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XX.

CHRIST'S MISSION FOR THE ADOPTION OF SONS IN THE FULNESS OF TIME.*

GAL. iv. 4, 5.-But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent 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 sons.

[PREACHED AT MELBOURNE, NEAR ROYSTON, SEptember, 1827.]

THE Galatians, among whom Paul had taught the religion of Christ, were soon led astray as to some of its most essential and important doctrines, by the arts of Judaizing teachers.

They admitted and inculcated the obligation of cireumcision and other ceremonies of the ancient law, maintaining that without these men could not be saved; thereby vacating and superseding the sacrifice of Christ, and denying the sufficiency of his mediation and death for the salvation of sinful men. Of these Paul testified, that if any man submitted to circumcision on this ground, with a view to procure acceptance with God, or as any ingredient of justification in his sight, for such a person Christ had died in vain. He subverts the only foundation laid in Zion, by mixing those observances of the law of Moses which were typical of Christ and his kingdom, with his satisfaction, as the ground of acceptance with the just and holy God.

In order to recall the Galatians from these errors, he directs their attention in the words just read, to the great and fundamental doctrine of Christ's incarnation and atonement, to its completeness and efficacy, not only in saving us from guilt and condemnation, but in reinstating us in the Divine favour, and bestowing on us inexpressible privileges: admission into his family and the reception of that spirit of adoption which is the spirit of his Son, whereby Christians feel the dispositions and perform the duties of obedient children to their heavenly Father. "When the fulness of the time was come, God sent 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 sons; and because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father."

In these words there are three things that demand our attention: I. The mission of Jesus Christ, and the manner in which he manifested himself.

II. The design of his mission; "to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.'

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* Printed from the notes of the Hon. Mr. Baron Gurney.

III. The fitness of that season which God, in his infinite wisdom, appointed for this purpose: it was in "the fulness of time."

I. In the first place, these words present to our attention the great fact of Christ's mission from the Father, and his appearance in our world. Of the dignity of the person of our Saviour, as denoted by the expression, "God sent forth his Son," we have sufficient notice in various parts of the New Testament.

The character of Jesus Christ as the Son of God is placed in contrast with the dignity of angelic intelligences, and is asserted in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had himself purged our sins, sat down on the right-hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than they, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he 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 he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom." To denote the inexpressible dignity of Jesus Christ, as being one with the Father in his most essential prerogatives and perfections, he is here styled " his Son." The Father gave him birth; he came into the world having existed before it; "he came unto his own, and his own received him not ;" even He, that Word which "was with God and was God," and without whom "was not any thing made that was made;" He, the Eternal Word and Son of God, " became flesh" that is, assumed our nature, "and dwelt among us.' His goings forth were from everlasting, and his manifestations among the ancient tribes of Israel not unfrequent. We have reason to believe that those symbolical appearances of God, by which the patriarchs and Moses and the prophets communed with the Most High, were anticipated representations and appearances of Christ. But they were occasional and transient, and in them he wore "the form of God;" but when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son to take up his abode with human nature, to tabernacle among us.

The manner in which this manifestation was made, and the leading circumstances attending it, are marked out in this passage, "he was made of a woman," and "made under the law." Every one must be aware of the peculiarity of the phrase, made of a woman, and will no doubt infer from it something peculiar in the circumstances of our Saviour's birth. Accordingly, we find the sacred writers distinctly inform us of the miraculous production of our Lord by the power of Thus the angel saluted the blessed Virgin, "the

the Holy Ghost.

Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." In every possible sense Jesus Christ possesses this character. In his pre-existent state he was the Word and the Son of God; in his human nature he bore that relation as being the immediate production of the Almighty; as it is also said of Adam in the genealogy given by St. Luke that he was the Son of God.

This particular of our Saviour's existence, as being miraculously conceived by the Holy Ghost, is frequently noticed in the Old and New Testaments, and no doubt possesses great importance in the plan of redemption. Thus when the first transgression entered into the world by the subtlety of Satan, God pronounced this curse upon that apostate spirit, who presented himself under the semblance and form of a serpent, "Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust thou shalt eat all the days of thy life; and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." No satisfactory account can be given of Jesus Christ, who is here plainly prophesied of as the seed of the woman, but in the circumstance alluded to in the passage before us; that is, his miraculous conception, in relation to which he was emphatically and peculiarly made of a woman, standing in a more immediate connexion with that sex than the other. When God was pleased to afford a remarkable and illustrious promise of the appearance of his Son, it was combined with the mention of this particular, "the Lord himself shall give you a sign: behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel," which is interpreted by the evangelist Matthew, "God with us." Again, St. Luke says, "Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph;" plainly intimating that he was not so, but was in reality the immediate production of a Divine power.

