clearly demonstrates the matchlesse eminency of the Fathers love unto us and so is a very pressing argument for our thanksgiving See what our Saviour himselfe speakes in exaltation and as it were admiration of this love Joh. 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten sonne c. The particle so points out such an height of love as is unexpressible Ransacke all the Poëts and in all their fictions you can find no paralell unto this love That he should seeme for a time to suspend his love unto his beloved that he might extend his love unto enemies unto traytors and rebels that he should deliver up the sonne of his love unto the utmost severity and rigour of the law for the ransome of Children of wrath that he should not spare him for this intent that he might spare them that hee should make him a curse to redeeme them from the curse of the law Galat. 3.13 that hee should scourge him to heale them Isai 53.5 punish him to save them give him up unto death that they might enjoy eternall life that he should desert him in point of consolation that they might not be eternally lost but embraced in the armes of his love for ever O this speaketh the most transcendent love that ever God shewed towards any miserable creature And therefore the most enlarged thankes and praises will fall infinitely short of it In the next place if we consider the connexion of this fulnesse of Gods love unto Christ with Christ's fulnesse of love unto us we shall find very great reason for the direction of our thankes and praises unto Christ himselfe as well as unto the Father We have these two fulnesses of love connexed by Christ under the name of wisdome Prov. 8.30,31 Though he was by God as one brought up with him and was daily his delight rejoycing in the habitable part of his earth and his delights were with the sons of men Which passage we may expound by those words of our Saviour Joh. 15.3 As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you O what an astonishable condescention is there in this love of our Saviour that the darling and onely beloved of the great God of glorious heaven should fetch a spouse from this miserable earth should cast his eye and set his heart upon such forlorne creatures and depraved sinners as we are that he which is in the bosome of the Father should take such despicable wretches as we are into his owne bosome marry us unto himselfe and rejoyce over us as a Bridegroome rejoyceth over his bride Isai 62.5 Such was the happinesse of Christ in the fruition of his Fathers eternall love as that it was uncapable of any further improvement But yet notwithstanding this his happy state and condition he stooped so low as to make his rebellious servants the objects of a boundlesse affection Was not this as it were a debasing of himselfe and such a mercy unto us as is above recompence All that we can do is humbly and thankfully to acknowledge admire and adore it to resigne up our selves unto the service of him and unto suffering for him if he honour us with a call thereunto and to make it the chiefest matter of our care to decline whatsoever is unsuitable unto this high place of grace and favour with him and will reflect any dishonour or reproach thereon 4. The height of Christs grace and favour with God should prevaile with us for obedience unto his doctrine and submission unto his directions This use was made of it by Christ himselfe Prov. 8.30,32 c. I was dayly his delight Now therefore hearken unto me O ye Children for blessed are they that keepe my wayes vers 33. Heare instruction and be wise and refuse it not It is also pressed by his father in his transfiguration Math. 17.5 This is my beloved son in whom I am well-pleased Heare ye him that is in the language of scripture obey him accept him not onely as a priest to satisfy for you as a redeemer to save you but also as a prophet to instruct you as a King and soveraigne Lord to governe and guide you The onely begotten sonne is alone in the bosome of the father and therefore best acquainted with his mind and will and consequently best qualified and enabled for the revelation thereof He onely can declare him for no man besides him hath seen God at any time Joh. 1.18 Unto him therefore in his word let us onely have recourse for instruction in things towards God And unto such instructions let us lend an open eare and heart let us yield a ready and full conformity without farther consulting with flesh and bloud 5. Because Christ is in such great grace and favour with God it will be discretion to have all our addresses unto and worship of God in his name through his mediation He is the powerfull favourite of heaven and therefore all accesses unto the God of Heaven are by him all dispatches from heaven unto earth passe through him not a promise not a saving mercy not a word of peace and comfort is conveyed unto a believing soule but through his mediatorship The greatest part of publicke ceremoniall worship under the law was lawfull and acceptable unto God onely at the Temple in Jerusalem Sacrifices were to be offered onely upon the Altar there Isai 20.4 and 56.7 The Temple and Altar were herein types of Christ in whom alone the whole morall worship and service of God is acceptable out of him God rejecteth and looketh upon the most glorious performances as heathenish abominations as the butchery of a man the cutting off a dogs neck the offering swines bloud the blessing of an Idol Isay 66.3 It is in the beloved alone that God accepteth of