He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard; Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?"

78

INCARNATION OF CHRIST.

He took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.-Heb. ii. 16.

THERE are many distinct subjects,-a variety of revealed doctrines, intimated in this passage; and the text is of such a nature that, to understand it, not one of them can be overlooked, and to catch the feeling and spirit which it breathes, we must endeavour to muse on all of them in the same meditation. The verse we have read is like a picture, where a hundred figures in various positions appear, yet not impeding, but promoting the unity of design, and not in any one instance to be omitted, without injury to the pleasing or bold effect of the piece.

"He took not on him the nature of angels." The first idea which these words suggest is, that of another race of sinners besides mankind,-another part of rational creatureship, and higher in the scale of being than we, which has broke loose from the bonds of allegiance to the Sovereign of heaven and earth, and which has fallen under the consequences of his displeasure. These are the devil Some foolishly imagine that Satan,

and his angels.

in Scripture, is only an allegorical being. How great a mist would such an opinion, if true, spread over Bible-history, facts, and declarations! How unintelligible would be the account of the fall, and of the devil's actings with reference to Job!-in our Lord's temptation in the wilderness, and in many particulars recorded of unclean spirits whom Jesus cast out, &c. The fallacy of that notion is also no where more apparent than in our text, which, on the hypothesis of evil spirits spoken of in revelation being but figurative modes of expression, is absolutely without sense or meaning.

Satan

denotes, in the sacred volume, a real, personal existence,—a great, powerful, and malignant being called "Ruler of the darkness of this world,” and "Prince of the power of the air." He is the leader of a rebel host, which forfeited Jehovah's love by some act or course of transgression, not discovered to mortals, soon after their creation, and have been left of their Maker, to continue in sin and to perish. St. Peter tells us, they were "angels who sinned, and were cast into hell." Jesus said on one occasion to his disciples, "I beheld Satan fall as lightning from heaven." St. Jude describes them as "angels who kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, and are reserved in everlasting chains unto the judgment of the great day.” Hence the Apostle Paul exclaims, "Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" Bearing this truth in mind, we see the allusion in our text, and shall by its admission perceive a force in the words, which we cannot contemplate unmoved.

As there are two parts of the moral universe,an unnumbered host of angels, and all mankind, in a lost condition, and a revelation of but one Redeemer, what importance attaches to the inquiryFor both does he interpose his mediation? Or, if for but one of these sinful orders of intelligences, for which? The Apostle says he saves but one; and he decides the possession of the amazing boon is their's whose nature he took upon him. The expression of the sacred writer is equivalent to this: For the salvation of angels Christ must have become an angel; but as he did not, they do not participate his redemption. He became man; and, consequently, man is the ransomed party. It is then intimated, that it is an unalterable rule in the moral government of Jehovah, that no nature can possibly be accepted in his sight that does not fulfil the law, and the nature that sins, it must suffer. How different this position to that of Socinians, and other infidel sects, who, in order to dissipate the doctrine of Christ's atonement by denying its necessity, argue, that as an earthly king can, by virtue of his royal prerogative, forgive the condemned culprit without any compensation to justice, so may the King of heaven. But we must remember, that to infer the proceedings of God from the ways of fallen man, is always dangerous, unless we have the countenance of the Bible for it, on the point we may be considering. Though God can dispense pardons as largely as he please, yet he will only do it in a method that shall leave his holiness as conspicuous as it was before the extended mercy,

and his justice as much glorified as if it had wreaked its full vengeance on the guilty head. Thus is God honoured in the cross; grace, in its fullest measure, is exercised on its proper object,-a miserable sinner; whilst the integrity of his throne is preserved; since he accepts and favours man in the person of his beloved Son. Jesus Christ hath afforded that spotless purity of heart and conversation required by the law, and if he accepts man that has sinned, yet man, in his Son, has borne the punishment. Thus "mercy and truth meet together: righteousness and peace kiss each other." But as there were two different orders of fallen beings, and it was needful that the Saviour should partake the nature of those he was to save, this calls forth the Apostle's astonishment, that Christ should appear in the inferior nature, in preference to the angelic; yet says the sacred writer, "He took it upon him."

Then he existed previous to his incarnation. Surely if he was, as some affirm,—a mere man, and only began to live when born at Bethlehem, that mode of expression, "He took our nature upon him," would never have been used; because it would have been without any meaning. Yet it is not confined to this text; but is found uniformly in those places of the Inspired Book which mention our Lord's becoming man, or at least other words, which equally imply prior existence. Thus, "God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law;"