But no such disposition was ever seen in our adorable Emma- nuel. A holy gravity invariably marked his demeanour : he had a continual sense of the Divine presence, a deep impression of the importance of time, and an unremitting zeal to finish the work assigned him : " It was his meat and drink to do the will of him that sent him."]
2. In his desires and pursuits —
[The world affect nothing but the things of time and sense : pleasure, riches, and honour are the idols which they worship. But our Lord desired none of these things. Had he wished for pleasure, he had a mind and body framed for the most exquisite delights of which our nature is capable : as his bodily organs were not weakened by any sinful habit, so his intellec- tual faculties were capable of comprehending all the wonders of creation, and of deriving the sublimest pleasure from the contemplation of them. But he was occupied with thoughts widely different from these : he found no time for the amus- ing speculations of philosophers. He had come to atone for sin ; and, that he might do so, chose rather to be " a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Had he desired riches, how easily could he, who commanded a fish to bring him a piece of money to pay his tax, have possessed himself of in- exhaustible stores of silver and gold ! But he chose rather to be destitute even of a place where to lay his head, and to be a pensioner upon the bounty of some pious women0. He did indeed carry a purse, but it was not for the procuring of superfluities for himself, but that he might administer to the necessities of the poor. Had he been ambitious of honour, with what crowds of followers might he have been attended, all of them monuments of his tender compassion and almighty power ! But he dismissed them from him, and frequently with the most solemn charges, that they should tell no man what he had done for them : and when the people would have taken him by force to make him a king, he rendered himself invisible, and withdrew from them. So little did he covet what the foolish world admire ; and so different was he from the world in the whole of his deportment.]
Singular as he appeared in his day, it will be found,
II. That his Disciples all resemble him —
The followers of Christ, whatever attainments they may have made, were once " walking after the course of this world even as others :" but the very instant that they obtain a saving knowledge of their Lord,
c Luke viii. 3. and ix. 58.