been emptied? What would have become of the members of his mystical body if the head had been removed, or the source of vital influences dried up? And how could the Mediator himself have fulfilled the purposes of his mission, if he had emptied himself of his mediatory power, of his love, of his knowledge, of his grace? It cannot then be of his mediatory fullness that he is vo. luntarily emptied. Nor, 3. In making himself of no reputation, he did not divest himself of any of his divine perfections. tions of the mind before they were uttered; he permited the religious worship of his creatures to be paid to himself. He did not then, " in making himself of no reputation," disrobe himself of his divine intrinsic excellency. Nor, 4. Did he disrobe himself of any of his official excellencies, rights and privileges, derived from the station which he voluntarily assumed? He did not divest himself of the authority which he possessed over the universe in all its departments. There is a distinction which must be carefully kept in view, between intrinsic excellency and official dignity. It is the latter of these we are now considering. In his official capacity, as the Father's honorary servant, he received from him "all power in heaven and in earth;" and of this he did not divest himself when he assumed our nature. He still existed as God though clothed in human nature, and being divine he could not divest himself of any of his divine perfections. Divinity never can cease to be such in whatever situation or condition it may exist. And that he was not divested of his divine perfections, when even in the lowliest depths of his humiliation, his own conduct most clearly evinces. Amidst the rays of his humanity the splendors of his diputation, asserting his authority vine character are constantly shining forth. When laying in the manger, angels did him homage; if he was divested of his divine perfec. tion this would be idolatry. "I, and my father are one," is his own assertion, which could not be true, if his divine attributes had been laid aside. And let the acts, competent for divinity alone to perform, demonstrate that he still exists as God. He healed the maladies of the body, and the morbid affections of the mind. He arrested the progress of disease in all its forms; he stayed the hand of the destroyer. He knew the concep. Thus we find him, even when he was making himself of no reover the material creation: the elements of nature obey him. By his voice the waves of the sea are settled. He rebuked the waves and they ceased their com. motion; the winds cease to blow at his command; over men he asserts his authority; he selects for his service such as he pleases, and orders them to abandon their ordinary occupations that they may follow him. He extends his power over the devils, he expels them from the bodies of men of which they have taken possession; he rebukes the prince of the power of the air himself who tempted him in the wilderness and commands him to worship his Lord. He compels death and the grave to give up their vietims; and in all depart. ments of the universe he asserts his mediatory authority. Even when he is humbled on the earth, as the Providential governor of the world, he sustains all things by the word of his power. He regulates the affairs of creation-the movements of the heavenly bodies; he directs the whole course of events; he reigns in Zion as our king, and gives laws and establishes institutions for our good. In the lowest point of his humiliation, the shoulders of the Mediator sustained this boundless universe. And even at the period of his crucifixion, when nature stands aghast at the acts of daring hardihood committed by men against the sovereign of the skies, when the sun, as in terror, hides its head, when darkness pervades the land, when the earth quakes from her centre, and the rocks are rent, yea when nature appears about to rush into ruin irretrieve. able-even then the Mediator could in truth exclaim, "The earthand all the inhabitants there. of are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it." It is not of his mediatory authority that he divests himself. 2. Positively-This expression ἕαυτον ἕκενωσε, signifies: I. That He, the Son of God, in his humiliation divested himself of all the honors of the world; of all the enjoyments which the earth, in the fullness of its temporalities affords. He divested himself of the royalty of the house of David to which he was the heir, and in. stead of appearing as a temporal prince at the head of his armies, VOL. I. JAN. 1832. to vanquish his enemies, and to seat himself upon the throne in all the splendors of royalty, he appeared as the meanest of men. "The earth is his own and the fullness thereof," yet he deprived himself of its ease, and wealth, and homage. He laid no claim to its honors though its lord; he permitted himself to be hungry though the proprietor of all its flocks and herds, its corn and wine, with all the delicacies which are raised from its bosom. He divested himself of the right of using as his own the earth of which he was the owner; " for though