CHAPTER XIII.

OUR COVENANT REDEEMER IN HIS WORK.

"By the mystery of Thy holy incarnation; by Thy holy nativity and circumcision; by Thy baptism, fasting, and temptation, Good Lord, deliver us. Litany.

I HAVE now to consider the accomplishment of God's grand and merciful design to save from merited death, those who, by the violation of the law, had brought themselves under condemnation. This was, as we have seen, settled in the council of eternity, and, from age to age, made known unto men with more and more distinctness, up to the moment when God saw fit to send His Son into the world, to fulfil the condition of the covenant, which He had undertaken to accomplish.

The hour at length arrived, when this work and labour of love must be performed. The fulness of time had come, when the world was ripe for the Messiah's advent, and then, without further delay, God sent His Son on His holy, but painful and humiliating mission. As it was essential to the performance of His work that our Redeemer should be one of ourselves, God, in His love towards us, and in kind consideration to our limited powers of comprehension was pleased, not only

to give Him a body, but to afford unto us every possible proof of His perfect humanity, by sending Him into the world in the ordinary manner of men; therefore He was born of a woman. (Luke ii. 7; Gal. iv. 4.)

This wonderful event occurred in Bethlehem, one of the royal cities of Judæa, during the reign of Augustus Cæsar, to whom the province of Judæa was then subject, as appears from the testimony of Luke, who says, "It came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed" ;-" And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because He was of the house and lineage of David :) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child." (Luke ii. 1, 4, 5.)

But, although Judæa was, at this time, a Roman province, there was still reigning over the Jews, a king who governed them according to their own laws. Herod the Great, though appointed by, and a creature of the Roman Emperor, was the king of Judæa; and it was not until after the destruction of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the Jews by Titus, that the sceptre and the lawgiver may be said to have departed from Judah. It was, therefore, during the existence of Jewish regal and legal powers, that Jesus was born; and if He were not the Messiah-the Shiloh promised by Jacob, (Gen. xlix. 10,) when are we to look for Him, seeing, that long ago the power and dominion of Judah have passed away?

According to the word of prophecy, Christ was born of the seed of David. (2 Sam. vii. 11-17; Is. ix. 6, 7; xvi. 5; Jer. xxiii. 5.) By a most wonderful arrangement, made, doubtless, in order to defeat cavil, Jesus was the seed of David, both through Mary His mother, and Joseph, His reputed father: and, therefore, the Jews who counted His lineage up from Joseph, never could dispute His royal descent; and we who know that He was not the son of Joseph, but born of the virgin Mary, have also the undeniable testimony of God's word to the same fact. This circumstance will account for the apparent discrepancy between the two statements of our Lord's descent, given by Matthew and Luke. The former, writing for the Jews, gives the pedigree of Joseph, supposed by them to be the father of Christ; while the latter evangelist gives his genealogy through Mary, who was the daughter of Heli, a direct descendant of king David, through Nathan.

With regard to the immediate place of Christ's nativity, there is also an apparent contradiction in the prophetic writings. Micha had said, "But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting." (Micha v. 2.) But the prophet Hosea, when speaking, primarily, of Israel, and in a second sense, of the Messiah, said, "when Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son

out of Egypt." (Hosea xi. 1.) And, lastly, most of the prophets speak of the contempt with which Christ should be treated, even as "a root out of a dry ground," in whom was "no comeliness," nor any quality that would render Him desirable, (Is. liii. 2); which reproach was usually expressed by the term Nazarene; when, therefore, it is said He shall be called a Nazarene, (Matt. ii. 23,) it is only another mode of expressing the witness of the prophets, to His treatment as a Nazarene, or person of a mean and contemptible character.

Here, then, we are told of three distinct places; each of which is mentioned or alluded to as the one from which the Messiah would come. Beth-lehem, Egypt, and Nazareth of Galilee; and we find that in His infancy He was so situated with respect to them all, as to lead to the reconciliation of these seeming contradictions; for, though born in Bethlehem, He was immediately carried into Egypt, to escape the cruelty of Herod, (Matt. ii. 14, 15); and, subsequently, from the fear of Archelaus, His parents conveyed Him into Galilee, where they resided in the city of Nazareth.

The birth of Jesus was remarkable; for, by the power of the Highest (Luke i. 35), a wonderful thing was accomplished, such as the world never knew or heard of, but in the prophecies relating to the Messiah, (Is. vii. 14); a virgin, under the miraculous influence of the Holy Ghost, conceived and brought forth a Son. (Luke i. 27; ii. 7). Thus commenced the Saviour's work of humiliation. He was made of a woman, and

so came into the world in the form and fashion of any other human creature; but, He was born of a virgin by the power of the Highest, and, therefore, differed from all other men, in the perfection of His nature.

Since the hour of Adam's creation, no other man has come into the world free from depravity. By the sin of Adam, all his posterity have been made sinners. Like a disease that is hereditary, the moral taint of his soul has passed down through each succeeding generation; so that, in every period of the world, it could be said, "there is none righteous, no not one." But, by His miraculous conception, Christ came into the world free from this taint, and its consequences. A pure body was prepared for Him, (Heb. x. 5); hence said the angel to Mary, "Thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His Father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end."- "The 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." (Luke i. 30-33, 35.)

But, notwithstanding this superiority to all other men, how wonderful was the condescension of God. in thus stooping down to enter our world in the humble form of an infant;-a condition to which He