Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	affection_n	heart_n	see_v	3,500	5	3.2632	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96661	Mount Ebal levell'd or Redemption from the curse. Wherein are discovered, 1. The wofull condition of sinners under the curse of the law. 2. The nature of the curse, what it is, with the symptomes of it, in its properties, and effects. 3. That wonderful dispensation of Christs becoming a curse for us. 4. The grace of redemption, wherein it stands, in opposition to some gross errors of the times, which darken the truth of it. 5. The excellent benefits, priviledges, comforts, and engagements to duty, which flow from it. By Elkanah Wales, M.A. preacher of the Gospel at Pudsey in York-shire.	Wales, Elkanah, 1588-1669.	1658 (1658)	Wing W294; Thomason E1923_1; ESTC R209971	189,248	382

and longs to be more nearly united to him He desires not to be delivered from the curse and so to be righteous and holy that he may have an interest in Christ That is not his method But contra he desires to have real interest in Christ that he may be freed from the Curse and so be clothed with his righteousness and conformed to him in holiness Bona tua non nisi tecum Domine If thy heart can say yea to this thou hast an evidence of sincere love to Christ but if thou lovest him onely for lumps for the benefits which thou gettest by him deliverance from hell and the glory of heaven thy love is mercenary 2. Superlative It transcends and overtops all the Love of the creature The redeemed soul loveth wife children friends his own life and the good things of this world according to their several degrees of goodness and he loves them not fainedly and in shew but truly and indeed within due limits and in such proportion as they are capable of but yet he loves Jesus Christ farre and farre above them all This love leaves all other loves many thousand miles behinde it so that none of them can come near it He is precious singularly precious to them that believe 1 Pet. 2.7 he is an honour to them they have a very high esteem of him His interest prevailes in their soules infinitely above all other interests in the world Christ disownes yea rejects all love tendred to him which is inferiour to the love of our dearest relations Matth. 10.37 yea we must hate these in comparison of him Luke 14.26 Ask thy soul what it can answer to this Doth thy soul set an high price on thy Redeemer Doth thy heart embrace him as incomparably excellent dost thou finde the enjoyment of him more sweet and contenting than all other enjoyments and his absence hiding of his face and restraint of his gracious influences from thy spirit more bitter and grievous then all other wants or burthens which thou mayest meet with But if thy heart set up any thing above him so that Christ and his partie when they stand in competition with some other partie which hath gotten the chair in thy soul are slighted and must sit at its footstool or be thrust out of doors Oh this is a base beggarly love which will not stand thee in stead 3. Invincible To clear this the love of Christ in an elect person actually redeemed may possibly be overcome by the prevailing of the contrary corruption It is not simply impossible being a created quality and therefore no more able to stand of it self without divine support than Adam's love to his Creatour which was so easily mastered by the suggestions of the serpent to the ruine of himself and his posterity yet notwithstanding this possibility it shall never be totally vanquished and lost in the soul It may be greatly decayed and driven into a corner so that the godly Christian may want the sence of it and may verily think that the love of Christ dwelleth not in him at all yet it is there and shall abide in him for ever This fire as that on the Altar shall never be wholly extinguished Because the Spirit of God which first kindled it is still present blowing it up less or more that it cannot die It 's a part of the seed of God which abides in the saints and preserves them from sinning unto death which they must needs do if the love of the Redeemer be totally routed 1 Joh. 3.9 It 's a stream flowing from the well of water which springs up in the believer unto everlasting life John 4.14 The world thrusts sore at this love that it may fall Prosperity on one side presents the beautiful and pleasing objects of riches honours eternal delights Gen. 49.24 to draw the love of the soul to themselves Adversity on the other hand will endeavour to affright the soul from the love of Christ by the sterne and unwelcome shapes of troubles afflictions persecutions and death it self yet it 's bow abides in strength by the hand of ●he mighty God as Joseph's did The Saints love not their lives to the death Rom. 12.11 because they love the Lord Jesus as Jonathan loved David not onely as their own soules 1 Sam. 20.17 but also with a wonderfull Love 2 Sam. 1.26 Jonathan's Love to David was admirable in this