they were in Christ and had the eternal life of God and Christ in them They knew that they were of God and that the Son of God was come who gave them an understanding to know him that is true and that they were in him that is true in his Son Jesus Christ And this was no high-flown fancy concerning God and eternal life which consists only in the elevation of the imagination but the truth This is the true God and eternal life 1 Joh. 5.19 20. What shall we say then to these things Is it not time for us to make a stand and look about us Is it not time for us to miss the Lord and seek to begin with him Man is naturally confident and yet commonly deceived in the ground-work of his confidence From our first springing up in Popery unto all our rents and divisions thence both in Doctrine and Worship we have still been confident that we have always been in the right How vain is man In every change he confesseth himself wrong and yet that still to which he changeth must needs be right Ah wretched man There is a lye in thy heart which springs up in all thy thoughts and ways of devotion and until thou beest new formed thou wilt not be capable of entertaining the truth but only of deluding thy self What should I advise thee what can be proper for thee but to examine the true ground and joyn with the house of Israel lamenting after the Lord to bewail the loss of his light his life his guidance his presence The cause of joy is not the cause of grief only is and is in abundance and where it is manifested with demonstration and power there will not need any exhortation to it I must profess I would rather chuse tears although I were sure they should never be wiped away from mine eyes after substance after that which my spirit wants and can alone take up with then the greatest mirth or pleasure which vanity for such I account all the Religion of man with all that springs from it can afford Rejoyce in the Lord always They might well rejoyce always in the Lord who enjoyed the Lord who had a kind of constant presence of the Bridegroom in their spirits Their Lord lived in them walked with them and kept them company by his Spirit But is this spoken to us who are Orphans Though the spirit of man in his several ways of Religion is not an Orphan therefore he may rejoyce also The same Spirit of the Lord which piped unto the Apostles and primitive Christians administring unto them occasion of dancing mourneth unto us and our proper way of answering it is in lamentation Lament therefore after the Lord and mourn over Jerusalem Mourn over the ruines and desolations of Jerusalem Pity the dust of Sion Jerusalem hath been layd waste Sion lieth in the dust nay Sion is it self burnt into dust by the extream jealousie and fury of the Eternal who hath let out his flames more fiercely upon her then upon any abomination to be found among men Jerusalem hath drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury yea it hath drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling and wrung them out Isai 52.17 Yet she is still Jerusalem she is still Sion and her very dust is lovely The Lord knoweth her and loveth her dust and it is impossible for any to discover her native worth and beauty and not to pity and mourn over her present condition What is this the Lords darling is this the only beauty will scoffing earth say Ishmael cannot but despise Isaac though growing though thriving though owned by the Lord how contemptible then must he needs be in his death and burial The world wanting the inward eye wonders to hear God speak such great things of his people of the abundantly rich glory and excellency of their life they appear so mean to them at the best They never have the loveliness of man in them how loathsom then must they needs be when all that which is their own beauty is broken down in them when the remainders of their earthly beauty with the whole frame of their spiritual beauty is dashed in peeces like a potters vessel and burnt up together Yet how precious is the seed of God under all these how amiable is this very dust of Sion The very brokenness sickness misery of this estate is of more true value then all the soundness then all the health of life and Salvation that is any where else to be found throughout the whole Earth Yet this object is very lamentable and it would grieve any ones heart to behold it He who hath seen known tasted or had the least glimpse of Sion in her glory O how would his heart throb at the view of her here yet here if not here alone is she to be found Is it nothing to thee O thou Preserver of man that the foundations of thine own holy Habitation are thus shaken Where is thy Zeal where is the sounding of thy Bowels at the death and misery of thine own seed O Lord wilt thou also bring forth children to the Murtherer Awake O Lord Rouze up thy self Let thine own everlasting Spirit stir in the motions of its own life and never leave till it hath raised up disconsolate Jerusalem desolate Jerusalem afflicted Jerusalem distracted Jerusalem Jerusalem which is sunk dead and rotten Jerusalem which is not and hath made it the praise of the whole Earth AMEN FINIS
The LIFE of a CHRISTIAN WHICH IS A Lamp kindled and lighted from the Love of Christ and most naturally discovereth its Original by the purity integrity and fervency of its motion in love to its fellow-partners in the same life Briefly displayed in this its peculiar and distinguishing strain of Operation As also some few Catechistical Questions concerning the way of Salvation by CHRIST Together with a Post-script about Religion By ISAAC PENINGTON junior Esq John 13.34 35. A new Commandment I give unto you That ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another LONDON Printed by John Macock for Lodowick Lloyd and Henry Cripps and are to be sold at their shop in Popes-head Alley neer Lumbard-street 1653. The Preface THe most excellent kind of things is hid and those kinds which appear in their greatest worth and excellency are but vails to that life wherein lieth our happiness Miserable were the estate of man could he enter into that estate of life which he desireth and seeketh to enjoy but more miserable is his condition in that he is not