and sturdy that you cannot hear together, nor pray together, nor sit at the table of the Lord together, though you all hope at last to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven? Mat. viii. 11. Shall one heaven hold you at last; and shall not one house, one bed, one table, one church, hold you" here ? Oh, that ever worms should swell with such intolerable pride and stoutness ! He who was God-man, was lowly, meek, self-denying, and of a most condescending spirit ; and oh that all you, who hope for salvation by him, would labour to write after so fair a copy. Bernard calls humility a self-annihilation. The same author saith that humility is conservatrix virtutum. ' Thou wilt save the humble,' saith Job, chap. xxii. 29 ; in the Hebrew it is, ' him that is of low eyes,' Q'^y^ n^l- A humble Christian hath lower thoughts of himself than others can have of him. Abraham is ' dust and ashes' in his own eyes. Gen. xviii., Jacob is ' less than the least of all mercies,' Gen. xxxii. 10 ; David, though a great king, yet looks upon himself as a worm ; ' I am a worm, and no man,' Ps. xxii. 6. The word in the original, Tolugnath, signi- fieth a very little worm, which breedeth in scarlet ; a worm that is so little, that a man can hardly see it or perceive it. Oh, how little, how very little was David in his own eyes ; and Paul, who was the greatest among the apostles, yet, in his own eyes, he was ' less than the least of all saints.'^ Non sum dignus did minimus, saith Ignatius, ' I am not worthy to be called the least.' ' Lord 1 I am hell, but thou art heaven,' said blessed Cooper : ' I am a most hypocritical wretch, not worthy that the earth should bear me,' said holy Bradford : Luther, in humility, speaks thus of himself ; ' I have no other name than sinner ; sinner is my name, sinner is my surname ; this is the name by which I shall be always known ; I have sinned, I do sin, I shall sin, in infinitum.' Ah, how can proud, stout spirits read these instances and not blush ! Certainly the sincere humble Christian is like the violet, which grows low, hangs the head down, and hides itself with its own leaves ; and were it not that the frequent smell of his many virtues discovers him to the world, he would choose to live and die in his self-contenting secrecy. But,
8. Eighthly, Is Jesus Christ God-man ? is he very God and very man ? Then hence we may see how to have access to God; namely, hy means of Christ's human nature, which he hath taken upon him, to that very end, that he might in it die and suffer for our sins, and so reconcile us to God, and give ^^s access to him, Kom. v. 1, 2; Eph. iii. 12, and ii. 18. ' By him we have access to the Father.' The word is 7rpoaaycoy7)v, ' a leading by the hand,' an introduction, an adduction : it is an allusion, saith Estius, to the customs of princes, to whom there is no passage, unless we are brought in by one of their favourites, Esth. i. Though the Persian kings held it a piece of their silly glory to hold off theu- best friends, who might not come near them, but upon special licence ; yet the great King of heaven and earth counts it his glory to give us free access at all times, in all places, and upon all occasions, by the man Christ Jesus : 1 Tim. ii. 5, ' There is one mediator between God and us, even the man Christ
^ Eph. iii. 8. See my ' Unsearchable Riches of Christ' uuon that text. [Vol. iii. pp. 1-232.— G.]
THE DIVINITY AND HUMANITY OF CHRIST. 193
Jesus.' Christ was made true man, that in our nature he might reconcile us to God, and give us access to God, which he could never have done, had he not been very God and very man. Without the human nature of Christ, we could never have had access to God, or fellowship with God ; being by nature enemies to God, and estranged from God, and dead in trespasses and sins, Kom. v. 10, it is only by the mediation of Christ incarnate that we come to be reconciled to God, Eph. ii. 1, 12-14, to have access to him, and acceptance with him. In Christ's human nature God and we meet together, and have fellowship together, 1 John i. 1-3. It could never stand with the un- spotted holiness and justice of God, who is ' a consuming fire,' Heb. xii. 29, to honour us with one cast of his countenance, or one hour's communion with himself, were it not upon the account of the man Christ Jesus. The least serious thought of God out of Christ will breed nothing in the soul but horror and amazement ; which made Luther say, Nolo Deum ahsohitum, let me have nothing to do with an absolute God. Believers have free and blessed access to God, but still it is upon the credit of the man Christ Jesus, Heb. iv. 15, 16. ' Let us come boldly to the throne of grace,' saith the apostle, speaking of Christ, ' that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.' The apostle's phrase is fiera irapprja-ia';, a word which signifies liberty of speech, and boldness of face ; as when a man with a bold and undaunted spirit, utters his mind before the great ones of the world without blushing, without weakness of heart, without shaking of his voice, without imperfection and faltering in speech, when neither majesty nor authority can take off his courage, so as to stop his mouth, and make him afraid to speak. With such heroic and un- daunted spirits would the apostle have us to come to the throne of grace ; and all upon the credit of Christ our high priest, who is God- man. But,
9. Ninthly, Is Jesus Christ God-man ? is he very God and very man? Then you may be very confident of his sympathising loith you in all your affiiction^, Ezek. xxxv. 10-13; Isa. xxxvii. 23, 24; then this Tnay serve as a foundation to support you under all your troubles, and as a cordial to comfort you under all your ajffiictions, in that Christ partaking of the same nature, and having had experience of the in- firmities of it, he is the more able and ivilling to help and succour us Heb. ii. 17, ' Wherefore in all things it behoveth him to be like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people : ' so Heb. iv. 15. If one come to visit a man that is sick of a grievous disease, who hath himself been formerly troubled with the same disease, he will sympathise more, and shew more compassion than twenty others, who have not felt the likeil so here, from Christ's sufferings in his human nature we may safely gather that he will shew himself a merciful high priest to us in our sufferings, and one that wiU be ready to help and succour us in all our afilictions and miseries, which we suffer in this life, inasmuch as himself had experience of suffering the like in our nature ; ' for in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted : ' and this
^ As the brazen serpent was like the fiery serpent, but had no sting. VOL. V, N
194 ELEVEN INFERENCES DRAWN FROM