Obs. 3. Again, from that the brother of a low degree. Not Q.man of low degree, but a brother. It is not poverty, but poor Christianity that occasioneth joy and comfort. Many please themselves because they suffer afflictions in this world ; and therefore think they should be free in the world to come, as many ungodly poor men think death will make an end of their troubles, as if they could not have two hells. Oh ! consider, it is not mere meanness that is a comfort ; the brother only can rejoice in his misery and low estate. You shall see it is said, Exod. xxiii. 3, ' Thou shalt not countenance a poor man in his cause : ' a man would have thought it should have been rather said, ' the rich ; ' but there is a foolish pity in man, and we are apt to say, he is a poor man, and so omit justice. Well, then, God, that condemneth it in man, will not pity you for your mere poverty : Mat. v. 3, ' Blessed are the poor in spirit ; ' mark that irvevfiari, in spirit, not in purse. Many men's sufferings here are but the pledges and prefaces of future misery, the ' beginning of sorrows,' Mat. xxiv. 8. For the present your families are full of wants, your persons oppressed with misery and reproach, but all this is but a shadow of hell that cometh after ; every Lazarus is not carried into Abraham's bosom ; you may be miserable here and hereafter too ; God will not pity you because of your suffering, but punish you rather, for these give you warning. Oh ! consider, then, is it not sad to you, when you see the naked walls, the ragged clothes, and hear the cries of the hungry bellies within your families, you your-
1 See Spanhemius iu his Duhia Evangelica, i^art iii. dub. 77, largely discussing this matter.
G2 AN EXI'USITION, ^VITH NOTES, [JaS. I. 9.
selves much bitten and inuclied with Avaut, and become the scorn and contem[>t of those that dwell about you ? Ay ! but it will be more sad to consider that these are the beginnings of sorrows ; you cry for a bit now, and then you may howl for a drop to cool your tongue ; now you are the scorn of men, then the scorn of God, men, and angels. Oh ! be wise ; now you may have Christ as well as others ; as the poor and rich were to pay the same ransom to make an atonement for their souls, Exod. XXX. 15 : but if not, }'ou will perish as well as others ; as God will not favour the rich, so he will not pity the poor,
Ohs. 4. From the word rdirecvo^ — it signifieth both humble, and of loio degree— ohsQvve, that the meanest have the greatest reason and engagement to be humble ; their conthtion always makcth the grace in season — poverty tmd pride are most unsuitable. It was one of Solomon's odd sights, Eccles. x. 7, to see ' servants on horseback, and princes going on foot.' A poor proud man is a prodigy and wonder of pride ; he hath less temptation to be proud, he hath more reason to be humble. Nebuchadnezzar was more excusable, for he had a great Babel, and that was a great temptation. Besides what should be in your affections, there is somewhat in yolir condition to take down the height of your spirits : it is not fit for those of the highest rank to turn fashionists, and display the ensigns of their own vanity ; but when servants and those of a low degree put themselves into the garb, it is most intolerable. But alas ! thus we often find it ; men usually walk unsuitably to their condition, as if they would supply in pride what is lacking in estate and sufficiency ; whereas others that excel in abilities are most lowly in mind, as the sun at highest casteth least shadows.
Ohs. 5. Again, from that of loiv degree. God may set his people in the lowest rank of men. A brother may be raTreiz/o?, base and abject, in regard of his outward condition. ' The Captain of salvation,' the Son of God himself, was, Isa. liii. 3, ' despised and rejected of men ; ' as we render it in the original, chadal ischim, desitio virontm, that is, the leaving-off of men ; implying that he appeared in such a form and rank that he could scarce be said to be man, but as if he were to be reckoned among some baser kind of creatures ; as Ps. xxii. 6, David saith, as a type of him, * I am a worm, and no man ;' rather to be numbered among the worms than among men, of so miserable a being that you could scarce call him man ; rather worm, or some other notion that is fittest to ex})ress the lowest rank of creatures. Well, then, in the greatest misery say, I am not yet beneath the con- dition of a saint — a brother may be base and abject.
Obs. G. From that let the brother of loio degree glory. That the vilest and most abject condition will not excuse us from murmuring : though you be raTreti/o?, base, yet you may rejoice and glory in the Lord. A man cannot sink so low as to be past the help of spiritual comforts. In ' the place of dragons ' there is somewhat to check murmurings, somewhat that may allay the bitterness of our condition, if we had eyes to see it : tliongh the worst tiling were happened to you, poverty, loss of goods, exile, yet in all this there is no ground of impatiency : the brother of low degree may pitch upon something in which he may glory. Well, then, do not excuse passion by misery.