CHAP. 9: Of Job and David

 

 THE next example of Self-Resignation shall be that of Job; and he will appear to be a most eminent one, by these particulars.

 

 First, he was a great man: great for estate and riches. We read, that he had seven thousand sheep, three thou-sand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she-asses, and very great store of servants; that he was the greatest of all the men of the East, that is of drabia, which lay eastward from the Land of Canaan. He was great for wisdom, and by that means for honor and esteem; of which there is a particular account in Chap. xxix: " The aged men, when they saw me, arose and stood up. The Priu cs refrained talking, and laid their hand upon their mouth; the Nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth;" ver. 8-1O. Such a reverence had they for him, for the greatness of his wisdom and excellent accomplishments, that " the ear that heard him, blessed him. All gave car to him, and waited and kept silence at his cotmsel. After his words they spoke not again; his speeches dropped upon them, and they waited for him as for the rain, and opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain;" ver. 11, 22, 23. They received his discourse as a welcome and most desirable rain; and such especially was the latter rain, before harvest.

 

 Secondly, He was as good, as great and honorable. Such was his Humility, that he did not " despise the cause of his man-servant or maid-servant, when they contended with him;" Chap. xxxi. 13.

 

His Sobriety and Moderation of spirit are to be seen, ver. 25, &c.

 

His Charity and Compassion, Chap. 29: 13, 15, 16; 30: 25; xxxi. 16, 17, 19, 2O, 32.

 

His Chastity, Chap. xxxi. 1, 9:—So far was he from making his great estate minister to sensuality.

 

His Integrity and Honesty, Chap. 29: 14; xxxi. 7, 38, 39.

 

His readiness to employ his power for the relief, and not for the crushing, of oppressed innocents, Chap. 29: 12; xxxi. 21: And this he did boldly and resolutely, Chap. xxxi. 34.

 

His exemplary Piety, in keeping himself from the idolatries of the Arabians, Chap. xxxi. 26, 27; and in his pious solicitude for his children, in their yearly feastings, lest they might have offended GOD in the heat of their banquets, Chap. 1: 5. And in Chap. 23: 11, 12, we find him expressing the great devotion of his soul towards Gov, in the constancy and universality of his obedience: " My foot (says he,) has held his steps; his way have I kept, and not declined; neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips: I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

 

 And GOD Himself gives this character of Jon; (Chap. 2:3;) "There is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fcareth Gov, and escheweth evil. Thus was this excellent person a great pattern of virtue in his flourishing estate; and he was no less a pattern of Self-Resignation in his afflictions.

 

For, Thirdly, this great and good man was sorely afflicted and tried by GOD. There were three messengers that brought him the tidings of sad calamities that befel him in his possessions; his oxen, asses, sheep, and camels, with his servants, being carried away by the Sabeans and Chaldeans, or consumed by fire from heaven. But the fourth messenger brings the heaviest news of all, namely, that all his sons and daughters were crushed to pieces, by the fall of the house wherein they were feasting.

 

 This was dismal indeed, to lose all his children at once, and that not by a natural, but a violent death, and to have them destroyed with such a sudden destruction, and that also in the midst of their feasting and mirth. The more to aggravate his affliction, these several messengers came immediately one after another; while one was speaking, another came in; one wave, the more to overwhelm him, came upon the neck of the other; so that he had no respite, no time to concoct his sorrows, no time of breathing after one, to prepare himself to bear the next.

 

 But after all this, affliction comes still more close to him: GOD permitted SATAN to exercise his cruelty upon his body, which was stricken with sore boils, and that all over, " even from the crown of his head, to the sole of his foot," (Chap. 2: 7.) He was full of anguish in every part. There was nothing about him left whole and entire but the " skin of his teeth," (Chap. xix. 2O,) or the skin about his gums or lips. Nothing was whole about him, but his mouth to complain with. To have one such boil is very painful, but to have such noisome things all over the body, how exquisitely tormenting must it needs be

 

And in this sad plight " he sat down," not on an easy couch or soft bed, but " among the ashes," (v. 8,) or upon a dunghill without the city, as the Septuagint has it, where he had none to dress his sores but himself, not anything (that we read of) to help himself with, but sonic piece of an earthen vessel cast on the dunghill. Instead of using oils and salves that were proper for the mitigation of his pain, and the healing of his sores, he scraped them, or squeezed out the raging matter of them "with a pot-sherd." He was so changed by his blains and botches, and in so squalid a condition, that his "friends knew him not;'.' (Chap. 2: 12.)—" his brethren went far from him, and his acquaintance were estranged from hirn; his kinsfolk failed him, and his familiar friends forgot him; they that dwelt in his house, and his maids, counted him for a stranger; he was an alien in their sight. He called his servant, and he gave him no answer; he entreated him with his mouth. His breath was strange to his wife, though he entreated for the children's sake of his body. The young children despised him, and spite against him. His inward friends abhorred him; and those whom he loved were turned against him;"—as he most pathetically complains in Chap. xix.

 

 His three Friends, ELIPHAL, BILDAD, and ZOPHAR, when they first came to see him, sat down upon the ground seven days and nights, and could not speak for astonishment; and what they afterwards spoke was both impertinent and highly uncharitable. Instead of giving him any relief, it added more to his grief, and aggravated his torment. " They were physicians of no value, and miserable comforters," as Jon told them.

 

 And whereas he might have hoped, that the Wife of his bosom, she to whom he had been so true and faithful, (Chap. xxxi. 9,) might have been some comfort to him; she, on the contrary, was not only estranged from him, but also a disheartener of his patience, and assisted SATAN in his designs against him. SATAN had touched his bones and his flesh; but that speech of his Wife,—" Dost you still retain thine integrity Curse GOD and die,"—must needs smite him to the heart.

 

 And now have I not set before you a sad and most pitiable condition, full of aueh difficult circumstances, as might be apt, any of Them, to make the duty of quiet submission to the Will of GOD, very hard and grievous For this wealthy man to lose all his estate, and that estate which he had done so much good with; and together with his estate, all his ten children by one sudden stroke; for this great and honorable person to be brought so low, as to sit upon a dunghill; for this so greatly reverenced and esteemed person, who had been so humble in the height of his honors, and employed his power for the relief of the oppressed, to be now the object of the greatest con-tempt; for so good a man, that feared GOD and eschewed evil, to be delivered up to the malice of the Devil; for such a man, to be thus afflicted both by Men and Devils, Foes and Friends too, and not to have so much as one comfort left;—who can sufficiently set forth the pitifulness of this case The Scriptures mention Jon's Wealth, Greatness, and Goodness, that the greatness of his Sufferings might the more appear.

 

 For one who had but little before, to lose that,—one who was low before, to fall lower, is not so sharp a trial, as from possessing a great abundance, to be deprived of all, and that at once,—to be immediately brought out of the extreme of prosperity, into the extreme of adversity.