the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, the Son of Man had not whereon to lay his head." Instead of availing himself of its enjoyments, he remains throughout his entire life the "Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Instead of claiming, as the legitimate sovereign, the homage of men, he is " despised and rejected by them." Instead of seating himself on the tribune of justice to administer the laws of his own enacting, he appears as the criminal before the bar of a heathen magistracy; instead of executing himself, as heaven's great vicegerent, its laws, he is himself executed upon the accursed tree as being the most nefarious criminal. Thus, indeed, he "made himself of no reputation;" he divested himself of every temporal enjoyment. II. He divested himself of all the splendors of his former appearances to men. Before the period of his incarnation he ap. peared in various tangible forms to his people, as the great personal word of God; in some super 44 hung over their camp and directed their movements by day, and which, when darkness approached assumed the form of a pillar of fire, which afforded to the light, and warmth, and protection, its aid; he now appears as the Shekinah of glory above the mercy seat when splendors dazzled even the practised eyes of the officiating priest. Under none of these attractive aspects did he appear in the days of his flesh, but merely as an ordinary man, presenting no claims to peculiar personal beauty; his countenance being marred, and his form more like "the sons of men," When he made himself of no reputation, he disrobed himself of all the multitudinous splendors of his former partial exhibitions of himself to mortals. But, human form he appeared to Adam shadowed the tabernacle and in the cool of the day, in the gar- beamed on the surrounding sceden, and revealed his view to him. nery. He appeared not as ever As the Angel Jehovah he makes he did to Israel, as that livid cloud frequent manifestations of himself of universal brilliancy, which to men, and under various cha. racters. To Moses, in the desert, (Exod. vi.) he presents himself under the unusually splendid and alarming aspect of a bush enve. loped in burning flames, yet remaining unconsumed; while under the influence of this supernatural phenomenon, Moses hid "his face for he was afraid to look upon God." To the hypocritical prophet of Edom he appeared as the Angel Jehovah, with the flaming sword in his hand, opposing his progress as he proceeded to curse the Israel of God (Num. xxii.) upon the plains of Jericho, where he is about to proceed to battle against it; Joshua lifted up his eyes, and behold there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand, "while," he says, " as captain of the Lord's host am I come." And Joshua fell on his face "and did worship." (Josh. v.) To Manoah and his wife he appeared as the Angel Jehovah ascending up amidst the flames of the altar. And when Daniel is discomfited by the vi. sions of unusual brilliancy which he had beheld, he appears to him as one like the "similitude of the Sons of Men." Of all the splendors of these his former visible manifestations of himself to men, our Redeemer, in the days of his humiliation, di. vested himself. He appeared not then, as frequently under the old dispensation, under the em. blem of a preternatural light, a glory such as that which over. III. And that which έαυτον εκένωσε, especially signifies. He de. prived himself of the exercise of that right which, as the Second Person of the Trinity, he might have exercised over his manhood existing in union with his divine person. The right of raising the humanity above the least possibility of pain or suffering, and of communicating to it every species of enjoyment. Every living being is most intimately connected with the most holy God; in proportion to his degree of holiness is the intimacy of his connection; and in proportion as he is holy he is happy. He is entirely preserved from misery as that is a concomi tant of unholiness; he is preserv. ed in the enjoyment of every blessedness, as that is his due when he remains holy-between holiness and happiness there is an indissoluble connection. And, when the Second Person of the Trinity assumed a human nature, "holy, harmless, and undefiled," a human nature capable of enjoyment to the utmost extent of its capacity; a human nature unsusceptible of being tainted by sin, and no other could be connected with the person of the ho. ly God. It was his indubitable right to elevate the humanity so intimately connected with him, to a state such as all holy beings experience; to a state far more ele vated than any other could possi. bly attain to. And indeed, it was not of this right that he divested himself, but only of its exercise at a particular period. It was necessary for the accomplish ment of the objects of his humiliation, that during its continuance his humanity should receive no. thing more than mere subsistence from his divinity. This was one of the stipulations of the covenant; and at the moment when his humiliation terminates he resumes the exercise of this