17. Another instance of his love to God, was his delight in conversing with him by prayer; which made him frequently retire from the world, and spend whole nights in that heavenly exercise; though he had no sins to confess, and but few secular interests to pray for: which, alas! are almost the only things that are wont to drive us to our devotions. Nay, we may say his whole life was prayer, a constant course of communion with God. If the sacrifice was not always offering, yet was the fire still kept alive. Nor was he ever surprized with that dulness of spirit which we must many times wrestle with, before we can be fit for the exercise of devotion.
His charity to men.
18. In the second place I shall speak of love towards all men; but he who would express it must transcribe the history of the gospel: for scarce any thing is recorded to have been done or spoken by him, which was not designed for the good of some one or other. All his miraculous works were instances of his goodness, as well as his power, and they benefited those on whom they were wrought, as well as amazed the beholders. His charity was not confined to his kindred, or relations; nor was all his kindness swallowed up in the endearments of that peculiar friendship which he carried toward the beloved disciple. But every one was his friend who obeyed his holy commands, John xv. 4. and Whosoever did the will of his Father, the same was to him as his brother, and sister, and mother.
19. Never was any unwelcome to him, who came with an honest intention; nor did he deny any request, which tended to the good of those that asked it: So that what was spoken of the Roman Emperor, whom, for his goodness, they called the darling of mankind, was really performed by him, that never any departed from him with a heavy countenance, except that rich youth, Mark x. who was sorry to hear that the kingdom of heaven stood at so high a rate, and that he could not save his soul and his money too. The ingenuity that appeared in his first address, had already procured some kindness for him; for it is said, And Jesus beholding him, loved him. But must he for his sake cut out a new way to heaven, and alter the nature of things; which makes it impossible that a covetous man should be happy?
His meekness.
20. And what shall I speak of his meekness, who could encounter the monstrous ingratitude of that miscreant who betrayed him, in no harsher terms than these, Judas betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? What further evidence could we desire of his fervent and unbounded charity, than that he willingly laid down his life for his most bitter enemies, and mingling his prayers with his blood, besought the Father that his death might not be laid to their charge, but might become the means of eternal life, to those very persons who procured it.
His purity.
21. The third branch of the divine life is purity, a neglect of worldly enjoyments and accommodations, and a resolute enduring of all such troubles as we meet with in the doing of our duty. Now surely if ever any person was wholly dead to all the pleasures of the natural life, it was the blessed Jesus; who seldom tasted them when they came in his way, but never stept out of his road to seek them. Though he allowed others the comforts of wedlock, and honoured marriage with his presence, yet he chose the severity of a virgin life: and though he supplied the want of wine with a miracle, yet he would not work one for the relief of his own hunger in the wilderness. So gracious was he in allowing others such gratifications, as himself thought good to abstain from, and supplying not only their pressing necessities, but also their less considerable wants. We many times hear of our Saviour’s sighs, and groans, and tears, but never that he laughed, so that through his whole life he answered that character given of him by the prophet, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs. Nor were the troubles of his life other than matters of choice: for never did there any appear on the stage of the world with greater advantages to have raised himself to the highest secular felicity. He who could bring together such a prodigious number of fishes into his disciples net, and at another time receive that tribute from a fish which he was to pay to the temple, might easily have made himself the richest person in the world; nay, without any money, he could have maintained an army powerful enough to have jostled Cæsar out of his throne, having oftner than once fed several thousands with a few loaves and small fishes: but to shew how small esteem he had of all the enjoyments in the world, he chose to live in so poor and mean a condition, that though the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, yet he, who was Lord of all things, had not where to lay his head. He did not frequent the courts of princes, nor affect the acquaintance of great ones; but being reputed the son of a carpenter, he had fishermen, and other such poor people, for his companions, and lived at such a rate as suited with the meanness of that condition.
His humility.
22. And thus I am brought unawares to speak of his humility, the last branch of the divine life, wherein he was a most eminent pattern to us, that we might learn of him to be meek and lowly in heart. I shall not now speak of that infinite condescension of the eternal Son of God, in taking our nature upon him; but only reflect on his lowly deportment while he was in the world. He had none of those sins and imperfections, which may justly humble the best of men; yet he was so entirely swallowed up with a deep sense of the infinite perfections of God, that he appeared as nothing in his own eyes, I mean so far as he was a creature. He considered those eminent perfections which shined in his blessed soul as not his own, but the gifts of God; and therefore assumed nothing to himself for them, but with the profoundest humility renounced all pretences to them. Hence did he refuse that ordinary compellation of good Master, from one, who, it seems, was ignorant of his divinity: Why callest thou me good? There is none good but God only. As if he had said, “The goodness of any creature (and such only thou takest me to be) is not worthy to be named or taken notice of; it is God alone who is originally and essentially good.” He never made use of his miraculous power for vanity or ostentation: he would not gratify the curiosity of the Jews with a sign from heaven, some prodigious appearance in the air; nor would he follow the advice of his countrymen and kindred, who would have had all his great works performed in the eyes of the world, for gaining him the greater fame. When his charity had prompted him to the relief of the miserable, his humility made him many times enjoin the concealment of the miracle; and when the glory of God, and the design for which he came into the world, required the publication of them, he ascribed the honour of all to his Father, telling them, That of himself he was able to do nothing.