that it could not be taken off either by the frowns threats and violence of his Father Saul against David and against himself for adhering to David or by the consideration of his own interest which was deeply concerned in this business he being heir apparent to the Crown and David standing in his light so the love of the right Christian to Christ cannot be wholly overcomed by temptations on the right hand or the left it can envie and despise both the sweet inchanting of pleasure and the bitter affronts of danger and keeps its ground in some good measure against them all Love is strong as death the coales of this fire make a most vehement flame many waters cannot quench it nor the floods drown it Can. 8.6 7. Trie thy self if this be thy temper thy love is right bred but canst thou give way to any thing in the world to take off the edge of thy love to Christ This fire which is so soon put out came not down from heaven Yea minde it thou lovest Christ but thou feelest not a return of love from him to thy soul yet if thy love be incorrupt thou wilt still hold on in prison as well as Liberty in death as well as life it will not be quite tyred out by long delay of comfort but the hope of an answer of peace will keep it acting in thee and the dayes of thy waiting and serving him will seem to thee but a few for the love thou hast to him as Gen. 29.20 4. Accompanied with self-jealousie Although the love of the godly soul to his Redeemer be thus divinely qualified yet he hath keeps up within himself an holy suspicion concerning himself that he may work out his own salvation now actually begun with fear and trembling Phil. 2.13 Look as it is with a poor maid who is deeply in love with some young man of Eminent parts She considers the great worth and excellencie of the person and her own means and unworthiness She sees a vast distance betwixt her self and him so that she shall never be able to answer him according to his condition hence she apprehends some danger of miscarrying least he should reject her and her love should be lost yet still her affection goes out freely towards him and he hath her whole heart only she sees cause to fear least some undue or uncomely carriage of hers should displease him and provoke him to distaste her and this fear makes her the more cautelous and helps her to endeavour to give him all possible contentment that she may

interessing us in the grace of Redemption so we cannot doubt that the Lord hath put upon it this office also to be after the manner of a condition if we observe these Scripture-expressions Rom. 4.24 if we believe on him that raised up Jesus it shall be imputed to us for righteousness Rom. 10.9 If thou shalt believe in thy heart thou shalt be saved and the want of this condition is threatned with death Jo. 8.24 See also Jo. 20.31 Acts 8.37 But 2. This faith towards the Lord Jesus is ever accompanied with repentance towards God which is called repentance from dead works and coupled with faith in God as twins in the doctrine of the foundation of Christ Heb. 6.1 This is the souls irking with its former sinfull estate and wayes and a deep displeasure at himself for them together with a forsaking of them and turning away from them unto God in the sincere purpose of the heart and serious endeavour of the conversation And that repentance hath some hand in this business to be a mean and as a condition too in part of interest in Redemption may appear by promises of mercie pardon and healing made to it Pro. 28.14 Iob 33.27 28. Job 11.14 15 c. 2 Chron. 7.14 Acts 3.19 and the contrary threatning Luke 13.3 which plainly implies that without this there is no escaping of perdition and therefore no actual Redemption So that the sinner now as by one hand of faith he takes Christ's Righteousness unto himself so by Repentance as by the other hand he thrusts away sinne from himself out of his heart and hands that he may enjoy a part in the grace of Redemption Christ the Redeemer himself made these the chiefest subject of his preaching Mark 1.15 and so did his Apostles to whom the publication of this Doctrine was committed Acts 20.21 and directed humbled soules to both these as they had occasion S. Peter ascribes Repentance with Baptisme Acts 2.38 and S. Paul saith Act. 16.31 not that those two preachers differed in their judgements or that either of these two graces were sufficient alone by it self but rather to shew their near affinity that they cannot be separated that the right and thorough performance of the one is the performance of both This is the Kings High-way if you hope to compass Redemption and salvation in any other way you will certainly be deceived Oh that you the careless sinners in Zion for unto you I speak all this while would at length be rouzed by the sound of this trumpet to look out for deliverance by Christ before the prison doors be made so fast upon you that there will be no remedy and to provoke you the more to a thing so necessary consider these