XIV. Take another instance of our blessed Saviour’s Spirit, I came down from heaven (says he) not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me[¹].
[¹] John vi. 38.
And again, My meat and drink is to do the will of him that sent me. Now, can any Christian shew, why he may think otherwise of himself, than our Saviour here thought? Or that he need be less devoted to the glory of God than he was? What is there in our nature and condition to make any difference of this kind? Or can any thing else be the happiness of our nature, but that which was the happiness of his? Was he a loser? Did he leave the true happiness of human life, by devoting himself to the will of God? Or can this be our case, tho’ it was not his? *Can we be losers by looking to God alone, and devoting ourselves to his glory? Was it not the greatness and happiness of our Saviour that he lived to God alone? And is there any other greatness or happiness for us? We may as well seek out for another God, as for another happiness, or another way to it, than that in which Christ is gone before us. He did not mistake the nature of man, or the nature of the world; he did not overlook any real felicity, or pass by any solid good; he only made the best use of human life; and his spirit and temper is as necessary for our condition as it was for his. For this world, and all the things of the world, signify as little to us as they did to him. We are no more in our true state, till we are got out of this world, than he was; and we have no way to arrive at true felicity and greatness, but by so devoting ourselves to God as our blessed Saviour did. We must therefore make it the business, and aim of our lives, to be like Christ: and this not in a loose or general way, but with great nicety and exactness, always looking to his spirit, to his ends and designs, to his tempers, to his ways and conversation in the world, as the exact model and rule of ours.
[♦]XVI. Again, Learn of me, (saith our blessed Saviour) for I am meek and lowly in heart.
[♦] Number XV. omitted in text.
*It ought to be observed, that there must be something very extraordinary in these dispositions, from the manner in which we are taught them. It is only in this place, that our Saviour says expresly, Learn of me; and when he says, Learn of me, he does not say, for I am just and equitable, or kind, or holy, but I am meek and lowly in heart; as if he would teach us, that these are the tempers which most of all distinguish his Spirit, and which he most of all requires his followers to learn of him. For consider, does Christ, when he describes himself, chuse to do it by these tempers? When he calls upon us to learn of him, does he only mention these tempers? And is not this a sufficient proof that these are tempers which the followers of Christ are most of all obliged to learn; and that we are then most unlike to Christ, when we are wanting in them? Now as our great Lord and Master has made these characters the distinguishing characters of his Spirit, it is plain that they are to be the distinguishing characters of our spirit; for we are only so far his, as we are like him. Consider also, was he more lowly than he need have been? Did he practise any degrees of humility that were unnecessary? This can no more be said, than he can be charged with folly. But can there be any instances of lowliness which became him, that are not necessary for us? Does our state and condition excuse us from any kind of humility that was necessary for him? Are we higher in our nature, more raised in our condition, or more in the favour of God than he was? Are there dignities, honours, and ornaments of life, which we may delight in, tho’ he might not? We must own these absurdities, or else acknowledge that we are to breathe the same lowly spirit, act with the same meekness, and practise the same humble behaviour that he did. So that the matter comes plainly to this conclusion, either that Christ was more humble than his nature and condition required, or we are under a necessity of the same humility, till we can prove, that we are in a higher state than he was.
XVII. We see the height of our calling; that we are called to follow the example of our Lord and Master, and to go thro’ this world with his Spirit and temper. Now nothing is so likely a means to fill us with his Spirit and temper, as to be frequent in reading the gospels, which contain the history of his life and conversation in the world. We are apt to think, that we have sufficiently read a book, when we have so read it, as to know what it contains. This reading may be sufficient as to many books: but as to the gospels, we are not to think that we have read them enough, because we have often read and heard what they contain: but we must read them as we do our prayers, not to know what they contain, but to fill our hearts with the spirit of them. There is as much difference betwixt reading and reading, as there is betwixt praying and praying: and as no one prays well, but he that is daily and constant in prayer; so no one can read the scriptures to advantage, but he that is constant in the reading of them. By thus conversing with our blessed Lord; looking into his actions and manner of life; hearing his divine sayings; his heavenly instructions; his accounts of the terrors of the damned; his descriptions of the glory of the righteous, we should find our hearts formed and disposed to hunger and thirst after righteousness. Happy they who saw the Son of God upon earth converting sinners, and calling fallen spirits to return to God! And next happy are we, who have his discourses, doctrines, actions, and miracles, which then converted Jews and Heathens into saints and martyrs, still preserved to fill us with the same heavenly light, and bring us to the same state of glory!
CHAP. VIII.
An exhortation to Christian perfection.