Son of God, equal to His Father, eternal as His Father, almighty as His Father, immense, most wise, most happy, and sovereign Lord of Heaven and earth, of Angels and of men, no less than His Father; but for the love of man He stooped to take the lowly form of a servant, by clothing Himself in human flesh, and likening Himself to men; and since sin had made them vassals of the devil, He came in the form of man to redeem them, offering His sufferings and death in satisfaction to the Divine justice for the punishment due to them. Ah! who would have believed it, if holy faith did not assure us of it? Who could ever have hoped for it?---who could ever have connived it? But faith tells us and assures us that this supreme and sovereign Lord emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant.
From his tenderest childhood, the Redeemer, by becoming a servant, was eager to begin and wrench from e devil that dominion which he had over man, according to the prophecy of Isaias: Call His name, hasten to take lay the spoils: Make haste to take away the prey. [8:3] "That is," as St. Jerome explains it, "suffer the devil to reign no longer." Behold Jesus; scarcely born, says the Venerable Bede, before He assumes the form and office of a servant, in order to gain us freedom from the slavery of sin, He causes Himself to be enrolled as a subject of Caesar, and pays him the tribute: "Scarcely born, He is registered in the census of Caesar, and for our liberation Himself is inscribed in the list of servitude." Observe how, in token of His servitude, He begins to payoff our debts by His sufferings; how He allows Himself to be wrapped in swaddling-clothes (a type of the cords which