Motives 1. There is no possibility of deliverance from sinne and the Curse by any other means A redeemer you must have or you are undone and the redeemer must pay a vaste summe for your Redemption This is done to your hand by Jesus Christ if you will accept it upon his termes If you will not I would aske where will you finde a Redeemer Do you look for another to come He that must do this work must bear the Curse for you But where is the man that can or will undertake this God hath found none in heaven or earth mighty enough to lay this help upon Isa 63.5 but Jesus Christ therefore he hath laid it upon him Psal 89.19 and now there remaines no more sacrifice for sinne There is no wisedome nor power in all the world that can relieve or bestead the sinner which will not submit to this way of God 2. If thou wilt not give way to Christ to glorifie his mercie in rescuing thee from the Curse and Condemnation he will glorifie his Justice in letting thee lie an accursed prisoner for ever If thou wilt seek the Lord his hand will be upon thee for good But if thou forsake him his power and his wrath will bee against thee to thy ruine Ezra 8.22 If thou wilt not kiss the Sonne he will be angry and thou shalt perish in the way Psal 2.12 His taking the Curse upon him will not serve thy turne to secure thee from the danger of it unless thou wilt be perswaded to come up to his termes and heartily embrace him as thine onely Lord-Redeemer will give a large commission to it to destroy thee without mercie He that obeyes not the Sonne the wrath of God abides on him John 3.36 and he will come with vengeance in his hands against them that obey not the Gospel 2 Thes 1.18 3. Now the Lord offers you this incomparable mercie you have the render of it still continued in the Ministerie of the Word and the Spirit is Still inviting and beseeching you to accept of this redemption and reconciliation thereby Oh then hearken to the motion and yeild your selves forthwith unto the Lord. For although you do not give a peremptory denial yet if you sit still and triffle your hearts will be hardened Psal 95.7 8. I know thy thoughts thou takest it for granted that thou canst come and get a part in Christ when thou pleasest but it is not so It 's easie to say God be mercifull to me and it is in thy power to presume but to repent and to believe unfainedly and in truth thou shalt finde to be a work above thy strength I tell thee thou bold sinner God will one day come near and plead thus with thy conscience I gave thee Twenty thirty fortie yeares and all that while my Spirit hath been wrastling with thee to draw thee to Christ and thou sayest I can come at my pleasure If thou canst why hast thou not come all this while Seing therefore thou hast dallied with my grace and rendred all my importunity and waiting void and ineffectuall thou shalt never enter into this blessed rest of Redemption 4. If you have any true love to the Ministers of Christ or any desire of their welfare and comfort then come in and seek for a share in this benefit Wee are the servants of the Lord Jesus sent forth to proclaim Redemption to the world How would it glad our hearts to see you all flocking in as doves to the windowes for your interest therein that we may rejoyce in the day of Christ and say Behold here am I and the soules whom thou hast ransomed with thy blood which have yielded themselves to thee through our Ministery If you set light by this grace and love the world and the contentments of it better than Jesus Christ you break our hearts and you will bring down our heads with shame and sorrow to the grave But if you have no regard of us yet at least pittie your selves When the Lord of the whole world shall call us to give an account of our stewardship and we shall be forced to give in this true evidence against you Lord we have stretched out our hands all the day all the

which may possibly refer to the calling of the Jews he bids Cast up cast up prepare the way of my people gather out the stones take up the stumbling-blocks Isa 57.14 62.10 which expressions seem to allude to the preparing of the way to the City of Refuge This burden lyes chiefly on us Ministers of the Gospel as it appears by the Prophesie concerning John Baptist Isa 40.3 4. Matth. 