have been to have our share in it for the refreshment and curing of our Souls Nor shall any that came thus be disappointed and if not presently yet most certainly and that in due time they shall find the sweet fruits of it You have heard many ways how the Name of Christ is poured out yet there is one more without which all the rest are ineffectual It is this The secret and powerful working of the Spirit of God in the Soul The Ordinances and means of Salvation do indeed pour forth the Name of Christ round about a Man but till the Spirit concur with them not one drop falls within the Soul and is he not so much the more miserable that hears much of Christ and partakes nothing of him Yes surely a Man may have much common knowledge of Christ and may understand well yea may Preach well concerning his Worth and Graces and yet not love him But there is a particular knowledg of him by the Infusion of the Spirit and where the smallest measure of this is it presently wins the affection There is a shedding abroad of the love of God in onr hearts that the Apostle speaks of Rom. 5. 5. and this draws us after him for our love to God is nothing else but the reflexion of his love to us So then though many hear of Christ yet because there are but few that have this special knowledge of him therefore it is that so few do truly esteem of him and love him and they are such as are here called Virgins And that 's the third thing The Virgins Similitude and Conformity of Natures begets Friendship pure Affections delight in a pure Object and makes them such for the truth is Christ doth not find men naturally suitable to himself but as he took on our Nature so he washeth away the sinfulness of our Nature which he took not on and makes us that way conformable to his Nature and they that are so changed though they were formerly lovers of Sin yet by Conversion which is called Regeneration they are born again and so become not only Chaste but even Virgins spiritually for by Virgins here are not meant such as Romish Votaries fancy them to be No this Virginity may well consist with any lawful State of Life These Virgins are such as be truly Holy and pure in Heart and Life who though they are not perfectly free from all sin yet have they affection to no sin these are singularly delighted with the smell of Christ's Name and Graces while the Voluptuous Person and the Prophane Worldling dislikes and despises it The Virgins they bestow their affection whole and entire upon Christ. How grosly do you delude your selves that make your hearts Dens of Pride filthy Lust Malice and Envy and thousands of Vanities and yet think to find a corner in them to lodge Christ too Truly you would both straiten him in room and give him very bad Neighbours No they that think not a whole heart too little for him shall never enjoy him The Virgins love thee Grace destroys not the natural passions of the Soul but corrects them only by destroying their Corruption and so they become not only not contrary to Grace but are made the subject and seat of Grace This of Love which is the chief of them we see it abolisheth not but rectifies it recalling it to its due object and turning it into the right channel by which it may empty it self into the Ocean of Goodness And this love may well consist with the purity of Virgins yea it is this love that purifies and makes them such The Virgins love but whom Thee and it is as reasonnable a love as it is pure Therefore they love thee because thou hast made them in some measure apprehensive of thy worth which commands the love of all that know it not a cold and indifferent affection but a superlative ardent love far over-topping all their other desires And good reason since Christ doth infinitely and beyond all comparison surpass all other things desirable Ask your own hearts if you love Christ thus for if not thus you love him not at all The Apostle St. Paul's love was of this size Phil. 3. 7 8. But what things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lerd for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ. Thus love will not only undergo difficulties and sufferings for Christ without either repining or fainting but it will even be glad to meet with them as opportunity is to exercise and testifie it self hard things will seem most easie for his sake and bitter things exceeding sweet In a word To him that loves â—ca 〈…〉 is impo 〈…〉 Love is the leading passion of the Soul all the rest conform themselves to it Desire and Hope and Fear Joy and Sorrow If then you love Christ the desires and breathings of your Soul after him are strong and earnest if he withdraw himself or appear angry if either you see him not or see him look discontented your grief will be so deep that it cannot be allayed by any worldly imployments yet upon some former tokens of his love which is known to be unchangeable Hope will uphold the Soul till the beams of his Grace scatter the Cloud and break through Though our Joseph seem strange and speak roughly for a while he cannot long refrain discovering his affection Again love you him unspeakable will be your joy when he smiles upon you as great will be your delight in possession as your desire is in pursuit And while you have his presence it will be too hard a task for any affliction to dismay you Have you indeed heard Christ speak comfortably to you this day at his Holy Table How will this enable the