CHAP. XI.

OF THE REGULATION OF THE PASSIONS ACCORDING TO THE EXAMPLE OF OUR BLESSED SAVIOUR.

SECT. I.

Of our Saviour's regulation of love.

OUR blessed Lord being truly man, as well as the 'eternal Son of God, that is, subsisting of a reasonable soul and human flesh, was liable, as to our natural appetites, such as hunger and thirst, and to our natural infirmities, such as sickness and pain, so to those natural strong impressions which we call passions, such as love and desire, anger and aversion, fear and hope, sorrow and joy: though in all with perfect innocence, without any sinful irregularities or propensions, or excessive perturbation. And such an absolute command had he of them, that he could raise and suppress them as he pleased; and make use of them as his servants when occasion offered, but never suffered them in the least to have the mastery. He was affected with all their various motions as we are, but without the least exorbitancy; and so had the full benefit and use of them, free from any of the ill consequences of their extravagant heat.

Thus the apostle to the Hebrews: We have not an high priest, says he, that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points

tempted like as we are, yet without sin a. And the reason of this he gives, (and it is a very kind and gracious one,) chap. ii. 17, 18: Wherefore it behoved him to be made in all things like unto his brethren, (as he is pleased to call us,) that he might be a merciful as well as faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted: that is, to compassionate, relieve, and forgive us, when at any time we are worsted by the force of those temptations, and the violence of those passions which he himself was sensible of and assaulted with, though never prevailed over by them, but always conqueror.

Having therefore, in the foregoing chapters, shewn the nature and object of our several passions, and directed to the due measures of their regulation, that they may become useful to us according to the design of our great and good Creator; I shall now propose the example of our blessed Master in this matter to our imitation, who hath said, Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls: that is, bring yourselves into subjection to my discipline and government, particularly your passions and affections, and guide and rule them according to the mild, sedate example which I set you; and you shall reap from it in the end the greatest tranquillity and peace.

Now though we cannot pretend to equal this most perfect pattern, but after our best endeavours shall come short of it by vast degrees; yet we are obliged a Heb. iv. 15. b Matt. xi. 29.

to come as near it as we can, for He hath left us an example, that we should follow his steps. And therefore it will be needful, and of the greatest advantage to us, to trace those blessed steps of his in this instance of the regulation of the passions; that we may insist in them, though at a great and humble distance, and with much imperfection, yet with such diligence and care as may render us acceptable to our kind good Master, and incline him to pity and to help our infirmities; and according to the proportion of our improvement, and the advances we make in learning this great lesson, attain that calmness and serenity of mind, which as it is a heaven upon earth, so will at length bring us to that eternal rest and joy which he hath purchased for us in the heavens above.

To begin then with the governing passion of love.

And here, what a glorious pattern hath the blessed Jesus set us in the most generous instances, even up to the height of his own divine instructions! And indeed, as his heavenly Father is by St. John defined to be love, so it was the true character of his eternal Son; it was the great inclination of his most excellent soul, the governing principle of his life, and the summary of his doctrine; which was designed to draw us to obedience to God and our own happiness by the cords of love; and how strong they were, and almost irresistibly moving, we shall see in the sequel.

As for the object of his love, it was always what it should be, even God in chief, as the supreme good, and then his brethren, as he in wondrous con© John xiii. 15; 1 Pet. ii. 21.

descension called the miserable sons of men, and whose happiness, next to his heavenly Father's glory, was what his compassionate good soul most earnestly desired.

Those lower goods which the world so passionately admires and dotes upon, such as riches and honour and pleasure, he utterly despised, and chose their contraries; his desires were perfectly mortified to them, and run all with a most strong and quick, though smooth and placid current, to the advancement of God's honour in the salvation of sinful mankind.

Instead of riches, he made choice of circumstances that were very low, even to the degree of subsisting upon the kindness of others, without either settled maintenance or habitation, after he had entered upon his public ministry, that he could call his own: The foxes have holes, says he, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. As for honour, he refused the highest degree of it, when offered and even forced upon him by great multitudes, and which he knew how to support and maintain against all the world; and preferred the meanest condition before it, and chose the meanest persons for his constant and nearest attendants. And as for pleasure, or the gratification of our bodily appetites and propensions, he put himself into such a way of life as would cut off all opportunities and temptations of that nature, and make him, as he well knew and foretold, and found true, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

So great a slight did he put upon all the enjoyments of this world, as indeed did well become the d Matt. viii. 20. e John vi. 15.

King of heaven, and the Lord of glory; and thereby teach us, though not to do just as he did, because far from being in the same circumstances as he was, yet to be very indifferent to what he so much undervalued, and very moderate in the pursuit and use of, what both himself and his apostles have told us will never make us happy, but rather prove a snare to betray us into misery.

But his love of God his heavenly Father was indeed with all his heart and soul and mind and strength; he loved him with a most sincere, undivided, ardent affection, which engaged all his powers in the highest expressions of it, throughout the whole course of his life.

Particularly, how fervent were the breathings of his devotion towards him, in the acts of meditation and prayer, wherein he spent whole nights, withdrawing himself from the world into desert solitudes, and the unfrequented tops of mountains, and other places of privacy and retirement; that he might converse without disturbance with the divine object of his interest! In this heavenly employment was his chief delight, which he repeated with great frequency, and performed with an humble, unaffected piety, without the least tincture of that ostentation and vainglory which he so justly reproved in those outside saints, the hypocritical Pharisees, and studiously avoided whatever might give the least suspicion of it in himself: for he often sent his own disciples away, or else retired to some distance from them, that no eye or ear but that of his heavenly Father might be witness of what passed in that sacred intercourse between them f. And as for

f Matt. xiv. 23. xxvi. 36; Luke xxii. 41.