and is well pleased with as our persons so our services all prayers preferred all duties performed in his name will speed well and find a gracious and favourable reception It is related in Plutarch of Themistocles that when he fled from the fury of his Citizens unto Admetus King of the Molossians whom yet he had formerly provoked he tooke the Kings little young sonne in his armes and went and kneeled downe before the Altar in his chappel which humble manner of sueing the Molossians tooke to be most effectuall and such as was not to be refused When being pursued by the guilt and cry of our sinnes the rigorous sentence of the law the accusations of Sathan and the terrours of our owne conscience for them we runne unto an incensed God for mercy there is no way to appease him but to take his deare sonne in the armes of our faith and to lodge or offer him as it were upon the Altar of his bosome This is such an enforcing manner of supplication as that God in his new covenant of grace hath engaged himselfe unto a complyance with it 6. Because Christ is so eminently gracious with God the father we should be stirred
that expression in Joh. 1.18 He is in the bosome of his father that is in his bowels in his dearest and tenderest affections Forâ— as Pelargus upon the place observeth the bosome is the place of love and therefore to be in the bosome of the father is to be dilectissimus the most beloved of the father Thus in common speech intimates are tearmed bosome friends and Joh. 13.23 the disciple whom Jesus loved leaned on his bosome For Lazarus to be in the bosome of Abraham Luk. 15.16 was to have a most intimate loving and friendly fellowship and communion with him and all Believers in glory The intimacy that ought to be betwixt husband and wife is expressed in Scripture by their being mutually in one another's bosomes And therefore the husband is tearmed the husband of the wifes bosome Deut. 28.56 And the wife the wife of her husbands bosome Micah 7.5 Whereas our Saviour in Joh. 17.11,21,22 affirmeth that he and the father are one that the father is in him and he in the father Cajetan and others expound this of that onenesse of affection which is between him as man and the Father Indeed Christ as God is one with the father in regard of the divine essence and will as he himselfe affirmeth John 10.30 But that he is to be considered here as man Cajetan proveth by this at least probable argument Christ is to be considered here as praying Now he prayeth as man and not as God And therefore he speaketh of himselfe as incarnate Christ man and the father are one by the indissoluble bond of mutuall love They dwell in one another by love the father is in the sonne as a person that is loved is in the partie loving And The sonne is in the father as his beloved as he in whom he is well pleased The fulnesse of Christ's grace or favour with the father is in part implied by that metaphoricall expression of Christ's sitting at the right hand of God For in wordly courts this was the highest place next to the King and therefore a marke of speciall and extraordinary favour and hereupon Solomon placed his mother and hu Queene at his right hand 1 King 2.19 Psalm 45.9 In John 3.35 you may gather the eminency of the fathers love of the sonne from the vastnesse of the Authority that he hath committed unto him The father loveth the sonne and hath given all things into his hand Because the father loveth the sonne therefore he hath given all things into his hand therefore he hath submitted the whole universe unto his disposall and government Indeed we may best take the measure of the love of God towards Christ from the fruits and effects thereof that great dignity and Authority those great and glorious endowments with which Christs humane nature was enriched Christ may be said saith Rhada Sup. lib. 3. Senten controver 4 art 3. pag 107. To be beloved by and gratious with God in regard of a threefold gratiousnesse The first is terminated to the person of the word and t is that love wherewith the Father loveth Christ as his naturall and onely begotten son and therefore t is as substantiall so naturall and necessary for t is the same love wherewith he loveth himselfe and besides t is in every regard infinite for the person loving is infinite and the person beloved is Infinite and so infinitely lovely and amiable The second is terminated to the manhood and belongs to the grace of union and this be tearmeth a personall gratiousnesse and he describeth it to be the free and spontaneous love of God by which he imparted unto the humanity the personall being of the word and therefore infinitely beloved of God The third gratiousnesse of Christ is accidentall and agreeth unto his manhood by habituall grace which formally perfected his soule and elevated it to a participation of the divine nature thereby rendred it very gratious and acceptable in the eyes of God Of that I have spoken already and of these I shall hereafter treat at large The scripture acquaints us with two reasons that invest him into this high favour of God 1. his relation unto him 2. His service of him 1. His relation unto him Because he was his onely begotten sonne Math. 3.17 Math. 17.5.2 Pet. 1.17 In which words there be 4. particulars that signify the singularity of the fathers love unto Christ 1. The q Notanda est in Graeco inculcatio articuli 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae emphasin habet ad significandum filium naturalem ac propriè ex ipso genitum dum dicitur Ille filius meus ille dilectus Estius in 2 pet 1.17 Articulum duplicem expressi cujus videtur hic esse emphasis maxima non tam ut distinguatur à filiis aliis â—… cùm fit unigenitus quà m ad dignitatis commendationem Nos enim non naturâ sed adoptione sumus silii quâ ratione etiam Christus ipse dicitur primogenitus inter multos fratres quia licet unicus sit proprio jure princeps tamen est inter multos quatenus adoptionis fons est ac caput Beza in Matth. 