near their end, and ready to make their will, then is it seasonable to sue for legacies. Thus did the mother of the two Zebedees; therein well approving both her wisdom and her faith: wisdom in the fit choice of her opportunity; faith, in taking such an opportunity. The suit is half obtained that is seasonably made. To have made this motion, at the entry into their attendance, had been absurd, and had justly seemed to challenge a denial. It was at the parting of the angel that Jacob would be blessed. The double spirit of Elijah is not sued for till his ascending. perhaps, have suggested this probable dis- | couragement. Jesus publishes and applauds her bounty: "He called his disciples, and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, this woman hath cast in more than they all." While the rich put in their offerings, I see no disciples called; it was enough that Christ noted their gifts alone: but when the widow comes with her two mites, now the domestics of Christ are summoned to assemble, and taught to admire this munificence; a solemn preface makes way to her praise, and her mites are made more precious than the others' talents: "She gave more than they all;" more, not only in respect of the mind of the giver, but of the proportion of the gift as hers. A mite to her was more than pounds to them: pounds were little to them, two mites were all to her; they gave out of their abundance, she out of her necessity. That which they gave left the heap less, yet a heap still; she gives all at once, and leaves herself nothing. So as she gave not more than any, but "more than they all." God doth not so much regard what is taken out, as what is left. O Father of mercies! thou lookest at once into the bottom of her heart and the bottom of her purse, and esteemest her gift according to both. As thou seest not as man, so thou valuest not as man: man judgeth by the It was nothing for the disciples, when worth of the gift, thou judgest by the mind they saw him after his conquest of death, of the giver, and the proportion of the re- and rising from the grave, to ask himmainder. It were wide with us, if thou" Master, wilt thou now restore the kingshouldst go by quantities. Alas! what have dom unto Israel?" but for a silly woman to we but mites, and those of thine own lend- look through his future death and passion, ing? It is the comfort of our meanness, at his resurrection and glory, it is no less that our affections are valued, and not our worthy of wonder than praise. presents: neither hast thou said, "God loves a liberal giver, but a cheerful." If I had more, O God, thou shouldst have it; had I less, thou wouldst not despise it, who acceptest the gift according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." Yea, Lord, what have I but two mites, a soul and a body? mere mites, yea, not so much, to thine infiniteness. O that I could perfectly offer them up unto thee, according to thine own right in them, and not according to mine. How graciously wouldst thou be sure to accept them! how happy shall I be in thine acceptation! CONTEMPLATION XXI. THE AMBITION OF THE TWO SONS OF Zebedee. He who has his own time and ours in his hand, foreknew and foretold the approach of his dissolution. When men are But O the admirable faith of this good woman! When she heard the discourse of Christ's sufferings and death, she talks of his glory; when she hears of his cross, she speaks of his crown. If she had seen Herod come and tender his sceptre unto Christ, or the elders of the Jews come upon their knees with a submissive proffer of their allegiance, she might have had some reason to entertain the thoughts of a kingdom: but now, while the sound of betraying, suffering, dying, was in her ear, to make account of, and sue for a room in his kingdom, it argues a belief able to triumph over all discouragements. To hear a man in his best health and vigour to talk of his confidence in God, and assurance of divine favour, cannot be much worth: but if in extremities we can believe above hope, against hope, our faith is so much more noble as our difficulties are greater. Never sweeter perfume arose from any altar than that which ascended from Job's dunghill: "I know that my Redeemer liveth." What a strange style is this that is given to this woman! It had been as easy to have said, the wife of Zebedee, or the sister of Mary or of Joseph, or, as her name was, plain Salome; but now, by an unusual description, she is styled "The Mother of Zebedee's children." Zebedee was an obscure man; she, as his wife, was no better: the greatest honour she ever had, or could have, was to have two such sons as James and John; these give a title to both their parents. Honour ascends as well as descends. Holy children dignify the loins What a world of pain, toil, care, cost, The suit was the sons', but by the mouth lenge of Christ, might seem to give her just The would have pleasure and long life; the bar- It is not discommendable in parents to The mother is put upon this suit by her The near kindred this woman could chal- How this suit sticks in her teeth, and He that knew all their thoughts afar off, The suit is drawn from her; now she must may sit, one on thy right hand, the other The mother asks; the sons have the answer. shall be her ears. God ever imputes the acts to the first mover, rather than to the instrument. It was a sore check, "Ye know not what ye ask." In our ordinary communication, to speak idly is sin; but, in our suits to Christ, to be so inconsiderate as not to understand our own petitions, must needs be a foul offence. As faith is the ground of our prayers, so knowledge is the ground of our faith. If we come with indigested requests, we profane that name we invoke. To convince their unfitness for glory, they are sent to their impotency in suffer. ing; "Are ye able to drink of the cup