 

 Had he, by a riotous course, like the prodigal in the Gospel, brought himself into straits, or had he, by some heinous sin, provoked the ALMIGHTY to inflict upon him some sore judgment, he would have had no such trial of patience, but might have thanked himself for what was come upon him; but for one who had always kept a conscience void of offence, both towards GOD and men, and who walked in all the commandments of GOD with an upright heart, to he so strangely plagued, what a trial is here!

 

 But behold now Jon's Resignation, and Submission to the Will of GOD, great as his sufferings!

 

 As soon as the last messenger had delivered the heaviest tidings, (for they came, as was said, so thick one upon another, that he had not time to say any thing before,—the latter coming while the former was yet speaking,) of all his ten children being slain at once, he put himself into the most humble posture, " rent his mantle, shaved his head, and fell down on the ground and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."

 

 What more emphatical expression of an humble and profound submission to the Divine Will, could have been uttered by the tongue of a man " Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither."—I have as much still, as I brought into the world with me: " For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out." That which I have lost was not mine; it was but lent to me by GOD, who might call for it again whensoever He pleased: I came into the world without it, and without it may go again out of the world, and be nevertheless happy.

 

 " The LORD gave:"—I acknowledge his goodness in what I once enjoyed, and that I so long enjoyed it: " And the Lord has taken away:"—I acknowledge and submit the LoRD's good pleasure, in stripping me of all these comforts and enjoyments. He does not say, "The Lord has given, and the Sabeans and Chaldeans have taken away;" but he looks beyond men, and all inferior causes, to Gob, and says, " The LORD has taken away."

 

 " Blessed be the name of the LORD:"—To bless GOD, when he bestowes his blessings on us, is very easy: It is no hard thing to say, The LORD has given, blessed be the name of the LORD. But to bless Gob even when He has deprived us at once of all our comforts, this is hard indeed; this argues an excellent spirit, more than thou-sands of thanksgivings in a prosperous condition; this is an admirable instance of Self-Resignation. Not to murmur and repine at such exceedingly severe Providences, is a great expression of a resigned temper; how great an evidence of it, then, is an heart borne up, in such miserable circumstances, in a thankful and praising frame

 

And that JOB should now bless Gob, when SATAN was so confident that he would " curse him to his face," was a great defeat given him, and such a disappointment as could not but vex him at, the very heart.

 

 Nor is that other expression of Jon (Chap. 2:1O,) unlike to this, namely, his answer to that wretched speech of his Wife; " He said unto her, You speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What shall we receive good at the hand of GOD, and shall we not receive evil" " What! is GOD bound always to be heaping his favors upon us Must we have nothing but sun-shine, without wind, or clouds,, or rainMust we be fell, with nothing but marrow and fatness, and taste nothing but what is sweet and delicious Must we have all smooth and flowery way in. our journey And if he for a while cloud himself, or if he stop the streams of his comforts that flowed so abundantly upon us, if he give us to taste of the bitter, the waters of Marah, must we therefore repine and complain, and think evil of him, and grow weary of his service Having received so much good from him, is it not equitable and fit that we should bear some evil when he sends it Should not the memory of his many and long-continued mercies more sweeten and endear our good Gob to us, than some present crosses and adversities imbitter our thoughts of him, and sour our spirits with discontent"

 

 O the height and excellency of Grace in this holy man! He was Vir ante evangelia evangelicus: " A person of the true evangelical and Christian spirit, before CHRIST or his Gospel came into the world." How had patience its perfect work in. him! There could not be a more lovely sight on the whole earth for Gob and Angels to behold, than such a soul in the midst of such trials; " the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit" being " in the sight of GOD, of great price."

 

This honorable eulogium is given of him, (Chap. 2: IO,)

 

 " In all this, Jon sinned not with his lips;" and the like in Chap. 1: 22, where it is added, " nor charged GOD foolishly." He did not speak unworthily of GOD or his disposals; nor had he any unbecoming thoughts of him or them: nay, he was so far from repining at the severest of them, that he' took them gratefully at his hands. As deformed and diseased a creature as Jon was, as to his outward man, he was most sound and lovely within; though his body lay among the ashes and potsherds, yet was he, as to his soul, as the wings of a dove, beautified with such interchangeable colours,.by the sun shining upon her, that they are, as it were, " covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold."

 

 In the Song of HANNAH it is said, that GOD " raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth tip the beggar from the dunghill; " but here we have a far greater wonder: GOD exalted Jon even when he debased him to the dust, and made him in his lowest estate glorious; more glorious to all ages than over he would have been, had there been nothing in his story, but that he was for his wealth and honor the greatest of all the men of the East. So that JOB, even whilst he was " of this low degree," might " rejoice in that he was exalted."

 

 Great afflictions, accompanied with an unconquerable patience, advance men to a peculiar degree of honor and glory above the rest of mankind. " Behold we count them happy that endure:" We " call them blessed." James 5:11. ST. CHRYSOSTOM thus magnificently speaks of Jon's dunghill, that it was " more stately than any kingly throne;" and of his sores, that they were "richer than any jewels or precious stones;" nay, that they were " more splendid and glorious than the sun-beams;" and again, that no King sitting upon his throne, is so illustrious as was Jon then upon the dunghill.

 

 That very dunghill, where the illustrious, but debased Job sate, was a throne of glory; no royal seat of majesty, or chair of state, was so glorious. Here his patience was enthroned; here the humble greatness and majesty of his mind shined forth, and " the Sinner or GLORY rested on him."

 

 What a pleasure was it to Heaven, to see this champion come off so bravely, and baffle all attempts that the devil could use to break his spirit, and force him to impatience and unworthy reflections upon GOD! GOD said twice to SATAN: " Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in all the earth" —" Have you set thine heart upon my servant Jon Have you taken special notice of him" GOD seems to make his boast of this excellent person, as a more worthy sight than any that presented itself in any part of the world. But he was much more worthy of esteem and admiration after he had been proved by such sore trials; when "the trial of his faith" and patience "was found unto praise, and honor, and glory." So great was his patience, so exemplary his Resignation, that the Holy Scripture sets a special mark upon it and him:—upon it, (James 5: 11;) " Ye have heard of the patience of Job;"—upon hint, in that he is mentioned as one of GOD’s three peculiar Favorites in Ezek. 14:

 

 And now, having given some account of his Afflictions, and his Patience under them, we will speak of the Reward with which his Resignation to the Will of Con was crowned. After the Apostle had said, " Ye have heard of the patience of Job," it follows," and have seen the end of the LORD, that the LORD is very pitiful and of tender. mercy." And in the forty-second Chapter of Job, we find him most amply rewarded even in this life. In the seventh and eighth verses we read, that he found such special favor in the eyes of GOD, that his three Friends, who had added to the heavy weight of his afflictions, and had not spoken of GOD that which was right, as Jon had, could not atone his anger with a burnt-offering without Job's intercession in their behalf. In the tenth verse it is said, that " the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends; also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before;" and, in the twelfth verse, that " the LORD blessed the latter end of JOB more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses;" whereas he had before but half this number of each of these.

