484 SERMONS UPON JOHN L 29.
our misery giveth Christ a relish. God casts us into sufferings, or puts us under a cloud, that we may not be gospel-glutted, or cloyed with doctrines of grace. He must be eaten with unleavened bread, simple plain bread without mixture: 1 Cor. v. 7, 8, 'Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened ; for even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.' Christ, in whose mouth there is no guile, cannot endure hypocrisy. At first they were to eat the passover with their loins girt, their staff in their hands, and shoes on their feet. So Luke xii. 35, ' Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning ; ' 1 Peter i. 13, ' Wherefore gird up the loins of your minds ; ' Eph. vi. 14, 15, ' Stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.' We are strangers here, and must put on for heaven, and be ready for a remove for the heavenly journey.
II. How we are to behold him, or how he is to be considered by us. This ecce, behold, doth not only point at Christ as personally and corporally present as an object of the senses, but doth excite their mind and faith to get a spiritual sight of him, to behold him in the quality of his ofifice. He is not personally present with us, as he was when these words were said, yet that doth not hinder the sight of faith. Whenever we are conversant about these holy mysteries, it may be said to us, ' Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.'
1. Behold him with seriousness and reverence. This mystery must not be passed over with a few hasty and running thoughts. It is fieya fivcrrripLov, the greatest wonder that ever was in the world, that God should die, and for such forlorn creatures. How should we be swal- lowed up of admiration whenever we think of it ! When this Lamb of God was killing, the creatures were all in amazement, the earth trembled, the rocks rent, the sun was eclipsed. Oh, how great is the stupidity and dulness of our hearts, that we can no more seriously think of it ! Heb. iii. 1, ' Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Jesus Christ,' Serious meditation is like the concoction of meat in the stomach.
2. Behold him with application: Job v. 27, 'Hear it, and know thou it for thy good ; ' Rom. viii. 31, ' What shall we then say to these things ? ' Excite thine own heart : Surely this was for my sins, if I have an heart to receive Christ, and make use of him for this end and purpose : Gal. ii. 20, * Who loved me, and gave himself for me ; ' and 1 Peter i. 20, ' Who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,'
3. Behold him with an eye of faith : Isa. xlv. 22, ' Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth ; ' Heb. xii. 2, ' Looking unto Jesus ; ' Zech. xii, 10, ' They shall look upon me whom they have pierced,' Faith gets such a clear sight of things, as if we had been by when he suffered and paid this ransom.
4. Behold him with an eye of repentance, and brokenness of heart : Zech. xii. 10, ' They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and
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shall mourn for him as one that mourneth for his only son ; and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.' It was thy sins that pierced him, therefore behold him and mourn.
5. Behold him with an eye of thankfulness, as the great instance of God's love, who would by so costly a remedy procure our pardon and happiness : 1 John iv. 9, 10, ' In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love ; not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.'
6. Behold your suffering and crucified Saviour with an eye of love, so as to love him the more. 'O e/jo)? e/xoO ia-ravpcoT/jb^ my love is crucified. Ignatius : Qito vilior, eo cliarior. The more vile and humble he was, the more dear he should be to you. Let it persuade us to a real love, to allow him a dominion and lordship in our hearts ; that is real love, to obey God : Eom. v. 8, ' God commended his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' This love must beget love.