ployed about, as if it were too mean and base, should come and take it out of his hand ; and when he has done it, should say, doth your Lord and Master think it not beneath him to do it ; and is it beneath you ? I remember it is an excellent saying that * Ber- nard hath upon the nativity of Christ : saith he, " What more " detestable, what more unworthy, or what deserves severer " punishment, than for a poor man to magnify himself, after he " hath seen the great and high God, so humbled, as to become a « little child ? It is intolerable impudence for a worm to swell with «' pride, after it hath seen majesty emptying itself; to see one so " infinitely above us, to stoop so far beneath us." O how con- vincing and shaming should it be ! Ah how opposite shoul 1 pride and stoutness be to the spirit of a Christian ! I am sure nothing is more so to the spirit of Christ. Your Saviour was lowly, meek, self-denying, and of a most condescending spirit ; he looked not at his own things, but yours, Phil. ii. 4. And doth it become you to be proud, selfish, and stout ? I remember Jerom, in his epistle to Pamachius, a godly young nobleman, advised him to be eyes to the blind, feet to the lame ; yea, saith he, if need be, I would not have you refuse to cut wood, and draw water for the saints : And what, saith he, is this to buffeting and spitting upon, to crowning with thorns, scourging and dying ! Christ did undergo all this, and that for the ungodly.
Inf. 3. Did Christ stoop so low as to become a man to save its ? Then those that perish under the gospel, must needs perish xvithout apology. What would you have Christ do more to save you ? Lo, he hath laid aside the robes of majesty and glory, put on your own garments of flesh, come down from his throne, and brought salvation home to your own doors. Surely, the lower Christ stooped to save us, the lower we shall sink under wrath that neglect so great salva- tion. The Lord Jesus is brought low, but the unbeliever will lay him yet lower, even under his feet : he will tread the Son of God under foot, Heb. x. 28. For such (as the apostle there speaks) is reserved something worse than dying without mercy. What pleas and excuses others will make at the judgment-seat, I know not ; but once, it is evident, you will be speechless. And, as *)* one well observes, the vilest sinners among the Gentiles, nay, the devils themselves, will have more to say for themselves than you.
I must be plain with you ; I beseech you consider, how Jews, Pagans, and Devils will rise up in judgment against you. The
* Quid magis indignum, quid detestandum amplius, quid gravius puniendum, quam ut videns Deum parvulum factum, homo $e viagnificet ? Intolerabilis est impudentia, ut ubi sese exinanioit majestas, vermicuhis infletur. et intumescat. Bern. Serm. 1. de Nativ.
f Vide Morning Exercise at St. Giles's in the Fields, p. 256.
232 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SEEM. XVIII.
Jew may say, I had a legal yoke upon me, winch neither I nor my fathers were able to bear ; Christ invited me only into the gar- den of nuts, where I might sooner break my teeth with the hard shells of ceremonies, than get the kernel of gospel-promises. — In the best of our sacrifices, the smoke filled our temple ; smoke only to provoke us to weep for a clearer manifestation. We had but the old edition of the covenant of grace, in a character very darkly intelligible : You have the last edition, with a commentary of our rejection, and the world's reception, and the Spirit's effusion. You had all that heart could wish. — I perish eternally, may the poor Pa- gan say, without all possibility of reconciliation, and have only sin- ned against the covenant of works ; having never heard of a gospel- covenant, nor of reconciliation by a Mediator. O had I but heard one sermon ! had Christ but once broke in upon my soul, to con- vince me of my undone condition, and to have shewn a righteous- ness to me ! But woe is me ! I never had so much as one offer of Christ. — But so have I, must you say that refuse the gospel : I have, or might have heard thousands of sermons ; I could scarce escape hearing one or other shewing me the danger of my sin, and my ne- cessity of Christ. But notwithstanding all I heard, I wilfullv re- solved I would have nothing to do with him. I could not endure to hear strictness pressed upon me : It was all the hell I had upon earth, that I could not sin in quiet. — Nay, may the devil himself say, it is true, I was ever since my fall maliciously set against God. But alas ! as soon as I had sinned, God threw me out of heaven, and told me he would never have mercy upon me : and though I lived in the time of all manner of gracious dispensations, I saw sa- crifices offered, and Christ in the flesh, and the gospel preached ; yet how could all this chuse but enrage me the more, to have God, as it were, say, Look here, Satan, I have provided a remedy for sin, but none for thine ! This set me upon revenge against God, as far as I could reach him. But alas ! alas ! had God entered into any covenant with me at all ; had God put me on any terms, though never so hard for the obtaining of mercy ; had Christ been but once offered to me, What do you think would I not have done ? eye.
O poor sinners ! Your damnation is just, if you refuse grace brought home by Jesus Christ himself to your very doors. The Lord grant this may not be thy case who readest these lines.
Inf. 4. Moreover ; hence it follows, that none doth, or can love like Christ : His love to man is matchless. The freeness, strength, antiquity, and immutability of it, puts a lustre on it beyond all ex- amples. Surely it was a strong love indeed, that made him lay aside his glory, to be found in fashion as a man, to become any thing, though never so much below himself, for our salvation.
8ERM. XVIII. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 233
We read of Jonathan's love to David, which passed the love of women ; of Jacob's love to Rachel, who for her sake endured the heat of summer, and cold of winter ; of David's love to Absalom ; of the primitive Christians love to one another, who could die one for another : but neither had they that to deny which Christ had, nor had he those inducements from the object of his love that they had. His love, like himself, is wonderful.
Inf. 5. Did the Lord Jesus so deeply abase and humble himself for us ? What an engagement hath he thereby put on us, to exalt and honour him, who for our sokes zaas so abused ? It was a good saying of * Bernard, " By how much the viler he was made for me, " by so much the dearer he shall be to me." And O that all, to whom Christ is dear, would study to exalt and honour him, these four ways.