 

 Thus as to his goods and possessions, which were either destroyed by fire, or carried away by the Sabeans and Chaldeans, and so were never to be enjoyed by him more, GOD gave him double. But as to his children, He gave him just the number he had before, to wit, " seven sons and three daughters,". terse 13. These it is likely were not doubled, because though they were taken away by death, yet they were not utterly lost, but their spirits returned to GOD, and were still alive with GOD, where their Father should again meet them in the other life.

 

 But there is this said concerning these new daughters of Jon, which was not said of the former, that " in all the Iand were no women found so fair as they;" Verse 15. And lastly, we read, (in Verse 16,) that "after this lived JOB an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations." After which, the happy days he enjoyed here concluded in an unspeakably more happy eternity.

 

And now, as SATAN said, " Both Jon serve GOD for nought" We see that his great patience and exemplary submission to the Will of GOD under the severest trials, were not in vain, but abundantly recompensed.

 

 The third example I shall propose of Self-Resignation is holy DAVID. He was eminent for obedience to the divine commands; he " delighted to do the will of GOD; yea, his " law was within his heart." And he was likewise eminent for a patient temper under great trials and sufferings.

 

That was an exceedingly great trial, when, with his household and loyal subjects, he was forced to fly with all speed out of Jerusalem, for the saving of his life from the bloody machinations of his own son ABSALOM, his third son, by birth, but now his eldest, and therefore Heir-apparent to the Crown, being impatient to stay for it till the natural death of his Father, designed first by flattering civilities to insinuate himself into the hearts of the people, and afterwards by armed power to force his way to the throne.

 

 For his person, he was of a very lovely aspect; " so that in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as ABSALOM for his beauty; from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head, there was no blemish in him." He had also a fair and smooth tongue, and was of a winning and insinuating behavior, so that " he stole away the hearts of the men of Israel. And having so done, it was an easy business to get himself chosen and pro-claimed King; which was done by the men of Israel, and that in Hebron too, the very place where his Father was first anointed by the men of Judah, and, seven years and a half afterwards, by the tribes of Israel.

 

 And now ABSALOM endeavors to confirm himself in his usurped dominion by the best arts of power and policy he could imagine. He gains AHITHOPHEL to be of his side, who was the King's Counsellor, a man of that venerable esteem for his great wisdom, that his counsel is said to be " as if a man had enquired at the Oracle of GOD."

 

 He is busy in preparing a great army against his Father the conspiracy was strong, and the people increased continually with ABSALOM, which made DAVID cry out, as he did, in Psal. 3: 1, 2, (a Psalm penned upon this occasion,) " LORD, how are they increased that trouble me Many are they that rise up against me; many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in GOD." And that these many were not the Philistines, Hoabites, Anzalekites, flnzntonites, and other Heathens, but his own subjects, was a more afflicting trouble. And that among these should be found AHITHOPHEL, his Friend and Counsellor, this made it more afflicting still, as he complaineth, Psal. l 5: 12, 13, 14; " It was not an enemy that reproached me, then I could have borne it; neither was it he that hated me, that did magnify himself against me; then would I have hid myself and my acquaintance. You, a man mine equal, my guide, We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the House of GOD in company."

 

 And that the General who headed the army against him should be AMAS the son of his sister ABIGAIL, and therefore so near to him, as that DAVID says of him, that he was " bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh;" this was another aggravation of his affliction. And lastly, this made the affliction most sharp of all, that he that was at the head of all should be ABSALOM’, that the Son thould thirst after the Father's blood; that he which " came forth of his bowels should seek his life," as he complains 2 Sam. 16: 1 l; that he should be the son whom he loved most passionately, even so passionately, that after his three years' absence from court, it is said, (Chap. 13: 39,) " the soul of DAVID longed to go forth fall him in unto n and after he had by all h hvaloruandeconduct sa ed old age, e, ahis people out of the hands of their enemies.

 

 Put all these sad circumstances together, and was not DAVID in sore troubles and trials But how does he behave himself herein Doth he quarrel with Providence, and the instruments of his trouble Nothing less: but his carriage was all composed of meekness and submission to the Will of GOD.

 

Being sensible of the imminent danger he was in, he provides for his security by removing from Jerusalem, which he and his servants did with all speed, lest ABSALOM should suddenly overtake them, and " thrust" (or " push") evil upon them, as the word is: for his enemies were most quick and active in their preparations against him; which therefore he calls the " stormy wind and tempest," Psal. lv. S. Of his hasty fleeing he speaks in Psal.ly. 6,7, (which refers to this occasion, as appears by verse 14,) where he cries, " O that I had wings like a dove! For then would I flee away, and be at rest: Lo then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest."

 

 Being Gotten out of the City in haste, he and his Guard tarry in a place that was far off, (2 Sam. 15: 17,) to refresh themselves; not knowing whither to go, or where to be at rest; Verse 2O. Having made a little pause here, he passes over the brook Kedron, verse 23, (a brook between the City and Mount Olivet,) all the country weeping with a loud voice at this sad procession; as also, when they were going up Mount Olivet, " they went weeping as they went, every one " covering his head," after the manner of mourning; Verse 3O. And in the midst of these hardships, and sorrowful sympathizings of the people, which could not but much affect his heart, (having given order to ZADOK, the Priest, to return back to the City with the Ark of GOD, which thus far accompanied him, desiring that that monument of GOD’s Glory and Presence might not wander up and down with him, in his desolate condition, but be placed again in the City of GOD,) he thus expresseth the humble and quiet Resignation of his spirit: (Chap. 15: 25, 26:) " If I shall find favor in the eyes of the LORD, He will bring me again, and show me both it (the Ark) and his habitation; (Jerusalem, the City of the great King;) but if he thus say, " I have no delight in thee, behold here am I, let him do unto me as seems good unto him."—" Though I be brought into excessive straits, though I be deprived of all my glory in my old age, after all the services I have clone for Israel and Judah, yet here am I, let Him do as seems good to Him, not as seems good to me. Thy will, O LoRD, shall be my will; in thy pleasure I will acquiesce. You shall choose for me. Be it so as you wouldst have it be, O you Most Holy and Wise, the LORD of all, who lost whatsoever pleases thee in heaven and earth. My heart is ready, O Go, my heart is ready; it is fixed and resolved to drink of that cup which you have appointed me."

 

 And his humble disposition of soul discovered itself immediately afterwards, in his penitential behavior as he went up the Mount. " He wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot;" which were the most significant expressions of humiliation and submissiveness of spirit. And this meek frame of soul, in reference to GOD’s disposals, did dispose him to a rare meekness and patience in reference to Men.