3.3 It is one part of our Office to make the way plain that no rub may lye in it to hinder guilty distressed souls in their march towards their only Refuge Christ Jesus And after all this we have variety of work in reference to you which are actually redeemed to stablish you in the present truth to fence you against errors temptations corruptions to build you up in knowledge faith holiness and so to bring you on unto perfection The charge of the holy Apostle is very punctual and full Take heed to all the flocke c. Act. 20.28 I would awake my self and my brethren and thus be-speak my self Oh these sheep are the purchase of Christs blood he became a curse for them that he might redeem them from it Hath he bought them and shall I lose them Hath he undergone the curse to set them free from it and commanded me to improve my uttermost endeavours to bring them to the enjoyment of this benefit and shall I suffer them to continue in that woful prison and to perish eternally through my silence and unfaithfulness God forbid Let us consider before-hand how sad it will be if at the great day our Master Christ shall bring forth his curse blood satisfaction and set before our eyes the preciousness of poor souls to plead against us for our negligence and to aggravate our just condemnation when there will be no place for repentance 2. Heads and governours of Families Husbands in reference to their wives Fathers to children Masters and Dames to servants while the bond of these particular relations continues the over-sight of these persons belongs to you not onely of their bodies but soules and the Lord expects that you should put forth your authority in requiring them to keep his way He had no doubt of Abraham but made full account that he would command his children and his houshold thus to do Gen. 18.19 and if thou be a right-bred childe of Abraham thou wilt follow his steps Certainly this great work of Redemption from the curse is one of the chiefe of Gods wayes therefore yee should see that they keep this way especially using all means to bring them to the knowledge and love and so to the personal injoyment of it in due time Go to then Thou art an Husband thou claimest a share in this liberty but thy wife abides still in her old woful bondage If thou hast any love to her soul thou wilt pitty exhort pray for her and say Alas alas for the wife that lyes in my bosome for ought I can perceive she is still under the curse of the Law her great ignorance and uncapableness her unsavouriness and coldness yea her aversness and backwardness in matters of godliness especially where it most concerns her own spiritual good do even proclaime it aloud to my griefe Oh that the Lord would have compassion on her that at last I might see her partaker of the blessing Thou art a Father or mother you that are such may look upon your children with weeping eyes while you see them chained in the bolts and fetters of the curse and consider withall that you were means to bring them into this bondage and that they are your bone and your flesh a part of your selves Oh then if you have the bowels of Parents help them at this dead lift Will you turn every stone to provide large portions for their bodies and will you do nothing in the mean time for their soules If they were in prison for debt or upon any other account you could not finde in your hearts that they should lye there still but you will try all wayes to procure their liberty and can you be content to see them lye under the curse in the dungeon of hell for want of share in this Redemption Thou art a Master or Dame Look upon your man-servants and maid-servants Are they not servants of sin slaves to lusts and divers pleasures Addicted to vain conversations as in the prophaning and mispending of the Lords day And so strangers to Jesus Christ and heires of the Curse Oh pitty their soules and do what you can by prayer and good counsel to recover them out of the gall of bitterness It may be thou canst say truly they are good servants to me they do my work faithfully I cannot blame them But what doth this avail while thou mayest say as truly that they are deeply ingaged to the service of Satan and aliens to the grace of Redemption my soul bleeds for their ignorance and obstinacy Oh that I might see my servants to become at length the servants of the Lord Jesus But where shall we finde such governours of Families one City or two in a tribe so few that a little childe may count them If the wise be provident frugal helpful towards the increasing of the estate if the children be dutiful apt to learn that which may be their livelihood hereafter only keeping themselves free from such courses as may ruine them or expose them to shame If the servants be strong to labour and bring in advantage by their diligence The Husbands Fathers Masters do not so much as put the question in what case their souls stand whether they be made free by Christ or still continue slaves to the curse they suffer them to lye in their gore-blood of their first birth and if three words of savoury instruction and exhortation would save their souls they cannot have them Oh cruel Husband Father Master will the love of your Relations reach no further Truly as it a signe that your selves have no part in this benefit so how can your hearts indure or your hands be strong when you shall see your wives children servants lying woful prisoners under those everlasting chaines Ezek. 22.14 for want of an interest in Jesus Christ and your consciences shall tell you that you are one cause of their misery in that you would not stir one finger towards their help or deliverance 3. Neighbours and friends especially persons that are near either in blood or by affinity you that are related to others by kindred can you look upon your brethren sisters and kinsmen which lye still under the curse and not be affected with their sad condition Oh! acquaint them with Jesus Christ let them know that he hath paid their ransome shew them the way to get an actual interest in it that they may be delivered from the wrath to come The rich Glutton being in hell intreats father Abraham to send Lazarus to testifie to his five brethren lest they also

