of: And no wonder; fince fomething not unlike it happened even to the Son of God himself.

Add to this, that even the beft of men, and thofe who are advanced nearest toward perfec tion, have often fome peculiar infirmity of body or mind, which sticks close to them, gives them great interruptions in the courfe of their duty, and great trouble and unealinefs in the perforn ance of it; and this permitted by God, in order to keep them vigilant, humble, dependent; even to St. Paul there was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him, 2 Cor. xii. 7.

The Chriftian fate then (even fetting afide the extraordinary cafe of perfecution for the name of Ghrift) is certainly a state of fuffering: Hereunto are we called, as many of us as have vowed obe dience to Chrift, and profefs to believe and to live as he hath taught us. And if fo, let us lay our hands upon our hearts, and examine ourselves, whether, and how far we may be faid to be in fuch a ftate, to have fulfilled the duties, and undergone the hardships, which entitle us to the pri vileges of it.

Have we then lived according to the flesh, or according to the fpirit? Have we exercised ourfelves in the fevere and rugged parts of our duty? or have we chofen for our lot, the gratifications of fenfe, and vain pleasures which did not profit us? Have we called ourfelves often to account for our miscarriages, and made a ferious, a ftrict, and impartial fcrutiny into our paft lives and actions? Have we felt the fpirit of compunction and contrition moving in our hearts, and condemning us for our tranfgreffions? Have we de plored

plored them? Have we prayed, and striven againft them, and applied thofe harfh, but wholefome remedies, which the Christian religion prefcribes for the cure of such diseases; fafting, and felf-denial, and mortification? Have we experienced the afflicting hand of God, laying hold of us, when we tranfgreffed, and gently leading us back into the paths of virtue, from whence we. had fwerved, by feafonable and merciful chaftifements? If this be our cafe, we have fome reason to hope that we are in fach a state and condition of mind, as becomes a good Chriftian, fuch as God will accept, and improve, and reward.

But now, on the other fide, what if the vanities of life, and the enjoyments of fenfe, have engroffed all our thoughts and affections? What, if we have been fo far from crucifying our lufts, that we have indulged them to the utmoft? from mourning for our fins, that we have even boasted of them? from humbling ourselves in private, by voluntary aufterities, that we have not regarded as we ought to do, even the ftated times of public and folemn humiliations? What if our diverfions have been purfued in prejudice to our devotions? have taken up the room, and eaten out the life of them? Can fuch inclinations, fuch practices be reconciled to the fpirit of the gospel? Is this the work, the employment, whereunto we are called? Is this temper of mind agreeable to the character of a serious and fincere Christian?

Believe it, a life of uninterrupted jollity and mirth, of perpetual pleasure aad amufement, is not, cannot be the life of a true difciple of Chrift. Thefe things we may tafte, but we are not to rest

in

in them; they are our refreshments on the way, not the end and defign of our journey. He that ptetends to be a Chriftian indeed (as St. Paul Speaks of a widow indeed, t Tim. v. 6.) "and liveth in "pleasure, is dead while he liveth;" he "favour"eth not the things that be of God," Mat. xvi. 23. hath no relifh of the chief duties and offices of the Chriftian life; and though he may pu: on fome of the outward forms and appearances of godliness, is a ftranger to the inward life and power of it. That is only to be attained by his fixing his eye on the example, and following the fteps of a fuffering, crucified Saviour. And therefore, I fhall, as I propofed in the next place,

II. Secondly, Confider how the fufferings of Chrift afford us a plain argument, why we alfo fhould expect our fhare of fufferings, and withal, a powerful motive to fupport us under them. And it is well they afford us both thefe; for the one, without the other, would be an uncom➡ fortable confideration.

The apoftle, we fee, proposes the example of Christ on the fuffering fide of it; as if that were the chief view we were to take of it, that the great end and defign of his being made an example to us. The moft difficult part of our duty is to fuffer well; and therefore we ftood moft in need of a perfect pattern in this respect, to direct and encourage us; and what we wanted moft, Chrift, who came to make good all our defects, and to heal all our infirmities, took most care to supply us with and therefore from his birth throughout Vol. III. N

his

SERM. VI. his life, to his death, this is the character, under which he appears to us. His fufferings indeed were finished on the cross; but they began, when he first entered on his ftate of humiliation; when emptying himself of all his glory, he took upon him to deliver man, and, in order to it, did not abhor the virgin's Womb.

Under this view if we confider him; and withal confider, that 'tis our duty, and our happiness to refemble him; what hopes can we have to escape the fufferings of this life? Nay, what reason totally to decline them? How can we poffibly, without fuffering, be like him, who himself did nothing but fuffer!

The infinite dignity of his perfon (for he was the Son of God, and God the Son) hindred him not from taking our nature upon him, with all its meanest circumftances, and with all its most afflicting accidents: and who is there then among the fons of men, fo diftinguished from the reft by his greatnefs or pre-eminence, as that it should mifbecome him to learn this great leffon of humility? Who, that should be ashamed to practise it?

Hewasof unblemished purity, of perfect fanctity and innocence; and therefore the calamities he underwent, were no ways neceffary, either for the trial or improvement of his virtue; and yet he chose to undergo them. How then fhould the very best of us (who ought, God knows, to be much better, and yet, without fuch trials, are in danger of growing much worfe, than we are) expect or even defire to be free from them?

Certainly we judge not aright of our fpiritual wants and neceflities, of our carnal infirmities and

failures,

failures, if we wifh to live always in perfect case, and think it a mark of God's favour, when nothing happens to deject, or disturb us. Nay, but then is the time, when we have most reason to fufpect ourselves. There is a W, we know, denounced on Chriftians, "when all men fhall fpeak "well of them;" Luke vi. 20. for fo did they not of Chrift himself;" and we are predeftinate to be "conform'd to his image," Rom. viii. 29. and therefore, as far as we deviate from that original, fo far we fall fhort of perfection and happiness. "If we endure chaftning, God dealeth with us as fons;" Heb. xii. 7. even as he dealt with him, of whom he faid; This is my beloved Son, in "whom I am pleafed," Matt. iii. 17.

"Forafmuch then as Chrift hath fuffered for c us in the flesh, let us arm ourselves with the fame mind; 1 Pet. iv. 1. with a refolution to imitate him in his perfect fubmiffion and refignation of himself to the divine will and pleasure; in his contempt of all the enjoyments of fenfe, of all the vanities of this world, its allurements and terrors; in his practice of religious severities; in his love of religious retirement; in his making it his meat and his drink, his only ftudy and delight, to

work the work of him that fent him;" John ix. 4. in his choofing, for that end (when that end could not otherwife be attained) want before abundance, fhame before honour, pain before pleasure, death before life; and in his preferring always a laborious uninterrupted practice of virtue, to a life of reft, and eafe and indolence. Let the fame "mind," in all thefe refpects, "be in us, which "was in Chrift Jefus, who fuffered for us, leav N 2 "ing