 

 There happened, a little after he had passed Mount Olivet, a very provoking occasion; for SHIMEI, a Benjamite, threw stones at him and his men, and cast dust at them all along the way, and added to this indignity their curses and revilings. ABISHAI, one of his three chief Commanders, was so incensed at the horrid insolence of this " dead dog," as he called SHIMEI, that he prays the King that he might. go over to him, and take off his head. But DAVID was so far from permitting this, that he was more offended at ABISHAI's zeal for him, than at SHPMEI's injuries, and thus replies to him: " What have I to do with you, ye sons of ZERUTAH So let him curse, because the. LORD has said unto him, Curse DAVID;" that is, because the Lotto saw it good to permit hint to curse me for my punishment; " who then shall say, Wherefore have you done so " Again, " Behold," says he, " my Son, which came out of my bowels, seeketh my life: How much more may this Benjamite do it Let him alone, and let him curse: for the Lotto has bidden him."

 

 DAVID was not a person of a dull, phlegmatic temper, or of a slow and stupid disposition, but of a vigorous, active spirit; he was sensible what a barbarous act this was in SHIMEI, thus to insult over his King, and that in his great distress; but being also sensible of GOD’s Providence in permitting this wretched man thus to affront, revile, and curse him, to correct hint for his sins, he quietly and meekly submitted to it.

 

 And DAVID lost nothing by his humble submission; for GOD delivered him from the policies of An1THOPn$L, and from the powerful army of ABSALOM, and brought him back with joy and triumph to Jerusalem.

 

 And as for SHIMEI, GOD returned his wickedness upon his own head; and DAVID found that true, which he did but modestly suppose upon SHIMEI's cursing: "It may be," (says he,) "the LORD will look upon mine affliction, and that the LORD will requite good for his cursing this day." And he that spoke with such an humble and resigned mind,--" But if He say, I have no delight in thee, behold here am I, let Him do to me as seems good to Him,"—found that GOD did delight in him, and therefore delivered him. GOD did what seemed good to DAVID, seeing he was willing He should do what seemed good to -Himself.

 

Now, if DAVID, a King, one of such dignity, one of so great renown in the world, one of such incomparable magnanimity, did with such meekness of soul submit to the Divine Providence, and in such instances as these, wherein as a King and as a Father he was most highly provoked; is it not a shame for us, who are so much his inferiors, to be impatient and unresigned, and that in far less trials than his were

 

CHAP. 10 Of the Example of ST. PAUL.

 

 THE last example I shall mention is blessed PAUL; a " Follower of CHRIST," as he styles himself, 1 Cor. 11: 1; and he imitated him in nothing more than in Self-Resignation. The very first words he spoke at his Conversion did speak the great preparedness of his soul for this grace: " LORD," said he, " what wilt you have me to do" There then shone round about him a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun; but a more glorious light shined into his heart: and as that light struck his body down to the earth, so did this his soul, and humbled it to the lowest degree of self-abasement, and submission to the Will of GOD.

 

 " LORD, what wilt you have me to do"-was as well’the language of his heart as of his lips. And whatsoever it was the will of GOD that he should do or suffer after-wards, he was most yielding to it. He would will or act nothing but according to the Will of CHRIST," Phil. 1: 21. His own will was swallowed up in His Will; so that he’did not so much live, as CHRIST lived in him; Gal. 2: 2O.

 

 None of the Holy Writers spoke more frequently or vigorously than ST. PAUL, of the necessity of our being’" crucified to the world," and of having " the world crucified unto us;" of "crucifying the world with the affections and lusts;" of " mortifying through the SPIRIT the deeds of the body," as being the only way to eternal life; and of "putting off the old man, which is corrupt accord-iv; to deceitful lusts:" By all which expressions is meant the subduing of our own will, and whatsoever is contrary to the Will of GOD.

 

 These things this excellent Apostle does press with all seriousness, and in expressions of greater significancy, and of a more spiritual and full energy, than any forms of speech in the Old Testament. And what the thus teacheth and exhorts to, he was an eminent Example of. He himself was " crucified with CHRIST;" he " suffered the loss of all things," and " accounted all" other " things but loss and dung that he might win CHRIST," and that he "might know the power of CHRIST'S resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death."

 

 He professed, that it is most reasonable, that if CHRIST died for us, we should live to Him, and not to our own wills; that the love of CHRIST Both, with a sweet force, constrain hereunto; and that the mercies of GOD power-fully engage us to make an entire oblation of ourselves to Him, " which is our reasonable service."

 

 And his practice was fully agreeable to his professions. At his Conversion, GOD showed him how great things he must suffer for his name's sake but the hardships he was to endure did not at all startle him. The HOLY GHOST witnessed in every city, that bonds and afflictions did await him; but, says he, "none of these things trouble me, nor count I my life dear unto myself," (and what is dearer than life) " so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the LORD JESUS, to testify the Gospel of the Grace of GOD." And therefore he went to Jerusalem, (where he was to expect very great afflictions,) "bound in spirit," con-strained by a holy violence.

 

 Nor could he be persuaded by those Disciples at Tyre, who, by revelation, told him that he would incur much hazard by going up to Jerusalem, and therefore advised him not to go: nor was he wrought upon by those other Disciples, who endeavored by their tears, added to their earnest entreaties, to stay him: but his answer to them was, " What mean you to weep, and to break mine heart; for I am ready, not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD JESUS." And by the steadfast purpose of his will to submit to GOD, did he at last win them over to the same Resignation: "And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The Will of the LORD be done."

 

 So far was he from living a self-pleasing life, that, if he pleased himself in any thing, it was "in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for CHRIST'S sake." So far was he from impatience, or shrinking at those disposals of Providence, that he rejoiced in his sufferings, while he " filled up that which was behind of the sufferings of CHRIST in his flesh, for his body's sake, which is the Church."

 

 But there is one passage in St. PAUL'S Writings, which had chiefly in mine eye, when I thought him, next to our blessed SAVIOR, most worthy to be presented as a pattern for Christians to follow: and it is a passage which expresseth the great progress he had made in Self-Resignation, both as it consists in a free and entire obedience to difficult Commands, and in the patient bearing of hard Trials and Sufferings.

 

 The passage is that in Phil. 4: 11—13: " 1 have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound; every where, and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through CHRIST that strengtheneth me."

 

 Of which words I may say, as AUSONIUS of the Emperor's Words, Onentis aurece verbs bracteata! " O plated (or rich and most excellent) words, expressing a golden (or most beautiful and goodly) mind." Yea, such is the preciousness of this wisdom, to " know how to be either abased or to abound," to have "learned in every condition to be content," that it is not " to be valued with pure gold, with the precious onyx or the sapphire; the price of it is above rubies."

 

To " know how to abound and to be full," and not to deny GOD, not to forget and forsake him in fulness, not to be high-minded, or trust in uncertain riches, not to make the abundance of these outward things to administer to pride and sensuality; but, on the contrary, to be humble, to trust in GOD, to acknowledge Him in all his gifts, to be moderate in abundance, and strictly religious; —this is no easy thing; it is a lesson that few will learn; but St. PAUL had learned it.

