VeR. 26.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. 471
with tins holy oil of the Spirit : 1 Peter iv. 14, 'If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.' Though eternity, and the great reward, puts all out of question, yet this is not to be overlooked.
Use. To persuade us to get this temper of soul, to prefer Christ's worst before the world's best.
First argument. It is absolutely necessary ; you cannot be christians without it, for it immediately flows from the three essential or funda- mental graces which constitute the new creature, which are faith, hope, and love.
1. Faith, which believes the promises ol the new covenant, and con- sents to seek after the benefits offered in them, how dear soever they cost us, and takes this bles.^edness for its whole felicity, Mat. xiii. 45, 46, and Heb. X. 39. There is in faith assent and consent. The assent that is in faith calls for it, for if we believe the great things God hath promised, it necessarily lessens all other things in our opinion and estimation of them, and affection to them. Faith is like a perspective, that greatens things at a distance, and lessens things near at hand ; so faith greatens heavenly things, and lessens worldly things ; so that riches and honours, and all worldly things, seem vile and base so far as they divert us from better things. Some value we should have for natural comforts in our pilgrimage, they are the gift of God, but take heed lest they be a snare ; we cannot be thankful for them if we have not some esteem for them, nor humbled at afflictions, when God takes them away ; but they are lessened so as they are base in comparison of those other things. Then the consent of faith much more inferreth it. The consent of faith is nothing but a subscription to Christ's terms, selling all for the pearl of price : Mat. xiii. 45, ' He sold all that he had, and bought it.' This is the disposition of a disciple of Christ, to part with all rather than his happiness: Heb. x. 39, ' He believes to the saving of the soul.' Mark, believing is all for saving the soul ; sense is all for saving the flesh. The word signifies saving the soul with the loss of other things ; we must purchase the salvation of our souls at the dearest rate that may be. Now if we be believers, we have tliis disposition.
2. Our love shows it, for our love to Christ must be transcendent and superlative, not a bare love, but a love above our love to other things: Mat. x. 32, ' He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me ; and he tliat loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.' He that loves every base thing, the dirt in the streets, more than you, cannot be said to love you. So to pretend love to Christ, if we do not love him above all other things, is not rightly to love him : Luke xiv. 26, ' If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be ny disciple.' He can in some sense trample upon the comfort that results from all his natural relations, and he that hates them not in that sense cannot be my disciple. I rather speak upon this point because love to God is the heart of the new creature, as self-love is the heart of original sin ; that inclines us to love, prize, and esteem the things of God ; inordi- nate self-love makes us love the flesh more than our souls. Now if
472 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XT. [SeR. LXL
you have the true love of Christ, you will hate all other things in com- parison of him and faithfulness to him. Our love to Christ is but a transcript of his love to us, for unless our religion make a due impres- sion upon us, we were never acquainted with the power of it. Now Christ was satisfied to be anything for our sakes, and he was made sin, he was made a curse for us ; he pleased not himself that he might promote the glory of God and our salvation ; when he thought of all the shame and bitter agonies our redemption would cost him, he was satisfied : Isa. liii. 11, ' He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.' When he had from all eternity leisure enough to cast up his accounts, what it would cost him to save souls, to redeem sin- ners, yet he earnestly longed for it : Luke xii. 50, ' I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!' Now how can we manifest our love and thankfulness to him for these disgraceful sufferings and bitter agonies, by which he procured the pardon of our sins and eternal life, if we cannot deny our pleasures, and the contentments of the flesh in the way of our duty ?