dies with thirst?-the clear fresh stream passes before him, allures and invites him, but he will not stoop to drink; this is the case of those who neglect and refuse the spiritual consolations in the gospel, that are compared to the flowing rivers of living water, for their cooling, refreshing quality, John vii. 38, 39. They actively bring trouble upon their souls; their passions are the instruments of their misery. He that is his own executioner has no excuse for dying; he is justly, because wilfully, miserable. What a blot is this upon the gospel. Those who will not be comforted will not be christians; by the same Holy Spirit, who is called the Comforter, we are the one and the other. If the precious promises of the gospel do not alleviate our sorrows, it is not from infirmity, but from unbelief. It is an incredible miracle that a person can be in reality a christian, and not capable of consolation, as if eternal life was not purchased by Christ for his people, or the present sufferings were comparable to the future glory; for the misery, that passeth with time, is not of moment with respect to the blessedness that is established for ever. Let us then be excited to transcribe this divine lesson (as full of excellency as of difficulty), into our hearts and lives. It is easy in speculation to consent to the reasonableness of this duty, but how hard to practise it, and to bear (not too sensibly) such evils as are incurable here; a deliberate, universal, constant subjection to God's will, though contrary to our carnal desires and interests, how rarely is it to be found among those, who in the title and profession are his servants! In "active obedience" some will readily perform some particular commands, but withdraw subjection from the rest; and, in "passive obedience," many will submit to lighter and shorter afflictions, but if an evil come that nearly touches the heart, or that remains

long without redress, they become impatient, or so dejected as to neglect their duty. I shall therefore superadd to the former arguments, wherein the necessity, the equity, and the policy of our dutiful resignation to God's providence is clearly set forth, some other motives and directions that may be useful and effectual for this end.

Look frequently to Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith the Divine wisdom to reform the world, assumed the human nature, and expressed in a holy conversation upon earth, a living copy of his precepts, to direct us in the various parts of our duty; and, because the exercise of humility, self-denial, and the rest of the suffering graces, is so difficult to our frail and tender nature, he ascended the cross, and instructs us by his suffering, to suffer with his affections, leaving us his example, as the best lecture of our duty,-his sufferings concern us not only in point of merit, but conformity. We can never enjoy the benefit of his passion, without following his pattern. His example is the rule of the highest perfection, and we are under the greatest obligation to imitate and honor Him, who is our Sovereign and our Saviour, to whom we owe our redemption from everlasting misery, and the inheritance of glory. It is the apostles advice to the afflicted, "to consider him, that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be weary, and faint in your mind," Heb. xii. 3. The deduction is with greater force to make us humble and patient; if we consider the infinite dignity of his person. He was the eternal and only Son of God, and descended from the throne of his majesty, divested himself of his robes of insupportable light, and was obedient to the death of the cross. What are the highest and best of men to him? tremely unbecoming and undutiful

Were it not ex

for a subject to

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refuse obedience to a just law, if the king that made the law should voluntarily observe it, and reserve other advantage to himself, than the honor of enacting it? Our Saviour did not stand upon the dignity and liberty of his person being equal with God, and our king, but entirely complied with the law; and shall we complain of its rigour? Consider, too, the greatness of his sufferings. They were incomparable as to their value, so in their degrees. He endured the equal extremities of infamy and torment, that are so contrary to the inclinations of mankind. He was crowned with a crown of thorns, scourged, spit upon, reviled, derided, crucified; insensible nature, as if capable of understanding and affection, was disordered in its whole frame at his death. The heavens sympathized in eclipses of the sun-in the darkness of the air at midday, as if it were midnight; the earth quaked with tremblings, and the rocks were rent asunder. The sufferings too of his soul from the incensed justice of God were inconceivably great. What is the worst we suffer, either immediately from God, or instrumentally from men, to his bitter passion? Our sufferings are but superficial shadows of misery, compared to his deep sorrows. His sufferings were most undeserved-for he was the Holy One of God; his conception without the least taint of sin, his life of strictest purity, and complete obedience to the Divine law. We may read the process of our sins, and understand their guilt in his passion. "He was made sin for us, (a sacrifice to atone the Divine displeasure), who knew no sin." As David, when guilty of murder and adultery, was fired with indignation at the relation of the rich man killing the only lamb of his poor neighbour, and sparing his own numerous flock; and when the prophet unveiled the parable, and surprised

him with that piercing reproach, "Thou art the man!" he presently by that fiction in another was convinced of his own true guilt, and deeply afflicted in the sense of it: thus we are apt to conceive indignation against the murderers of our Saviour, the apostate apostle, the malicious priests, the unrighteous judge, the bloody soldiers; but conscience, as a true Nathan, may charge us to have been in that wicked conspiracy against the Lord of glory, for it was our sins that condemned and crucified him. And as our sins were the impulsive cause of His sufferings, so our good is the effect of them. Christ suffered the death of the cross, that his blood might be our ransom, his ignominy the purchase of our glory, his torments the merit of our blessedness, his death the seed of immortal life to us; but we suffer the just punishment of our sins. How marvellous were His willing obedience, Divine patience, and invincible constancy in suffering for us! In his distress, the whole army of heaven were in readiness for his protection and rescue, upon the least signification of his will: "If I prayed to my Father, he would send me twelve legions of angels." Nay, he had the springs and keys of the Divine power in his hands, and could by a word have destroyed his enemies; but he "freely gave himself for us!" and without resistance, without complaint, took up his cross. Now our Saviour, who had the fulness of the Spirit, communicates to us the first fruits of it, faith and love, humility and patience, peace and joy, to support us under affliction. Consider the excellent reward of his sufferings; he was abased below men, and is advanced above all the angelical orders, and is the eternal object of their praises-never was suffering so grievous, never was issue so glorious. "For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despised the shame, and is set down.

at the right hand of the majesty on high," Heb. xii. 2. Now our blessed Saviour hath promised, "To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne," Rev. iii. 21. Unfainting per

severance shall be rewarded with the glory of our Redeemer, Gal. vi. 9. And is not the prospect and expectation of this sufficient to establish our minds, and make us patiently endure the greatest afflictions?

The consideration of the suffering saints in all ages is a powerful persuasive to patience. Thus the apostle James directs christians, "Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction and of patience," James v. 10; and we have great encouragement from thence, if we consider,

1. That those who are of most precious account with God, and highly favored by him, are usually exercised with sharp afflictions. The singularity and greatness of a calamity exasperate the sorrow, when it is apprehended as a sign of extraordinary guilt in the afflicted, and of severe displeasure in God that sends it; but to prevent trouble that arises from that apprehension, the scripture records the heavy afflictions that happened to God's chosen servants and favorites :-Moses, whom God honored with the most familiar and condescending discoveries of himself, was tried by long afflictions. David, a man after God's own heart, 1 Sam. xiii. 14; Acts xiii. 22, was a long time hurled to and fro by tempestuous persecutions from his unjust and implacable enemies. Isaiah, who was honored with such heavenly revelations, that his describing the sufferings of Christ seems rather the history of an evangelist, than the vision of a prophet, was sawn asunder.