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alway even unto the end of the world.' He de fends every particular Believer against them, fo far that none of them fhall ever pe ifh: John x. 28. I give unto them eternal life, and they fhall never perifh, neither fhall any pluck them out of my hand. He defends the Church, and every particular Believer, by the Communication of his Grace to them, and the Working of his Providence for them: 2 Cor. xii. 9. And he faid unto me, My grace is fufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weaknefs.' Zech. iii. 9. For behold, the ftone that I have laid before Joshua: upon one ftone fhall be feven eyes, behold, I will < engrave the graving thereof, faith the Lord of hofts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.' He reftrains all his and our Enemies, bounding them by his Power, as to the Kinds, Degrees, and Continuance of their Attacks on us; Job ii. 6. And the Lord faid unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand, but fave his life. Cor. x.

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There hath no temptation taken you, but fuch as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not fuffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation alfo make a way to efcape, that ye may be able to bear it. Rev. ii. 10. Behold, the devil fhall caft fome of you into prifon, that ye may be tried; and ye fhall have tribulation ten days.

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He completes our Refcue, by conquering all his and our Enemies: 1 Cor. xv. 25. He muft reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.' They will be fully conquered at the laft Day: Rev. XX. 14. And death and hell were caft into the lake of fire. The Enemy that will longeft keep the Field against us, is Death: 1 Cor. xv. 26. The

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laft enemy that fhall be deftroyed, is death.' For when the Soul is in Heaven, free from Sin, the Devil, and the World, the Body lies in the Grave under Death. But our King will fully rescue us from Death too, by the glorious Refurrection at the last Day: 1 Thess. iv. 16. The Lord himself fhall defcend from heaven with a fhout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Chrift fhall rife firft.' 1 Cor. xv. 52. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the laft trump, (for the trumpet fhall found), and the dead fhall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.'

We are to receive Chrift as our King, renouncing the Dominion of Sin, Death, the Devil, and the World, and wholly giving up ourselves to him, to be ruled by him as our Head: I. xxvi. 13.

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O Lord our God, other lords befides thee have had dominion over us but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.' Pfal. ii. ult. Kifs the Son left he be angry, and ye perish from the . way, when his wrath is kindled but a little: ⚫ blessed are all they that put their truft in him.' We are to make ufe of him as our King, daily applying and trusting to him, for Life, Strength, and Defence, and Victory over our Enemies : 2 Tim, ii. 1. Thou therefore, my fon, be ftrong in the grace that is in Chrift Jefus.' 2 Cor. i. 10. God delivered us from fo great a death, and doth deliver in whom we truft that he will yet ⚫ deliver us.'

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Queft. 27. Wherein did Chrift's Humiliation confift?

Anf Chrift's Humiliation confifted in

his being born, and that in a low Condition, made under the Law, undergoing the Miseries of this Life, the Wrath of God, and the curfed Death of the Cross; in being buried, and continuing under the Power of Death for a Time.

EXPLICATION.

Chrift's Humiliation belonged to the Condition of the Covenant of Grace, performed by himself And it was then a voluntary Thing in him: Phil ii. 7. 8. Chrift Jefus made himself of no reputa

tion, and took upon him the form of a fervant, * and was made in the likeness of men and be ing found in fashion as a man, he humbled himfelf, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the crofs.' He humbled himfelf, that he might execute his Offices, efpecially his priestly Office: Luke xxiv. 26. Ought not Chrift to

have fuffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And he humbled himself, putting him felf in a State of Humiliation, and humbling himfelf in that State...

Chrift God-man put himself in a State of Humi liation, emptying himself of his Glory, and taking upon him the Form of a Servant: Phil. ii. 7. fore cited. The Form of a Servant he took upon him, was the Form of a Bond-fervant : Pfal. xl. 6. Sa crifice and offering thou didst not defire, mine ears haft thou opened; Marg. digged. Com pared with Exod. xxi. 6. Then his master shall bring him to the door, or unto the door-posts:

and his master fhall bore his ear through with an awl; and he fhall ferve him for ever.' He took upon him the Form of a Bond-fervant, being made under the Law Gal. iv. 4. 5. But when the fulnefs of the time was come, God. fent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of fons.' He was made under the Law as a Bond-fervant, to redeem us that were under the Law as Bond-fervants: Gal. iv. 4. 5. forecited. verf. 7. "Wherefore thou art no more a fervant, but a fon; and if a son, then an heir of God through Chrift." He did then tranf fer our State of Servitude under the Law upon himfelf: 7. xlix. 3. Thou art my fervant, O

Ifrael, in whom I will be glorified." And what lay upon him as fo made under the Law, was, to give it that perfect Obedience in Holinefs of Nature and Life, that it required of us for Life, and under the Curfe of it to bear our Punishment: Matth. iii. 15. Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.' Gal. iii. 13. Chrift hath redeemed us from the curfe of the law, being made a curfe for us.' His Obedience then, as well as his Suffering, was a Part of his Humiliation, Phil. ii. 8. forêcited; forafmuch as he gave it in the Form of a Bond-fervant. But his State of Humiliation is now over, and at an End: And it ended at his Refurrection, Rom. xiv. 9. To this end Christ both died, and rofe, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.'

Chrift humbled himself in that State, performing the Obedience, and bearing the Punishment that it required. He humbled himfelf, performing the Obedience which that State required, inasmuch as,

in the Form of a Bond-fervant, he was conceived and born of a Woman, perfectly holy, and lived perfectly righteous: Pfal. xl. 6. Marg. forecited. Compared with Heb. x. 5. "Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he faith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body haft thou prepared me.' Gal. iv. 4. Phil. ii. 7. 8. both forecited. His very being conceived and born of a Woman, was a notable Piece of Humiliation in him; and that because he was the Son of God, Gal. iv. 4. Phil. ii. 7. He humbled himself, bearing the Punishment which that State required, inafmuch as, all along from his Conception to the Grave, he fubmitted to the Effects of the Curfe transferred from us on him, Gal. iii. 13. fore cited.

He fo humbled himself in his Conception, being conceived of a Woman of a mean and low State: Luke i. 48. He hath regarded the low estate of

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his handmaiden.' An Evidence of the mean and low State of the Mother of our Lord, is her being efpoufed to a Carpenter: Matth. i. 18. Mary was efpoufed to Jofeph.' Compared with Chap. xiii. 55. Is not this the carpenter's fon? Is not his mother called Mary?'

He fo humbled himself in his Birth, being born in a low Condition. The low Condition he was born in, was, that he was born in the fmall Town of Bethlehem, in the Stable of an Inn, and laid in a Manger inftead of a Cradle, because there was no Room for them in the Inn: Mic. v. 2. But 'thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee fhall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Ifrael. Luke ii. 7. And fhe brought forth

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