God is infinitely perfect; nor could any thing of an imperfect nature be the work of his hands. All his operations are perfect in themselves. And thus was man in his primeval state. Then he was enriched with supremacy over the lower world. A sinless body, and a mind corresponding with the perfections of God; for in the image of God made he man. But through the primary violation of the positive law of Jehovah, man has brought himself into the most distressing circumstances. Destitute of the approbation of his Maker, the ground cursed for his sake, a variety of accumulating troubles pouring like incessant billows on his mind, his situation is emphatically expressed by poverty. Poverty is a deficiency of that to which it refers, as riches intimate an abundance of it; and if we compare our circumstances by nature with Adam's in his Paradisiacal state, our minds must be deeply impressed with the propriety of the account before us of our real circumstances. Adam was a holy being. His understanding being well informed, and having no clouds of erroneous prejudices to obstruct the rays which beamed from the Spirit of God, he perfectly understood his Maker's will. His will in every thing acquiesced with the demands of Jehovah, and remained in sweet subjection to his Divine Father's good pleasure. His moral ability was equal to his desires, and he yielded obedience in all things. His God was the centre to which all his affections uniformly tended. In short, in all points of view, Adam was a holy being, for God created him upright. But alas! how mournfully is the scene changed! how is the gold become dim, and the fine gold alloyed. Every faculty of the soul depraved, and the whole man engaged in rebellion against God; no inherent goodness of his own to plead; his heart is fitly compared to a cage of unclean birds, in which is nothing to

be found but pollution and deformity. "There is none righteous, no, not one; all are gone out of the way; yea, altogether are become unprofitable; for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

Being thus deficient in purity, we are also destitute of all real enjoyment or happiness. These have a necessary connection with each other, for in proportion to our holiness so will be our delight. Angels are happier than men, because they are better. Adam, while in a state of purity, had every thing his most enlarged desires could demand: every terrestrial good, and every desirable superior blessing. He seemed as the chief favourite of Heaven, and that nothing might be wanting to complete his bliss, even God himself visited Paradise, and honored the happy man with his delightful presence. How replete with joy must have been the life of Adam, and how sadly awful the change which took place at his declension! Where is happiness now? surely not to be found with sinful mortals. The monarch on the throne of empire is a stranger to true felicity, nor can the humble cottager call happiness his own. The rapidity with which even those enjoyments we seem to possess flee from us, teaches us that if we sip a drop of real pleasure here, 'tis not the genuine production of earthly fountains. They yield nothing but streams of disappointment, vexation, and vanity. Thus was man, independant of Jesus Christ, estranged from God, destitute of his favour, separated from happiness, and abandoned to wretchedness while here; and as the consequence of transgression, having nought but eternal misery to expect hereafter. No longer are the traces of the Deity to be found in his conduct, nor the happiness of Paradise experienced in his soul. He is a wretched outcast from the Lord; he is destitute of every desirable good, and has nothing but misery to call his portion.

But all these evils are rectified by Christ. Through his humiliation, man is restored to more than that from which he fell. As a guilty rebel, he is enriched with pardon through the bloodshedding of the incarnate Saviour. Though an unrighteous character, yet through the sacrifice of Jesus, and his exaltation in consequence thereof, he receives the graces and sanctifying influences of the Spirit; for Christ " ascended up on high, and led captivity captive, and received gifts for men, yea for the rebellious also." Through this medium he is made a partaker of the divine nature. His body is a temple for the Spirit to dwell in he becomes an heir to all the promises, yea is an heir of God, and joint-heir with Jesus Christ. He is enriched not with corruptible goods or mortal treasures, but with "an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away." He is admitted to the relation -he bears the character-and is entitled to the privileges, of a son of God. He may call heaven his own, and claim glory for his inheritance; and this, we are told, is through the poverty or abase

S