whereof I shall drink, and to be baptized with the baptism wherewith I am baptized?" O Saviour, even thou, who wert one with thy Father, hadst a cup of thine own: never potion was so bitter as that which was mixed for thee. Yea, even thy draught is stinted: it is not enough for thee to sip of this cup; thou must drink it up to the very dregs. When the vinegar and gall were tendered to thee by men, thou didst but kiss the cup; but when thy Father gave into thine hands a potion infinitely more distasteful, thou, for our health, didst drink deep of it, even to the bottom, and saidst, "It is finished." And can we repine at those unpleasing draughts of afflic tion that are tempered for us sinful men, when we see thee, the Son of thy Father's love, thus dieted? blessed Saviour, we pledge thee, according We pledge thee, O to our weakness, who hast begun to us in thy powerful sufferings. Only do thou enable us, after some sour faces made in our reluctation, yet at last willingly to pledge thee in our constant sufferings for thee. As thou must be drenched within, so must thou be baptized without. Thy baptism is not of water, but of blood; both these came from thee in thy passion: we cannot be thine, if we partake not of both. If thou hast not grudged thy precious blood to us, well mayest thou challenge some worthless drops from us. When they talk of thy kingdom, thou speakest of thy bitter cup, of thy bloody baptism. Suffering is the way to reigning. Through many tribulations must we enter into the kingdom of heaven." There was never wedge of gold that did not first pass the fire; there was never pure grain that did not undergo the flail. In vain shall we dream of our immediate passage, from the pleasures and jollity of earth, to the glory of heaven. Let who will hope to walk upon roses and violets to the throne of heaven: O Saviour, let me trace thee by the track of thy blood, and by thy red steps follow thee to thine eternal rest and happiness! I know this is no easy task, else thou hadst never said, "Are ye able?" Who should be able, if not they that had been so long blessed with thy presence, informed by thy doctrine, and, as it were, beforehand possessed of their heaven in thee? Thou hadst never made them judges of their power, if thou couldst not have convinced them of their weakness. Alas! how full of feebleness is our body, and our mind of impatience! If but a bee sting our flesh, it swells; and if but a tooth ache, the head and heart complain. How small trifles make us weary of ourselves! What can we do without thee? without thee, what can we suffer? If thou be not, O Lord, strong in my weakness, I cannot be so much as weak, I cannot so much as be. O do thou prepare me for my day, and enable me to my trials! "I can do all things through thee that strengthenest me." The motion of the two disciples was not more full of infirmity than their answer, "We are able:" out of an eager desire of the honour, they are apt to undertake the condition. The best men may be mistaken in their own powers. Alas! poor men! when it came to the issue, they ran away, and, I know not whither, one without his coat. It is one thing to suffer in speculation, another in practice. There cannot be a worse sign, than for a man, in a carnal presumption, to vaunt of his own abilities. How justly doth God suffer that man to be foiled purposely, that he may be ashamed of his own self-confidence. O God, let me ever be humbly dejected in the sense of mine own insufficiency; let me give all glory to thee, and take nothing to myself but my infirmities. O the wonderful mildness of the Son of God! He doth not rate the two disciples, either for their ambition in suing, or presumption in undertaking; but, leaving the worst, he takes the best of their answer, and omitting their errors, encourages their good intentions: "Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with my baptism; but to sit on my right hand and my left, is not mine to give, but to them for whom it is prepared of my Father." I know not whether there be more mercy in the concession, or satisfaction in the denial. Were it not a high honour to drink of thy cup, O Saviour, thou hadst not fore-promised it as a favour. I am deceived, if what thou grantest were much less than that which thou deniest. To pledge thee in thine own cup, is not much less dignity and familiarity than to sit by thee: "If we suffer with thee, we shall also reign together with thee." What greater promotion can flesh and blood be capable of, than a conformity to the Lord of glory? Enable thou me to drink of thy cup, and then set me where thou wilt. But, O Saviour, while thou dignifiest them in thy grant, dost thou disparage thyself in thy denial? "Not mine to give I" whose is it, if not thine? If it be thy Father's, it is thine. Thou, who art truth, hath said, "I and my Father are one." Yea, because thou art one with the Father, it is not thine to give to any save those for whom it is prepared of the Father. The Father's preparation was thine, his gift is thine: the decree of both is one. That eternal counsel is not alterable upon our vain desires. The Father gives these heavenly honours to none but by thee: thou givest them to none but according to the decree of thy Father. Many degrees there are of celestial happiness. Those supernal mansions are not all of a height. Providence which hath varied our stations upon earth, hath pre-ordered our seats above. O God, admit me within the walls of thy new Jerusalem, and place me wheresoever thou pleasest That CONTEMPLATION XXII. — THE TRIBUTEMONEY PAID. ALL these other histories report the power of Christ: this shows both his power and obedience; his power over the creature, his obedience to civil powers. Capernaum was one of his own cities; there he made his chief abode in Peter's house: to that host of his, therefore, do