where the benefit so far exceeds all possible thankfulness Ought you to serve and obey him Doubtless he hath for that purpose redeemed you with his precious Blood And truly there is no obedience nor service so full and so cheerful as that which flows from love Should you study conformity to Christ and labour to be like him Yes for this is to walk worthy of Christ then there is nothing assimulates so much as Love Men delight in their society whom they love and by their society they do insensibly contract their customs and become like them These Virgins that love Christ for his Graces they love to converse with him and by conversing with him they receive of his Graces and have a smell of his Persumes Not only do they by the smell of his Garments or such imposed Rights obtain the blessing but likewise smell like him by the participation of sanctifying Grace of his Wisdom and Holiness in a pure and godly Conversation abstaining from the impure Lusts and Pollutions of the World of his Meekness and Humility Never think that one and the same Soul can have much Pride and much of Christ ever the more Grace a man hath the more sense hath he likewise of his own unworthiness and Gods free mercy and consequently the more humility If you love Christ you cannot chuse but be like him in love to your Brethren This is expresly compared by the Psalmist to the precious Ointment poured upon Aaron's head that ran down to the very skirts of his Garments Our Head and High Priest the Lord Jesus hath incomparably testified his love to Believers whom he is pleased to call his Brethren they are far from equalling him either in love to him or one to another but they do imitate him in both This is his great Commandment That we love one another even as he loved us which is exprest both as a strange motive and a high example 'T is not possible that a Spirit of Malice and implacable Hatred can consist with the love of Christ. Finally should you be ready to suffer for Christ Yes Then love is that which will enable you and if you were inflamed with this fire then though burned for him that fire would only consume your dross and be soon extinguished but this would endure for ever By these and the like Evidences try whether you indeed love the Lord Jesus Christ and by these fruits You that profess to love him testifie the sincerity of your love and be assured that if you be now found amongst these Virgins that love him you shall one day be of the number of those Virgins that are spoken of Rev. 14. 3 4. that sing a new Song before the Throne of God If you hate the defilements of the World and be not polluted with inordinate affection to the Creature it shall never repent you to have made choice of Christ he shall fill your hearts with peace and joy in believing When you come to his House and Table he shall lend you home with Joy and sweet Consolation such as you would not exchange with Crowns and Scepters and after some few of these running Banquets here below you shall enter into the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb where Faith shall end in sight and Hope in possession and Love continue in perpetual and full Enjoyment where you shall be never weary but for ever happy in beholding the face of the Blessed Trinity To whom be Glory Amen SERMON IX PREFACE HOW true is that word of our Saviour who is truth it self Without me ye can do nothing severed from me as that branch that is not in me They that are altogether out of Christ in Spiritual Exercises do nothing at all 'T is true they may Pray and hear the Word yea and Preach it too and yet in so doing they do nothing nothing in effect They have the matter of good actions but it is the eternal Form gives being to things they are but a number of empty words and a dead service to a living God for all our outward performances and worship of the Body is nothing but the body of worship and therefore nothing but a Carkass except the Lord Jesus by his Spirit breath upon it the breath of life Yea the Worshipper himself is Spiritually Dead till he receive Life from Jesus and be quickned by his Spirit If this be true then it will follow necessarily That where numbers are met together as here pretending to serve and worship God yet he hath very few that do so indeed the greatest part being out of Christ and such being without him they can do nothing in his service Rom. VIII 7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be THE ordinary workings and actions of Creatures are suitable to their Naure as the ascending of light things and the moving of heavy things downwards so the vital and sensitive actions of things that have life and sense The reasonable Creature 't is true hath more liberty in its actions freely chusing one thing and rejecting another yet it cannot be denied that in acting of that liberty their choice and refusal follow the sway of their nature and condition as the Angels and glorified Souls their nature being perfectly holy and unalterably such They cannot sin they can delight in nothing but in obeying and praising that God in the enjoyment of whom their happiness consisteth still ravish'd in beholding his face The Saints again that have not yet reach'd that home and are but on their Journey they are not fully defecated and refined from the dross of Sin there are in them two parties Natural Corruption and Supernatural Grace and these keep a strugling within them but the younger shall supplant the elder Grace shall in the end overcome and in the mean while though it be not free from mixture yet it is predominant The main bent of a renewed Man is Obedience and Holiness and any action of that kind he rejoyces in but the Sin that escapes him he cannot look upon but with regret and discontent But alas they that be so minded are very thin sown in the World even in Gods peculiar Fields where the Labourage of the Gospel is and the outward profession of true Religion unanimously received Yet the number of true Converts Spiritual-minded Persons is very small the greatest part acting Sin with delight and taking pleasure in Unrighteousness living in disobedience to God as in their proper Element and the reason is The contrariety of their Nature to our Holy Lord. The carnal mind is enmity against God The mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some render it the Prudence or Wisdom of the Flesh. Here you have it The Carnal Mind but the word signifies indeed an act of the mind rather than either the faculty it self or the habit of Prudence in it so as it discovers what is the frame of both those The minding as it