only fallen short of that glory which is perfectly satisfactory in God but of that glory which belongs to him to adore and solace himself in in his estate and condition All Truth is a shadow except the last except the utmost yet every Truth is true in its kind It is substance in its own place though it be but a shadow in another place for it is but a reflection from an intenser substance and the shadow is a true shadow as the substance is a true substance But this is the exceeding great misery of man he meets not with Truth either in substance or shadow but that which the world is full of vanity a lye a fiction of his own heart and the Devils in imitation of the Truth of God A Doctrine of his own framing out of the Scriptures Graces of his own forming in his Soul and a Worship and Ordinances of his own creating for his publique or private Devotion And yet such hath always been the thick darkness of man that he could never see the lye though never so palpable in his right hand When the light shineth we shall all see where we are but in the dark who is it that doth not mistake We are all justifying our selves and condemning one another but who is it that shall be found able to stand before the righteous Judgment of God who is it in whom the true light and life of God is sown and in whom doth it truly spring up and shoot forth Surely if ever there was need of provoking one another to love and good works the season is now proper Religion is grown so outward and hath spread forth into such various forms pleasing it self so much in that dress which it most affects that the inward substantial part viz. the life and power of it is almost lost in the varieties of shapes and shadow The excrescencies of Religion are become so exuberant that the vigor of it is much drawn from the heart I profess I can hardly blame men for growing out of love with Religion both it and the Professors of it being grown so unlike what it and they once were and still pretend to be The worth of Religion consisteth not in a name or profession but in such a life power righteousness and holiness as the spirit of man with all the art and strength of man cannot attain Where this is and appears in truth it will gain esteem in the spirits hearts and consciences of men whereas a name and profession of Religion falling short of the truth and substance of that common righteousness and good-will which is found in man cannot but most deservedly become a reproach Love true love the love of Christ sown and springing up is the life of true Religion which as it is like the love in Christ so it will appear and act like it This love being of a deep intense and most pure nature goeth forth with mighty strength and entireness towards the fountain of life from which it came and towards all the branchings forth of this life into such as are changed and renewed by it nay it extends it self to all men even the greatest enemies blessing them that curse and wishing well to them that use the subjects of it in the most despightful manner nay to all creatures expressing it self in sweetness meekness tenderness pity mercifulness and in what way else soever it can vent it self in doing good to any sorts of things persons or creatures This love in its way of acting according to the pattern to the houshold of faith is in part here described and exposed for the view of such as may stand in need of such an help and shall find hearts to make use of it And now Sirs ye that profess Christianity look to your spirits Watch and keep your garments close about you lest the Lord discover your nakedness and men see your shame Little do ye think what the Lord is in doing This great noise which ye have heard is not for nothing Life is sunk into the root The branches are withered and a purifying fire will not now serve the turn God as he can embrace where it may seem impossible even that which was utterly cast off and lost for ever so he can throw away that which seemeth saved he can cast off that which seemeth united to him in a link of perpetuity God can both rais up from among the stones children unto Abraham causing them to sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom and likewise keep out the children of the Kingdom nay thrust them out of that Kingdom whereof they have already possession in part Ye have had the experiment of this already in the Jews take heed of it the second time But ye will say the natural people were but a type or shadow and stood upon other terms then the spiritual seed did and therefore that might very well befall them which cannot befall these This is very true in it self though not true as it is understood and applyed They are not the spiritual seed which account themselves so but those whom God maketh so by the generating vertue of his own Spirit and yet those that are the spiritual seed or rather they in whom the spiritual seed is may fall in their outward station and so lose that life and sweetness which they had in their standing But I shall not at this time dispute the case All that I shall now say to you is Look to your feet Look to your standing Look well to the Rock whereupon ye bottom your Souls and look that ye be well bottomed on that Rock lest either your bottom fail under you or the boisterousness of a wind ye have not yet been acquainted with shake you from it He who is not
