Such a will our Lord had, and it was requifite he s E R M. should have it, that he thence might be qualified XIX. to discharge the principal instances of obedience, for procuring God's favour to us, and for fetting an exact pattern before us; for God impofing on him duties to perform, and difpenfing accidents to endure, very cross to that natural will, in his compliance and acquiefcence thereto, his obedience was throughly tried; his virtue did shine most brightly; therefore, as the Apostle faith, he was in all points Heb. iv. 15. tempted; thence, as to meritorious capacity, and exemplary influence, he was perfected through fuffering.

ii. 10, 18.

Pfal. xl. 7.

iv. 34.

Hence was the whole courfe of his life and conversation among men fo defigned, fo modelled, as to be one continual exercise of thwarting that human will, and closing with the divine pleasure: it was predicted of him, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God; and of him- Heb. x. 7. felf he affirmed, I came down from heaven, not to do John. vi. mine own will, but the will of him that fent me; whereas 38. v. 30. therefore fuch a practice is little feen in atchieving eafy matters, or in admitting pleasant occurrences; it was ordered for him, that he should encounter the roughest difficulties, and be engaged in circumftances most harih to natural apprehenfion and appetite; fo that if we trace the footsteps of his life from the fordid manger to the bloody crofs, we can hardly mark any thing to have befallen him apt to fatisfy the will of nature. Nature liketh refpect, and loatheth contempt; therefore was he born of mean parentage, and in a moft homely condition; therefore did he live in no garb, did affume no office, did exercise no power, did meddle in no affairs, which procure to men confideration and regard; therefore an impoftor, a blasphemer, a forcerer, a loose companion, a feditious incendiary, were the titles of honour and the elogies of praife conferred on him; therefore was he expofed to the lafh of every flanderous, every fcurrilous, every petulant and ungoverned tongue.

Nature doth affect the good opinion and good

SER M. will of men, especially when due in grateful return XIX. for great courtesy and beneficence; nor doth any thing more grate thereon, than abuse of kindness; therefore could he (the world's great friend and beJohn vii. 7. nefactor) fay, the world hateth me; therefore were those, whom he with fo much charity and bounty had instructed, had fed, had cured of diseases (both corporal and fpiritual) fo ready to clamour, and commit outrage upon him; therefore could he thus Joh. x. 32. expoftulate, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of thofe works do ye ftone me? Therefore did his kindred flight him, therefore did John xiii. his difciples abandon him, therefore did the grand traitor iffue from his own bofom; therefore did that whole nation, which he chiefly fought and laboured to fave, confpire to perfecute him, with moft rancorous spite and cruel mifufage.

18.

20. xvii. 25.

xxi. 19.

Nature loveth plentiful accommodations, and abhorreth to be pinched with any want; therefore was extreme penury appointed to him; he had no reveMatt. viii. nue, no eftate, no certain livelihood, not fo much as a boufe where to lay his head, or a piece of money to Luk. viii. 3 discharge the tax for it; he owed his ordinary support to alms, or voluntary beneficence; he was to feek his food from a fig-tree on the way; and fometimes was beholden for it to the courtesy of Publi2 Cor. viii. cans; di' nμãs inтúxevce, he was, faith St. Paul, a beggar for us.

9.

Matt. iv.

Nature delighteth in eafe, in quiet, in liberty; therefore did he fpend his days in continual labour, Joh. iv. 6. in restless travel, in endlefs vagrancy, going about and 23. ix. 35. doing good; ever haftening thither, whither the needs Acts x. 38. of men did call, or their benefit invite; therefore did Luke xxii. he take on him the form of a fervant, and was among his own followers as one that miniftereth; therefore he pleafed not himself, but fuited his demeanour to the ftate and circumftances of things, complied with the manners and fafhions, comported with the humours and infirmities of men.

27.

Mark vi. 6.

Nature coveteth good fuccefs to its defigns and

under

undertakings, hardly brooking to be disappointed 9 ER M. and defeated in them: therefore was he put to XIX. water dry fticks, and to wash Negroes; that is, to inftruct a moft dull and stupid, to reform a most perverse and stubborn generation; therefore his ardent defires, his folicitous cares, his painful endeavours for the good of men did obtain fo little fruit, had indeed a contrary effect, rather aggravating their fins than removing them, rather hardening than turning their hearts, rather plunging them deeper into perdition, than refcuing them from it: therefore: fo much in vain did he, in numberlefs miraculous works, display his power and goodness, convincing few, converting fewer by them; therefore although he taught with most powerful authority, with most charming gracefulness, with moft convincing evidence, yet, Who, could he fay, bath believed Joh. xii. 38. our report? Though he most earnestly did invite and allure men to him, offering the richest boons that heaven itself could difpenfe, yet, Ye will not, was he Joh. v. 40. forced to fay, come unto me, that ye may be faved: although with affiduous fervency of affection he ftrove to reclaim them from courfes tending to their ruin, yet how he profpered, fad experience declareth, and we may learn from that doleful complaint, How often Luke xiii. would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen 34. xix. 42. doth gather her brood under her wings, but ye would not!