cursed Adam when he had sinned Gen. 3.17 and he is said to bring curses on a people and to give a people to the curse and to make them to be an Execration Pro. 3.33 Isa 24.6 43.28 Jer. 42.18 and the curse is said to be powred upon men Dan. 9.11 Sect. 2. A more particular Enquire what the Curse is and wherein it stands BUt it may be worth the labour to enquire more particularly what this Curse is and wherein it stands we may expresse it thus It is the abandoning of the sinner from God and so from all happiness and the throwing of him downe into the folds of his wrath and so into all miserie we read Jos 6. of the accursed thing * God laid a curse on the spoile of Jericho that is devoted it to utter destructions ⸫ Ver. 17 18 * giving a strict charge that no man should meddle with it upon paine of being accursed and devoted to destruction himself which was accordingly executed upon Achan chap. 7. Truly sinne is that Accursed thing there is nothing in all the world so accursed as sinne and whosoever meddles with it God from heaven pronounceth that man accursed and devotes him to the uttermost of his wrath even to eternall destruction Deut. 27.26 God is blessed yea blessednesse it self therefore the blessednesse of the creature must needs stand in the enjoying of God and so of all good in him contrariwise then the cursednesse of the creature stands in its being cast off from God and consequently implunged into his displeasure and the greatest misery It is set forth somtimes by darknesse for God is light and to be separated from him is to be compassed with black darknesse sometimes by death as in the threatning Gen. 2.17 for he is life and to be removed from him is to dwell in the very shadow of death Thus did the Lord curse Adam after his sin q. d. Seeing thou hast a mind to depart from me be it so I do abandon thee out of my presence be gone from me Thou art accursed and accursed thou shalt be and to seal up this sentence he thrusts him out of Paradise Gen. 3.24 Now this Curse even as the sin hath spred and derived it self to all his posterity so that all are accursed in and with him And that we may view it more fully let us consider it in the parts as it lies 1. On the body 2. On the soul 3. On both together I. The curse on the body shews it self miserable 1. Birth 2. Life 3. Death 1. A miserable birth attended with pain and sorrow both to mother and child the mother cries the child weeps there is a curse in the begetting conceiving bearing in the wombe and bringing forth Gen. 3.16 the curse is derived to us and descends upon us all from the loins of our fathers and the wombs of our Mothers Deut. 28.18 it takes hold upon us and is in force against us as soon as ever we have a being 2. A miserable life the Curse attends us and goes along with us during our continuance here in our persons names estates callings and in all that ever we either do or suffer The poyson and power of it breaks forth either 1. In infflicting on us positive evils as on our persons sicknesses diseases deformity weaknesse toilsome labours Gen. 3.19 Deut. 28.21 22 27 60. c. on our estates crosses losses plunderings poverty ver 16.17 31 32. 51 52. on our names disgrace reproach ver 37. on our callings and all our wayes ver 20.29 Or 2. in withholding from us good blessings ver 23. 33. Jer. 5.25 Or 3. in blasting the blessings which we enjoy or putting a sting into them so that they become either hurtfull or unprofitable Mal. 2.2 Yea the earth which is given to the children of men is cursed to the sinner Gen. 3.17 c. denying its strength for his sustenance bringing forth bryars c. 3. A miserable death the body is continually murling away and old age it self tasts deeply of this bitter cup. For although the hoary head be a crown of glory yet that is no thanks to it self its onely when it s found in the way of righteousness Prov. 16.31 still the sinner of an hundred years old shall be accursed Isa 65.20 We are all of the dust and shall at length return to it Gen. 3.19 Psal 89.48 The body by its union to the soul enjoyed life but by separation it becomes a livelesse carkasse This separation is a curse not onely in it self but also 1. in the manner of it for its a parting of two old friends and usually is done with violence and painfulnes as if you would rend an arme from the bodie or pluck the heart out of the bellie 2. In the consequent of it the bodie must lie in the grave and rott there Psal 49.14 so that now the sinner