with the wickednefs around him, if he lives in fociety. Who that has any regard for the honour of God, or the fouls of men, can hear and see what paffes every hour; how the authority of God is affronted, his goodness abused, and his mercy defpifed, without emotions of grief and compaffion? If we are fpiritually-minded, we must be thus affected; and we fhould be more fo, if we were more fpiritual. But the holiness of MESSIAH, and, confequently, his hatred of fin, was abfolutely perfect. His view of the guilt and mifery of finners, was likewife comprehenfive and clear. How muft he be therefore grieved by the wickedness and infenfibility of those with whom he daily converfed! especially as he not only observed the outward conduct of men, but had an intimate knowledge of the evil heart, which is hidden from us. In this fenfe his fufferings and forrows began with his early years, and continued throughout the whole of his life. He undoubtedly could fay, with an emphasis peculiar to himself, I beheld the tranfgreffors, and was grieved; rivers of waters run down my eyes, because men keep not thy law *.

We call ourselves the followers and fervants of him, who was despised of men, and encompassed with forrows. And shall we then feek great things for ourfelves t, as if we belonged to the prefent world, and expected no portion beyond it? Or fhall we be tremblingly alive to the opinion of our fellow creatures, and think it a great hardship, if it be our lot to fuffer fhame for his fake, who endured the crofs, and despised the shame for us? Rather may we account fuch difgrace our glory, and every lofs and fuffering, that we may endure for him, a gain; while on the other hand we learn, with the Apoftle Paul, to efteem every gain and honour this world can afford, tə be but lofs and dung in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Chrifti Jefus our Lord ‡.

Pfal. cxix. 156, 158. ↑ Jer. xlv. 5.

SER

Phil. iii. 8,

SERMON

XVIII.

197

1

Voluntary Suffering.

ISAIAH 1. 6.

I gave my back to the fmiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from fhame and fpitting.

TH

HAT which often paffes amongst men for refolution, and the proof of a noble, courageous fpirit, is, in reality, the effect and mark of a weak and little mind. At least, it is chiefly owing to the prefence of certain circumstances, which have a greater influence upon the conduct than any inherent principle. Thus, may perfons who appear to fet death and danger at defiance in the hour of battle, while they are animated by the examples of those around them, and inftigated by a fear of the punishment or shame they would incur if they deserted their poft; upon a change of fituation, as, for instance, on a bed of fickness, discover no traces of the heroism for which they were before applauded, but tremble at the leifurely approach of death, though they were thought to defpife it under a different form. It was not true fortitude, it was rather a contemptible pufillanimity, that determined the celebrated Cato to deftroy himself. He was afraid of Cæfar; his dread' of him, after his victories, was fo great, that he durft not look him in the face; and therefore he killed. himself to avoid him. To the fame meanness of sentiment we may confidently ascribe the pretended gallantry of modern duellifts. They fight, not because they are not afraid of death, but because they are impelled by another fear, which makes

K 3

a greater impreffion upon a feeble, irrefolute mind. They live upon the opinion of their fellow-creatures, and feel themselves too weak to bear the contempt they fhould meet with from the circle of their acquaintance, if they should decline acting upon the falle principles of honour which pride and folly have established. They have not refolution fufficient to act the part which confcience and reafon would dictate, and therefore hazard life, and every thing that is dear to them as men, rather than dare to withstand the prevalence of an abfurd and brutal cuftom.

A patient enduring of affliction, and especially of difgrace and contempt, to which the characters the world moft admire are confeffedly unequal, is a much furer proof of true fortitude, than any of those actions which the love of praife, the fear of man, or even a mercenary attachment to lucre, are capable of producing. True magnanimity is evidenced by the real importance of the end it propofes, and by the fteadinefs with which it purfues the proper means of attaining that end; undisturbed and unwearied by difficulty, danger, or pain, and equally indifferent to the cenfure or fcorn of incompetent judges. This greatnefs of mind is effential and peculiar to the character of the Chriftian, I mean the Chriftian who deferves the name. His ends are great and sublime, to glorify God, to obtain nearer communion with him, and to advance in conformity to his holy will. To attain thefe ends, he employs the means prefcribed by the Lord, he waits at Wifdoni's gates*, and walks in the paths of dependence and obedience. He therefore cannot conform to the prevailing maxims and pursuits of the many, and is liable to be hated and fcorned for Is fingularity. But he neither courts the fmiles of men, nor fhrinks at the thought of their difpleasure. He loves his fellow-creatures, and is ready to do them

Prov. viii. 34.

every

every kind office in his power; but he cannot fear them, because he fears the Lord God.

But this life the Chriftian lives by faith in the Son of God. Jefus is the fource of his wifdom and trength. He likewife is his exemplar. He is crucified to the world by the crofs of Christ; and a principal reafon of his indifference to the opinion of the world, is the confideration of the manner in which his Lord was treated by it. He is the follower of him who faid, I gave my back to the fmiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from fame and spitting.

We may obferve, from the words, that the humiliation of MESSIAH was voluntary, and that it was

extreme.

I. With respect to his engagement, as the Mediator between God and finners, a great work was given him to do, and he became refponfible; and therefore, in this sense, bound, and under obligation. But his compliance was likewife voluntary; for he gave himself up freely to fuffer, the juft for the unjuft. Could he have relinquished our caufe, and left us to the deferved confequence of our fins, in the trying hour when his enemies feized upon him, legions of angels +, had they been wanted, would have appeared for his rescue. But if he was determined to fave others, then his own fufferings were unavoidable. Men, in the profecution of their defigns, often meet with unexpected difficulties in their way, which, though they encounter with fome cheerfulness, in hope of furmounting them, and carrying their point at laft, are confidered as impediments; but the fufferings of MESSIAH were effentially neceffary to the accomplishment of his great defigns, precifely determined, and prefent to his view before-hand, fo that (as I lately observed) there was not a fingle circumftance that happened to him unawares. He knew K 4

that

that no blood but his own could make atonement for fin, that nothing lefs than his humiliation could expiate our pride; that if he did not thus fuffer, finners muft inevitably perish; and therefore (fuch was his love!) he cheerfully and voluntarily gave his back to the fmiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. Two defigns of vaft importance filled his mind; the completion of them was that joy fet before him, for the fake of which, he made himfelf of no reputation, endured the cross, and despised the shame. These were, the glory of God, and the falvation of £inners.

1. The highest end of his mediation was to difplay the glory of the divine character in the ftrongeft light, to afford to all intelligent creatures*, the brightest manifeftation they are capable of receiving, of the manifold wifdom of God, his holiness, justice, truth, and love, the ftability and excellence of his moral government, all mutually illustrating each other, as combined and fhining forth in bis perfon, and in his mediatorial work. Much of the glory of God may be feen, by an enlightened eye, in creation, much in his providential rule and care over his creatures; but the brightness of his glory t, the exprefs and full discovery of his perfections, can only be known by Jesus Christ, and the revelation which God has given of himself to the world by him. And, accordingly, we are affured, that the angels, whofe knowledge of the natural world is doubtlefs vaftly fuperior to ours, defire to look into these things; and that the manifold wifdom of God is fupereminently made known to principalities and powers, in heaven, by the difpenfation of his grace to the church redeemed from the earth.

2. Subordinate to this great defign, closely connected with it, and the principal effect for which it will be admired and magnified to eternity, is the complete

* Eph. iii, 10.

† John i. 18. Heb. i. 3.