Vo 2 36 The Life of Jefur thrthrift l. II. tience, and was a Continual Exercife of this Virtúe. There had been great Ex- amples in all Ages of the Sufferings and Patience of good Men, which wemight propound to our felves with great Advantage, and fo St. fames exhorts the Chriftians todo, Jam. g. so. Take, my Brethren, the Prophets, who have fpoken in the Name of the Lord, for an Example offufering AfiCtion, and of Patience. Job efpecially was a moft eminent Example in this kin re have heard, fays he, of the Patience ofJob. And all thefe Examples are of great Ufe, and confiderable Arguments to this Virtue; but the Pattern ofour Lord's Suffering and Patience is a greater Example, and a more powerful Argument than all there. His Suffe- rings were far greater than any Man's ever were, Never was any Sorrow like to his Sorrow, wherewith the Lord afflieled him in the Day of his fierce Anger : And his Patienceewas greater than any Man's ever was ; not only becaufe he fuffered more than any one of the Sons of Men ever did, but becaufe he fuffered with- out Caufe, being perfe&ly innocent and free from the leaft Perfonal Fault and Guilt. Well may we bear the Indignation of'the Lord patiently, becaufe we have finned againfi him. Whatever we fuffer, our Confciences tell us we have de- ferved it all, and much more from the Handof God, and that our Punifhment is always lefs than our Iniquities have deferved. Sin is at the Bottom of all our Suf- ferings, and if we be buietted for our Faults, we ought to take it patiently. Upon this Confideration, St. Peter recommends to us theExample of our Lord's Suf- ferings and Patience, asa powerful Argument to work the fameTemper and Dif- pofition in us, r Pet. 2. 20, 21, 22. For what Glory is it, ifwhenye be buntedfor your Faults, ye /hall take it patiently? But if whenye do well andfefferfor it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For hereunto were yecalled : becaufe Chri alto fufered for us, leaving us an Example, that we fbouldfollow his Steps, whodid noSm. Where the Apoftle infinuates a twofold Difference between our Lord's Suffe- rings for us, and ours. He fuffered for us: but we upon our ownAccount, and for our own Faults. He was perfefkly innocent, He had no Sin, and yet he fuffered with fo much Patience ; much more ought we ; for by how much the more Guilt, fo much the greater Reafon for Patience, and the more inno- cent the Perfon is that fuffers, fo much the more perfect and commendable is his Patience. So that the Greatnefs of our Lord's Sufferings, confidered together with his perfect Innocency, gives his Example a peculiar Force and Advantage aboveall other Examples whatfoever. And therefore the Apoftle to the Hebrews, after a great Number of Examples of the Perfecution and Patience of the Saints in all Ages, not content with there, he adds that of our Lord, as the moft perfect and powerful Exampleof all others, Heb. 12. 1, 2, 3. Wherefore,feeing we alfo are compafs'd about with loch a Cloud of Witnefs, let us run with Patience the Race that ìs fit before us, looking unto Mies, the. Author and Finifher of our Faith ; whofor the Joy that was fee before him, endured the Crofs, defßifing the Shame. For confider him that endured fuch Contradiction ofSinners againfl himfelf, leftye be weary andfaint in your Minds. Such Contradidtion of Sinners ; fuch as no Man ever endured; and yet he bore all this, not with a Stoical and ftupid Infenfibility, but with a true Patience. For no Man had greater Apprehenfions of Suffering, and a more quick and tender Senfe of it, than he had. He had not only the more manly Virtues ofWifdom, and Refolution, and Conftancy ; but was cloathed alfo with the fofter Paillons of Humane Nature, Meeknefs and Compaflion, and Grief, and a tender Senfe of Pain and Suffering. He took our Infirmities, fays the Prophet, and bore our Griefs. And this he exprefs'd both in his Agony in the Garden, and in his Behaviour upon the Crofs ; he did not defpife Pain, but dreaded it, and yet fubmitted to it; he did not out-brave his Sufferings, but bore them decently ; he had a Humane Senfe of them, but underwent them with a Divine Patience, refigning himfelf abfolutely to the Will of God, when he faw them coming ; and when they were upon him, expreffing a great Senfe of Pain, without the leaft Sign of Impatience. And hereby he was a Pat- tern accommodated to the weakeft and tendereft of Mankind ; he did not give us
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