hath no more place in the land of the living a full period is put to all his earthly contentments and sometimes he leaves his name for a curse to posteritie Isa 65.15 and it rotts Psal 10.7 II. But oh all this is nothing in comparison of that curse which falls upon the soule I shall reduce the things which appertaine to this head to 3 particulars 1. An utter forfeiture of the special sweet favour of God even in this life together with a wofull subjection unto his hot displeasure We may suppose the Lord speakes thus to our first Father and in him to us all you had my favour my countenance was towards you I embraced you once with loving kindnes and you were happie in it and if you had continued in your obedience you might have continued in my love and I would still have compassed you about with my goodnes but seeing you have set it so light you shall have no more of it you shall know how you come by it hereafter yea the fire of mine indignation shall smoke against you to the uttermost ye were once my Hephzibah a chosen generation the dearly beloved of my soule now ye are become a smoke in my nostrils the generation of my wrath and a people against whome the Lord will have indignation for ever Thus we are all struck dead with the losse of Gods favour and plunged over head and eares in the sea of his dreadfull displeasure We are deprived of that which is better than life and filled brim-full of that which is worse than death see Isa 27.11 Rom. 1.18 Eph. 2.3 2. An utter losse of the faire pure image of God which was put upon us in the day of our Creation and in stead of that a putting on us the foule black image of the Divel and sinne We may suppose againe the Lord speakes thus I created thee after mine own image I did put upon thee the stampe of the divine nature in wisdome righteousnes and holinese of truth but seeing thou wast so farre from taking care to preserve it that thou didst wantonly

begins at the house of God 1 Pet. 4.17 Say then Is this thy case Thou hast sinned and now thou sufferest I advise thee to be humbled for it yet not to be discomforted The Redeemer hath born the heat and burthen of Gods wrath for thy sin and these punishments are not the effects of indignation steeled with hatred but anger meekned with love Minde it good Christian the Lord hath annexed this proviso to the Covenant of grace If you transgress you must expect to be visited with the rod yet the Covenant shall stand fast Psa 89.30 c. As poyson duely mixed and ordered by the art of the skilful P●ysi●ian doth not kill but help to bring health So the wise God will temper the punishments which he layes on thee for sin that they should not hinder but further the fruit of thy Redemption Thy Saviour learned obedience by the things which he had suffered for thy sin Heb. 5.8 Take thou out the same lesson I might here take occasion to start and dispute this question Whether those which are actually made partakers of the grace of Redemption be so fully freed from the curse of the Law in this life that the evills which they suffer for sin have nothing of the curse in them nor can be truly so called But I look upon it as a strife about words the controversie may be thus decided 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The curse may be considered either materially as it is a thing contrary to the good and welfare of the creature and so unwelcome or formally as it the sinners liableness to the avenging wrath of God for sin Or it may be taken either largely for any evill whatsoever which is the reward of sin or strictly for that great evil of evils which stands in the separation of the sinner from God and his eternal perdition Take it materially or in the largest sense and both Scripture and experience speak it aloud that beleevers are not fully delivered from the whole curse in this life But take it formally and str●ctly and thus the elect sinner is wholly set free from it at the instant of his conversion The terrible tempest that would overwhelme him and render him utterly and everlastingly miserable is pass●d by and sh●ll not fall upon his head onely some drops and sprinklings may dash him but they shall not hurt him yea the nature of them is so altered Med●●inales 〈◊〉 A●g 〈◊〉 corr●●●●nes● 〈…〉 ●nes fabr●●● lo●●s ●●siones ●●●●t●on●s candidat●●●es Guil P●●is apud Ames Bell. Enerv. that they do him good as the Lords Warning-peeces to bring him to repentance after his falls and a Physical receits which though they be not toothsome yet are wholesome to the soul Heb. 12.10 11. Jer. 24.5 If thou be well advised thou wilt not look upon them as eff●cts of revenging justice but as fatherly chastisements and medicines to cure thy folly and helps to promote vertue as hammering or squarings and knocking 's or washings and whitenings Dan. 11.35 And this may minister sweet refreshing to thee under the ro●● even when thou hast the greatest cause of humiliation for thy sin CHAP. VIII Use 4. Examination Sect. 1. The first