was come from God and went to God He riseth from supper c. He had not forgot how great he was before this Ministration how great he was in this Ministration and how great he should be immediately again but his eye was fixed upon his glory and greatness in and from and with God when he did this to them 2. There was not only example but precept added to example and that again and again and that in a very sweet way telling them that they ought to do it and that his doing of it was but to teach them their duty It was not necessary for him to do it only he chose this way of imprinting his instruction the better upon them 3. He adds a forcible reason that he being their Lord and Master and having made known to them his pleasure and that both by his own command and pattern they cannot be excused if now they neglect it Vers 13 14 15 16. Ye call me Master and Lord c. 3. For his vehement pressing of it He doth not only lay it before them but he presseth it home upon them 1. He shews them that it is their duty Vers 14. Ye ought also to wash one anothers feet 2. He tells them that the meaning of this piece of service in this abased manner was to commend it to them so closely that they might not avoyd it or think much of it Vers 15. For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you 3. By enforcing the reason of his example Vers 16. Verily verily I say unto you The servant is not greater then his Lord neither he that is sent greater then he that sent him The greatest among the Saints are such as are sent by Christ and yet they are not greater then Christ who sent them and therefore need not think much of that as of an inferior piece of work which Christ did 4. By pronouncing blessedness upon them according as they did observe it Vers 17. If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them Happy are ye if ye learn from this pattern if ye take out this copy if ye practise the duties of this Law of Love according to it The happiness of the Disciples of Christ consisteth much in knowing and practising the duties of love even in the meanest offices of it one towards another Thus he drives home this duty here He urgeth it again in this same Chap. v. 34. where he calleth it a new Commandment to set their spirits more eager upon it A new Commandment I give unto you And what is this new Commandment That ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another He had been telling them of his departure from them and that very affectionately in the foregoing Verse Little children yet a little while I am with you Ye shall seek me c. My little children I must leave you Poor sweet babes poor little brats I must be gone I cannot stay with you But when I am gone remember this Commandment ye little think what sweetness ye will find in it that ye love one another with the same love and after the same manner as I have loved you performing the same services of love with the same willingness and delight And then in the following Verse he knocks in another nail to drive it yet more home By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another He makes it the badg of Discipleship that whereby men should be distinguished to appertain to him to be retainers to him By this shall all men know c. It is a great priviledg and dignity to be known to be a Disciple to Christ to be taken notice of by men as a retainer to Christ as one who doth not meerly pretend but hath indeed learned of him And love to the Brethren such love as Christ expressed is an unquestionable character a distinguishing badg such as the world cannot but acknowledg to be a peculiar property of a Disciple which you have had from Christ and which none else can attain In the 14 Chapter he perswadeth them very affectionately to keep his Commandments Vers 15 21 24. and so again Chap. 15. 10. If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my love c. declaring unto them in the next Verse that his intent in this vehement Injunction Exhortation and Perswasion of his was entirely for their good Vers 11. These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full And then immediately in the very next words vers 12. sheweth what Commandment he did chiefly mean all this while This is my Commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you These things I speak I thus vehemently press obedience upon you for your own good that I might have joy of you which will be very profitable for you and your hearts might be full of joy But this is the Commandment which I principally intend and which I most especially expect obedience unto This is the Commandment which is peculiarly and properly mine which my joy will be greatest in seeing observed and the observation of which will conduce most towards the filling of your hearts with joy This is my Commandment that ye love one another c. How he proceeds yet further to fix it upon their spirits by very close considerations in the following part of the Chapter as vers 14. and 17. I shall not need to make mention of it being already so fully and clearly evidenced Out of the abundance of the heart out of the vehemency of his desire in this particular hath his mouth uttered all these things For the further opening of it these two particulars following are to be enquired into 1. How Christ loved his Saints with what kind of love what his love was and how it went forth towards them and so we shall see the rule whereby our love is to be squared one towards another 2. Why the heart of Christ is so much set upon this to have his Disciples thus love one another why of all other he maketh this his especial Commandment Touching the former What the love of Christ to Saints was or how Christ loved his Saints Love we know is that glue which unites things together or at least makes them desire study and endeavor union causing them both to wish well and do well one for another according to the nature and degree of it As hatred is that which dissevers things and makes them wish ill and do ill one to another according to the nature and strength of it So love which is contrary to it doth the clean contrary What maketh God to hold a kind of union with all his creatures and to wish well to them and do good for them according to their several ranks but his love to them in its several degrees It is from Gods love