 

To "know how to be abased, how to want," and to be kept short; to look upon others' full portions in this life without covetousness, or envying what they have; to bear adversity, to endure afflictions, losses, and difficulties of all sorts, without impatience and murmuring at the allotment of Providence; to be quiet and meek; and much more, to be cheerful, and rejoice under all; not to love GOD the less, nor trust Him the less, nor to flag or be discouraged by this means in his service;—this is also a difficult and uneasy lesson, but holy PAUL was likewise herein instructed.

 

 " We glory in tribulations," says this great Apostle, Roan. 5: 3. Glorying is not mere joy, but joy exalted to its utmost height. And what a full expression is that which he uses, 2 Cor. 7: 4, "I do more than abound with joy in all tribulation: " or, " I rejoice with a superlative joy." What a mighty proficient was this blessed person in the school of CHRIST! Yea, he farther says, that he could " do all things through CHRIST strengthening him." And he had learned to be content not only in some conditions, but " in whatsoever state:" he knew how to be abased, and how to want, not only in some circumstances, but " every where, and in all things." Here was the Power of GODliness indeed, and " the Kingdom of GOD not in Word but in Power." And after all this, he ascribes nothing to himself, but gives to CHRIST the glory of all. He was, he says, able to do all this " through CHRIST strengthening him';" through the power of his grace, which was sufficient for him.

 

This is somewhat, of much more that might be observed, concerning this blessed Apostle, who, in Resignation to the Will of GOD, was one of the best Copies, and nearest the Original, that ever was drawn by the finger of Con THE HOLY SPIRIT. And, next to the life of CHRIST, the fairest picture of purity and holiness, the life of PAUL is set forth at large; above half of the Acts of the Apostles being spent in his character. Nor was it out of any vain-glorious design, nor from any undue love or value of himself, that he entreated others to "be followers of him, as he was of CHRIST," but from the inward sense of the great sweetness, peace, and comfort, and the many advantages, which he found in the imitation of Him, and from the absolute necessity of this duty. And these great reasons induced him to propound himself as a pattern, particularly to the Corinthians, (1 Cor. 11: 1, chap. 4: 16;) to the Thessalonians, (2 Thess. 3: 7, 9;) and to the Philippians,

 

(chap. 3: 17, and 4: 9;) " Those things which ye have both learned and received, and heard and seen in me, do, and the GOD of Peace shall be with you."

 

Now then, O feeble and faint-hearted Christian, take courage from these great Examples; up and be doing; be strong in the LORD, and in the power of his might. Wait upon GOD, and apply thyself heartily to Him, that you may be clothed with the same spirit, and be endued with " power from on high." And as ELISHA said of old, "Where is the LORD GOD of ELIJAH,—SO rouse up thyself, and say, Where is the GOD of PAUL, the GOD of ABRAHAM, JOB, and DAVID P The same GOD, who wrought effectually in these to such an exemplary Resignation, will be mighty in thee also, if you have the same spirit of faith. " He that is mighty will magnify thee," will do great things for thee and in thee.

 

 " Have you not known, have you not heard, that the everlasting GOD fainteth not, neither is weary" Nor has He " forGotten to be gracious;" but his tender mercies are the same, and the arm of his strength the same. Only take heed of being wearied, and fainting in your minds; but "wait on the LORD, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord." You shall then be enabled to " run the race that is set before you with patience;" though it is a long and hard race, you shall " run it and not be weary;" you shall " walk," in the most difficult paths of obedience, "and not faint." "The arm of the LORD shall awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old;" as it did in the days of the fore-mentioned Worthies: And you shall be " strengthened," is they were, " with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering," and that’" with joyfulness."

 

CHAP. 11

 

That the consideration of CHRIST Crucified is a may effectual means for the crucifying of the Old Man.

 

 NINTHLY, Let thy mind dwell much upon the meditation of CHRIST CRUCIFIED. Bring thy self-will and in-ordinate affections to Mount Calvary, and there nail them to the cross of CHRIST. As CHRIST "blotted out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us, and contrary to us," namely, the Jewish Law, the Mosaical Rites, " and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;" so should a Christian do with the Law in his Members, or the Law of Sin and Death. The nailing it to the cross of CHRIST is a most effectual means to take it out of the way.

 

 The cross of CHRIST iS a proper instrument for crucifying the Old Man, and the Body of Sin; and the consideration of CHRIST Crucified is a powerful engine, " mighty, through GOD, to the pulling down of strong holds," to the beating down of all those fortifications which sin has raised in the soul, all imaginations, all carnal reasonings and affections, every high thing that would exalt itself against the knowledge of GOD, and the obedience of CHRIST.

 

ST. PAUL speaks his own experience of the success he found in the serious consideration of CHRIST Crucified, in Gal. 6: 14: "GOD forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world:" that is, the vanities and allurements of the world, whether they be riches, honors, or pleasures, are become lifeless and untempting to me, and have no force to persuade me to a pursuit of them; I am so little affected towards them, so mortified to them, as to place no part of my happiness in such things.

 

 Now, then, the meditation on CHRIST Crucified is a means greatly available to the subduing of our own will and irregular appetites, in that,

 

1. As the Scripture declares that his dying on the cross was to make atonement for sin; so it affirms, that it was also designed to root out and destroy it. This is asserted in many texts:

 

 Particularly in 1 Pet. 2: 24; "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed:" In 2 Cor. 5: 14, 15; "For the love of CHRIST constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again:"

 

 In 1 Pet. 1: 18, 19; " Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation, but with the precious blood of CHRIST, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot." In Gal. 1: 4; " Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of GOD and our FATHER:"

 

 In Titus 2: 14; "Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works:"

 

And in Born. 8: 3, 4; " For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, GOD sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the SPIRIT."

 

2. CHRIST'S dying on the cross was designed to be a Pattern of our crucifying the Body of Sin. As his Resurrection is a figure of the spiritual resurrection of Christians, and of their rising to a life holy, heavenly, and divine; so his Death on the cross is a representation of that spiritual death which is to pass upon the Old Man.

 

 And because this is a necessary and important truth, as well as pertinent to the point in hand, I shall observe three passages of Scripture to this purpose, and a little descant upon them: First, that in I Pet. 4: 1; " Forasmuch, then, as CHRIST has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind; for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin." The "suffering in the flesh," in which the Apostle here tells us we are to imitate our SAVIOR, is not to be merely understood of suffering afflictions in the body, but of our resembling the suffering and dying of CHRIST ill dying unto sin. This appears from what next follows, " He that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin." Some Greek Copies leave out the particle Es, and read ,*, he that has suffered or died to the flesh; the same with that phrase, Rom. 6: 2, dead to sin. He that has suffered or died to the flesh, or he that has suffered pain and smart in the flesh, in the mortifying of his sin and of the deeds of the body, "has ceased from sin;" as he that is dead ceases from the actions that belong to the natural life.

