44.· John xiii. paralleled fweating out great lumps of blood may argue;s ER M. and as the terms expreffing his refentments do in- III. timate. For, in respect of present evils, he faid ofhimself, My foul is exceeding forrowful to death; he is Luke xxii. faid adnuovi, to be in great anguish and anxiety, to be Matt. xxvi. in an agony or pang of forrow. In regard to mifchiefs 37, 38. which he faw coming on, he is faid to be disturbed in 21. xii, 27. Spirit, and to be fore amazed, or dismayed at them. Mark xiv. To fuch an exceeding height did the fenfe of incumbent evils, and the profpect of impendent calamities, the apprehenfion of his cafe, together with a reflection on our condition, fcrew up his affections. 33. And no wonder that fuch a burden, even the weight of all the fins (the numberless most heinous fins and abominations) that ever were committed by mankind, by appropriation of them to himself, lying on his fhoulders, he fhould feel it heavy, or feem to crouch and groan under it; that in the myftical pfalm, applied by the Apoftle to him, he should cry Heb. x. 5. out, Innumerable evils have compassed me about, mine Plal. xl. iz. iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart faileth me. The fight of God's indig nation fo dreadfully flaming out against fin, might well aftonish and terrify him: to ftand, as it were, before the mouth of hell belching fire and brimstone in his face; to lie down in the hotteft furnace of divine vengeance; to quench with his own heartblood the wrath of heaven, and the infernal fire, (as he did in regard to those who will not rekindle them to themselves,) might well in the heart of a man beget unconceivable and unexpreffible preffures of affliction. When fuch a father (fo infinitely good and kind to him, whom he fo dearly and perfectly loved,) did hide his face from him, did frown on him, how could he otherwife than be mightily troubled? Is it ftrange that fo hearty a love, fo tender a pity, contemplating our finfulnefs, and experimenting F 4 SER M.menting our wretchedness, fhould be deeply touched? III. To fee, I fay, fo plainly, to feel fo thoroughly the horrible blindnefs, the folly, the infidelity, the imbecillity, the ingratitude, the incorrigibility, the ftrange perverfenels, perfidiousness, malice, and cruelty of mankind in fo many inftances, (in the treason of Judas, in the denial of Peter, in the desertion of all the Apostles, in the fpite and rage of the perfecutors, in the falsehood of the witneffes, in the abufes of the people, in the compliance of Pilate, in a general confpiracy of friends and foes to fin,) all these furrounding him, all invading him, all difcharging themfelves upon him; would it not aftone a mind fo pure ? Would it not wound a heart fo tender and full of charity? Surely, any of thofe perfons who fondly do pretend unto, or vainly do glory in, a fullen apathy, or a ftubborn contempt of the evils incident to our nature and ftate, would in fuch a cafe have been utterly dejected the moft refolved philofopher would have been dafhed into confufion at the fight, would have been crushed into defperation under the fenfe of thofe evils which did affault him. With the greatnefs of the causes, the goodness of his conftitution did confpire to increase his fufferings. For furely, as his complexion was moft pure and delicate, his fpirit moft vivid and apprehenfive, his affections most pliant and tractable; fo accordingly would the impreffions upon him be moft fenfible, and confequently the pains which he felt (in body or foul) moft afflictive. That we in like cafes are not alike moved, that we do not tremble at the apprehenfions of God's difplea ure, that we are not affrighted with the fenfe of our fins, that we do not with fad horror resent our danger and our mifery, doth arife from that we have very glimmering and faint conceptions of those matters; or that they do not in fo clear and lively a manner ftrike our fancy; (not appearing in their true III. true nature and proper fhape, fo heinous and fo hi-s ER M. deous as they really are in themselves and in their confequences ;) or because we haye but weak per-fuafions about them; or because we do but flightly confider them; or from that our hearts are very hard and callous, our affections very cold and dull, fo that nothing of this nature (nothing befide grofs material affairs) can mollify or melt them; or for that we have in us small love to God, and a flender regard to our own welfare; in fine, for that in fpiritual matters we are neither fo wife, fo fober, so ferious, nor fo good or ingenuous, in any reasonable measure, as we fhould be. But our Saviour in all thofe respects was otherwife difpofed. He moft evidently discerned the wrath of God, the grievousness of fin, the wretchedness of man, moft truly, most fully, most strongly reprefented to his mind: he most firmly believed, yea moft certainly knew, whatever God's law had declared about them: he did exactly confider and weigh them: his heart was moft