17.5 repetition of the demonstrative Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that hath it's weight and importeth that he is beloved of the father by way of excellency And therefore some expresse the force of doubling the Article thus this is that my sonne that my beloved The doubling of the Article then doth not so much difference him from as advance him above all other sonnes whether Saints or Angels For he is a sonne by nature they by adoption in which regard he is called the first borne among many brethren because though he be of right the onely sonne yet he is chiefe among many in that he is the fountaine and head of our adoption and therefore hath the supremacy in the affection of the father For the father to say that he is his sonne is a sufficient intimation of his affection unto him But he addeth 2. that he is his r Additur autem dilectus graecè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non restrictionis causa tanquam Deus filium naturalem habeat aliquem non sibi dilectum quod in hominibus persaepe contingit sed ut epithetum necessarium Neque enim potest filiusey Deo naturaliter genitus in quo perfecta est similitudo patris non esse ei perfecto summoquè amore dilectus Estius 2 Pet. 1.17 beloved sonne The word beloved is added not for restrictions sake as if God had any naturall sonne unbeloved as it often happens amongst men but as a necessary epithete For the sonne begotten naturally of God in whom there is the perfect similitude of the father cannot but be beloved by the father with a perfect and the highest love 3. The father doth not content himselfe to say that he is his beloved sonne but affirmeth farther that he is his beloved sonne in whom he is well pleased Men may have sonnes whom they
up unto a correspondency with him in his affections to love those persons and things which he loveth and to detest whatsoever he hateth Courtiers usually seeme at least to proportion all their passions unto those of the Princes minion They admire whatsoever he liketh they adore whomsoever he affecteth and professe a deepe dislike of all that he disaffecteth They affront and quarrell all upon whom he frowneth Well then may not we be ashamed that there is not the like compliance in us with Gods favourite We dote upon sin which his soule abhorreth We delight in that company and those places unto which he is a stranger We loath those ordinances which have his most evident approbation and institution Those unsavoury and prophane jests rotten communication that are an abomination unto him and stinke before him are the matter of our greatest merriment We distast most the conversation of those that have most intimate communion with him Those are an eye-sore unto us who are as tender unto him as the Apple of his eye His jewels Mal. 3.17 his crowne jewels his crowne of glory and royall diademe Isay 62. ver 3. are accounted by us as the filth of the world and offscouring of all things 1 Cor. 4.13 There is nothing that he esteemeth more amiable in men then the beauty of holinesse the Image of God This is the chaine upon the neck of his spouse Cant. 4.9 that ravisheth his heart And there is nothing more that our hearts rise against O what a dangerous thing is this antipathy unto him that is in the bosome of the father at his right hand How unsafe is it to be thus opposite unto his affections Hereby we must needs incurre the displeasure both of him his father and that is the undoubted path unto everlasting ruine and destruction for in their favour is lise Psalm 30.5 7. And lastly If Christ be so great and gracious with God It then very much concerneth us to labour for assurance of his love and favour For we must needs be liable unto perpetuall torment and terrour of mind as long as we are in suspense of our eternall condition As long as we are doubtfull whether we shall be for ever miserable or happy And the wrath of Christ who is chiefe in the affection of the father is as Solomon speakes of the wrath of a King as the messengers of death and roaring of a lyon Whereas on the other side in the light of his countenance is life and his favour is as a cloud of the latter raine Prov. 16.14,15 and 19.12 and 20.2 If he smile upon a soule nothing can make it miserable and if he frowne upon it nothing can make it happy For God is reconciled to none but in and through him He makes none blessed but for his sake Well then we can expect no tranquility of spirit no solid comfort no sound peace of conscience no joy unspeakable and full of glory untill we have attained a certaine and well bottomed perswasion that the sonne of Gods love in whom alone he is well pleased hath lifted up the light of his countenance upon us What I have said touching our assurance of Christs love may be applied unto our assurance of Gods love of us in and for Christ For it is of no lesse importance as being inseparably connexed therewith and the ground and cause thereof and therefore without Gods love of us for Christ his sake we can never be happy and