The harmony of the Gospels in the holy history of the humiliation and sufferings…

4. It is of great comfort and encouragement to the dear Servants of God, who are forced so to do, unless they should leave the work and Service of the Lord undone; they cannot forbear and withdraw themselves from the work, and yet must perform it with difficulty through pains, aches, weariness hardship, and sometimes dangerous adventures, in which cases the Servants of God have this eminent encouragement, that Jesus Christ experienced the same, and he is a merciful high Priest and Mediator, to pity, help, relieve and comfort such of his Servants as are faithful to do his Service, though it be upon such hard Terms.

4. It is of great comfort and encouragement to the dear Servants of God, who are forced so to do, unless they should leave the work and Service of the Lord undone; they cannot forbear and withdraw themselves from the work, and yet must perform it with difficulty through pains, aches, weariness hardship, and sometimes dangerous adventures, in which cases the Servants of God have this eminent encouragement, that Jesus Christ experienced the same, and he is a merciful high Priest and Mediator, to pitty, help, relieve and comfort such of his Servants as are faithful to do his Service, though it be upon such hard Terms.

Such as think Jesus Christ did not submit himself to bodily sickness, do render this Reason, because he healed all manner of diseases in others, and if he had been sick himself, they would have said unto him, Physician h•al thy self, or would have said, it is a sign that he is an Impostor, a deceiver, because he healeth others, but cannot heal himself, therefore his holy wisdom would not expose himself to such a check, and evil construction of his miraculous healing of others. But under savour I see not force in this Reason, because though he was sick, and sometimes so sick as that he was constrained to lie by it, and so that his Adversaries knew that he was sick, yet it is most certain that he did heal himself and rise again, which is evident by this that he dyed not of any sickness or disease, he dyed a violent death, by the cruelty of his Enemies. Though sometimes they understood that he was sick, yet they quickly saw him up again, and about his heavenly Fathers business, he did not tell them of all the pains and aches that he went about withal, it was enough to him that his Father saw them all, and divine justice saw how holily, patiently, constantly he suffered those sinless punishments of sin, and was fully satisfied in his right, pure, perfect, and meritorious sufferings therein; yea, it is like that Christ did not tell his dearest friends of what pains he laboured under every day, and that may be one Reason why so little is written about this part of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, he gave no such way to these infirmities as to take him off from his work, he did his Fathers work though he laboured with great pains and much sense of his infirmities. Yea, it is a proof of his infinite goodness, that though he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs, yet ceased not, he failed not to follow God fully, and to attend, to perform the work of his Father which he sent him to do, though he often laboured with an aching head, pained limbs, and a crazy, wearied, spent body, hereby setting before us an admirable Example of patience, diligence, faithfulness, and self denial, that spared not his own body, though full of infirmities to do good to others, and to do and suffer what God called him to do and suffer, with what difficulty and pin so ever he performed the same.