Inf. 5. Lastly, Eye Christ in all the events of providence ; see his hand in all that befals you, whether it be evil or good. " The M works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have " pleasure therein,11 Psal. cxi. 2.
How much good might we get, by observation of the good or evil that befals us throughout our course !
1. In all the evils of trouble and afflictions that befal you, eye Jesus Christ : and set your hearts to the study of these four things in affliction.
(1.) Study his sovereignty and dominion ; for he creates and forms
* Psal. ii. 8. f Prov. viii. 15. \ Rev. i. 18. || Matth. xxi. 5.
§Psal. xlv. 4. ^ 1 Tim.i. 17.
4 See my Saint indeed.
222 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. XVII.
them : they rise not out of the dust, nor do they befal you casual- ly; but he raises them up, and gives them their commission, Jer. xviii. 11. " Behold, I create evil, and devise a device against " yon." He elects the instrument of your trouble ; he makes the rod as afflictive as he pleaseth ; he orders the continuance and end of your troubles ; and they wiH not cease to be afflictive to you, till Christ say, Leave off, it is enough. The Centurion wisely considered this, when he told him, Luke vii. 8. " I have soldiers " under me, and I say to one, Go, and he goeth ; to another, " Come, and he cometh :" meaning, that as his soldiers were at his beck and command, so diseases were at Christ's beck, to coin* and go as he ordered them.
(2.) Study the wisdom of Christ in the contrivance of your trou- bles* And his wisdom shines out many ways in them, it is evident in ehusing such kinds of trouble for you : this, and not that, because this is more apt to work upon, and purge out the corruption that most predominates in you : In the degrees of your troubles, suffer- ing them to work to such a height, else not reach their end ; but no higher, lest they overwhelm you.
(3.) Study the tenderness- and compassions of Christ over his. afflicted. O think if the devil had but the mixing of my cup, how much more bitter would he make it ! There would not be one drop of mercy, no, not of sparing mercy in it, which is the low- est of all sorts of mercy : but here is much mercy mixed with my troubles ; there is mercy in this, that it is no worse. Am I af- flicted ? " It is of the Lord's mercy I am not consumed," Lam. iii. 2. It might have been hell as well as this ; there is mercy in his supports under it. Others have, and I might have been left to sink and perish under my burdens. Mercy, in deliverance out of it ; this might have been everlasting darkness, that should never have had a morning. O the tenderness of Christ over his af- flicted !
(4.) Study the love of Christ to thy soul, in affliction, Did he not love thee, he would not sanctify a rod to humble or reduce thee, but let thee alone to perish in thy sin. Rev. iii. 19- " Whom I " love, I rebuke and chasten." This is the device of love, to re- cover thee to thy God, and prevent thy ruin. O what an advan- tage would it be thus to study Christ, in all your evils that befal you !
2. Eye and study Christ in all the good you receive from the hand qf providence. Turn both sides of your mercies, and view them in all their lovely circumstances.
(1.) Eye them in their suitableness : how conveniently pro- vidence hath ordered all tilings for thee. Thou hast a narrow heart, and a small estate suitable to it : Hadst thou more of the world, it
SERM. XVIII. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. £23
would be like a large sail to a little boat, which would quickly pull thee under water : thou hast that which is most suitable to theo of all conditions.
(2.) Eye the reasonableness of thy mercies, how they are timed to an hour. Providence brings forth all its fruits in due season.
(3.) Eye the peculiar nature of thy mercies. Others have common, thou special ones ; others have but a single, thou a double sweet- ness in thy enjoyments, one natural from the matter of it, another spiritual from the way ill which, and end for which, it comes.
(4.) Observe the order in which providence sends your mercies. See how one is linked strangely to another, and is a door to let in many. Sometimes one mercy is introductivc to a thousand.
(5.) And lastly, Observe the constancy! of them, " they are new " every morning," Lam. i'li. 23. How assiduously doth God visit thy soul and body ! Think with thyself, if there be but a suspen- sion of the care of Christ for one hour, that hour would be thy ruin. Thousands of evils stand round about thee, watching when Christ will but remove his eye from thee, that tkey may rush in and devour thee.
Could we thus study the providence of Christ in all the good and evil that befals us in the world, then in every state we should be content, Phil. iv. 11. Then we should never be stopt, but fur- thered in our way by all that falls out ; then would our experience swell to great volumes, which we might carry to heaven with us ; and then should we answer all Chrisfs ends in every state he brings us into. Do this, and say,
Tlianks be to God for Jesus Christ.
Of the Necessity of Christ's Humiliation, in order to the Execution of all these his blessed Offices for us ; and par- ticularly of his Humiliation by Incarnation.
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.
jL OU have heard how Christ was invested with the offices of prophet, priest, and king, for the carrying on the blessed design of our redemption ; the execution of these offices necessarily required that he should be both deeply abased, and highly exalted. He cannot, as our Priest, offer up himself a sacrifice to God for us*
S24 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE, SERM. XVIIt,
except he be humbled, and humbled to death. He cannot, as a Kin «-, powerfully apply the virtue of that his sacrifice, except he be exalted, yea, highly exalted. Had he not stooped to the low estate of a man, he had not, as a Priest, had a sacrifice of his own to offer ; as a Prophet, he had not been fit to teach us the will of God, so as that we should be able to bear it ; as a King, he had not been a suitable head to the church : and, had he not been highly exalted, that sacrifice had not been carried within the vail before the Lord. Those discoveries of God could not have been universal, effectual and abiding. The government of Christ could not have secured, protected, and defended the subjects of his kingdom.
• The infinite wisdom prospecting all this, ordered that Christ should first be deeply humbled, then highly exalted : both which states of Christ are presented to us by the apostle in this context.