a frame of mind altogether peculiar to their own profession; "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."-The servant of God, then, is to cultivate—not the mind of man; not the mind of some popu lar leader, nor of this or that minister of religion; nor even the mind of martyrs or apostles, any further than they were followers of their crucified Master; but-the mind of the Son of God himself. And of what infinite importance is this all-perfect model to a poor fallen creature! The disposition of the heart by nature, especially as respects the things of eternity, is, too commonly, to adopt the lowest model. Let even the example of a man; of one of like passions with ourselves-of St. Paul or St. John-be exhibited to mankind, and it will be asked, Can you expect us to tread in the footsteps of Apostles?' Christian brethren, you are required to tread in far holier footsteps, and wing your flight to higher regions of purity and love: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Your Divine Master is your only legitimate model. No earthly Sexample is deemed pure enough for the

imitation of the children of men. The stars are bright; but you are charged to follow Him in whose eyes the "stars are not pure." The angels are holy; but you are to follow Him who " chargeth even his angels with folly." "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ;" become "conformed to the image" of the Son of God; present to your eye and to your heart "the Lamb without blemish and without spot;' and you have the model by which the inner man is to be moulded, and of which the reflected image is to be exhibited in the mind, temper, and conduct of the servants of God.

II. But I come, secondly, to examine THE ILLUSTRATION presented in the text of that general command which has been already noticed. And in order to this, let us follow the brief outline which is here supplied of the history of our Redeemer, in the different stages of his existence.

1. In the first place, the Saviour of the world is described in the text as originally "in the form of God," and as "thinking it

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not robbery to be equal with God."-In our frequent and necessary contemplation of the Son of God as man resident upon earth, the mind is sometimes betrayed into forgetfulness of that glory which he enjoys in his own character, and which he possessed with his Father "before the world was." Perhaps no terms can more forcibly describe that glory than those of the text: He was " in the form of God," and "thought it not robbery to be equal with God." In other words, he bore the express form and character of the Godhead; and considered it as no undue assumption of rights and dignity to call himself equal with God. Let us endeavour, my brethren, to contemplate a little more closely the truths which are comprised in this important statement.

It would, then, appear, that the despised Nazarene; the mere out-cast of society; the man buffeted, and spit upon, and approached with mock homage as an impostor or usurper; the supposed criminal, to whom every insult was offered, and on whom the most deadly injuries were inflicted, was the Co-equal of God! It is de

clared of him, in other places of Scripture, that He and "the Father" were "one;" were"

that whosoever had "seen the Son" had

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seen the Father;" that the Son is to be honoured" even as we honour the Father." That despised Nazarene, my brethren, before the worlds were, dwelt with the Most High in the pure splendour of his undis turbed existence, and participated in His glory. In the succession of ages, when the spirits around the throne worshipped the Father, they worshipped also the Son. In those awful counsels of Heaven which immediately preceded the creation of the world, it was to the Son, conjointly with the Holy Spirit, the Father addressed himself, when he said, "Let us make man in our image." It was the voice of the Son which, in the morning of creation, all nature obeyed; and light, and life, and order sprang out of chaos: for "without him was not any thing made that was made." His power stretched over the fields of unvisited space, and his will was the law of the universe.

Consider, next, what is affirmed in the

text with regard to this Co-equal of God: "He made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself; and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."- Call to mind, my Christian brethren, who it is of whom all these facts are recorded ;-of Him who was "in the form of God," and "thought it not robbery to be equal with God;" of Him who called the world out of the slumbers of night; who gave existence to the spirits that dwell around the throne of God; who was the " Brightness of his Father's glory, and the express Image of his person." This glorious Being divested himself of his honours, and "took upon him the form of a servant," subjected himself to all the laws of human infirmity; to the wants, trials, and sufferings of his guilty creatures; he lived a life of contempt, and finally died a death of infamy upon the cross. It is important, in order to contrast the original glory of our Lord with the circumstances of his