have full joy Joh. 14.11 These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full Thus he tells them and he tells God the same Joh. 17.13 And now I come to thee and these things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves I am coming to Heaven to thee where I shall have joy enough to sit at thy right hand where is fulness of joy but for all that I shall never be at rest unless my Saints on Earth be full of joy also and for that very end I speak these things here at my departure and press thee thus earnestly in their behalf for those things which their hearts most desire and which are most necessary for them that it might conduce somewhat that way namely to the filling of their hearts with joy when I am gone So likewise for the other world he wisheth them the best thing there viZ. the full and perfect enjoyment of God It was his very design and the very end for which he underwent all miseries in this world to bring them near to God even into his presence that they might be filled with all the fulness of God as every thing which is there is and he will never leave till it be done This is that he hath undertaken to bring them to in eternal life or this is that eternal life which he is fitting them for and will not fail to bring them into viz. the enjoying God in perfection the perfect enjoying of a perfect God to enjoy God as he himself doth which is as much and as fully as he can be enjoyed They must be fellow-heirs have the same inheritance with him the same Kingdom the same Crown the same Life the same Glory the same Immortality punctually the very same inheritance which inheritance is God for he is the sole portion of Christ and of all his people And then shall Christ see of the travel of his Soul and be satisfied in and concerning his seed when he hath perfectly redeemed them and layd them in the bosom of God to suck in and enjoy all that is to be enjoyed there when he hath fitted their hearts to receive God even the fulness of God and hath seen the fulness of God poured out into their hearts and doth himself taste and enjoy it there The Lord could never rest in the way of his operation till he had emptied himself fully into Christ and Christ can never rest till he hath emptied himself with all that fulness into them and till he hath brought them into himself and through himself into God and so both ways into all that fulness And that God might take delight in them and be as much with them and do as much for them as is possible in this time and day of separation and distance he plants waters and causeth to spring up in them the light the life the love of God and whatsoever else God delights to be in and with both to cherish with his presence and to fill with his appearance Joh. 17.26 This is the first thing wherein the strength of Christs love discovers it self viz. in wishing well to them His desires of their good and welfare are extended to the utmost degree and therefore his love from whence they proceed must needs be very large 2. The strength of Christs love appeareth further in his desire of union with them Every thing desireth union with what it loveth according to the nature and degree of the love it bears If therefore we would know how strong Christs love is let us see what kind of desire of union there is in him Now his desire of union with them is as large as his well-wishes to them He desireth the most perfect and compleat union with them that possibly can be and as soon as may be He would have the union present and growing large and lasting Not to follow these heads particularly consider how full an union he desires and the largeness of his desire but in these four respects 1. He desireth to have them with him to have them be where ever he is If there were a person whom we could never endure to have out of our sight but he must still be where we were in the room with us at board with us in bed with us if we could never abide to go any whither or do any thing without that person every one who saw this would conclude there to be a great strength of affection in us towards that person Why thus it is with Christ Do the Father what he will for them take he never so much care of them c. it will not serve Christs turn it will not satisfie Christs heart but they must be with him in his Country in his house at his board in his bed they must walk up and down with him in the fulness of the Father And this little momentany absence of his from them it is meerly out of judgment knowing it to be good both for himself and them and for the glory of his Father but it is as much as his heart can do to bear it And he professedly tells his Father it must not be so always Joh. 17.24 Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am c. Did ye ever observe Christ to use such a manner of praying before Father I will as if he had said If I would abate somewhat of my former petitions and should be content that thou shouldst not preserve them from the evil of the world but let them tumble a little in the mire so that thou didst them good by it Though I might like this well enough yet this of their being with me I cannot I will not Father I will Thou hast made me a King and this is my will and pleasure in reference to them which I cannot vary from I must have them with me I do so love them that I cannot live long here without their company My glory is no glory to me unless they see and enjoy it with me If therefore thou meanest to keep me in Heaven thou must bring them up to Heaven for I cannot I will not live there without them 2. It will not serve Christs turn to have them with him but he must also have them in him A strange kind of union What we love we hug in our bosoms Now as Christs love is more inward and intense then any other love So he must have more inward expressions too he must hug them in the inside of his bosom They must be in him He must have them within his very heart to make much of them there Joh. 17.21 That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us This desire this request Christ putteth up for them all he would have them all both in God and in himself This is the thing he
