Inf. 2. Have the believing meditations of Christ, and his suf- ferings, such heart-melting influences ? Then surely the proper order of raising the affections, is to begin at the exercise of faith. It grieves me to see how many poor Christians strive with their own dead hearts, endeavouring to raise and affect them, but cannot ; they complain and strive, strive and complain, but can discover no love to the Lord, no brokenness of heart ; they go to this ordinance and that, to one duty and another, hoping that now the Lord will affect it, and fill the sails; but come back disappointed and
•ERM. XXV. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 51 9
ashamed, like the troops of Tenia. Poor Christian, hear me one word; possibly it may do thy business, and stand thee in more stead, than all the methods thou hast yet used. If thou wouldst indeed get a heart evangelically melted for sin, and broken with the kindly sense of the grace and love of Christ, thy way is not to force thy affections, nor to vex thyself, and go about complaining of a hard heart, but set thyself to believe, realize, apply, infer, and compare by faith as you have been directed ; and see what thia will do: " They shall look on me whom they have pierced, and " mourn." This is the way and proper method to raise the heart, and break it.
Inf. 3. Is this the way to get a truly broken heart ? Then let those tiled have attained brdkenness of heart this way, bless the Lord whilst they live, for so cJioice a mercy ; and that upon a double account.
1. For as much as a heart so affected and melted, is not attain- able by any natural or unrenewed person ; if they would give all they have in the world, it cannot purchase one such tear, or groan over Christ; mark, what characters of special grace it bears, in the description that is made of it, in that forementioned place* Zech. xii. 10. Such a frame as this is not born with us, or to be acquired by us ; for it is there said to be poured out by the Lord upon us, " I will pour upon them,1' §c. There is no hypocrisy or dissimulation in these mournings, they being compared to the mourning of a man for his only son : and sure parents hearts are not untouched when they behold such sights.
Nature is not the principle of it, but faith ; for it is there said, they shall look on me ; i. e. believe and mourn. Self is not the end and centre of these sorrows ; it is not so much for damning ourselves, as for piercing Christ : " They shall look on me whom. " they have pierced, and shall mourn ;" so that this is sorrow after God, and not a flash of nature, as discoursed in the former point. Therefore you have cause to bless the Lord, whilst you live for such a special mercy as this is. And,
2. As it is the right, so it is the choicest, and most precious gift that can be given you ; for it is ranked among the prime mercies of the new covenant, Ezek. xxxvi. 26. This shall be the cove- nant ; "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I " put within you ; and I will take away the stony heart out of your " flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." What wouldest thou have given sometimes for such a heart as now thou hast, though it be not yet as thou wouldest have it? And however you value and esteem it, God himself sets no common value on it: for mark what he saith of it, Psal. li. 17. * The sacrifices of God are a 11 broken heart : a broken and a contrite spirit. O God, thou wilt
320 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. XXVI,
" not despise ;v i. e. God is more delighted with such a heart, than with all the sacrifices in the world; one groan, one tear, no win a- from faith, and the spirit of adoption, are more to him, than the cattle upon a thousand hills. And to the same sense he speaks again, Isa. lxvi. 1, 2. " Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is " my throne, and the earth is my footstool : Where is the house " that ye build to me ? And where is the place of my rest ? — But ** to this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a con- <; trite spirit, and trembleth at my word ;" q. d. All the magnifi- cent temples and glorious structures in the world, give me no pleasure in comparison of such a broken heart as this.
O then, for ever bless the Lord, that hath done that for you, which none else could do, and which he has done but for few be- sides you.
Of the Nature and Quality of Christ's Death.
Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified, and slain.
JlXAVING considered, in order, the preparative acts for the death of Christ, both on his own part, and on his enemies part, we now come to consider the * death of Christ itself, which was the principal part of his humiliation, and is the chief pillar of our consolation. Here we shall in order consider,
First, The kind and nature of the death he died.
Secondly, The manner in which he bare it, viz. patiently, soli- tarily, and instructively; dropping divers holy and instructive lessons upon all that were about him, in his seven last words upon the cross.
Thirdly, The funeral solemnities at his burial.
Fourthly, and lastly, The weighty ends and great designs of his death. In all which particulars, as we proceed to discuss and open them, you will have an account of the deep debasement and hu- miliation of the Son of God.
In this text, we have an account of the kind and nature of that
* The death of Christ was the last step of his humiliation ; by which he under- went the most grievous, the most dreadful, and the greatest punishment for the sins of men. Ames,
SERM. XXVI. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 821
death which Christ died : as also of the causes of it, both princi- pal and instrumental.
First, The kind and nature of the death Christ died, which is here described more generally, as a violent death, Ye have slain him : and more particularly, as a most ignominious, cursed, dis- honourable death ; ye have crucified him.
Secondly, The causes of it are here likewise expressed : and that noth principal and instrumental. The principal cause, permitting, ordering, and disposing all things about it, was the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God. There was not an action or circumstance but came under this most wise and holy counsel and determination of God.