Soul and arm it against dangers and distracting distrustful fears Perfect love casteth out fear saith St. John that is all base and servile fear but there is one fear that 's in no heart but where love begets it fear to offend You know how wary and loth men are naturally to displease those they love therefore it is that love to Christ and a careful observing of his Commandments are inseparable Companions yea Love it self is the fulfilling of the Law for it gives up the heart to God and consequently the whole man Then there is no return of duty which your receiving of Christ calls for and what doth it not call for there is none I say but is comprised under this one of Love Do you owe him praises Yes surely then love him that will stir you up to praise him You never knew but where much love was in the heart it made the tongue ready and active upon all occasions to praise the party loved Love will entertain small courtesies with great thanks much more
World 'T is no easie thing to carry a very full Cup even and to digest well the fatness of a great Estate and great Place They are not to be envyed that have them even though they be of the better sort of Men it s a thousand to one but that they shall be losers by the gains and advancements of this World suffering proportionably great abatements of their best advantages by their prosperity The generality of Men while they are at ease do securely neglect God and little mind either to speak to him or to hear him speak to them God complains thus of his own people I spoke to them in their prosperity and they would not hear The noises of Coach-Wheels of their Pleasures and of their great Affairs so fill their ears that the still voice wherein God is cannot be heard I will bring her into the Wilderness and there I wall speak to her heart says God of his Church There the heart is more at quiet to hear God and to speak to him and is disposed to speak in the Stile here prescribed humbly and repentingly I have born Chastisement The speaking thus unto God under Affliction signifies 1. That our Affliction is from his hand and to the acknowledgement of this Truth the very natural Consciences of Men do incline them Though trouble be the general Lot of Mankind yet it doth not come on him by an improvidential fatality Though Man is born to Trouble as the sparks flie upward Job 5. Yet it comes not out of the dust It is no less true and in it self no less clear that all the good we enjoy and all the evil we suffer comes from the same hand but we are naturally more sensible of evil then of good and therefore do more readily reflect upon the Original and Causes of it our distresses lead us unto the notice of the righteous God inflicting them and our own unrighteous ways procuring them and provoking him so to do and therefore it is meet to speak in this submissive humble Language to him It is by all means necessary to speak to him he is the Party we have to deal withal or to speak to even in those afflictions whereof Men are the intervenient visible causes They are indeed but instrumental causes the Rod and Staff in his hand that smites us therefore our business is with him in whose supream hand alone the mitigations and increases the continuance and the ending of our troubles lie Who gave Jacob to the spoil and Israel to the Robbers Did not the Lord against whom we have Sinned So Lam. 1. 14. The yoke of my Transgressions is bound on by thy hand Therefore it is altogether necessary in all afflictions to speak to him and as its necessary to speak to him it is meet to speak thus to him I have born Chastisement I will no more offend These words have in them the true composure of real Repentance humble Submission and holy Resolution I have born Chastisement that is I have justly born it and do heartily submit to it I bear it justly and take it well Lord I acquit thee and accuse my self this Language becomes the innocentest person in the World in their suffering Job knew it well and did often acknowledge it in his precedeing Speeches though sometimes in the heat of dispute and opposure to the uncharitable and unjust imputations of his Friends he seems to overstrain the assertion of his own integrity which Elihu here corrects you know he cries out I have sinned against thee what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of man and Chap. 9. If I wash my self with Snow-water and make my hands never so clean yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch and mine own Cloaths shall abhor me Vain foolish persons fret and foam at the miscarriage of a cause they apprehend to be righteous but this is a great vanity and inconsiderate temerity in not observing the great and apparent unrighteousness in the persons managing it But though both the cause and the persons were just to the greatest hight imaginable amongst men yet still were it meet to speak thus unto God in the lowest acknowledgements and confessions that righteousness belongs unto him and unto us shame and confusion of face so says the Church Lam. 3. The Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against his Commandments Though affliction is not always designedly intended as the Chastisement of some particular Sin yet where Sin is and that is the case of all the Sons of Adam affliction coming in may safely be considered in its natural cognation and alliance with Sin and so press forth humble confessions of Sin and resolutions against it And thus in Lev. 26. 