III. The third conjugal affection on the part of Christ h pity and compassion. As a man " nourisheth and cherish eth his ^own flesh, so doth the Lord his church," Eph. v. 29. Christ hath a fellow feel- ing with his saints in all their troubles, as a man hath with his own flesh. This act of the conjugal love of Christ relates to the many trials and pressures of afflictions that his saints meet Avithal here below. He doth not deal with believers as the Samaiitans with the Jews, that fawned on them in their prosperity, but despised them in
' Matt. xiii. 45, 46; riiil. iii. 8. » Matt. x. 37. ^ Cant. viii. 6.
* Ka) thZt'o fi.01 Tuv iv alov xoXdrtuv ^apvTtpor av li'jj. — Basil.
* " Fateor iiisitain esse n()l)is corjjoris nostri caritatem." — Seiiec. Epist. xiv. " (ieneri aniinaiitiuin omul est a natiira tributuni ut se, vitaui, corpusqwe tueatui." — Cicer. OtF. i. [iv.J
OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 1 41
their trouble; lie is as a tender ^father, who, though perhaps he love all his children alike, yet he will take most pains with, and give most of his presence unto, one that is sick and weak, though therein and thereby he maybe made most froward, and, as it should seem, hardest to be borne with. And (which is more than the pity of any father can extend to) he himself suffers Avith them, and takes share in all then troubles.
Now, all the sufferings of the saints in this world, wherein their head and husband exerciseth pity, tenderness, care, and compassion towards them, are of two sorts, or may be refen'ed to two heads : — 1. Temptations. 2. Afflictions.
1. Temptations (under which head I comprise sin also, whereto they tend); as in, from, and by their own infirmities; as also from their adversaries without. The frame of the heart of Christ, and his deportment towards them in this condition, you have, Heb. iv. 1 5, "We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." We have not such a one as cannot. The two negations do vehemently affirm that we have such an high priest as can be, or is, touched. The word " touched" comes exceedingly short of express- ing the original word; it is ^axjiLTaQnaat, — to " suffer together." "We have," saith the apostle, " such an high priest as can, and conse- quently doth, suffer with us, — endure our infirmities." And in what respect he suffers with us in regard of our infirmities, or hath a fellow-feeling with us in them, he declares in the next words, " He was tempted like as we are," verse 15. It is as to our ^infirmities, our temptations, spiritual weakness ; therein, in particular, hath he a compassionate sympathy and fellow-feeling with us. Whatever be our infirmities, so far as they are our temptations, he doth suffer with us under them, and compassionates us. Hence at the last *day he saith, " I was an hungered," etc. There are two ways of expressing a fellow-feeling and suffering with another: — (1.) Per henevolam condolentiaTti, — a " friendly grieving." (2.) Per gratiosam opitu- lationem, — a "gracious supply:" both are eminent in Christ: —
(1.) He ^grieves and labours with us. Zech. i. 12, " The angel, of the Lord answered and said, 0 Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem?" He speaks as one intimately affected
■ Ps. ciii. 13.
* " Hoc quidem cei turn est, hoc vocabulo, suininum ilium coiiseusura nieniliro- rum et capitis (id est, ecclesife et Christi) sij^iiificari, de quo toties Paulus dis- serit. Deiiide ut cum de Deo loquitur, ita, etiam de Christo glorioso disserens Scriptura, ad nostrum cai)tum se demittit. Gloriosum autem ad di'xtram patris Christum sedere credimus; ubi dicitur uostris malls affici, quod sibi factum ducat quicquid ncibis fit iiijuriEe, ideo damans e cn:'lis, Saul cur nie persequeris? Altiores speculationes scrutari, nee utile nee tutum existimo." — Bez. in loo.
" liom. viii. 26; 1 Cor. xi. 32; 2 Cor. xi. 30, xii. 9, 10; Gal. iv. 13.
< .Matt. XXV. 35. ^ Acts ix. 4; Isa. Ixiii. 9.
142 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
with tlie state and condition of poor Jerusiilem; and therefore he hath hid all the world take notice that what is done to them is done to him, chap. ii. 8, 9 ; yea, to " the ^apple of his eye."
(2.) In the second he abounds. Isa. xl. 11, "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs mth his aram, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead them that are Avith young." Yea, we have both here together, — tender coinpassionateness and as- sistance. The whole frame wherein he is here described is a ^ frame of the gi'eatest ^tenderness, compassion, condescension that can be imagined. His people are set forth under many infirmities; some are lambs, some great with young, some very tender, some burdened with temptations, — nothing in any of them all strong or comely. To them all Christ is *a shepherd, that feeds his own sheep, and drives them out to pleasant pasture; where, if he sees a poor weak Ipinb, [he] doth not thrust him on, but takes him into his bosom, where he both easeth and refresheth him : he leads him gently and tenderly. As did Jacob them that were burdened with ^young, so doth our dear Lord Jesus with his flock, in the several ways and paths wherein he leads them. When he sees a poor soul, weak, tender, halting, ready to sink and perish, he takes him into his arms, by some gracious pro- mise administered to him, carries him, bears him up when he is not able to go one step forward. Hence is his great quarrel with those shepherds, Ezek. xxxiv. 4, " Woe be to you shepherds ! the diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost." This is that which our careful, tender husband would have done.