mark of actual interest in Redemption 4. BUt now lest some bold sinner should snatch at this Consolation under pretence of an interest in the grace of Redemption and the benefits and priviledges thereof it is requisite to adde something for Examination that every one may know whether he be actual partaker of them or no. If this was the great design of Jesus Christ in taking upon him the curse to buy poor sinners out of the hands of the Law and to deliver us from the Curse then it concernes us all to search our hearts and to try our wayes that upon due consideration we may be able to give a true satisfying answer in our own souls to this weighty case of conscience Whether am I indeed and truth redeemed from the curse of the Law For what shall it avail thee to claime that as thy right which upon due search will be found to be none of thine Shall not the Lord judge thee an Usurper and a Theefe in so doing Therefore judge thy selfe by inquiring how thy heart can answer to these markes and evidences of a redeemed soul 1. Dear love of the Redeemer Suppose a poor guiltie-slave tugging and sweating in an hard service under a cruel Lord and readie to breath out his soul for very anguish by reason of his bondage if now some happie man shall in meer compassion disburse a great summe for his ransome and set him at liberty how doth this engage the silly captives heart to his Deliverer How doth the esteem of him and commend him Oh! saith he had it not been for such a man I had lien by it for ever I even owe him my self and all that I am and I shall love him dearly as long as I live This is thy case if thou hast left Christ actually redeeming thee from the Curse Thou canst look upon him and consider both those depths of misery from which he hath rescued thee and that height of felicity whereinto he hath ensta●ed thee and also the desperate hazzards which he was constrained to runne for the perfecting of this great work and thou canst seriously profess and say with David I will love thee dearly O Lord my strength and my deliverer Psal 18.1 2. and 116.1 2 c. Thou canst now speak it in the uprightness of thy heart Oh my soul is exceedingly indeared unto the Lord Jesus for looking upon such a miserable creature I was as a dead dog before the Lord the curse of the Law was ready to wearie mee but Christ hath taken it off and delivered me from it Therefore I love him he hath my heart and shall have it for ever well then saith every pretender I doubt not but I am redeemed for I love Jesus Christ else I were not worthy to live But alas there is much false unsound Properties of sincere love of the Redeemer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae ad splendorem solis examen sustinere potest Pasor Lexic dissembling love in the world onely that which is pure sound and uncorrupt will evidence your interest in Redemption Eph. 6.24 Let us therefore hold up this Eagle before the Sun that we may trie whether it be right bred or a bastard True love to Christ the Redeemer is 1. Single carried to the person of Christ in a direct line the eye looks straight towards Christ so that he loves him primarily for himself and the good things which he enjoyes by him but at the second hand I grant that the benefit of Redemption applied is both a meanes to produce and an help to advance this love but when the soul begins to know Christ somewhat experimentally then he sees that beautie and excellency in him which renders him altogether lovely Can. 5.16 now he loves him intirely

magnanima satis est prostrasse Leoni than the dearest mother can be over her childe The lyon of the Tribe of Judah will not hurt that soul which lies prostrate before him 2. It is a special clause in the Mediatours Commission that he should proclaim Liberty to the Captives Isa 61.1 God the Father saith to him Lo I give thee for a Covenant of the people that thou mayest say to the prisoners Go forth Isa 49.8 9. Be sure thou take special care of poor sensible sinners pour oyl into their woundes and give them beauty for ashes Cherish those distressed soules which lie sighing and sobbing under the burthen of their bolts and fetters those that are lost in themselves and come running to thee like the chased Hart panting after the water-brooks and cannot be satisfied without thee Dost thou think that Jesus Christ will not execute his Commission to the full 3. The termes on which thou mayest actually enjoy Christ and Redemption are very fair being both reasonable and easie 1. What can be more reasonable then that the poor slave should in the sence of his undone condition heartily own him for his onely Redeemer who hath both paid his ransome and fetch him out of prison and what is faith but the lost sinner's acknowledging and accepting of Jesus Christ for his All in all 2. What can be more easie than to do a work the stress whereof lies upon another hand not on thine It 's true of thy self thou art no more able to believe than to keep the whole Law for the dead man can stirre his right hand no more then his left but the Gospel or Covenant of grace affords strength to believe whereas the Law or Covenant of works affords none at all to obey Ier. 31.37 Heb. 8.6 ● 10. Therefore Christ tells them His yoke is easie and his burthen light in opposition to those Law-burthens which the Pharisees imposed and call's them to come to him upon that account Matth. 