9, 10.

SERM. in this was manifefted the Love of God toIII. ward us, because that God fent his only be1 Joh. iv. gotten Son into the World,that we might live through him. Herein is Love, (as S. John continues his Argument) Not that We loved God, (that is, loved God first, and by that means drew down his Love upon us) but that He loved us, (antecedently, freely) and fent bis Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins.

Had God fent the meanest Attendant in the Court of Heaven, to publish abroad the good Tidings of his free and voluntary Pardon of Sin, fhould we not have entertained it as a Meffage of unfpeakable Love! How much more, when he fends his Son, his only begotten Son, on this Errand! When he fends him to partake of our Nature, and of all the Infirmities, Miferics, Shame and Pain that attend it; and at laft to be made a Sacrifice for our Sins, by the very Hands of thofe Men, for whofe Sake he left Heaven! This raifes the Motive fo high, that our Lips are fain when we fpeak of it; and our Heart melts away almost un

der

der the Sense of that exceffive Burthen SERM. of Love which lies upon us.

But how ftrangely is the Force of this Motive weakened by thofe who make Chrift a mere Man, not the Eternal Son of God, fent out to us from the Bofom of his Father! For at this rate the Love of God toward us abates very much; and then, I am afraid, Ours toward Him will proportionably abate with it. For the higher Apprehensions we have of God's Antecedent Love to Man, the stronger will our Endeavours ftill be to raise our Affections up to a Pitch fome way fuitable to those Apprehenfions.

So that, whether thefe Men have, by this Expedient, leffened the Difficulties of their Faith, or not, (which is Matter of Difpute) fure we are, that they have evidently leffened the Argument for their Love by it.

Another plain Use we are to make of this Doctrine, is, to give us an high Senfe of the Dignity of our Nature, and an hearty

III.

SERM. hearty Displeasure at those Sins which III. debafe and difhonour it.

Behold now, as the Apoftle to the Hebrews argues, is that Prophecy of the Pfalmift concerning Man fulfilled in

your Heb. ii.7. Ears. Thou hast crowned him with Glory and Honour, and haft fet him over the Works of thine Hands: Thou hast put all Things in Subjection under his Feet ; that is, The Human Nature, by its Asfumption to the Divine, is now advanced far above Principalities and Powers, and every Created Being: Nay, it is, in the Perfon of Chrift, become an Object of Adoration, even to Spirits of the first Rank and Order. For, as the fame Apoftle interprets another Paffage of the Heb. i. 6. Pfalmift, When God brought his firft begotten Son into the World, he faith, Let all the Angels of God worship him.

Should not fuch a Reflection as this, make us refolve to do nothing beneath that Nature, which God has fo highly honoured? Not to pollute it with vile Affections and Lufts; Not to fet it upon mean and unworthy Pursuits, and

on

on minding Earthly Things; but to have SERM. our Conversation in Heaven; from whence III. alfo we look for the Saviour, the Lord Je- Phil. iii. fus Chrift, who shall change our Vile Body, 19,20,21. that it may be fashioned like unto his Glorious Body.

A Sense of Birth and Noble Blood will often keep Men from doing things beneath themselves, when no other Motive can restrain them: And shall it not be fufficient to preferve us from every Evil and Defiling Work, to consider our near Alliance with God himself, by the Intervention of the Man Christ Jesus? Surely fuch a Confideration fhould engage us, after the most powerful Manner, to purify our Natures, even as his 2 Cor. is pure; and to cleanfe ourselves from all vii. 1. Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit.

And as God's affuming our Nature should make us reflect often on the Dignity and Worth of it, and refolve not to defile That with base and brutish Enjoyments, which Chrift hath thus Ennobled and Sanctified; fo on the other hand,

The

SERM.

The Condefcenfion alfo of the Son of III. God, in this Mysterious Work of our Redemption, fhould infuse into us a Spirit of Universal Humility. Since He who Heb. i. 3.was the Brightness of his Father's Glory, and the exprefs Image of his Perfon, emptied himself willingly of all that Glory, to become a Vile and Miserable Creature for the Salvation of Men, what a deep Lowliness of Mind ought We (in Imitation of him) to carry about us, through the feveral Stages of Life, and the different Administrations of Providence? How willing should it make us to undertake any Work, to be seen in any Office, though never fo mean and low, that tends any way to the Good

7,8.

and Welfare of Mankind? It is the Phil. ii. Great Apostle's Argument, Let nothing 3,4,5,6, be done (fays he) through Strife, or Vainglory; but in Lowliness of Mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every Man on his own things, but every Man alfo on the Things of others. Let this Mind be in you, which was also in Chrift Fefus: Who being in the Form

of