41. They shall except of the punishment of their iniquity shall take it humbly and penitently and kiss the Rod. Oh! That there were such a heart in us That instead of empty words that scatter themselves in the wind our many vain discourses we hold one with another concerning our past and present sufferings and further fears and disputing of many fruitless and endless questions we were more abundantly turning our Speech this way in unto God and Saying We desire to give thee Glory and take Shame to our selves and to bear our Chastisement and to offend no more to return each from his evil way and to gain this by the furnace the purging away of our dross our many and great iniquities our Oaths and Cursings and lying our Deceit and Oppressions and Pride and Covetousness our base love of our selves and hating one another that we may be delivered from the Tyranny of our own lusts and passions and in other things Let the Lord do with us as seems good in his eyes speaking to God in Ephraims words Jeremiah 31. 18 19 20. words not unlike these would stir his bowels as there As it is said that one string perfectly tuned to another being toucht the other stirs of it self when a stubborn Child leaves strugling under the Rod and turns to intreating the Father then leaves striking nothing overcomes him but that When a man says unto God Father I have provoked thee to this but Pardon and through thy Grace I will do so no more Then the Rod is thrown aside and the Father of Mercies and his humbled Child fall to mutual tenderness and embraces What I see not teach thou me c. The great Article of Conversion is the disengagement of the heart from the love of Sin In that posture as it actually forsakes whatsoever it perceives to be amiss so it stands in an absolute readiness to return to every duty that yet lies hidden upon the first discovery that is here the genuine voice of a repentant Sinner What I see not teach thou me c. This is a very necessary suit even for the most discerning and clearest sighted Penitent both in reference to the Commandment and Rule for discovering the general nature and several kinds of Sin and withal
which accompanies them Yet notwithstanding all these causes of grief or fear our causes of praise are both more and greater and it is no reason that the sense of our own evil should prejudge that acknowledgment of God's goodness yea rather it should stir us up to extol it so much the more Cease not to bemoan the evils of your own hearts but withal forget not to magnifie the riches of his grace who hath given himself for you and to you These two will not hinder one another but the due intermixture of them will make a very good harmony And the fruit of them will be this you shall have still more cause to praise and less to complain When the Lord shall find you humble acknowledgers of his grace he will delight to bestow more grace upon you and will subdue those iniquities for you which you cannot and though he is pleased to do it but gradually by little and little yet in the end the conquest shall be full and then he who is the Author and Finisher of your Faith tho â—t is his own work yet because it is done in you he shall account the Victory yours as obtained by you and give you as Conquerors the Crown of Glory To him that overcometh saith he will I give to sit with me in my Throne c. There is nothing here but from free grace the courage and strength to fight in this Spiritual warfare the victory by fighting and the Crown by Victory flow all from that Fountain In all these things we are more than Conquerors saith the Apostle but how Through him that loved us Therefore if we desire to be such let us humble our selves before the Throne of grace intreating both for grace and glory in the Name of Christ our Mediator Cant. I. 3. Because of the Savour of thy good Ointments Thy Name is as Ointment poured forth Therefore do the Virgins love thee THE natural workings and desires of things are agreeable to their being The Beasts according to their sensitive Life seek those things that tend to the good and preservation of that Life and affect nothing higher than those and they are satisfied Man except such as are in the lowest Stage and border upon the Beasts finds Nature even corrupt Nature raising him to higher desires and designs And yet of the best of them the Apostles maxim holds true They that are after the Flesh mind the things of the Flesh and yet he subjoins the excellency of some Men beyond the best naturalist They that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Rom. 8. 