without assurance of it we can never be comfortable Hereupon is it that in the salutations prefixed unto most of Paul's epistles peace is made a sequele of grace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ Without the grace of acceptation with the father and the Lord Jesus Christ and also sense and apprehension thereof no peace of conscience no serenity of spirit is to be expected That man that is doubtfull of Gods love in and for Christ if his conscience be awak'ned cannot but have a perpetuall tempest in his bosome For he can apprehend God â—o otherwise then a consuming fire And such a consideration must needs beget unutterable horrour Our Saviour himselfe makes this assurance the scope of the revelation of Gods goodnesse and mercy in the gospell John 17.26 And I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them There be some that understand that clause that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them concerning the extension or termination of Gods love of Christ unto Believers as a secondary object and they thus glosse the words That thou may'st love them for my sake that thou may'st love them with that love wherewith thou hast loved me Believers are made by faith one body with Christ and therefore cannot but share in Gods love of Christ If God love him They cannot but be beloved in and for him and therefore our Saviour addes and I in them which is saith Maldonate because I am in them to wit as the head in the members As if he should have said seeing I am in them seeing I dwell in their hearts by faith so that I and they make but one body mysticall therefore thy love of me cannot but be derived unto them If thou lovest me it is impossible thou should'st hate them This termination of Gods love of Christ unto Believers is in regard of the fruites and effects of it so it is the same with it's presence of influence on them The body of the Sun is in the heavens but the efficacy of it reacheth unto the lowest of the elements the earth causing on its surface light and warmth and producing in the very bowels of it many rich metalls and minerals Thus the love wherewith God loveth Christ is in God himselfe if we speake of a presence of inherence taking the word largly as it is applicable unto any adjuncts even such as the attributes of God are But it is in all them that believe in regard of a presence of influence and effective presence for it enlightneth and comforteth them and produceth in their bosomes the precious gifts and graces of the spirit But now the love wherewith God loveth Christ is said to be in believers not onely in regard of their participation but also perception of it not onely effectively in regard of its effects grace and glory but also objectively in regard of an objective or intentionall presence as it is the object of their knowledge apprehension and assurance And they never fully and truly know and apprehend it as they ought but in the rebound and by way of reflection untill they be assured of it's being terminated unto and reflected upon them untill as it is Rom. 5.5 the love of God be shed abroad in their hearts untill they have a full sence and feeling of that love wherewith God loveth them in Christ untill they have tasted that the Lord is good
and gracious unto them for Christ Psalm 34.8 1 Pet. 2.3 A practicall and experimentall full knowledge then and assurance of Gods love of Christ implieth in the result knowledge and assurance of Gods love of us so that they who are doubtfull and distrustfull of Gods love of themselves fall short in a due apprehension of Gods love of Christ The reason for this coherence of these two assurances is the connexion betwixt their objects Gods love of Christ and Gods love of us For 1. If wee looke upon the act of each as considered in God so they are one and the same decree of election Gods election of Christ and his members are not different acts à parte rei à parte rationis in our manner or way of conceiving they are as Dr Twisse often sheweth coordinate and simultaneous as being parts of one formall compleat decree de mediis 2. If we compare the fruites of each love so the fruits or effects of God's love of us all the good we enjoy for the present or expect for the future depend upon the effects of Gods love of Christ the habituall grace of his humane nature the satisfaction and merit of his obedience c. This assurance and feeling that believers have of Gods love of Christ and of themselves for Christ is amplified here from the cause and from a concomitant of it 1. From the cause of it manifestation of the name and revelation of the arme of the Lord Isai 53.1 I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved mee may be in them By the name of God is meant the x Cyrilli interpretationem magis probo nomen hoc loco pro gloria positum esse ut apud Solomonem cùm dicit melius est nomen bonum quam divitiae multae Hoc ita esse ex eo perspicuum est quod pro eodē accipiat glorificare Patrem id est ejus declarare apud homines gloriam nomen ejus hominibus manifestare Continet ergò hoc loco nomē Dei quicquid in Deo gloriosum quicquid beneficum quicquid hominibus salutare est quale imprimis fuit quod ita mundum dilexerit ut filium suum unigenitum daret ut omnis qui credit in eum non pereat sed habeat vitam aeternam Maldonate glory of God even as the name of men is taken for that credit estimation and regard which they are in There is a glory of God which the very creatures declare Psal 19.1 Rom. 1.20 The glory