2x тe, your will did not concur, your will did not fubmit.

Luke iv. 22,

23.

In fine, natural will feeketh pleasure, and fhunneth pain but what pleasure did he tafte? what inclination, what appetite, what fenfe did he gratify? How did he feaft, or revel? How, but in tedious faftings, Mark i. 13, in frequent hungers, by paffing whole nights in prayer, 35; and retirement for devotion upon the cold moun- Joh. iv. 6. tains? What fports had he, what recreation did he 3; take, but feeling inceffant gripes of compaffion, and Matt. xiv. wearifome roving in queft of the loft fheep? In what 23. xvii. converfation could he divert himfelf, but among

thofe,

Luke vi. 12.

12.

SER M. thofe, whofe doltish incapacity and froward humour XIX. did wring from his patience those words, How long

17.

- fhall I be with you? how long fhall I fuffer you? What Matt. xvii. mufick did he hear? What but the rattlings of clamorous obloquy, and furious accufations against him? To be defperately maligned, to be infolently mocked, to be styled a king, and treated as a flave; to be fpit on, to be buffetted, to be scourged, to be drenched with gall, to be crowned with thorns, to be nailed to a crofs; thefe were the delights which our Lord enjoyed, these the sweet comforts of his life, and the notable profperities of his fortune: fuch a portion was allotted to him, the which he did accept from God's hand with all patient fubmiffion, with perfect contentedness, with exceeding alacrity, never repining at it, never complaining of it, never flinching from it, or fainting under it; but proceeding on in the performance of all his duty, and profecution of his great defigns, with undaunted courage, with unwearied industry, with undisturbed tranquillity and fatisfaction of mind.

Had indeed his condition and fortune been otherwife framed; had he come into the world qualified with a noble extraction; had he lived in a fplendid equipage, had he enjoyed a plentiful eftate and a fair reputation, had he been favoured and careffed by men, had he found a current of profperous fuccefs, had safety, cafe, and pleasure waited on him; where had been the pious refignation of his will; where the precious merit of his obedience; where the glorious luftre of his example? How then had our frailty in him become victorious over all its enemies; how had he triumphed over the folicitations and allurements of the flesh; over the frowns and flatteries of the world; over the malice and fury of hell? how then could he have fo demonftrated his immenfe charity towards us, or laid fo mighty obligations upon us?

Such in general was the cafe, and fuch the deport

ment

ment of our Lord: but there was fomewhat pecu-s E R M. liar, and beyond all this occurring to him, which XIX. drew forth the words of our text: God hath tempered for him a potion of all the most bitter and loathfome ingredients that could be; a drop whereof no man ever hath, or could endure to fip; for he was not only to undergo whatever load human rage could impofe, of ignominious difgrace, and grievous pain; but to feel difmal agonies of spirit, and those unknown fufferings, which God alone could inflict, God only could fuftain: Behold, and fee, he might Lam. i. 12. well fay, if there be any forrow like unto my forrow, which is done unto me; wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger? He was to labour with pangs of charity, and through his heart to be pierced with deepest commiferation of our wretched cafe: he was to crouch under the burthen of all the fins (the numberless moft heinous fins and abominations) ever committed by mankind: he was to pass through the hottest furnace of divine vengeance, and by his blood to quench the wrath of heaven flaming out against iniquity: he was to ftand, as it were, before the mouth of hell, belching fire and brimftone on his face his grief was to fupply the defects of our remorfe, and his fuffering in those few moments to countervail the eternal torments due to us he was to bear the hiding of God's face, and an eclipfe of that favourable afpect, in which all blifs doth refide; a cafe which he that fo perfectly understood, could not but infinitely refent: these things with the clearest apprehenfion he faw coming on him; and no wonder that our nature started at fo ghaftly a fight, or that human inftinct fhould dictate that petition, Father, if thou wilt, let this cup pafs from me; words implying his moft real participation of our infirmity; words denoting the height of thofe fad evils which encompaffed him, with his lively and lowly

* Δι' αγνώσων σε παθημάτων ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς κύριε. Lit. Gr.