foft and fenfible, his affections were moft quick and excitable by their due objects: he was full of dutiful love to God, and moft ardently defirous of our good, bearing a more than fraternal good-will towards us. Whence it is not fo marvellous that as a man, as a tranfcendently wife and good man, he was so vehemently affected by thofe occurrences, that his imagination was so troubled, and his paffions fo ftirred by them; fo that he thence did suffer in a manner and to a degree unconceivable; according to that ejaculation in the Greek liturgies, Aid Tür ἀγνώτων σε παθημάτων ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς, Χρισέ, By thy unknown fufferings, O Chrift, have mercy on us. But farther, IV. We may confider, that this way of fuffering had in it fome particular advantages, conducing to the accomplishment of our Lord's principal defigns. Its being very notorious, and lafting a competent time, were good advantages. For if he had been privately John xviii. 20. Acts xxvi. SER M. Privately made away, or fuddenly dispatched, no fuch great notice would have been taken of it, nor would the matter of fact have been fo fully proved, to the confirmation of our faith, and conviction of infidelity; nor had that his excellent deportment under fuch bitter affliction (his moft divine patience, meeknets, and charity,) fo illuftrioufly fhone forth. Wherefore to prevent all exceptions, and excufes of unbelief, (together with other collateral good purpofes) divine Providence did fo manage the bufiness, that as the course of his life, fo alfo the manner of his death, fhould be most confpicuously remarkable. I pake freely to the world, and in fecret have I done nothing, faid he of himfelf; and, Thefe things (faid St. Paul to king Agrippa) were not done in a corner. Such were the proceedings of his life, not close or clancular, but frank and open, not prefently hushed up, but leisurely carried on in the face of the world, that men might have the advantage to observe and examine them. And as he lived, fo he died, most publickly and visibly; the world being witnefs of his death, and fo prepared to believe his refurrection, and thence difpofed to embrace his doctrine; acJohn xii, cording to what he did foretel, I being lifted up from the earth, fhall draw all men to me: for he drew all men by fo obvious a death to take notice of it, he drew all well-difpofed perfons from the wondrous confequences of it to believe on him. And, As, faid he again, Mofes did exalt the ferpent in the wilderness, Iren. iv. 5. fo muft the Son of man be exalted. As the elevation of that myfterious ferpent did render it vifible, and did attract the eyes of people toward it; whereby, God's power invifibly accompanying that facramental performance, they were cured of thofe mortiferous flings which they had received: fo our Lord, being mounted on the crofs, allured the eyes of men to behold him, and their hearts to clofe with him; whereby, the heavenly virtue of God's Spirit co-operating, they became faved from thofe deftructive fins, 32. (Iren. ii. 26.) John iii. 14. which from the Devil's ferpentine inftigations they S ER M. had incurred. III. Another advantage of this kind of fuffering was, that by it the nature of that kingdom, which he did intend to erect, was evidently fignified that it was not fuch as the carnal people did expect, an external, earthly, temporal kingdom, confifting in domination over the bodies and eftates of men, dignified by outward wealth and fplendor, managed by worldly power and policy, promoted by forcible compulfion and terror of arms, affording the advantages of fafety, quiet, and profperity here; but a kingdom purely fpiritual, celeftial, eternal; confifting in the governance of men's hearts and minds adorned with endowments of wisdom and virtue; administered by the conduct and grace of God's holy Spirit; upheld and propagated by meek inftruction, by virtuous example, by hearty devotion, and humble patience; rewarding its loyal fubjects with fpiritual joys and confolations now, with heavenly reft and blifs hereafter. No other kingdom could he prefume to defign, who fubmitted to this dolorous and difgraceful way of fuffering; no other exploits could he pretend to atchieve by expiring on a crofs; no other way could he rule, who gave himfelf to be managed by the will of his adverfaries; no other benefits would this forlorn cafe allow him to difpenfe. So that well might he then affert, My John xvii. kingdom is not of this world; when he was going in this fignal way to demonftrate that important truth. It was alfo a moft convenient touchftone to prove Luke ii. 35the genuine difpofition and worth of men; fo as to difcriminate thofe wife, fober, ingenuous, fincere, generous fouls, who could difcern true goodness through fo dark a cloud, who could love it though fo ill-favouredly disfigured, who could embrace and avow it notwithstanding fo terrible difadvantages; it ferved, I fay, to diftinguish thofe bleffed ones, who would 36. |