5. They must be confined to things natural but are strongly moved towards Spiritual blessings and Christ the Sum of them And having once tasted of his sweetness can say Because of the savour of thy good Ointments c. They that are elevated to a supernatural Being can admit nothing into competition with his love and this it is that lies under these words Because of the savour of thy good Ointments c. Numbers have promiscously been his guests at this time and the greatest number think they came to good purpose but know that you are so far from partaking of Christ in the Sacrament that you have not so much as smelt his Perfumes if you be not strongly taken with his love Great are the Praises and many the Duties you owe him for so rich favours and therefore shew your good will and endeavour some payment But know that none of them are current except they be stampt with Love if you love not you do nothing all your Labours and Services without it are as so many Cyphers they amount to just nothing And with it the meanest of them will find acceptance You have briefly in the words Christ's loveliness and the Christians love the former the cause of the latter both couched under borrowed Terms according to the whole strain of this allegorical Song to which the true Experimental knowledge of this Divine love is the best Commentary In all Love Three things are necessary 1 Some goodness in the object either true and real or apparent and seeming to be so for the Soul be it never so evil can affect nothing but what it takes some way to be good 2 There must be a knowledge of that goodness for the most excellent things if altogether unknown affect not 3 There must be a suitableness or agreement of that good thing with the nature of those which should affect it otherwise indeed how good soever it is it is not good to them Now all these we have clearly in this Love 1 The goodness the excellency of Christ exprest by precious Ointments 2 The manifestation and making of it known signified by the pouring forth of his Name 3 His fitness and congruity with them here mentioned under this denomination Virgins such as have the senses of their Souls not stopt with the pollutions of the World but Pure and Active and therefore as the Apostle speaks Heb. 5. 14. exercised to discern good and evil These three requisites thus happily met must needs produce Love Therefore the Virgins love thee Because of the savour of thy good Ointments How true is the Apostles word when he calls Christ the Believers All things and that radical grace of Faith because it apprehends Christ hath a kind of universality and it is reasonable too it alone being to the Soul what all the five senses are to the Body It is the eye and the Mouth a wonderful Eye It sees him that is invisible Heb. 4. 27. The Mouth it tastes that the Lord is gracious 1 Pet. 2. 3. Yea take these two both together in one place Psal. 34. 8. O taste and see that the Lord is good 'T is the Souls Ear for what else is meant when it is said He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear And was it not that touch which Christ took special notice of and with good reason distinguished it from the common touch of the multitude that was crowding about him That touch alone draws vertue from him Some hath touched me for there is a vertue gone out of me And lastly as it is all those other senses and Christ its object in Reference to them all so here in its Smelling it finds the savour of his fragrant graces and by that works love Because of the savour c. What strange odds is there betwixt the opinion of Christ's Spouse and the World that knows him not They wonder what she sees in him desirable she wonders that they are not all ravisht with his excellencies They prefer the basest vanities in the World before him she finds the choicest and richest things in the World too mean to resemble the smallest part of his worth See in this Song how busily and skilfully she goes to all the Creatures and Crops the rarest peices in Nature and Art to set forth her well Beloved and seems to find them all too poor for her purpose one while she
as a House covers all for so it signifies doth not blaze abroad the failingâ— of men yea it hides much covers a multitude of sins not only from the eyes of others but even from a mans own eyes makes him not behold and look on those things that might provoke him yea it is Ingenious and Inventive of the fairest Constructions of things to take them by the best side in the favourablest sense and so long as there is any agreeable way to Interpret any thing favourably will not have a hard thought of it Thinks no ill as there it is not only hath not active evil thoughts of Revenge or returning Evil but willingly doth not judge ill of what is done by others and that might be so lookt on as to provoke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not reckon wrongs so high as want of Charity moves the most to do sets them low and as a healthful Constitution is sweet it self and relishes all things right there is more true pleasure and content of mind in forgiving than ever any man found in revenge that is but a Feverish delight that Malice and Anger hath wrought working perhaps greedily but is indeed a Distemper This Love is the very root of Peace and Concord a humble Grace that is not lifted up and Insolent as the word there is and so doth not breed Jars about Punctiliâ—e esteems so well of others and so meanly of it self that it cannot well be crost by any in that matter of under valuing But vain Spirits are puft up with a little approbation and as easily kindled up with any affront or apprehended disgrace Love is not lightly put out of temper as sickly Constitutions a Fit of a Fever or Ague with any blast or wrong touch of Diet it is of a stronger digestion and firmer health Then for that Not commit Adultery All things of that kind though they spring from a kind of Love yet not from this Love from above but as the Apostle James distinguishes wisdom from the Love that is sensual and devilish Love is not the true name of it but base and brutish Lust and generally all prophane Societies and sortings of men one with another are most contrary to this pure Love The Drunkards