y
acquainted with grief and sorrow, therefore he can sympathize best with
thee. Let us speak even of the sinful infirmities thou art subject to.
That there might be a suitableness in him to help thee, he came as nigh as
might be,--he was willing to be tempted to sin, and so he knows the power
that temptations must have over weak and frail natures, but sin he could
not, for that had been evil for us. Let this, then, give us boldness to
come to him.

I would desire to persuade you to humility from this, according to the
lesson Christ gives us, Matt. xi. 29, "Learn of me, for I am meek and
lowly." And the apostle makes singular use of this mystery of the
abasement of the Majesty, to abate from our high esteem of ourselves,
Phil. ii. 3-6. O should not the same mind be in us that was in Christ! God
abased, man exalted,--how unsuitable are these, think you! God lowly in
condition and disposition, and man, though base in condition, yet high in
his deposition and in his own estimation! What more mysterious than God
humbled? And what more monstrous than man proud? Truly, pride is the most
deformed thing in a man, but in a Christian it is monstrous and
prodigious. If he did humble himself out of charity and love, who was so
high and glorious, how should we humble ourselves out of necessity, who
are so low and base? And out of charity and love too, to be conformed and
like unto him! Nature may persuade the one, but Christianity teacheth the
other,--to be lowly in mind, and esteem every one better than ourselves. To
be meek, patient, long-suffering, reason may persuade it, upon the
consideration of our own baseness, emptiness, frailty, and nothingness.
But this lesson is taught in Christ's school, not from that motive
only,--the force of necessity, but from a higher motive,--the constraint of
love to Jesus Christ,--"learn of me." Suppose there were no necessity of
reason in it, yet affection might be a stronger necessity to persuade
conformity to him, and following his example, who became so low, and
humbled himself to the death even for us.

Sermon XIII.

Verse 3.--"And for sin condemned sin in the flesh."

The great and wonderful actions of great and excellent persons must needs
have some great ends answerable to them. Wisdom will teach them not to do
strange things, but for some rare purposes, for it were a folly and
madness to do great things to compass some small and petty end, as
unsuitable as that a mount