 

 This also appears from ver. 2, " That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh, to the lusts of men, but to the will of GOD;"—should not live any longer in the gratification of those fleshly appetites that enslave the greater part of mankind, but, on the contrary, live a life of entire obedience to the will of GOD. A second passage, to the like purpose, is that in Philippians 3: 1O, " That I may know Him, and the power of his Resurrection, and the fellowship of his Sufferings, being made conformable unto his Death:" which last words are a key to the foregoing; and this conformity to the death of CHRIST implies, that it has in it something of Pattern to be spiritually resembled and imitated by a Christian.

 

 There is a knowing of the power of CHRIST'S Resurrection and Sufferings without us, as they refer to GOD the FATHER, in purchasing his favor, and in procuring the pardon of our sins, and reconciliation with Him': For CHRIST was " delivered (to death) for our offences, and rose again for our justification;" Rona. 4: 25. And besides, there is a knowing of the power of CHRIST'S Death and Resurrection within us; there is something to be done and transacted in us that is answerable there-unto. There is a partaking of his Sufferings in a spiritual sense; when we are enabled, by the power of GOD, to suffer the pain and agonies that accompany the crucifying of the flesh, or body of sin, and to die unto sin as he died for it. And there is a partaking of CHRIST'S Resurrection in a spiritual sense; when we are enabled to rise to a new and heavenly life, when we " seek" and savour " those things which are above, where CHRIST sits at the right hand of GOD," Col. 3: 1.

 

 This is that excellent Knowledge of CHRIST, for which the Apostle "counted all things but loss and dung." Had he rested in a merely speculative, historical knowledge of the Death and Resurrection of CHRIST, without him, and been impatient of the energy of both within him; had he not so known CHRIST dying and raised again to life, as to be spiritually crucified with Him, and to rise with Him to newness of life; such a knowledge would not have availed him in the end.

 

The third passage is that in Rona. 6: 4, 5, "Like as CHRIST was raised up from the dead by the glory of the FATHER, even so we also should walk in newness of life: For if we have been planted together in the Likeness of His Death, we shall be also in the Likeness of His Resurrection."

 

 By this Likeness of CHRIs'r's Death and Resurrection, it appears, that there is a lively resemblance of both, which a Christian is obliged to endeavor after. Then it follows; " Knowing this, that our Old Man is crucified with Him, that the Body of Sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."

 

3. The Death and Sufferings of CHRIST are very powerful to engage and enable us to the great duties of crucifying worldly lusts, and mortifying corrupt affections, as they are effectual to work in us the most heart-bleeding Sorrow for Sin, and the most vehement Detestation of it, and to raise the soul to the greatest degrees of Love and ingenuous Gratitude.

 

 (1.) To work in us the most heart-bleeding Sorrow for Sin. Who can seriously consider CHRIST Crucified; CHRIST bleeding on the cross; bleeding from the sixth to the ninth hour; (from twelve o'clock to three;) his bleeding head, crowned with sharp thorns; his bleeding hands, and feet, and side;—I say, who can consider this, and not bleed within Who can " look upon Him that was pierced," and not be inwardly pierced himself, or not be pricked to the heart, as they are said to have been who are mentioned in Acts 2: 37, at the preaching of CHRIST CRUCIFIED.

 

 And when we consider that " He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities," or, (as the words are rendered by some,) " of our transgressions and iniquities;" when we consider that we have crucified the LORD OF LIFE AND GLORY; that our sins nailed Him to the Cross, wounded Him to the heart, and put Him to all the grief and pain he underwent; how can it be, that our hearts should not be wounded within us How can we forbear to express our sorrow for sin in some such words as those of JEREMIAH, " My bowels, my bowels, I am pained at the very heart: O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears!"

 

 And can we consider his agony in the garden, the " exceeding sorrowfulness of his soul," his "extreme heaviness and sore amazement," his " strong crying and tears," and his " sweating great drops of blood," and not be melted into holy mournings for our sins, and for all our unkind and unworthy behavior towards CHRIST, who thus suffered for us

 

 How hard is that heart which the so great and painful sufferings of our SAVIOR cannot melt and dissolve! At the Passion of CHRIST (besides other prodigies,) it is said "the rocks rent;" and are our hearts harder than rocks, not to be affected with remorse at the consideration of CHRIST CRUCIFIED

 

It is ST. HIEROM's observation, that "when CHRIST died, all creatures were his fellow-sufferers; the Sun was eclipsed, the Barth shook, the Rocks were cleft in sunder, the Veil of the Temple was rent in twain, the Graves opened: Man alone, for whom only CHRIST died, suffered not with Him."

 

Certainly, if the consideration of our SAVIOR'S sufferings for our sakes cannot prevail to melt our hearts into a holy sorrow for our sins, nothing will ever do it.

 

And if it has such a peculiar and sovereign efficacy to work a heart-bleeding sorrow for sin, it will consequently be very effectual to disengage us from it, and to take us off from all those vanities and lusts, which were formerly most dear and pleasing to us.

 

 If we are grieved at the heart for our self-will, self love, and manifold disobediences, we shall not continue to " make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."

 

 (2.) The Death and Sufferings of CHRIST are effectual to work in us the most vehement Detestation of Sin. It appears from thence, how hateful and abominable a thing sin is to Go", who is original Rectitude and infinite Purity. For how could He demonstrate a greater antipathy against sin, than in being "pleased to bruise, and put to grief," the SON of his Love, and to give up " the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person" to inexpressible colors, to the end that He might make expiation for it.

 

 If sin were an inconsiderable thing, if it were not a thing of a most odious nature, a high injury to GOD, and of dismal consequence to man,—He would not have required such a Sacrifice for it. This consideration must needs be most forcible to work in us Detestation of Sin, whatsoever favor it has found in our eyes. Suppose we ourselves to have seen CHRIST in the last scene of his sufferings, and to have accompanied him from the Garden of Gethsemane, where he was in his Agony, and sweat drops of blood, to the High-Priest's House, thence to the Judgment-Hall before PILATE, then to Mount Calvary, in which places he was reproached, spit upon, scourged, and at last nailed to the Cross: and suppose him speaking to us, as, in another sense, PILATE spite of him, "Behold your King; Behold your LORD and SAVIOR: See the wounds which your sins have given me; see how they have torn my flesh, and despite-fully used me: But the unseen wounds, the inward sorrows of my soul, are such as the heart of man cannot conceive, as neither has the eye seen, nor the ear heard what may be compared to them. Thus have your lusts dealt with me; and in all this see their cruelty."—If we had beheld our blessed LORD in his direful sufferings, and heard him thus expressing himself to us, do we think we could still cherish and embrace those enemies of his, which have put him to all this shame and torment

 

If we have an inward knowledge and feeling of CHRIST Crucified, it will most undoubtedly inflame us into a just indignation against those lusts which sucked the Iife-blood of CHRIST, which crucified the LORD OF GLORY. PVC shall say concerning them, what the Jews cried concerning Hint, " Away with them, away with them, they are not worthy to live:" Let these murderers of the Just One die the death, but let JESUS live; and let the life of CHRIST be manifested in us. How can that be longer sweet to me, which made CHRIST'S CUP so exceeding bitter How can I delight in that, which made his soul sorrowful unto death How shall that be my pleasure, which was his pain, and put him to grief; such grief, that " there was no sorrow like unto his sorrow " How should I glory in that, which put Him to such an open shame

 

 (3.) The Death and Sufferings of CHRIST are powerful to raise the soul to the greatest degrees of Love and Gratitude. We have already shown that there never was a love like the love of CHRIST; that love which He ex-pressed in giving himself an offering and a sacrifice to God for us. Now, not to part with our lusts for Him, who parted with life itself for us; not to put ourselves to some pain in crucifying the lusts of the flesh, in denying our own will, and in taking up the cross and following Him, who has, to amazement, denied himself, and taken upon him the greatest of sufferings, for our sakes; this would be an instance of the vilest ingratitude imaginable. This will be more grievous to him, than all his sufferings from the Jews and Romans; it being a disappointment of him in the great design he had in submitting to those sufferings.

