áccidental caufe: and fuch occafional diverfities cannot enter into the defcription of the fpecies in general.

I may add, that the atonement enjoined under the law for every woman" who had conceived “feed, and born a child," conveys the fame inftruction. She was not only to continue in a state of purification forty days, for a male-child, and eighty for a female; but it was neceffary that, when the time appointed was elapfed, the fhould bring an offering, and that the priest fhould "make an atonement for her "."

For

VII. The miraculous conception of our Saviour affords a ftrong argument in fupport of the doctrine under confideration. It was promifed that he fhould be the feed of the woman". had he defcended from Adam in the way of ordinary generation, he must also have finned and died in him; and thus he could never have bruised the head of the ferpent. The Meffiah, indeed, could not himself be fubjected to death by means of the first Adam; and yet by dying procure life, as the fecond. As this great promise was made immediately after the entrance of fin, and juft before the denunciation of the fentence on the woman, as to forrow in conception; with refpect to the time and the connexion, merits our attention, that God proclaimed deliverance from fin by means of a deviation from the ordinary law which he had eftablished for the propagation of our fpecies. The curfe, written in conception, and tranfmitted by means of it, was to be remo

ved

H Lev. xii. 1.-8.

v Gen. iii. 15.

ved by a conception of fo extraordinary a nature, that " a woman fhould compass a man w.

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This new thing in the earth" took place, when the Virgin Mary conceived by the power of the Holy Ghoft. That the Meffiah might have a right to redeem us, it was neceffary that he fhould be our near kinfman. He must be of the fame ftock with ourselves, that he might 66 not "be ashamed to call us brethren," and that his obedience and fuffering might be imputed to finners of the fame family. As this was requifite from his character as a Redeemer; it was equally fo, from the greatnefs of that humiliation which was neceffary for our redemption. He muft "be"come in all things like unto us," as far as this conformity was attainable "without fin." When, therefore, he affumed our nature, without the intervention of man; we may be affured that the only reafon of this difference was, that he could not otherwise affume it without being fubjected to fin. While the word was really "made flesh," he was made only "in the likeness of finful "flefh." Accordingly, we are exprefsly informed, that this feed of the woman, this " holy "thing," is called "the Son of God," in confequence of the "Power of the Higheft overfha"dowing" the Virgin *.

What reafon have we for the deepest humiliation, when we contemplate our natural ftate! Well may we cry out with the leper under the

Jer. xxxi. 22.

x Luke i. 35.

law,

law, Unclean, unclean!" Let us imitate the exercise of David, in his penitential Psalm, in tracing up our actual tranfgreffions to the corrupt and bitter fountain of original fin. Let us compare our own deformity with that purity which the law requires, and in which we were created in our first father; and this will be our language to the Searcher of hearts: "Behold! thou de"fireft truth in the inward parts;" but " I was fhapen in iniquity, and in fin did my mother "conceive me." How ill does pride become a fallen, a polluted worm; efpecially in relation to infinite holiness! Well may" our mouth be ftopped," in the prefence of that God, in whose fight "the heavens are not clean."

Let us beware of accufing divine juftice, in entrufting our holinefs and felicity in the hand of one perfon. Let us rather admire his mercy, in providing a remedy. Let us remember that God hath eternally difplayed and vindicated the juftice of his procedure in the old covenant, by the plan he pursues in the new and that if we obftinately deny his juftice in the imputation of fin, we disclaim any intereft in the imputation of righteousness. We cannot renounce our interest in the first Adam, as a representative, without at the fame time renouncing all claim to the fecond. For" as by one man's difobedience many were "made finners; fo by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."

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SECT.

SECTION XI.

The Incarnation of the Son of God.-His frequent Appearance in the likeness of Man, a prelude of this.-Prefigured by the Smoking Furnace and Burning Lamp ;-the Burning Bush-Jacob's Ladder; the Cloud of Glory.-Refpected in the Rights of Primogeniture ;-Law of the Levirate -Circumcifion ;-Patriarchal Mode of Swearing -Abftinence from the Sinew that frank.

JESUS CHRIST is the great fubject of the Holy Scriptures. "The fpirit of prophecy is the tef"timony of Jefus." The mystery of the incarnation of a divine perfon is" without contro"verly great." On this mystery, refts the whole doctrine, revealed in the word of God, concerning our falvation. We need not wonder then, that, while this is the fubject of fo many prophecies and promises, it should also have been exhibited to the faith of the Church, by various fymbols and prelude; or that it was taught. not merely in a doctrinal way, but by historical illuftration.

Before

Before entering on the confideration of what is chiefly in view, it may be neceffary to observe, that the foundation of the Church's faith, as to the incarnation of a divine perfon, lay in the first promife. In this it was declared, that the feed of the woman should bruise the head of the ferpent. The perfon, whofe appearance is here foretold, being called the feed of the woman; faith, in embracing the promife, muft have viewed him as truly man. But fuch is the nature of the work afcribed to him, that there was an equal neceffity for confidering him as God. The old ferpent had already fhewn, that man could not enter the lifts with him. He had deceived, and been the inftrument of destroying our nature; although he found it in a state f innocency. Now, when it is faid, "It fhall bruife thy head," the meaning is, that the feed of the woman fhould retort on himself the fatal ftroke given by this deftroyer; that he should overthrow that external dominion in the world, which he had acquired in confequence of the fall; nay, that he fhould fubdûe his power in the heart of man, by the destruction of fin, which, as it is the offspring of the ferpent, is the great fupport of his kingdom. Could faith ever expect the accomplishment of fuch a work by any mere creature?

If any doubt had remained as to this being the meaning of the firft promife, it must have been fully re noved by the prediction of Enoch, the feventh from Adam, h exprefsly declared who it was that should come and "destroy the works

"of