more constant this propensity is the greater and stronger must that root of love needs be from whence it floweth His readiness to do for them appears in these three respects 1. What ever excellency was in him which might do them good he would put forth to the utmost His wisdom his strength his love or what ever else was precious in him he never spared when they had need of them What ever he was able to do in himself he was sure to do for them when their need called for it 2. What ever was dear to him he would part with for them He would let any thing go though never so pleasant which he himself enjoyed if thereby he might advantage them The glory he had with his Father before the world was he layeth down for their sakes His dear life he counted not dear to him when he was to part with it for their good 3. He would and still will venture any thing for them his choycest interest in God he hath and will hazard at any time to save them When God is most angry he is not backward to step in and desire him to sheathe his sword for he must not strike them unless he strike through him first which he knows he cannot he will not do Was it not a venturous thing for Aaron when God was angry and executing vengeance to run and stand between the living and the dead to stop God in the course of his wrath to beat it back as it were forcibly yet Aaron was but a type of Christ herein who doth the same thing more effectually and powerfully every day He that will thus lay out all he that will thus lose and part with all He that will not yet stick continually to venture what he hath received anew hath certainly a stock of very rich love and great store of it IV. For the actings of his love wherein both the nature and strength of it will yet further appear they are wonderful great and strange and that if we consider them either in the varieties of his conditions or in the varieties of their conditions for he is still the same in both How ever his state or heart was changed by the power of his condition yet it was never changed towards them when it most failed and fainted it remained in strength of love to them and how ever they were changed either in themselves or towards him yet it could produce no other alteration in him towards them then such as proceeded from his love and was profitable for them 1. Look on him under the variety of his own conditions When he was in Heaven long before this world was made he fell in love with them there The first sight his Father gave him of them ravished his heart His love then acted three ways or expressed it self in three things towards them 1. In his desire to have them his wife So soon as ever he saw them This is saith he bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh This was taken out of me this is part of my self which must be again united to me or I shall feel want There is no helper to be found for me out of my self and this is that meet helper in which my heart can alone find rest He knew her so soon as ever he beheld her as the beloved of his Soul and never did any more ardently or naturally seek room for his spirit in any thing then he did for himself in her 2. In undertaking all that God required thereto He was content to serve for his wife Jacob's serving for his was but a type hereof He was content to purchase to buy his wife and that with no small price And he was content to fight for her after he had done it he undertook to deal with all her enemies Sin Devil Death Grave Hell and redeem her from them all He did so love her that he was willing to take the hardest ways that could be to come by her rather then go without her His love would not suffer him to stand capitulating upon the terms but so she may be his he careth not what he undertake or undergo for her 3. In his delighting in her then He did not grumble at the price when he began to consider of it he did not repent of the large offer he made for her nor ever so much as said she cost me too dear but it rejoyceth his heart to think on her and the sight of her doth revive him more then the sight of the trouble hardship and misery that lies between him and her and which he must necessarily pass through before he can enjoy her Prov. 8.30 31. Then was I by him c. rejoycing in the habitable part of his Earth and my delights were with the sons of men This he did notwithstanding he was then in Heaven drowned in glory there and knew she was to be found by him in this miserable corrupted world and in a most corrupt and miserable condition in it yet the sight of his Spouse is of such vertue with him that notwithstanding this disadvantage it can administer joy and delight to him even in the midst of the fulness of the joys of Heaven Again Look on him when he came into this world Though he was to leave the glory of Heaven after he had been so accustomed to the sweetness of it yet he comes skipping into it Lo I come saith he hast thou prepared me a body I will not delay to take it up And what made him so willing thereunto but the strength of his love to them for whose sake he did it Thy Law is in the midst of my bowels what Law but the Law of Love to his Father and to his Spouse And his low and mean condition we never find troubling of him nor any affliction he met with his love to them so sweetened every thing he was to do for them Yea that bitter cup at which he so startled when he took it because of that terrible gall and wormwood wherewith it was filled yet how did he long to drink it off for their sakes I have a Baptism to be baptized with and how am I straitned till it be accomplished Methinks my bowels are bound up I do not seem to my self to have expressed love enough to my people until I have done it And while he was present here he bent himself to give forth and leave behind him testimonies of his love to all posterity He chose a company of Disciples to be patterns of his actings towards all his Saints to the worlds end who themselves were types of what his Saints would be and his actings towards them were types of what he would act towards his Saints which is not again to be done outwardly but is continually done by him inwardly in and towards his Now consider what these were and how he behaved himself towards them They were men full of weakness full of darkness full of passions full of pride