 

 But a soul truly sensible of the love of CHRIST in giving Himself for us, can think nothing too dear to part with for him,—cannot look upon his commands of Self-Denial and Self-Resignation as grievous and insufferable.

 

 I will add, that the particular circumstances of CHRIST'S last Sufferings, have a special force for enabling a Christian to overcome those particular sins, which prevail most among men, and which are the most fruitful branches that grow out of that cursed stock of Self-Will: as,

 

 (1.) Self-Esteem; an over-valuing of a man's self, and of his fame and regard in the world; a seeking the praise of men, and being disturbed at their disrespect. Now of how great efficacy must it needs be, to the subduing of this corruption, to " consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself," and how he was exercised with all manner of derisions, reproaches, injuries, and indignities, that the wit and malice of his enemies could devise; to render him despicable before men.

 

 He was called a blasphemer, a deceiver, an enemy to CAESAR, (or traitorous person,) and a seditious stirrer-up of the people; and all this about the time of his last passion; as before he \vas called a Samaritan, (or here-tic,) and Beelzebub. And as an expression of their contempt, they " spit upon his face;" that sacred face, which the glorious Angels delighted to look upon; and which ABRAHAM, and many Kings, and Prophets, and righteous persons, desired to see. What indignity like to this’ They " smote him on the face;" adding farther contempt, accompanied with pain, to the disgrace of having his face besmeared with their filthy spittle: and withal, they " covered his face, saying, Prophesy unto us, you CHRIST, who it is that smote thee."

 

 Thus contumeliously did they use the ANOINTED OF THE LORD; and as in the last passage they mocked at his Prophetical, so did they afterwards at his Kingly Ogee,—putting on him a gorgeous robe, plaiting thorns into the form of a crown, and putting it on his head, and a reed for a sceptre into his hand, and then bowing the knee before him, saying, " Hail, King of the Jews."

 

 These are a few instances of the many dishonors and indignities done unto him.--I might add, that the kind of death which he suffered was as ignominious as painful, the death of slaves, and vile offenders: and to add to the disgrace, they crucified him between two thieves.

 

Yea, even when he was bleeding upon the Cross, they would not forbear to deride and revile him; expressing their scorn both in words and gestures. Nor were they who did thus, the rude rabble only, but the Chief Priests, Scribes, and Elders.

 

 Now consider this, O Christian, how it fared with CHRIST, thy great LORD and MASTER; what affronts, what dishonors, what reproaches he endured, and how undisturbedly he bare them; how he " despised the shame;" how little he cared, either for the applause or contempt of the world; how he chose rather to be reputed and dealt with as the basest of men, than to be glorious in the world, and to shine in its vain honors: and will not this prevail with thee, to set thyself against thy pride and Self-Esteem Surely it is not possible that You, who art infinitely beneath thy blessed SAVIOR, should set a high value On thyself, and affect the praises of men, or be greatly concerned at the contemptuous behavior and affronts of the world, when you seriously considerest how CHRIST was used, reproached, and despised, and with what calmness of spirit he bore it. “The Disciple is not above his Master, nor the Servant above his Lord. It is enough for the Disciple that he be as his Master, and the Servant as his Lord."

 

 (2.) As for the lust of Self-Pleasing, the love of ease and pleasure, an aversion to endure hardships, a studious care to gratify the cravings of our appetites,—is there not enough in the consideration of CHRIST crucified, to cure also this distemper of the soul Did not CHRIST, out of tender compassion towards men, leave his FATHER'S House, where was all fullness and all joy, and humble himself to become man, and " take upon Him the form of a servant" He endured cold and heat, hunger and thirst, wearisome labors, long fastings, and faintness. " He bare our griefs, and carried our sorrows;" and endured inexpressibly worse griefs and sorrows than any of ours.

 

 Now how can we consider this, and be any longer solicitous for the pleasing of our appetites, and pampering our bodies And as for the impure pleasures of the world, no consideration can be more powerful to extinguish in us all desires to them, than that of CHRIST upon the Cross.

 

 (3.) Revenge and Hatred: Who can harbor these lusts, that considers that CHRIST laid down his life for his enemies; and that almost the last words he spoke on the cross, amidst that shame and torment to which they put him, were a prayer for them: " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

 

 (4.) Covetousness, or the Love of Honey: Who that considers, that " though CHRIST was rich, yet he became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich," and that it was this lust that betrayed the Lord of LIFE to his merciless enemies, can find it difficult to subdue his inclinations to it To conclude: To the serious Christian, the Word of she Cross of CHRIST is sharper than any two-edged sword, to the destroying of all evil and corrupt affections. But 1: fear that it is not considered, as it ought, by -most of us. Christians generally consider the Sufferings of CHRIST, only as they were designed to expiate sin, and in reference to what He has done for them and without them; not in their reference to the extirpation of sin, and to the " crucifying of the flesh, with its affections and lusts:" and hence it is, that their consideration thereof is no more available to this great end.

 

CHAP. 12

 

That the frequent consideration of the great Recompence of Reward, is a mighty help to the attaining of SELF RESIGNATION.

 

 12. IN order to the attainment of Self-Resignation, let us look to the great Recompence of Reward. Let us, with an eye of faith, frequently look upon the promise of eternal life, the prize that is set before us, the crown of life and glory, that fades not away, reserved in Heaven for all obedient and resigned souls.

 

It is said of JESUS, (Heb. 12: 2,) that " for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross," exquisitely painful as it was, and " despised the shame;" all the insultings of his enemies over him, and the vile ignominy of his death.

 

 And in conformity to him, a Christian may be enabled to endure the inward cross, in being crucified to the world, and in dying to sin, and to his own corrupt will, by eyeing steadfastly the joy and glory set before him, and by often contemplating the future reward, which is infinitely above all the labors that accompany Self-Resignation, and the pains and sorrows that attend it.

 

 The great Apostle of the Gentiles, who was acquainted not only with the greatest sufferings from the world, and the labors and pains of mortification and self-denial, but also with this blessed Reward, (having been taken up into Paradise,) having well weighed both, thus pronounces: (Born. 8: 18:) " I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." If the sufferings be laid in one balance, and the glorious reward in the other, the glory will unspeakably outweigh them: for it is a " far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;" in comparison of vrhich our heaviest afflictions are but " light," and our longest " but for a moment."

