A golden mine opened, or, The glory of God's rich grace displayed in the…

(3.) If we consider his wonderful Condescension and Abasement: he became Man, who thought it not robbery to be equal with God; yet made himself of no reputation, and took unto him the Form of a ¹Servant. He became wonderful Poor, who was wonderful Rich, yea, amazingly Rich, Heaven and Earth, and all things in it, being his own; yet was born of a Poor Virgin, who doubtless had little or no Money to accommodate her, or to defray the Charges of a Lying-In at the Inn; and therefore they turned her into the Stable, where she was delivered of our Blessed Saviour, and laid ²him in a Manger. O what wonderful Abasement was this! Moreover, he also had no Money to pay the Tax that was laid upon him, therefore sends Peter to the Sea to take a piece of Money ³out of the Mouth of a certain Fish. He had no House of his own to dwell in, no not a poor Cottage: The Foxes of the Earth, said he, have Holes, and the Birds of the Air have Nests, but the Son of Man hath no where to lay his Head.—Also when in his greatest ⁴Pomp on Earth he rode but on an Ass, and that not his own neither, but he borrowed it. Moreover the good Women ministered ⁵Relief to him, he had not to supply his own Necessities; he was poor in his Life, poor in his Death, standing charged with the Debts of many thousands, the least not owing less than ten thousand Talents; which could he not have paid and satisfied for, he must have lain in Prison for ever. O what a Charge of Guilt was laid upon him! Does Sin render a Man miserable? doth one Sin charged on a Person, render him poor? How poor then was ⟨p. 195⟩he for a Time, that stood charged with all the Sins of his Elect? He was forsaken of all his Friends on Earth in his greatest Distress, and by his Father in Heaven; he was Poor and Miserable in the Sight of all that saw him; they pulled off his Hair, spit in his Face, crowned him with Thorns, stripped off his Garment: and all this for the sake of his Sheep, or for his Elect.