that are Cup-friends as they are full of Jars and have no constancy but are unstable as that wherein their Friendship lies their Liquor are a vile despicable Society not worthy of Men much less of Christians This sin hath affininity with Uncleanness and is usually ranked there Right Love to a Tipler is not to sit down and guzzle with him but to reprove and labour to reclaim him and where that cannot be done to avoid him To wicked persons we owe not a complacency or delight which is most contrary to this Love but hating their Sin we owe them Love and the desiring and as far as Love can the procuring their Conversion and Salvation Wicked Converse cannot consist with this Love which is the fulfilling of the Law and a Combination for the breaking of it and the joining their strength together for that end Love rejoiceth not in Iniquity but in the Truth makes not men rejoice together in Sin So foul unclean Affections and a Society in order to the gratiâ—ying them is most contrary to it true Love is most tender of the Chastity of others and cannot abide an impute thought in it self So in not Stealing Love would be loth to enrich or advantage it self upon the damage of others in any kind it doth most faithfully â—nd singly seek the profit and prosperity of our Neighbour even as our own And iâ— this took place of how much use were it in the World But oh it is rare This meum and tuum is the grand Cause of the ill understanding and discords that are amongst men when it is not managed by this Love but by Self-love And the tendering and preserving of the good name of our Brethren is a proper and very remarkable fruit of this Love which is so far from forging false defaming Stories that it will rather excuse if it may be done or if not will pity the real failings of men that tend to their reproach and on the contrary will teach men to rejoice in the good carriage and good esteem of their Brethren as of their own In the end Love works such a Complacency in the good of others and such a Contentation with our own Estate that it most powerfully banishes that unruly humour of Coveting which looks on the condition of others with envy and on our own with grudging and discontent This Law of Love written within doth not only rectifie and order the Hands and Tongue but the Jealousies the very stirrings of the Heart it corrects the usual disorder of its motion and bars those uncharitable inordinate thoughts that do so abound and swarm in Carnal minds 3. The Original of this Love is that other Love which corresponds to the other part the first and chief point of the Law our Duty towards God Love to him is the sum and source of all Obedience when the whole Soul and Mind is possest with that then all is acceptable and sweet that he commands first what he commands as immediately referrable to himself and then what is the Rule of our Carriage to men as being prescrib'd and commanded by him For so and no otherwise is this Love the fulfilling of the Law when it flows from that first Love Love to God whose Law it is that commands this other Love to Men. Some may have somewhat like it by a mildness and ingenuity of Nature being inoffensive and well-willing towards all but then only doth it fulfil the Law when out of regard to the Law of God it obeys and obeys out of love to him whose Law it is So then the Love of God in the heart is the Spring of right and holy Love to our Neighbour both 1 because in obedience to him whom we love soveraignly we will love even sincerely because he will have it so That is reason enough to the Soul possest and taken up with his Love It loves nothing how lovely soever but in him and for him in order and subordination to his Love and in respect to his Will and it loves any thing how unlovely soever taking it in that Contemplation It loves not the dearest Friend but in God and can love the hatefullest Enemy for him Amicum in Deo inimicum propter Deum Aug. His love can beautifie the most unamiable Object and make it lovely He saith of a worthless undeserving Man or thy most undeserving Enemy Love him for my sake because it pleases me that 's reason enough to one that loves him 2 There is that dilateing sweetning Vertue in love to God that it can act no other way to men but as becomes Love Base self-love contracts the heart and is the very root of all Sin the chief wickedness in our corrupt Nature but the Love of God
matter one would think smal the eating of the Fruit of a Tree 't was rebellion against the Majesty of God casting off his Law and Authority and aspiring to an imagin'd Self-Deity And this is still the treasonable Pride or Independency and Wickedness of our Nature rising up against God that formed us of nothing And this is the power and substance of Religion the new Impress of God upon the heart and Obedience and Resignment to him to be given up to him as entirely his to be moulded and ordered as he will to be subject to hiâ— Laws and Appointments in all things to have every Action and every Word under a Rule and Law and the penalty to be so high Eternal Death All this to a carnal or haughty mind is hard not only every Action and Word but even every Thought too must be subject not so much as thought free every thought brought into Captivity as the Apostle speaks And so the Licentious mind accounts it not only the Affections and Desires but the very Reasonings and Imaginations are brought under this Law