[5.] The last lesson is contempt of the world and all the glory thereof. Christ teacheth us this lesson by making himself of no reputation two ways —
(1.) The example of his own choice. The Lord of heaven and earth
132 SERMON UPON PHILIPPIANS II. 7.
despised and neglected the glory and riches of this world. He passed through the world to sanctify it as a place of service ; but chose not pomp of living, nor the happiness of it, lest we should choose it as our rest and portion : ' They are not of the world, as I am not of the world,' John xvii. 16. Those that are dearest unto God must look by crosses and trials to be fitted for another world. If a man say never so much for contempt of the world, yet live in the love of it, his saying is nothing. But Christ would be a pattern of his own doctrine. Contempt of the world is a lesson of great consequence ; salvation lieth upon it : 1 John ii. 15-17, 'Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world : if any man love the world, the love of the Father, is not in him ; for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world ; and the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abidetli for ever.' Whether we are high or low, full or kept bare, it concerneth us all to learn it. Though we flow in wealth, we should be as having nothing, and sit loose from the creature. If we are poor, we must count grace a preferment : James i. 9, 10, ' Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted ; but the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away,' There is required of all an hearty preparation for, when they are not called to a patient endui'ing of, afl[lictions for Christ's name : Phil. iv. 12, *I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound ; everywhere and in all things I am instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.' This is of a hard digestion to a natural man. Now Christ's example is a great help to us to check our worldly desires ; let us not affect greater emin- ency in the world than Christ had; and to check the vanity of fulness, or our carnal complacency, that it may not be a snare to us : 1 Tim, v. 6, ' The woman that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.' Christ was a man of sorrows ; do you profess Christ, and yet are you addicted to vain pleasures, and not able to deny them ?
(2.) As it is an argument to confirm us in the certainty of the happiness of the world to come. It were best to choose the easiest life here if we did not believe eternity, to live a life of pomp and ease. The troubles and miseries of the godly have been counted a sure argu- ment to confirm it : 1 Cor. xv. 19, ' If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.' God would not make us miserable by our duty. And 2 Thes. i. 5, epBeijfia t»)? hiKa[a<i Kplaewi Tov Oeov, ' It is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God.' If the consideration of godly men's sufferings in this world be of moment to such an inference, much'more the sufferings of Christ, who was not only a man good and innocent beyond example, instructing the souls, curing the bodies of so many men, but also the Son of God. His exaltation is a pledge of our happiness, and his humiliation an argument he is gone there as our forerunner.
Application to the Sacrament This duty bindeth us both to the mediatory and moral consideration of Christ's abasement.
1. The mediatory consideration of Christ's abasement. That we may grow in faith and love, we remember the death and sufferiogs of the Lord Jesus for the increase of faith and love. _
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[1.] Faith. Here is the foundation laid of all our happiness, and deliverance from sin and misery. Here is a merit and a price full enough to purchase all needful graces. He became poor that we might be rich, and not have a slender measure of grace : John i. 16, ' Of his fulness we all receive, and grace for grace.' He was emptied that we might be filled : Eph. iv. 10, ' He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things ; ' and 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23, ' All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's ; ' John x. 10, ' I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly ; * Titus iii. 5, 6, ' He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.' What may we not promise ourselves from God made man, made sin, made a curse for us ? Surely a larger and plentiful measure of the gifts and graces of the Spirit.