often striving who should be greatest expecting fleshly pomp and advantage by him much failing in love to him what not watch with me one hour in so much as they left him when he had most need of them they hid themselves from him they denyed him they feared a little reproach or danger for his sake who feared nothing for theirs And yet how tender was he of them continually not upbraiding them for their unkindnesses nor neglecting any act of kindness towards them After his Resurrection he stayeth forty days from glory for then sakes to satisfie them about his Resurrection and his love to them and to give them full instructions about the ordering of his Kingdom here on Earth wherein their safety peace and comfort lay And now he is in Heaven he spends his whole time for them He is taking up still there what belongs to them He is keeping all surmises from the heart of God and dashing all pleas which the Devil craftily and maliciously is still entering in against them He is suing out warrants from God to have dayly bestowed upon them what grace can do for them for the best according to their conditions And he sends his best friend the Spirit out of his own bosom to bring him news how it fares with them and to look to their hearts while they are in this world and to be dayly working them up to blessedness And methinks I hear Christ ever and anon renewing his charge as he sends him Go look to my little ones see they want nothing that thou canst do for them See that they want no light in that dark world wherein they are See they want no life in the midst of that dead world See they want no comfort in the midst of those distresses which it pleaseth my Father to exercise them with Go and bear with their unkind actings towards thee Consider where they are consider what they are consider what they suffer and deal gently with them for my sake and what affronts they put upon thee or what injuries they offer thee I will make up to thee as I have already done unto my Father 2. Look on the actings of his love towards them under the variety of their conditions First In their unconverted estate in that most loathsom estate wherein he findeth them lying before he bringeth them home to God His heart doth not then loath them but is pitying them and contriving how he may bring them home with most advantage Other sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I must bring Joh. 10.16 He shews where his heart was when he said little namely upon his sheep his lost sheep his scattered sheep about bringing them into the fold where they may be safe and at rest 2dly In their converted estate and their several turns and changes there In all their sicknesses in all their relapses in all the miseries which befall them by their own folly in all their sinful actings against God in all their unkind actings towards him in the midst which goeth most to his heart of their grieving of his holy Spirit when they are stubborn and rebellious and act most unthankfully when they will not trust him nor by no means be perswaded of the love he beareth towards them but are interpreting that ill which he intended well striving against all the good which he is doing them and doing that most eagerly which his Soul most abhorreth in them yet then even then is he doing for them the best offices of love which possibly can be done As they then most need the care love and tenderness of Christ so he will be sure then to lay it out for them And when at any time he worketh in them by his own Spirit what is pleasing in his eyes he attributeth it to them and accepteth it from them as if it were their own Indeed they do nothing not so much as think a good thought of themselves but he doth all in them and yet he attributeth all to them If he put it into their hearts and enable them to feed or clothe any of his he setteth it upon their account and upon an high account too even as their feeding and clothing of him He thinks no ill of them he interprets every thing in the best kind concerning them He loves them so as nothing in them or from them can mitigate his affection to them or hinder him from doing the utmost he can for their good He takes occasion from all their unloveliness to stir up his heart to acts of love towards them suitable to that their state but never to decline thereby from them Here is love indeed It would be too tedious to instance in the several acts in the several kinds of it as in pity in care in bounty in delight c. wherein the high and noble strain of his love doth on every occasion put forth it self Let it suffice therefore to have given a little touch at it V. For the manner of his acting love Love acteth in him this fourfold way or he performeth the acts of love after this fourfold manner Primarily Purely Suitably and Fervently 1. Primarily He is first in love and first in every act of love What he speaketh of that one act of love viz. of Election Joh. 15.16 Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you he was first in it is true of every act else He doth not stay for acts of love from us before he performeth acts of love to us but we love him because he loved us first and we perform acts of love to him because we first learned them of him As Christ learned his love of the Father so we learn our love of Christ Yea before we can perform any act of love to him there must several acts of love go forth from him towards us he must both give us the grace and quicken it and draw it forth whensoever we act any thing with affection towards him They are not our prayers that move him but his love is before them and yet what can move him more but it is his love the spirit of his love from and according to his love that teacheth guideth and enableth us to pray 2. Purely not with by-ams or by-ends concerning himself but as he loves with pure affection so he loves in a pure manner As his love is spiritual love so it acts spiritually it hath no by-ends no by-ways but all its motions are like it self It s purity discovereth it self in these three respects 1. It will do nothing to dishonour God through love to them Though Christ love them unspeakably exceedingly desiring their happiness and his enjoyment of them yet he will not intrench upon God in the least in effecting of it Lo I come I delight to do thy will O my God And again I do always the things which please him And when he speaks of having finished his course Joh. 17. I have glorified thy Name saith he Though
