ther's propofing thus to minifter unto him, fuppofes a correfponding temper of mind, in his immaculate human nature, to wait for fuch difpenfation or interpofition. The different anfwers which our Lord made to Satan's temptations in the wilderness of Judea, are beautiful expreffions of this believing dependence. "He faid, man fhall not live by bread

alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of "the mouth of God." Again, "Thou shalt not "tempt the Lord thy God:" and again, "Thou "fhalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only "shalt thou ferve," Matth. iv. 4, 7, 10. all which, as he quoted from the Old Teftament fcriptures, he applied to himself. And the apostle, speaking of the life of Chrift as Man-Mediator, fays, "We having the fame fpirit of faith," namely, that prevailed in him, and was exercifed by him, "ac"cording as it is written, I believed, and therefore "have I spoken," 2 Cor. iv. 13. where Paul quoting the 10th verfes of the cxvi pfalm, evidently applies it to Jefus Chrift, as an expreffion of his believing dependence on the Father..

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Having thus entered upon his Father's work, our Lord looked for, and expected, the promised period of his humiliation, with the reward to follow upon it, refpecting himself in particular, and his people in general. "Surely (faid he by the prophet) my judgment is with the Lord, and (as it "is in the marginal reading) my reward is with << my God," If. xlix. 4. "The things (faid he, applying the prophecies of his fufferings and "death) concerning me have an end," Luke xxii. 37. The prophecies, would he have faid, concerning my humiliation, have an appointed time, for their gradual, but final accomplishment; when my humiliation itself fhall intirely and eternally ceafe." Hereafter (faid he to Nathaniel) you shall A 3

"fee

"fee heaven open, and the angels of God afcend"ing and defcending upon the Son of man," John i. 51. And to the high priest, when pannelled as a malefactor before him, we find him faying, "Hereafter ye fhall fee the Son of man fitting on "the right hand of power, and coming in the "clouds of heaven," Matth. xxvi. 64. All manifest declarations of his waiting for the Father's reward, as well as for the period of his own humiliation.

SECT.

II.

Our Lord waiting patiently for the Father, points the manner in which his fervice was performed, and his believing dependence exercised.

The manner in which our Lord performed his Father's work, was no less peculiar than the work itfelf. Arduous, difficult, and dangerous as it was, he undertook it: with whatever oppofition he met, from men and devils, friends and foes, he entered upon it: and to whatever contempt and fufferings his doing fo behoved neceffarily to expofe him, he, bleffed be he, went through with it. At a certain time, when the Pharifees, who did all in their power, by fecret fraud, as well as by open force, to explode the credit of his miffion, and mar the fuccefs of his ministry; when they, with a view to intimidate the Saviour, faid unto him, "Get thee out hence, for Herod will kill "thee;" he, mindful, for his Father and the people, of his covenant, "faid unto them, Go ye and "tell that fox, Behold, I caft out devils and do "cures to-day, and to-morrow, and the third day "I fhall be perfected: nevertheless, I muft walk "to day, to-morrow, and the day following; for "it cannot be, that a prophet perish out of Jerufalem," Luke xiii. 31, 32, 33. Nay, on the ac

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complishment

complishment of his work and warfare, he was fo much fet, that even a favourite apostle must be feverely reprimanded, if he but open his mouth in oppofition to it: for when Peter, hearing his mafter's fufferings and death foretold, faid, "Be it "far from thee Lord, this fhall not be unto thee;" the evangelist informs us, that "Jefus turned and faid unto him, Get thee behind me Satan, thou art an offence unto me, for thou favourelt not "the things that be of God, but those that be of men," Matth. xvi. 22, 23.

