To answer this, believers also value Jesus Cluist; they have an esteem of him above all the world, and all things in the world. You
' " Amorem istum non esse vulgarem osteiulit, diim iios pietiosos esse (licit." — Calv. ill loc. ' (iei). xii. 3; Mic. v. 7, 8.
3 Isa. xxxiv. 8, Ixi. 2, Ixiii. 4. « iMatt, xxv. 41-46.
OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 137
have been in part acquainted with this before, in the account that was given of their dehght in him, and inquiry after him. They say of him in their hearts continually, as David, " Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and none upon earth I desire beside thee." Ps. Ixxiii. 25. Neither heaven nor earth will yield them an object any way compar- able to him, that they can delight in.
L They value him above all other things and pei'sons. " Mallem," said one,^ "mere cum Christo, quam regnare cum Coesare. Pulchra terra, pulchrum coelum, sed pulchemmus dominus Jesus;" — Christ and a dungeon, Christ and a cross, is infinitely SAveeter than a crown, a sceptre without him, to their souls. So was it with Moses, Heb. xi. 26, " He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." The reproach of Christ is the worst consequent that the wickedness of the world or the malice of Satan can bring upon the followers of him. The treasures of Egypt were in those days the greatest in the world; Moses despised the very best of the world, for the worst of the cross of Christ. Indeed, himself hath told believers, that if they love any thing better than him, father or mother, they are not worthy of him. A desijising of all things for Christ is the very first lesson of the gospel. " Give away all, take up the cross and follow me," was the way whereby he tried his disciples of old ; and if there be not the same mind and heart in us, we are none of his.
2. They value him above their lives. Acts xx. 24, " My life is not dear, that I may perfect my course with joy, and the ministry I have received of the Lord Jesus;" — "Let life and all go, so that I may serve him; and, when all is done, enjoy him, and be made like to him." It is known what is reported of ^Ignatius when he was led to mar- tyrdom : " Let what will," said he, " come upon me, only so I may obtain Jesus Christ." Hence they of old rejoiced when whipped, scourged, put to shame, for his sake. Acts v. 41 ; Heb. xi. All is wel- come that comes from him, or for him. The lives they have to live, the death they have to die, is little, is light, upon the thoughts of him who is the stay of their lives and the end of their death. Were it not for the refreshment which daily they receive by thoughts of him, they could not live, — their lives would be a burden to them ; and the thoughts of enjoyment of him made them cry with Paul, " Oh that we were dissolved ! " The stories of the martyrs of old and of late, the sufferers in giving witness to him under the dragon and under the false prophet, the neglect of life in women and children on his
' Luther.
yiv^, trTscv^o;, ^^^iK, irvyKXaffis offTiuv, x.a) Twt //.iXaiv Oia,(rrra7f/.o;, xai Tavro; tov irujji.tt.rai ff'i/VTjiSr, Ko.) fio.na.'sot Tou tiaZoXou il; Ifn 'iX&axriv, 'iva 'lj)<r«o X^iittoZ aroXaufu. — Vit. Igliat.
[llieroiiymus, De Viris lUii&tribus, c. xvi.]
138 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CIIKIST.
account, contempt of torments, whilst Lis name sweetened all, have rendered this truth clear to men and angels.
3. They value him above all spiritual excellencies, and all other righteousness whatever, Phil. iii. 7, 8, " Those things which were ad- vantage to me, I esteemed loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord ; for whose sake I have lost all things, and do esteem them common, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him." Having recounted the excellencies which he had, and the privileges which he enjoyed, in his Judaism, — which were all of a spi- ritual nature, and a participation wherein made the rest of his coun- trymen despise all the world, and look upon themselves as the only acceptable persons with God, resting on them for righteousness, — the apostle tells us what is his esteem of them, in comparison of the Lord Jesus. They are " loss and dung," — things that for his sake he had really suffered the loss of; that is, whereas he had for many years been a zealot of the law, — seeking after a righteousness as it were by the works of it, Rom. ix. 82, — instantly serving God day and night, to obtain the promise, Acts xxvi. 7, — living in all good conscience from his youth. Acts xxiii., — all the while very zealous for God and his in- stitutions,— now [he] willingly casts away all these things, looks upon them as loss and dung, and could not only be contented to be Avith- out them, but, as for that end for which he sought after them, he abhorred them all. When men have been strongly convinced of then- duty, and have laboured many years to keep a ^good conscience, — have prayed, and heard, and done good, and denied themselves, and been ^zealous for God, and laboured with all their might to ^please him, and so at length to come to enjoy him; they had rather ^part with all the world, life and all, than with this they have wrought. You know how unwilling we are to part with any thing we have laboured and beaten our heads about? How much more when the things are so excellent, as our duty to God, blamelessness of conversation, hope of heaven, and the like, which we have beaten our hearts about. But now, when once Christ appears to the soul, when he is known in his excellency, all these things, as without him, have their paint washed off, their beauty fades, their desirableness vanisheth, and the soul is not only contented to part with them all, but puts them away as a defiled thing, and ciies, " In the Lord Jesus only is my righteousness* and glory." Prov. iii. 13-15, among innumerable testimonies, may be admitted to give witness hereunto, "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchan- dise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain there- of than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies : and all the