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
Jo. 13. as it is said of the Ointment that Mary poured upon his feet in the foregoing Chapter Job 12. Amongst many other of his gracious Qualities that might be mentioned there is one we cannot but take particular notice of His Love the rather because the fragrant smell of his Graces is here said to beget Love Now you know that one of the strongest attractives of Love is Love Magnes amoris amor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What made him empty himself of his Glory as the Apostle speaks but because he was full of love What made him take on the form of a Servant suffer Heat and Cold and Hunger and Poverty but Love What other was it made him digest the Persecutions Revilings and the contradiction of Sinners but Love But the great wonder of his Love is this He died to become our Life who hath loved me and given himself for me says the great Apostle St. Paul And hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us says the beloved Apostle St. John Was it the Nails that held him fast to the Cross when they tauntingly bid him come down No it was his Love that was stronger than Death But all this was nothing to the angry countenance of his Father nor would he ever have ventured upon that if infinite Love had not perswaded him no wonder if the Apostle call it a Love that passeth knowledge That you may know saith he the love of Christ which passeth knowledge Eph. 3. 19. Know it we may and should but we must know withal that we cannot know it fully And this is our comfort that it is greater than we can comprehend for if it were not so it would be less than we stand in need of So much of his Love we may understand as may abundantly inflame our hearts with love to him for this purpose hath he revealed it and made his Name like an Ointment poured out And that 's the second thing His Name That 's the report and manifestation of his Excellencies and if you will take it properly of his Name Jesus and Christ or the Messiah it is true of them for they are significative of these Excellencies Ask an afflicted Conscience if Jesus that is a Saviour be not a precious Word that hath a Sovereign value both a refreshing smell and a healing vertue The Hammer of the Law may break a stony heart in pieces but it is only the blood of Jesus that can soften it and where it is effectually poured either upon a wounded Soul it heals it or upon a hard heart it mollifies it For that other Name Christ well may it be called an Ointment poured out for it signifies his Anointing and that the sweet savour of this Name may effect read but that one passage Isai. 61. 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings c. What inestimable riches of Consolation is there in each of these effects to which Christ was Anointed and yet we find not a word among them all for a proud stiff-necked Sinner Here are good tidings but it is to the meek comfortable binding up but it is for the broken hearted Liberty but it is for Captives and Prisoners groaning under their Chains and desirous to be delivered Not for such as delight in their bondage there is Oil of joy and garments of praise but they are provided for mourning dejected Spirits that need them not to the Impediment On the contrary there is a terrible word interjected in the midst of these Promises The day of vengeance of our God and that is the portion of Christ's Enemies and such are all incorrigible sinners Thus it is at the same Banquet from which you come one may be filled with Spiritual Joy and the very Person that sits next be filled with a secret Curse and return more miserable than he came But let the disconsolate lamenting Sinner lift up his head and behold Christ the Son of God anointed a Prophet to preach Salvation and liberty to such a Priest to purchase it and a King to give it Now the pouring out of this Name is divers Before the coming of the Messiah his Name was poured out in Prophesies and Promises in Types and legal Ceremonies but more fully when the Word was made flesh then Angels and holy Men yea and Women spake clearly of him What was his Fathers voice at his Baptism The Holy Ghosts descending What was his own Preaching and Miracles and Conversation but all the pouring forth of his precious Name And in his Sufferings and Death what think you Was not his Name then poured forth yea his Blood with it Yes truly being extended on the Cross and his Body pierced in divers place his precious Ointments were shed abroad towards all the Quarters of the World their smell both reached Heaven and the visible Earth God the Father as he was said to do in Noahs Sacrifice did much more smell in his Sacrifice a savour of rest appeasing his wrath and all Believers a savour of peace a quieting of their Consciences And as Aâ—omatick Spices when they are pounded out and beaten send forth their sweet smells most liberally so in these his Sufferings did the obedience patience and love and all the Graces and the Name of our Saviour most clearly manifest themselves to the World After he was Dead they Embalmed his Body but they knew not that his own Vertue would do more than all the Ointments and Spices in the World could do not only by preserving his Body from Corruption but by raising it the third day And truly after his Resurrection his own Disciples knew his Name better than ever before and yet more fully after his Ascention when the Holy Ghost came down upon them which was poured from Heaven on them for this very end That they might pour forth Christ's Name to the ends of the Earth Act. 2. 8. And they did so carrying this precious Treasure in Earthen Vessels as that Elect Vessel St. Paul speaks And ever since God hath continued the pouring forth of this Name by the Ministry and Preaching of the Gospel 'T is true there are too many of those that are employed in this work that seek themselves and their own ends rather than his Glory whom they Preach And they that are more upright the very best of them are sinful Men but how mean and unworthy soever they be despise not the Gospel let the sweet Name which they pour forth prevail for it self that so you may reverence and love it if you would have Salvation by it and there is no other Name under Heaven by which that can be obtained As this Name is poured forth in the Gospel Preached so in the Sacraments annexed to it and particularly in this when the Bread is broken and the Wine poured out And was not this the earnest desire of the Receivers of it this day it should