In the second chapter of the first epistle to Timothy, notice is taken of the circumstances attending the entrance of sin in the first transgression. When inculcating the duty of silence and submission on the part of the women, and particularly in the church of Christ, he says, "For Adam was first formed, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression. Notwithstanding, she shall be saved in child-bearing" (as we have it; but it is improperly rendered, and should be by child-bearing), "if they continue in faith and charity, and holiness with sobriety." There is no reason to doubt that the true meaning is by the child-bearing, referring not to the pains of parturition, but to the extraordinary event of the birth of our Saviour in a miraculous manner. She shall be saved, notwithstanding she was the means of human ruin by admitting the solicitations of Satan, if she continue in the exercise of Christian virtue, and is herself a faithful servant of the Lord God; she shall be saved by the child-bearing, by that signal and miraculous child-bearing

which took place in the birth of the Messiah. The apostle is not adverting to any temporal circumstance; he is speaking of the entrance of sin by means of the woman, and it is natural to throw in a compensatory circumstance, reminding us, that as the inferior sex had been the source of human perversion, so it had the honour, in compensation, of being the immediate instrument of the production of the Messiah, by whom our recovery was effected. And the condition which follows, "if they continue in faith and charity, and holiness with sobriety," puts this interpretation beyond doubt; as there is the greatest connexion between faith and virtue, without which our faith is vain, but none whatever between perseverance in holiness and exemption from the pains of child-birth.

The circumstances of our Saviour's incarnation placed him at an immeasurable distance from all the other parts of the human race. He was the immediate production of God; by his divine power he was conceived of the Holy Ghost, and thereby completely exempted from the taint of original sin, which attaches to all the posterity of Adam. He was the holy thing born of a virgin. He was by constitution placed in the same state as our first parents; he underwent a similar but severer trial, and continued to maintain his innocence against all the assaults of Satan, overcoming his stratagems by his wisdom and sanctity, and his violence by his powers of endurance.

In the next place, it is said he was "made under the law." The term made here plainly implies that he was put into a situation different from that which was originally natural to him. Such an expression could not with propriety be used respecting any one who was, by the constitution of his nature and at every period, subject to the law. It is best illustrated by "comparing spiritual things with spiritual," and adverting to the striking passage in the epistle to the Philippians, where St. Paul is inculcating the duty of condescension and lowliness among Christians: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation" (or emptied himself, divested himself of that glory which he had before all worlds)," and took upon himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Here we see Christ is set forth as the greatest example of condescension, in that, though he bore the form of God, yet he took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of These particulars, could not have evinced any humility in our Saviour, on the supposition of his having no previous existence, nor a nature higher than human. No person was ever praised for humility in that respect, that he was found in fashion as a man, or appeared as the servant of the Most High: these are the necessary appendages of his condition and existence, quite foreign from his will, and cannot for a moment enter into the consideration of that part of his moral character which respects lowliness of mind. But if we believe, as the Scriptures tell us, that Jesus Christ was "the brightness of the VOL. III.-I i

men.

Father's glory, and the express image of his person," that he "was with God and was God," nothing can set forth his condescension in a more striking point of view than his taking upon him the form of a servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Then, indeed, there was room for choice and election respecting his appearance in our world, and that event must have been the effect of his own purpose and the object of his entire complacency. "Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil."

The necessary condition of every creature, however exalted, is that of submission to the law of God. The obligation of obeying his precepts and of sustaining his penalties in case of the violation of them is inherent, we have the strongest reason to believe, in every finite nature. We cannot dismiss from our minds the connexion between being produced by the Divine Being and being subjected to his law. But here we have presented to us a new and extraordinary spectacle, that of a person in our nature, who has taken upon him that nature by appearing in the form of man, and thereby become subject to the law of God. He was "made under the law;" whereas all other creatures are under it by the very terms of their existence, by the very condition of their nature. He was made under the law as really as he was made of a woman.

Our Lord was made under the law in every sense. Divines have generally considered that Jesus Christ was made under three laws, or under the law considered in three points of view. First, he was made under the ceremonial law, and subject to all its rites and ceremonies. He frequented the synagogue and the temple; he was circumcised the eighth day, and dedicated to the Lord in the usual manner; he was observant in paying the dues of the temple. That homage, from which he was exempt as the Son of God, he submitted to observe, lest the Jews should take offence. In no part of his conduct do we find any accusation from his bitterest enemies of violating the law, except in the single particular of his working miracles on the Sabbathday, which he justified by showing that "man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man," and that "it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath-day." In every other respect he was observant of the law to the very letter, and well might he say to his most inveterate foes, "Which of you convinceth me of sin ?"

He was made, also, under the moral law, and was observant of all its unchangeable duties. In all his conduct to his Heavenly Father, to his fellow-creatures, and to himself, he was an example of perfect piety, benevolence, and purity. There was, in the whole of his deportment, that which spoke him to be the "Lamb of God," holy, without blemish and without spot. "Such an High-priest became us,” was suited to our circumstances, and alone equal to our exigence and danger, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." In him alone was exhibited a perfect pattern of obedience to the law of God, and thereby he was prepared, in part at least, to be

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