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In his humiliation, our Lord was taken in no lurch, furprised by no circumftance, he did not previously fee, weigh, and confider. With a holy compofure, peculiar to himself, he took an accurate fore-view, made a particular furvey, of all the different parts, the various particulars, of that work his Father gave him to do; without being thence tempted, at leaft without being determined, to throw up his commiffion, refign his office, or defert his station. "From that time forth

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(fays the evangelift) Jefus began to fhew unto "his difciples, how that he must go unto Jeruía"lem, and fuffer many things of the elders, and "chief priefts, and fcribes, and be killed," Matth. xvi. 21. "As Jonas (faid our Lord to the Phari

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fees) was three days, and three nights, in the "whale's belly; fo fhall the Son of man be three days, and three nights, in the heart of the earth," Matth. xii. 40. The very inftrument of his being delivered into the hands of finful men was known to him at the firft: "For he knew (fays the evan

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gelift) from the beginning, who fhould betray him," John vi. 64. Were men to read the defigns of providence, refpecting their fufferings, before hand; any patience, competent or poffible for them, would not stand the first sight; the most A 4

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patient of them could not do otherways than fink, before they were actually laid under the trial, caft into the furnace. But in this, as in every other regard, the Mafter has the pre-eminence over the fervants, and the head over the members.

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As the Saviour met with no furprise, he expreffed no grudge, fret, or disgust at any part of his Father's will. "The cup (faid he) which the Fa"ther hath given me, fhall I not drink?" John xviii. II. Nor did he infinuate the least resentment against the ungenerous, unreafonable, malicious inftruments of his trial, fufferings and death. For though he was oppreffed and afflicted, yet he o"pened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb "to the flaughter, and as a fheep before her fhearers is dumb, fo he openeth not his mouth," If. liii. 7. O patience truly divine! what holy, what noble, matchlefs and expreffive filence is here! Befides, our Lord bore with the unteachablenefs of his difciples, the flowness of his followers, to believe what the prophets had fpoken; and bore it with a tenderness, delicacy and forbearance, which, unless in the love of the Father, had no precedent, knew no parallel. For, according to the apoftle's defcription of a high priest, to which our Lord's character anfwered, as face anfwers to face in a glass; or rather, of which our Lord's character was the true, fpotlefs, matchlefs original ; he must be one, "who can have compaffion on "the ignorant, and on them that are out of the Heb. v. 2. way," Nay, we are called to con"fider him that endured fuch contradiction of finners against himself," Heb. xii. 3. Though he could have destroyed them, he bore with them, and bore with them, when their cruelty and refentment were directly levelled against his perfon, doctrine, intereft and works; in which his prince

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ly patience appeared to greater advantage, fhined forth with the most distinguished fplendour.

The manner in which our Lord exercised his believing dependence was no lefs peculiar, than the manner in which he performed his Father's work. For though he abfolutely believed the truth of his Father's promises to him, he left the time and the way of performance intirely to the Father himself. And if his harmless human nature feemed, under the hottest conflict, to recoil, and to exprefs a wishfulness that the bitterness of his cup might immediately pass over, he inftantly recovered himself; and at once, refuming the bravery peculiar to him, as the captain of his people's falvation, faid, "Ne"vertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt," Matth. xxvi. 39. Nor could the highest degrees of fufferings inflicted, the highest penal demands made, by the Father upon him, as the furety of finners, interrupt his believing claim of relation to the Father, and intereft in him. For when bruifed, bleeding and groaning, under the immenfe load of law-wrath upon the cross, we find his faith fcrewed up to the highest pitch; making him, with holy, believing, intrepid refolution, to cry, "My "God," and again, "My God," Pfal. xxii. 1. Matth. xxvii. 46.

Though our Lord's perfonal miniftry was, comparatively, unsuccessful; though in particular corners, he did not many mighty works, because of their unbelief; though, through the whole of his tabernacling on earth, he had reafon to fay, "I "have laboured in vain; I have spent my strength "for nought, and in vain," If. xlix. 4. yet he be lieved, that after his tranflation to heaven, the ends of his death, as to all for whom he fuffered, fhould eventually and effectually be reached. The Father having promised concerning him, that "he should

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