the toll-gatherers repair for the tribute. When that great disciple said, "We have left all," he did not say, We have abandoned all, or sold, or given away all; but we have left, in respect of managing, not of possession; not in respect of right, but of use and present fruition; so left, that, upon just occasion, we may resume; so left, that it is our due, though not our business. Doubtless, he was too wise to give away his own, that he might borrow of a stranger. His own roof gave him shelter for the time, and his Master with him. Of him, as the householder, is the tribute required; and by and for him is it also paid. I inquire not either into the occasion, or the sum. What need we make this exaction sacrilegious; as if that half-shekel, which was appointed by God to be paid by every Israelite to the use of the tabernacle and temple, were now diverted to the Roman exchequer. There was no necessity that the Roman lords should be tied to the Jewish reckonings; it was free for them to impose what payments they pleased upon a subdued people: when great Augustus commanded the world to be taxed, this rate was set. The mannerly collectors demand it first of him with whom they might be more bold: "Doth not your Master pay tribute?" All Capernaum knew Christ for a great Prophet: his doctrine had ravished them; his miracles had astonished them; yet when it comes to a money matter, his share is as deep as the rest. Questions of profit admit no difference. Still the sacred tribe challength reverence: who cares how little they receive, how much they pay? yet no man knows with what mind this demand was made; whether in a churlish grudging at Christ's immunity, or an awful compellation of the servant rather than the master. Peter had it ready what to answer. I hear him not require their stay till he should go in and know his Master's resolution; but, as one well acquainted with the mind and practice of his Maker, he answers, Yes. There was no truer paymaster of the king's dues, than he that was King of kings. Well did Peter know that he did not only give, but preach tribute. When the Herodians laid twigs for him, as supposing that so great a Prophet would be all for the liberty and exemption of God's chosen people, he chokes them with their own coin, and told them the stamp argued the right: "Give unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's." O Saviour, how can thy servants challenge that freedom which thyself had not? Who, that pretends to be from thee, can claim homage from those to whom thou gavest it? If thou, by whom kings reign, forbearest not to pay tribute to a heathen prince, what power under thee can deny it to those that rule for thee? That demand was made without doors. No sooner is Peter come in, than he is prevented by his Master's question, "What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth receive tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?" This very interrogation was answer enough to that which Peter meant to move: he, that could thus know the heart, was not, in true light, liable to human exactions. But, O Saviour, may I presume to ask, what this is to thee? Thou hast said, "My kingdom is not of this world:" how doth it concern thee what is done by the kings of the earth, or imposed upon the sons of earthly kings? Thou wouldst be the son of an humble virgin, and choosest not a royal state, but a servile. I dispute not thy natural right to the throne, by thy lineal descent from the loins of Judah and David: what should I plead that which thou wavest? It is thy divine royalty and sonship which thou here justly urgest: the argument is irrefragable and convictive. If the kings of the earth do so privilege their children, that they are free from all tributes and impositions, how much more shall the king of heaven give this immunity to his only and natural Son? so as in true reason, I might challenge an exemption for me and my train. Thou mightst, O Saviour, and no less, challenge a tribute of all the kings of the earth to thee, by whom all powers are ordained: reason cannot mutter against this claim; the creature owes itself, and whatsoever it hath, to the Maker; he owes nothing to it. "Then are the children free." He that hath right to all, needs not pay any thing, else there should be a subjection in sovereignty, and men should be debitors to themselves. But this right was thine own peculiar, and admits no partners: why dost thou speak of children, as of more, and, extending this privilege to Peter, sayest, "Lest we scandalize them?" Was it for that thy disciples, being of thy robe, might justly seem interested in the liberties of their Master: surely no otherwise were they children, no otherwise free. Away with that fanatical conceit, which challenges an immunity from secular commands and taxes, to a spiritual and adoptive sonship: no earthly saintship can exempt us from tribute to whom tribute belongeth. There is a freedom, O Saviour, which our Christianity calls us to affect; a freedom from the yoke of sin and Satan, from the servitude of our corrupt affections: we cannot be sons, if we be not thus free. O free thou us, by thy free spirit, from the miserable bondage of our nature, so shall the children be free. But as to these secular duties, no man is less free than the children: O Saviour, thou wert free, and wouldst not be so; thou wert free by natural right, wouldst not be free by voluntary dispensation, "Lest an offence might be taken." Surely had there followed an offence, it had been taken only, and not given. "Woe be to the man by whom the offence cometh!" it cometh by him that gives it, it cometh by him that takes it, when it is not given: no part of this blame could have cleaved unto thee either way. Yet such was thy goodness, that thou wouldst not suffer an offence unjustly taken, at that which thou mightst |