 

 That GOD is " a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him," is the first principle to be believed in Religion; without which, all our endeavors therein will be weak and feeble. And the End of our faith and obedience being much in our eye, the excellency and infinite desirableness thereof will take away all that unpleasantness which may be in the Means.

 

 A firm belief, with frequent and fixed thoughts of the heavenly Reward, would fill our hearts with joy and strength, and carry us with great ease through whatsoever difficulties he before us in the way of entire obedience and Self-Resignation. None of the divine commandments can be grievous to the heavenly-minded, nor any trials burdensome.

 

 Serious and believing thoughts of the glory to be enjoyed, will put such life, spirit, and vigor into us, as will cause us to " run the race set before us," not only " with patience," but with delight and joy: so that we shall " sing in the ways of the LORD," as the expression is in Psal. cxxxviii. 5, and " glorify him even in the fires;" (Isa. 24: 15.) We shall be enabled to submit to GOD’s Will, under great afflictions, as without murmuring, so with thankfulness.

 

 They that grudge to give GOD more than the fruit of their lips, than some good words, wishes, or intentions, or some formal observances, or some reformation in lesser and easier matters, and then think that they have done as became those that sought GOD’s Kingdom, miserably undervalue the glory and felicities of the life to come. They never spent so many thoughts on Heaven as to have any true and worthy conception of the happiness of it; otherwise they could never imagine it to be fit, that the doing and suffering of no more than this comes to, should be recompensed with such a reward; or that GOD will ever reward such a shadow of religion, with so real and substantial a happiness,—their withering leaves of outward profession, with such a crown of glory as shall never fade. But those that frequently affect their souls with the thoughts of that bliss which is promised to those who " deny themselves and take up their cross, and follow CHRIST " in spiritual obedience and resignation, can never think much of any pains or trouble this may put them to. If the Devil can prevail, as he cloth, by those imaginary satisfactions which he promised), what influence would GOD’s promises of "fullness of joy," and " pleasures for evermore," and " an everlasting kingdom," have upon all those that duly consider them

 

 How will men deny themselves, what labors will they undergo, what hardships will they suffer, for some worldly advantages which fall far short of a kingdom, for some petty principality and dominion over others, for a preferment that has some little authority in it, or brings in some profit! But had any such ambitious ones, the hope of a kingdom, how would they be transported with excess of joy; what difficulties, dangers, and painful labors would they go through, and think them nothing! And can we grudge to do or suffer as much for an infinitely more glorious Kingdom than any in this world, if we really believe it to be attainable by us

 

 If we were promised a great earthly reward, upon condition that we would abstain from such and such things, would we not do it. And shall not the eternal blessedness which GOD, who is as able as faithful to perform, has promised, be of like force with us Nay, shall it not be of far greater force, proportionable to the quality of the reward When all that we can do is but very little, and utterly unworthy to be compared with this glorious reward, is it possible that we should do less than we can, for the obtaining of it, if we considerately and believingly thought of it " Know ye not,” says the Apostle, " that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize So run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things: Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible." If they, in the Isthmian Games, were so careful to observe an accurate diet, to prepare and qualify themselves for those exercises; if they were temperate in all things, denying themselves in their sensual desires; if they were willing to weary and spend themselves in the race, or to endure blows and wounds in the combat, and thought no diligence, no labor, no hazard too great, for but a flowery or leafy, a fading and corruptible crown, a short and perishing reward; would not Christians much more " run their race with patience," " fight the good fight of faith," " endure hardship, and deny themselves and their fleshly desires, while an exceeding and eternal weight of glory" is in their eye If the men of this world shall think no pains too great for uncertain riches, which, while they enjoy them, are imbittered with many fears and anxious cares; would not the lively hope of eternal life, and of a treasure in Heaven, which " neither the moth can eat, nor rust can corrupt, nor thieves steal," engage us to greater labor and self-denial Would it not more strongly affect us, and make us more earnest and industrious Surely it would.

 

 Awake, awake then, O you Ylelicate and lazy Christian! Rouse up thyself, and stir up the gift of GOD in thee: Go lip to Mount rebo, and take a view of Canaan, that a pleasant and glorious land. Sec what a goodly heritage is reserved for thee, and " how great that goodness is which GOD has laid (or stored) up for them that fear him." Eye the fullness of the Reward; keep it in thy mind; believe it with thine heart; and then how cheer-fully wilt you travel through the wilderness to Canaan! Yea, this will make the very wilderness a little Canaan, or Land of Rest and Delight to thee; it will make it a little Eden, and Garden of the LORD. Nor wilt you then grudge if GOD shall prove and humble thee by a long journey in the wilderness, " to know what is in thine heart,"--whether there be in thee an obedient will, a resigned and submissive temper as to his commands and disposals. You wilt not be difficultly persuaded to believe that Canaan will make an abundant reconvened for all thy wearisome labors. And if, in the mean while, GOD feeds thee with the bread of Heaven, and sustains thee with manna in the wilderness, art you not well and kindly treated by Him Hereafter to feed with Angels, to " sit down with ABRAHAM, ISAAC, and JACOB, in the Kingdom of Heaven;" and here to be provided for with " Angels' food " to the full: to have " joy unspeakable and glorious," an eternity of pleasures hereafter; and withal, " peace which passes all understanding " here,—inward pleasures and delicious satisfactions, " the peaceable fruit of righteousness," which thy " sowing to the SPIRIT " will yield thee in this life: to be crowned with glory in heaven, and on earth to be " crowned with loving-kindness and tender mercies:"—these foretastes of happiness and earnests of the great reward, these little coronets for the present, and the assurance of a massy crown, a " weight. of glory," in the other life, methinks, should be of force to endear obedience, and sweeten patience to thee; to remove all apprehension of difficulty in what GOD will have thee either to do or subtler.

 

 If there be any generosity in thee, you can not but be very angry with, and condemn thyself, whensoever you feelest any secret grudging at what Go") would have thee undertake, seeing he has proposed such a Reward to animate thee to it. If there were any ingenuity in thee, you couldst not but be ashamed at thinking how little you either sufferest or doest for the Kingdom of GOD.

 

 Thy obedience is due to his commands, and thy sub-mission to his will, though there were no future Reward: But will GOD bestow on thy obedience and thy patience so glorious a Reward Will he reward an obedience for a short time, and a momentary suffering of affliction, with an eternity of bliss, with a glory so transcendently and astonishingly great

 

 And is this great Reward so near This present life is but short; you have but a few days to continue here; there is but a step between thee and eternal life: there is, between this and the other world, the vale of the shadow of death, a darksome passage, but a very short one, and you shall enter upon the reward of the inheritance;" which, at the glorious appearance of JESUS CHRIST, shall be grown up to its full proportion.