and fecond Chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews: Give me leave therefore for a while to leave the Apostle to the Philippians, and to confider what the Apostle to the Hebrews teaches us.

Who

God, fays he, who at fundry Times, and in divers Manners, fpake in Times paft unto the Fathers by the Prophets, bath in these last Days fpoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed Heir of all Things; by whom also be made the Worlds: Who being the Brightness of his Glory, and the express Image of his Perfon, and upholding all Things by the Word of his Power, &c. Which amounts to no more than what the Apoftle to the Philippians has faid of him, in fewer Words; being in the Form of God. But the Apostle to the Hebrews proceeds, and fhews us wherein the true Difference between Chrift and all other Beings lies; and places it in this determinately, That Christ was the Son of God, and all other Beings, even the mightiest Angels, the Servants of God: For unto which of the Angels faid be, at any Time; Thou art my Son, this Day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son: And again, When be bringeth in the First-begotten into the World,

be

be faith, And let all the Angels of God worship him. Thus you fee Chrift is declared to be the Son of God, and the Object of the Angels' Worship. But of the Angels the Apostle adds, Who maketh his Angels Spirits, and his Minifters a Flame of Fire: And, in the last Verse of the Chapter, fpeaking ftill of Angels, he says, Are they not all miniftering Spirits?

The Image which the Writer to the Hebrews feems to have before him, is that of a great Household: He confiders God as the Pater-familias, the Father of Chrift, and the Lord and Maker of the Universe : Christ is confidered as the Filius-familias, the Son, the Heir of all Things, as he styles him: Other Beings are the Servants and Attendants, of different Orders, belonging to the Family. And under this View it is not hard to know what the Apostle to the Philippians means, when he fays Christ took upon him the Form of a Servant: He was truly the Son of the Family, the Heir of all Things, and had the Form and Majesty of his Father; but he defcended from the Glories of his Father, and became like one of the Family, submitting to take the Form and Character of a Servant on him. The

Apostle

Apostle to the Philippians adds, being made in the Likeness of Men: The Reason and Meaning of this Addition the Apostle to the Hebrews will likewife teach us, c. ii. v. 16. Verily, he took not on him the Nature of Angels, but he took on him the Seed of Abraham. Angels are Servants as well as Men: Therefore, by faying Christ took on him the Form of a Servant, there was Room left to fuppofe him to have taken the Nature of Angels: To fhew therefore what Nature he took, the Apostle adds, he took the Form of a Servant in the Likeness of Men; that is, in the Nature of Man. So then the pogon done, the Form of a Servant, is the common Mark and Character of all the Creatures of God; the polua, the Likeness here spoken of, is the peculiar and proper Character of each Species: So that the μogon δέλε and the ὁμοίωμα ἀνθρώπε make a complete and perfect Man : He was not only a Man in Appearance and in Likeness, but in Reality, having the fame common Nature, diftinguished by the fame fpecific Dif

ferences.

The Apostle to the Philippians adds, And being found in Fashion as a Man, he humbled bimfelf. It requires fome Attention to the Apostle's

Apoftle's Argument, to diftinguish rightly between the Form, the Likenefs, and the Fashion, which are all in this Place applied to Chrift Jefus. In the firft Verse of the Text, the Apostle fays, Who being in the Form of God, did not eagerly retain his Equality with God, but emptied himself : By this Equality which Chrift did not retain, but emptied himself of, I think it is impoffible to understand any thing elfe, but the divine Glories in which he appeared, and which, during the State of his Humiliation, he laid afide: His Nature he could not lay afide; he continued to be the Son of God, though he appeared not like the Son of God; and therefore, the Apoftle adds, being Man, he was found in Fashion. as a Man, appearing in no greater Majesty or Glory, than what truly belonged to him as Man. The Fashion of a Man, in this Part of the Text, I take to answer to the being equal with God, in the first Part; that Equality which he laid afide, being nothing else but the ua Oy, the Fashion, or truly divine and majestic Appearance of God. The Form of God, in the first Part, anfwers both to the Form of a Servant, and the Likeness of Men, in the second Part: VOL. IV.

D

The

The Form of a Servant being common to all the different Orders of Creatures, it did not of itself fufficiently express what Nature Christ took upon him; and therefore the Addition, in the Likeness of Men, was but neceffary: But there are no different Orders of Beings, to whom the Form of God belongs: And therefore, the Apostle having told us that Chrift was in the Form of God, there wanted no Addition to inform us what kind or manner of Being he was; for God has not communicated his Form or proper Glory to any of his Creatures: The Form of God belongs to God only.

And thus the Argument for our blessed Saviour's Divinity from this Text stands. He had, before he came into the World, the true and proper Glories of Divinity, and, under the Old Teftament, appeared in the real Majesty of his Father. Whether the proper and peculiar Glories of the Divinity, and the real Majefty of God, are communicable to a Creature, judge ye. Befides, if the Apostle, by faying Chrift took the Form of a Servant, and the Likeness of Men, means that he became indeed a very Creature, and Man, confider what he means by the fame Expreffion in the other Part, where