right, and does exalt his human nature to the throne of the universe. To be the object of eternal admiration to every holy being in God's empire; to the enjoyment of all that inconceivable felicity, which its most intimate and inseparable connection with a divine person secures for it; of the temporary exercise of this right; when he made himself of no reputationἕαυτον ἕκενωσε, himself he emp. tied. Ν. THE PRESBYTERIAN ELDERSHIP. To the Editor of the Orthodox Presbyterian. SIR,-In offering a few thoughts from this side of the channel to your pages, allow me to express my joy at the appearance of The Orthodox Presbyterian; regarding it, as I do, as a modest, yet valiant advocate for the truth, and anticipating that, under the divine blessing, it will be instrumental in helping forward a revival of vital godliness in the Presbyterian churches of Ireland. Knowing little more of the state of religion in the churches under the care of the synod of Ulster, than what I have learned from the first three numbers of The Orthodox Presbyterian, I think I can, nevertheless, discover some favorable indications of the advanc. ing spiritual prosperity of these churches. The first fact I gather from your papers on the synodical overtures is this: that the zeal of the synod is directed against error, not only in the grosser form of Arianism, but also in some of its less palpable, though equally mischievous forms; inasmuch, as that the synod is henceforth to require from all candidates for the ministry, not merely a profession of belief in a form of sound words, but alsosome reasonable evidence of their knowing the truth, in its quickening and sanctifying pow. er, on their own minds. A regulation of this kind must approve itself as scriptural to the veriest babes in divine truth, though it will, doubtless, be decried as tyrannical, or denounced as Methodistical, by those who know not the power of godliness. But, let the synad of Ulster only act up to the regulation, and demand, that all whom she admits to preach that word which is "perfect, converting the soul," shall be themselves converted men, and unquestionably a great revival of spiritual religion will follow from it. And would to God, that the church of Scotland would more distinctly recognize the principle, that biblical learning, and a capacity for composition and public speaking, in candidates for the ministry, are all nothing when unaccompanied with spirituality of mind and character. Let the presbyteries of that church be as rigid in requiring in students the latter qualification, as they are in enacting the former, and then may a general regeneration of all her congregations, and putting away of her abuses, and healing of her breaches, be speedily expected. The second indication of the advancing spiritual prosperity of your churches, and which I gather from the notices of recent ordinations, is: the awakened at tention which now appears to be paid to the scriptural nature of church government and discipline. A relaxed and corrupt government and discipline in churches, is a necessary consequence of erroneous and false doctrine. And hence Presbyterian churches, in which the truth has been adulterated by the ministry, have invariably declined from sound government and discipline. The word and doctrine are indeed the very seed or germ of the church; and where they are corrupted, though a church have "a name to live," it is really "dead," and can only by reformation be saved from ruin. That defective and mixed form of doctrine which gained ground in the church of Scotland, from the days of Leechman till those of Blair, and by which the writings of both are characterized, but which is now happily on the decline, was attended with a correspondent corruption of the administration of the government and discipline of the church, in all her courts, from the general assembly down to the parish session. and the Socinianism which extinguished the truth in the English Presbyterian churches, has not left in them a vestige of the Presbyterian government or discipline; and even the name Presbyterian, as you have in one of your numbers observed, would have perished also, but for the endowments which are secured by law to congregations under that denomination. Now, it is to me a hopeful sign of better days to the Presbyterian church in Ireland, that the ministers are calling the attention of their people to the nature of the Presbyterian discipline and go. vernment, as they are founded on the word of God. One effect of this will be, to lead congregations to form a higher estimate of the office and duties of the eldership, as well as of the ministry; and to a revival of religion in our congregations, as well as to their en. largement. An improvement in the character of the eldership is second in importance only to that of an improvement in the charac. ter of the ministry. And as it is to be feared that the general character of the eldership in our churches, comes far short of the scriptural standard; and, as your little journal is, no doubt, read by many who hold this honorable and important office, allow me, in the |