And must the Son of God be humbled thus? must he that was from everlasting, raised and advanced above every man in heaven and earth; he that lay in the arms and breast of God, loved by the Father, and his only Son; honoured, adored, admired and beloved of ten thousand times ten thousands of Angels; But must this God leave all this glory, and change that sweet Heavenly and delightsome Palace for so mean, so low, so dirty a cottage, as to be born a man. And must his entertainment ⟨p. 79⟩at first be no better than a stable or a manger could give him? No sooner must he begin to live, but must an enemy assault his life? Must he travel up and down the earth, and spend his time and strength in preaching glad tidings to miserable undone men, and fill the world with signs and wonders, and not deserve so much of men as a house to dwell in, or a hole to put his head in? and after all this humble, holy, long-suffering life, must he be thought of by this unthankful and unbelieving world as one not worthy to live, and not have a breathing in that air which he both made and gave them to breath in? but must he at length be laid hold of by a traitorous Judas that he had once taken for one of his Apostles; & must he suffer all this? But ah! alas! what is this? must he be also crowned with thorns, and must he sweat and bleed? Oh far more than tongue can utter! Oh astonishing condescension! thus did the Son become a servant, and learned obedience by his sufferings, and served three and thirty years apprenticeship in the pain and travel of his soul here on earth, a longer time than Jacob served for his ⟨p. 80⟩beloved Rachel, & that because he loved us better, and therefore gave a better dowry for us. But had I lived to have seen this Prince of Glory thus disguised, this Eastern Sun thus benighted in a cloud, this Glorious God thus wrapped up in rags of flesh, should I have known him, or not? my sensual heart, I doubt thee much; wouldest thou have cleaved to him and loved him better than thy life, and have said, Though all leave thee, I will not; and with Paul, I am willing and ready not only to be bound, but to die for thee. What thinkest thou, Oh my soul! couldst thou have left Husband, Wife, Father and Mother, and all the rest of thy Friends, and have sold all that thou hast, and followed him, what him whom the Prophet foretold? Isa. 53. 23.
And must the Son of God be humbled thus? must he that was from everlasting, raised and advanced above every man in heaven and earth; he that lay in the arms and breast of God, loved by the Father, and his only Son; honoured, adored, admired and beloved of ten thousand times ten thousands of Angels; But must this God leave all this glory, and change that sweet Heavenly and delightsome Palace for so mean, so low, so dirty a cottage, as to be born a man. And must his entertainment ⟨p. 79⟩at first be no better than a stable or a manger could give him? No sooner must he begin to live, but must an enemy assault his life? Must he travel up and down the earth, and spend his time and strength in preaching glad tidings to miserable undone men, and fill the world with signs and wonders, and not deserve so much of men as a house to dwell in, or a hole to put his head in? and after all this humble, holy, long-suffering life, must he be thought of by this unthankful and unbelieving world as one not worthy to live, and not have a breathing in that air which he both made and gave them to breath in? but must he at length be laid hold of by a traiterous Judas that he had once taken for one of his Apostles; & must he suffer all this? But ah! alas! what is this? must he be also crowned with thorns, and must he sweat and bleed? Oh far more than tongue can utter! Oh astonishing condescention! thus did the Son become a servant, and learn'd obedience by his sufferings, and served three and thirty years apprenticeship in the pain and travel of his soul here on earth, a longer time than Jacob served for his ⟨p. 80⟩beloved Rachel, & that because he loved us better, and therefore gave a better dowry for us. But had I lived to have seen this Prince of Glory thus disguis'd, this Eastern Sun thus benighted in a cloud, this Glorious God thus wraped up in rags of flesh, should I have known him, or not? my sensual heart, I doubt thee much; wouldest thou have cleaved to him and loved him better than thy life, and have said, Though all leave thee, I will not; and with Paul, I am willing and ready not only to be bound, but to die for thee. What thinkest thou, Oh my soul! couldst thou have left Husband, Wife, Father and Mother, and all the rest of thy Friends, and have sold all that thou hast, and followed him, what him whom the Prophet foretold? Isa. 53. 23.