he was always full of affection of strength to them and did every thing in great love to them yet it never carried him aside from the honour of his Fathers Name 2. It will neglect nothing that may be for their good though it never so much offend them If they want a chiding if they want reproof if they want rods yea if they want scorpions they shall have them And if they grow froward and cry out Christ doth not Love me for if he did he could not thus deal with me all this shall not save them but he will lash and sting them so much the more not out of ill will or passion but because the condition of their froward spirits requireth so much the more which cannot as the state stands be abated without prejudice Christ doth not love them with a doting love to let them see nothing but what they will call acts of love but he will do that which he knoweth to be an act of love how ever they interpret it 3. It will do nothing which may be for their hurt Though they are apt to nourish humors yet Christ will never be drawn through his love to them to nourish those humors Hence it is that the Soul though it beg never so hard for some one mercy and that a spiritual mercy using all its interest in Christ to obtain it yet in some cases it can by no means come neer it but the mercy doth as it were run the further from him by how much the more he seeketh it This proceedeth from the purity of the love of Christ who knoweth what condition they are in and how ill this mercy would suit them in their present condition Perhaps it would feed some lusts whereof they are not aware which stand ready to prey upon it and fatten themselves with it so soon as it should be given in Perhaps it would lift them up in their own thoughts and so either that or some other way interrupt their naked dependance upon God and any such evil consequence which they may not fear but suppose that the mercy it self might preserve them from would do them more harm then the enjoyment of the mercy could do them good 3. Suitably Christ puts forth such acts of love and so as their need requireth Sometimes he putteth forth acts of pity sometimes acts of help sometimes acts of delight Not all at all times but what our present estate and every thing considered together doth call for The not understanding of this causeth Christians so often to question the love of Christ towards them If he be not continually putting forth acts of delight in them and giving testimonies of sweetness to them they are apt to think that his love at least declines whereas there are heart-workings of love in Christ which they cannot perceive but only know by faith that they must needs be nor is it fit that they should perceive them in the condition that they sometimes are in But as Christ hath revealed his love to be ever constant and strong to them so they should ever beleeve it to be so and it is the glory of faith so to judg of it when as nothing of it appears in the view of sense To what end hath God given them faith if they notwithstanding esteem of things by and according to sense But what ever condition they are in though Christs love may not discover it self to them in the way they expect and desire yet it always goeth forth in the most suitable way In all their miseries he is not only pitying them but bearing them company He bears their burdens with them he helps them he supports them he contrives and prosecutes their rescue and redemption and if he may not do it openly yet he will not fail to do it effectually though secretly and unseen by them What ever their distress be whether outward or inward whether by sin from within or by affliction from without even when they have caught a grievous fall by their own folly and head-strongness yet even then is he mourning over them and considering how he may raise them up again with most advantage Rejoyce not against me O mine enemy though I fall I shall rise again In our lowest ebb he is certainly thus with us doing this for us though we cannot possibly imagine Nevertheless I am still with thee thou holdest me by my right hand said the Spirit of Christ in David when he had seemed to himself neglected and removed from the care and love of God beyond the common sort of the world In their weaknesses he is still condescending to them he bears with all their infirmities yea he apologizeth for them in his own heart The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak He considereth both what frail flesh they are and what a strong body of corruption hangeth about them in this their weak estate When ever they do well he is delighting in them A father will not stroke or be pleasant with his child when he behaveth himself untowardly Christ knoweth it is unfit to express delight in them then Therefore Christ telleth his Disciples in the 10 verse of this 15 Chapter of John that if they kept his Commandments they should abide in has love that is in part in the sensible expressions of it they should find him delighting in them vers 11. 4. Fervently He performeth every act of love in a warm manner He burneth his heart boileth in every act of love As his love is strong so he performeth every act of love with the strength of it His bowels yern and roul within him when he pities He helpeth with all his might He vehemently gaspeth after union with them and enjoyment of them He delighteth in them with his whole heart and with all his Soul His heart leapeth within him in acts of delight He never expresseth more to them then is in his heart nay he never expresseth so much he letteth them only see what is profitable for them to see This is the manner of the acting of Christs love And thus we see the love of Christ after a sort in a weak dark manner opened Behold then the Rule ye are to set before you the Copy which ye are to write after in loving one another Thus hath Christ loved his and thus are they who are Christs to love one another which to imprint the better I shall a little briefly recite as 1. With a love of this nature not with carnal love but with spiritual love not with the love of your own old nature but with the love of the new nature not with your own natural affection which ye have from Adam but with that new affection which God hath given you from and in Christ 2. Upon such grounds Not for the loveliness of their persons the sweetness of their disposition and carriage or their kindness to you or your c. Alas these are too carnal grounds for that love which is truly