11.28 c. Thus Christ makes believing an easie work to a self-denying soul Even as it is easie for one that knowes not how to fashion a Letter to write a word or a sentence legibly if he will wholly refigne his hand up to be holden moved guided and carried on by the hand of a cunning Writer throughout I may now say to thee poor captive soule as the servants said to Naaman If the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldst thou not have done it how much more c. 2 Kin. 5.13 So here If the Lord did enjoyn thee some difficult exploit or some desperate adventure as the condition of thy salvation would'st thou not have put forth thy self to the furthest how much more when he saith Believe and be saved 4. Faith layes a kinde of engagement on Jesus Christ to relieve a soul in extremitie When a poor creature lies succourless if he can now advisedly look after him and cast his burthen upon him this doth after a sort oblige him to come in with succour An honest man will the rather do his neighbour a pleasure if he see Psal 55.22 Donabile tuum quod tibi dari desideras Buxtorf Io. 6.37 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he depends upon him A mercifull man will make this an Argument why he must do this or that for a poor man Oh saith he the man put 's confidence in me it 's a matter of weight if I fail him he may be undone so Christ takes himself bound to help thee if thou wilt come and commit thy way to him Otherwise Christ lookes down from heaven upon thee and saith There goes a wretched sinner that would gladly be delivered from the Curse and saved but alas he is not capable of help for he dares not trust me h● will not come at me The poor servant m● have his wages paid because he set's his heart upon it Deut. 24.15 and if thou settest thine heart upon Christ and his satisfaction he will render unto thee thy righteousness If the ship of thy soul be covered with waves through sence of sin and wrath and Christ be asleep thou hast no way but to jogge him by the hand of faith and to awake him as the disciples did Mat. 8.24 c. and if thus thou doest he will turn the storme into a calme Yea if he see thee but offering to come to him by faith and thou art begining to sink by reason of the weakness of it yet if thou canst but sigh towards him he will stretch forth his hand and save thee as he did Peter Matth. 14.29 c. 5. I know thou art vile in thine own eyes thou art willing to be abased even unto the dust thou thinkest thou canst not cast down thy self low enough Well friend this is the right way to self-abasement If thou wilt not come to Jesus Christ till thou canst bring something with thee which may commend thee to him or till thou canst get into a more pleasing posture thou takest the course to raise up thine own Crests and to glory in thy self But if thou wilt denie thy self in the thoughts of unworthiness as well as worthiness and without further disputing put thy self wholly upon his grace and strength for thy deliverance this is the way to a more kindely abasement than any Legal humiliati●● can possibly work For while thou standest 〈◊〉 from Christ thou wilt flie from God and thy heart will be hardened against him But if thou canst but touch the hemme of his garment thou shalt come in due time to know that in thy self which will lay thee humbly at his feet and melt thy soul in the bosome of his love See the example of the woman labouring long under her bloodie Issue and the manner of her cure Mark 5.26 c. 6. I know thou wouldst advance Jesus Christ thou wouldst give him all the honour thou possibly canst thou wouldst make his praise glorious Well if thou wilt break through all difficulties and heartily accept the offer of deliverance through him alone this is the way to exalt him this is his Crown and his glory It may be thou canst say Let God have his glory whatever become of me Why if thou wilt now come to him in the sorrowfull sence of thy wofull bondage and lay the whole stress of thy soul-affairs upon him thou shalt see that he will work out his own glory by thy salvation Thy Designe is to set up his glory by lying down in thy sorrow as altogether helpless and pining away in discontent but that will not do it thou canst not honour him in thy condition wherein thou art by any other way than by believing It is by trusting in Christ That poor sinners come to the praise of his glory Eph. 1.12 This is the best part of thy thankfulness 7. If thou wilt still hold off from embraceing this free mercy then thou addest one sinne to another even ingratitude to unbelief thou art