Secondly, What he teacheth us hereby.
[1.] Patience under all the indignities we undergo for God's sake in the course of our pilgrimage : 1 Peter ii. 21, it is said, ' Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps.' So Heb. xii. 2, ' Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.' Let us be contented to be abased for him. He descended from heaven to the grave, as low as he could, for us ; therefore let us submit to any condition for his glory. Some that profess his name will suffer nothing for him. If they may enjoy him or his ways in peace and quietness, well and good ; but if trouble arise for the gospel's sake, immediately they fall off. The most, yea, the best, have a secret loathness and unwillingness to condescend to a condition of trouble and distress for the gospel. Now to these I will but propound these three considerations —
(1.) If Christ had been unwilling to die for us and suffer for us, if the same mind had been in Christ, what had been our estate and con- dition to all eternity ? Without hjs sufferings we should have suffered eternal misery. If you would not have Christ of another mind, let the same mind be in you.
(2.) We cannot lose for him as much as he hath done for us : 2 Cor. viii. 9, ' Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.'
(3.) We are gainers by him if we part with all the world for his sake : Mark x. 29, 30, ' There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lauds, for my sake
SERMON UPON PHILIPPIANS II. 7. 131
and the gospel, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and cliildren, and lands, with persecutions ; and in the world to come eternal life.' Oh ! then, do not stand upon terms. The same mind or spirit answerable to Christ was that of David : 2 Sam. vi. 22. ' I will be yet more vile than thus.* Christ became vile for us, made himself of no reputation ; and shall we be flouted out of our religion ? If he had disdained to endure grief and sorrows, and stood upon befitting terms, what had become of us ?
[2.] Humility. We are far inferior to Christ, and shall we stand so much upon our reputation ? Mat. xi. 29, ' Learn of me, for I am meek, and lowly in heart/ Learn of me, not to make worlds or work miracles, but to be contented with the lowest place, the meanest service, to be anything and do anything to bring glory to God ; and that not out of necessity, but choice : Mat. xx. 28, ' Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.' It is brought to check aspiring or affecting domination in the church. They that love the pre-eminence, would be great and high, seem to dislike Christ's pro- ceeding ; especially those that rend and tear all to advance themselves or to grow greater in the world. See that magnificent preface to the history of Christ's washing his disciples' feet : John xiii. 3, ' Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God.' Poor worms ! that are but three degrees distant from dust and nothing, how do we stand upon our terms ! Christ, when his own thoughts were most filled with his own glory, doth the meanest office. Surely, considering Christ's humility, we should no more over-value ourselves, nor desire high esteem with others, nor affect pre-eminence, nor undervalue and despise others.
[3.] More exact obedience. Christ's condescension was a special act of grace and love, but it was also a signal act of obedience. It is so called in the 8th verse, ' He humbled himself, and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.' It was done in pursuance of the Father's command ; and elsewhere, Heb. v. 8, 9, ' Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered ; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.' By the multiplicity of his sufferings he learned obedience ; and the impression is according to the stamp and seal. Christ came to be the leader of an obeying people.
[4.] Self-denial as well as obedience. Preferring a public interest, the glory of God, and the good of souls, before his own glory as God, and the interests of that natural life that he assumed : Rom. xv. 3, 'Christ pleased not himself;' and John xii. 27, 28, 'Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say ? Father, save me from this hour ; but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name.' That was enough, if God was glorified. Every christian should be thus affected : Phil. i. 20, ' That Christ may be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.'