spiritual to move upon These may move your natural affections and those indeed such kind of things as these should move but the love which is here called for is spiritual and so must the grounds be even such as Christs own love moveth upon as The Fathers love to them and Christs love to them If thou partakest of the divine nature and hast the same love with the Father and with Christ let it follow them in acting Love what they love and love because they love The Fathers will and Christs will that thou shouldst love them Let that Will which is the Former of thy love be the guide and ground of thy love Their relation to the Father and to Christ yea and to thee too in the Spirit and Body of Christ As thy love is spiritual so thou mayst found it upon thy spiritual relation Their likeness to the Father and to Christ yea and to thy self too in that which is best in thee If thy love be not spiritual and fastened upon spiritual grounds it will not last If thou lovest them for sweetness of disposition nay for the gifts of God which appear in them when these shall at any time fail thy love wanting its ground-work will also fail but if it be well-founded it will then be as firm and as full as ever when all such considerations and motives sink from under it O take heed of loving Saints for gifts not for meer grace or for the outward lively actings of grace not for the inward substance of grace in their hearts 3. With such strength of love Come as neer the degree of Christs love towards them as thou canst Let thy well-wishes be large towards them be ever praying for them thy desire of union and communion with them strong thy readiness to do them good even to the laying down of thy life for them great 4. Let the actings of thy love remain vigorous towards them in all the varieties of thy conditions and in all the varieties of their conditions We are very unlike Christ in this respect Our own conditions seldom change our brethrens conditions seldom change but our love varieth towards them 5. Love in such a manner as Christ did Be first in love Aim at a precedency in all the acts of love who shall first pity and who shall first pardon c. Do not stay for the workings of their affections to measure or let out thine by this is a rule corrupt nature hath set up not grace but kindle and inflame theirs by thine And be sure to love purely Love one another with a pure heart Never dishonor God never do any thing which may hurt them by any act of love Never forbear doing them good for fear of crossing them Cross them as much as thou wilt so thou manage it with wisdom and tenderness proportionable for their good Let all thy oppositions against them appear to be the oppositions of love formed by love brought forth with love and only continued in love Sweet and wholesom are those wounds which love measures out And act love suitably When they are in distress pity them When thou seest them heavy loaden help to bear their burden with them Bear ye one anothers burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ this is a great part of the Law of this Love which is Christs Law which is his Commandment the bearing of one anothers weights and pressures whether of sin or sorrow Wherein they are over-layd bear for them wherein they are weak bear with them condescend to their lowness to their shallowness in the things of God what is above their strength do not admit them unto by no means how angry soever they may be thereupon him that is weak in the faith receive but not to doubtful disputations not to the judging and discerning of such things as require a greater strength of eye-sight then is dispensed to him Where thou seest their hearts act plainly towards God express delight in them but take heed of manifesting delight in them when they are stubborn to Christ for thou art not left at liberty to act love to them as thou shalt think good but in a way suitable to their conditions When thou seest the flesh prevail in them thou must warn and check them and complain to the Church of them if need be Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him Levit. 19.17 So when thy brother offends thee thou art first to tell him of his fault between him and thee then to take two or three with thee and at last to acquaint the Church with it Mat. 18. This is not to be done simply to get thy self righted but rather in love to thy brother for the good of whose Soul as well as for the peace and safety of the Church this Ordinance is appointed But there is a vast difference between these things being done from the truth and purity of love and from a fleshly selfish spirit the one seeking its brother the other it self in these things Act love also fervently Let love burn within and let all the motions and operations of it come forth boiling hot Pity fervently pray fervently for them put forth thy helping hand with ardency of affection Let there be such an heat in the spirit as may cause the whole course of love sweetly and warmly to flow from the new nature that the motions and operations of it may not come unkindly and coldly forced out of the old nature Is any afflicted and I burn not saith Paul and how was he in travel again with the Galatians Love one another with a pure heart fervently Lastly Be sure thou let nothing in or from them mitigate thine affections towards them It may mitigate thy expressions in some kinds but it may not dull thine affections but whet and sharpen them to fit them for that which is now proper for them Though thy brother trespass against thee thou must not be provoked by him but forgive him till seventy times seven times Seventy times seven times trespass of thy brother against thee must not put thee out of a forgiving temper toward him but thou must be as ready nay more ready to forgive then he can be prone to offend Thou must not say 't is carelessness or obstinacy in him or he might have avoyded it if he would no not at his seventy seventh time of his tresspassing against thee but thou shouldst be as ready to forgive him as thou wast or couldst be the first time We should not be murmuring against any miscarriages of our brethren but bless God who hath taught us and given us grace to pity them to pray for them and to be otherwise sweetly and meekly helpful to them in love towards raising and restoring of them And thus the first Question is dispatched How Christ loveth the Saints The second is now to ensue which is Why the heart of Christ is