SERMON I THE INCARNATION. BY ROBERT LEE, D.D., MINISTER OF OLD GREYFRIARS, EDINBURGH. HEB. ii. 11-18. "For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. Forasmuch then 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; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the A nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. hath suffered, being tempted, he that are tempted." For in that he himself is able to succour them THE general scope of this passage you will all apprehend to be this, that the children of Adam, being now all children of wrath, all needed a Saviour; and the Saviour they needed must not be in the form of God, or of an angel; he must be in the likeness of sinful flesh whatever else he is, he must be man. Accordingly, Jesus Christ, the Mediator, who was God from eternity, became man, in the fullness of time. The Word was made flesh; he took part of flesh and blood; he took on him the seed of Abraham; he was made in all things like unto his brethren. -- Concerning God, even the Father, we know something from other sources than Revelation. Nature and Providence declare his eternal power and godhead; whereas our acquaintance with the Son of God is derived from Revelation alone. But the Bible assures us that Jesus Christ is God and it assures us also that he is man; and the assertion of his godhead is equally positive as that of his manhood: and those persons, in ancient times, who denied that Jesus was truly man, had quite as much reason to support them, as they have, who, in modern times, deny that he is truly God: that is, neither party had any reason at all, |