Now to yield this as reasonable and due to God to own his Soveraignty and to acknowledge the Law to be Holy Just and Good to approve yea to love it even there where it most contradicts and controuls our own corrupt Will and the Law of Sin in our Flesh this is true Spiritual Obedience to study and enquire after the Will of God in all our ways what will please him and having found it to follow that which is here called the way of his Commandments to make this our way and our business in the World and all others things but Accessaries and By-works even those lawful things that may be taken in and used as helps in our way As the Disciples passing through the Corn pluckt the Ears and did eat in passing as a By-work but their business was to follow their Master And whatsoever would hinder us in this way must be watched and guarded against to reject that we must either remove and thrust it aside or if we cannot do that yet we must go over it and trample it under foot were it the thing or the person that is dearest to us in the World till the heart be brought to this state and purpose it is either wholly void of or very low and weak in the Truth of Religion We place Religion much in our accustom'd performances to coming to Church hearing and repeating of Sermons and praying at home keeping a road of such and such Duties The way of Gods Commandments is more in doing than in discourse In many Religion evaporates it self too much out by the Tongue while it appears too little in their ways Oh! but this is the main one Act of Charity Meekness or Humility speaks more than a days discourse All the means we use in Religion are intended for a further end which if they attain not they are nothing This end is to mortifie and purâ—fie the heart to mould it to the way of Gods Commandments in the whole tract of our lives in our private converse one with another and our retired secret converse with our selves to have God still before us and his Law our Rule in all we do that he may be our meditation Day and Night and that his Law may be our Counsellour as this Psalm hath it to regulate all our Designs and the Works of our Callings by it To walk soberly and godly and righteously in this present World to curb and cross our own Wills where they cross Gods to deny our selves our own Humour and Pride our Passions and Pleasures to have all those subdued and brought under by the Power of the Law of Love within us This and nothing below this is the end of Religion Alas amongst multitudes that are called Christians some there may be that speak and appear like it yet how few are there that make this their business and aspire to this The way of Gods Commandments His intended course in this way he expresses by running 't is good to be in this way even in the â—lowest motions Love will creep where it cannot go But if thou art so indeed then thou wilt long for a swifter motion if thou do but creep be doing creep on yet desire to be enabled to go if thou goest but yet halting and lamely desire to be strengthned to walk straight and if thou walkest let not that satisfie thee desire to run So here David did walk in this way but he earnestly wishes to mend his pace he would willingly run and for that end he desires an enlarged heart Some dispute and descant too much whether they go or no and Childishly tell their steps and would know at every pace whether they advance or no and how much they advance and thus amuse themselves and spend the time of doing and going in questioning and doubting Thus it is with many Christians but it were a more wise and comfortable way to be endeavouring onwards and if thou make little progress at least to be desiring to make more to be praying and walking And praying that thou mayest walk faster and that in the end thou mayest run not satisfied with any thing attained but yet by that unsatisfiedness not to be so dejected as to sit down or stand still but rather excited to go on So it was with St. Paul Philip. 3. 13. Forgetting these things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press forward If any one thinks that he hath done well and run far and will take a pause the great Apostle is of another mind Not as if I had attained Oh no! far from that he still sets forward as if nothing were done as a Runner not still looking back how much he hath run but forward to what he is to run stretching forth to that inflamed with frequent looks at the mark and end some are retarded by looking on what is past as not satisfy'd they have done nothing as they think and so stand still discontented but even in that way it is not good to look too much to things behind we must forget them rather and press onwards Some if they have gone on well and possibly run a while yet if they fall then they are ready in a desperate Malecontent to lie still and think all is lost and in this peevish fretting at their falls some men please themselves and take it for Repentance whereas indeed it is not that but rather Pride and Humour Repentance is a more submissive humble thing But this is that which troubles some men at their new falls especially if after a long time of even walking or running as they think their project is now spoiled their thoughts are broken off they would have had somewhat to have rejoiced in if they had still gone on to the end but being disappointed of that they think they had as good let alone and give over Oh! but the