(1.) And as I said for his carriage toward Jiis friends, to those that were good, how sweet and indulgent was he.
[l.J Where there icas any her/innings of goodness, he did encourage it. He never sent any back again, but those that went back again of their own head, as the young man. Christ sent him not back. He was so full of sweetness to weak Christians, nay, he discovered himself most to the weakest. He was never more familiar with any than with the woman of Samaria, that was an adulteress, John iv. G, seq. ; and Mai-y that had been a sinner, how sweetly did he appear to her first, John xx. 1, seq. How sweet was he to sinners when they repented ! how ready to forgive and pai'don ! See it in Peter. He never cast him in the teeth with his apostasy ; he never upbraided him with it ; he never so much as tells him of it, only he ' looks ' upon him, and afterward, ' Lovest thou me ?' &c., John xxi. 15.
[2. J He ivouM not ' quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed,' Mat. xii. 20, so gentle and siveet a Saviour hare we. He was sweet to those that were good in the lowest degree of goodness ; nay, where there was but a representation of goodness, as in the young man, he kissed and embraced him when he came and said, ' What good thing shall I do to inherit eternal life ?' Mark x. 17. He embraced him, and made much of him. And so to the Pharisee, ' Thou art not far from the kingdom of God,' Mark xii. 34. He laboured to pull him further. He was of a winning, gaining disposi- tion. Those that were good he loved them, and carried himself so to all as much as might be. Shall we not labour to be of his disposition, not to set people further off, but to be of a gaining, winning nature ?
[3.] See how obedient he was to his Father, ' Not my will, but thine be done,' Mat. xxvi. 42 ; both in active and passive obedience, in all things he looked to his Father's will, being subordinate to him. Wheresoever there is subordination, there ought to be obedience. Now there is a subordina- tion to God as our Father in Christ. Therefore we should labour to be obedient even to death, as Christ was. Our happiness stands in subordi- nation. The happiness of the inferior is in subjection to the superior that may do him good. Therefore we must be obedient to God as Christ was. We see he prayed whole nights.*
(2.) For his oivn jKtrticuJar, how holy and heavenly was he. f He takes occasion of vines, of stones, of water, of sheep, and all things to be heavenl}' minded, to raise his soul upon all occasions. And when he rose from the dead, and conversed with his disciples, what was his talk ? He discoursed all of matters of the kingdom of heaven. So his whole disposition was heavenly and holy in himself, and patient in wrongs done to him. He did
* Cf. Luke vi. 12 : xxi. 87.
t According to tlie method on page 261, at bottom, this ought to have been the fourth particular.— G.
ABOVE THE LAW. 2C3
not return injury for injurj'. You see how meek he was. I give you but a touch of every particular. You may by proportion apply the rest. He was in his own particular holy and heavenly, and full of purity and holi- ness and heavenliness.
(3.) What u-as he to his enemies ? Did he call for fire from heaven when they wronged him ? Was he all on a heat ? When his poor disciples, being more flesh than spirit, would have fire from heaven, ' You know not what spirit you are of,' saith he, Luke ix. 55. He shed tears for those that shed his blood, * Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem,' &c.. Mat. xxiii. 37, that afterward crucified him. And upon the cross you see there to his very enemies, * Father, forgive them, they know not what they do,' Luke xxiii. 34. So then if we will be like to Christ, consider how he carried himself to God in devotion and obedience, and how in himself he was full of purity and holi- ness, unspotted every way ; how to his friends, to all that had any goodness in them ; and how to his enemies, he prayed for his very enemies.
(4.) And for the devil himseJf. Deal with him as Christ did, that is, have no terms with him, although he come to us in our nearest friends. He came to Christ in Peter. ' Satan avoid,' saith he. Mat. xvi. 32. If the devil come to us in our wives, in our children, in our friends, ' avoid Satan.' Satan comes to us sometime in our friends, to give corrupt judgment, to maintain self causes, to do this or that that may crack our conscience. Discern the devil in our best friends ; for sometime they may be the trunks* of the devil. The devil may convey his spirit through Peter. Let us imi- tate Christ. Discern between our friends' love and the subtilty of the devil in them, and be able to give them an avaunt, ' avoid Satan.' We see Christ when he encountered Satan, he fights not with Satan's weapons ; and when he was to deal with his instruments, but with the word of God. He gives not reproach for reproach, nor sophistry for sophistry ; but ' It is written,' Mat. iv. 4, et alibi, shewing that we must encounter Satan with God's armoury, with weapons out of the book of God.