2. It was our Saviours practice. As he had the highest love to God, so he must needs have the greatest grief for his dishonour. He sighed in his spirit for the incredulity of that generation, when they asked a sign, after so many had been presented to their Eyes, Mark 8.12. He sighed deeply in his spirit. And the hardness of their hearts at another time raised his grief, as well as his indignation, Mark 3.5. He was sensible of the least dishonour of his Father, Psal. 69 9. The reproaches of them that reproached thee, fell upon me. I took them to heart. Christ pleased not himself when his Father was injured; as the Apostle descants upon it, when he applies it to Christ, Rom. 15.3. His Soul was more pierced with the wrongs done to God, than the reproaches which were directed against his own person. His grief was unexpressibly greater than can be in any creature, because of the unimitable ardency of his love to God, the nearness of his relation to him, and the unspotted purity of his Soul. Christ had a double relation; to Man, to God. His compassion to men afflicted him with groans and tears at their bodily distempers; his affection to his Father would make him grieve as much to see him dishonoured, as his love to man made him groan to see man afflicted. This grief for sin was one part of Christ's Sacrifice and Suffering; for he came to make a full satisfaction to the Justice of God by enduring his wrath, to the holiness of God by offering up an infinite sorrow for sin, which it was impossible for a creature to do. We cannot suppose that Christ should only accept the punishment, but not bewail the offence which was the cause of it. A Sacrifice for the sins of others, without remorse for those sins, had not been acceptable; it had not been agreeable to the purity of his humane Nature. He wept at Jerusalem's obstinacy, as well as for her misery, and that in the time of his triumph. The loud Hosanna's could not silence his grief, and stop the expressions of it, Luke 19.41. It was like a shower when the Sun shined. If Christ as our Head was filled with inward sorrow for mens displeasing the holiness of God, 'tis surely our duty as his Members, to imitate the afflictions of the Head. He is unworthy of the name of Christ, who is not afflicted as Christ was; nor can call Christ his Master, who doth not imitate his graces, as well as pretend to believe his Doctrine;
2. It was our Saviours practice. As he had the highest love to God, so he must needs have the greatest grief for his dishonour. He sighed in his spirit for the incredulity of that generation, when they askt a sign, after so many had been presented to their Eyes, Mark 8.12. He sighed deeply in his spirit. And the hardness of their hearts at another time raised his grief, as well as his indignation, Mark 3.5. He was sensible of the least dishonour of his Father, Psal. 69 9. The reproaches of them that reproached thee, fell upon me. I took them to heart. Christ pleased not himself when his Father was injured; as the Apostle descants upon it, when he applies it to Christ, Rom. 15.3. His Soul was more pierc'd with the wrongs done to God, than the reproaches which were directed against his own person. His grief was unexpressibly greater than can be in any creature, because of the unimitable ardency of his love to God, the nearness of his relation to him, and the unspotted purity of his Soul. Christ had a double relation; to Man, to God. His compassion to men afflicted him with groans and tears at their bodily distempers; his affection to his Father would make him grieve as much to see him dishonoured, as his love to man made him groan to see man afflicted. This grief for sin was one part of Christ's Sacrifice and Suffering; for he came to make a full satisfaction to the Justice of God by enduring his wrath, to the holiness of God by offering up an infinite sorrow for sin, which it was impossible for a creature to do. We cannot suppose that Christ should only accept the punishment, but not bewail the offence which was the cause of it. A Sacrifice for the sins of others, without remorse for those sins, had not been acceptable; it had not been agreeable to the purity of his humane Nature. He wept at Jerusalem's obstinacy, as well as for her misery, and that in the time of his triumph. The loud Hosanna's could not silence his grief, and stop the expressions of it, Luke 19.41. It was like a shower when the Sun shined. If Christ as our Head was filled with inward sorrow for mens displeasing the holiness of God, 'tis surely our duty as his Members, to imitate the afflictions of the Head. He is unworthy of the name of Christ, who is not afflicted as Christ was; nor can call Christ his Master, who doth not imitate his graces, as well as pretend to believe his Doctrine;