of his power wisdome and generall love as he is the creatour preserver governour of the world But now the glory which is the name of the Lord of which Christ here is the revealer is that of especiall saving and redeeming love and mercy which shineth in the Gospell covenant of grace The heavens and firmament declare not so much glory as the crosse of Christ What glory of God can be cōparable unto his so loving the world that lieth in wickednesse as to give for it his only begotten son Joh. 3.16 And therefore this glory doth most eminently merit to be intitled his name Well you see the knowledge sence of Gods love of Christ and of us in Christ is the maine end and drift of Christs manifesting this name this glory of God by his word and Spirit And therefore we should give all diligence to make this love sure to have a due and deep taste and feeling of it to have it shed abroad in our hearts If believers have not attained hitherto they walke as yet below the revelation of Gods name and arme in the Gospell But now the first manifestation of Gods name at our first conversion will not serve the turne I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it c. I have manifested it in their first illumination and I will manifest it in the further growth and progresse of their knowledge Hence then we may observe that to raise believers unto such an height as the due assurance of this love there will be continuall need of new fresh farther and fuller discoveries or manifestations of Gods name in the Gospell And therefore let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisedome Col. 3.16 Watch daily at the gates of wisdome waiting at the posts of her doores Prov. 8.34 Narrownesse in the manifestations of Gods name is ever followed with weaknesse and feeblenesse in our assurance of his love They to whom the arme of the Lord is revealed but in a small measure may presume much but they know but little of the love wherewith God loveth Christ and his members 2. We have this assurance of believers amplified from the concomitant of it growth in their union with Christ That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them The meaning of those last words and I in them is that I may dwell more and more in their hearts by faith The increase of our union with Christ is inseparably connexed with our assurance of Gods love of us for Christ as a necessary effect thereof And this may serve both for comfort and triall 1. For Comfort For what an unspeakable Comfort and advantage doe believers reape by their assurance in that it thus promoteth their union with Christ by knowledge and assent by love and adherence It begets more clearenesse and evidence in their knowledge of more certainty in their assent unto the promises of the Gospell It workes fulnesse in their love of and firmnesse in their adherence unto Christ and so every way in every regard it knits and unites more closely unto him and increase of our union with him enlargeth our communion with him in all the blessings flowing therefrom and depending thereon 2. This may serve for tryall of the soundnesse and sincerity of believers assurance of Gods love wheresoever it is there is a progresse in their union with Christ he dwelleth more and more in their hearts by faith He doth not onely knock at the doores of their hearts as a passenger but he comes in unto them and makes his abode with them Joh. 14.23 He dwels in them He doth not onely dwell in their tongues and in their understandings but he dwelleth in their hearts Ephes 3.17 He hath his throne in their wills and affections Those that grow in such an union as this with Christ they have fruitfulnesse for their character assigned by Christ himselfe Joh. 15.5 He that abideth in mee and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit He in whom Christ hath his abode is no barren professour but is filled with the fruits of righteousnesse which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God Phil. 1.11 2. Christ as a man was the subject of a fulnesse of grace He had a twofold grace the grace of his favour towards us the grace of his spirit in himselfe and of both there was
Priests bearing the names of the children of Israel upon his two x Quod verò spectat usum Ephod seu amiculi debuit reliquis vestibus summi Sacerdotis superindui eidem pectorale inseri in gemmis quae humero aptarentur habere nomina duodecim filiorum Israel ut significaret Christum Ecclesiam ejusque membra omnia semper in memoria habere etiam obverso tergo propter amorem ardentissimum quo eos prosequitur ac propter ipsos coram Deo semper apparere Heb. 7.16 Rivet in locum shoulders for a memoriall as well as on his breast plate ver 12. His heart is towards them when his face is not I shall close all these testimonies with that of the Apostle Paul Ep. 3.18,19 then which no one place of Scripture more fully expresseth the transcendency of Christs love unto us 1. Vers 18. He ascribes unto Christ's love one dimension more then Naturalists attribute unto bodies not onely length breadth depth but also height a Dickson in locum Length in regard of it's eternity breadth in respect of it's extent unto all ages and orders of men unto the Catholique Church scattered over the face of the whole earth depth in regard of it's condescension unto a deliverance of us out of an abysse of sinne and misery Height in regard of it's exaltation of us unto an heavenly happinesse Aquinas as Estius informeth mee thinkes that the Apostle here alludeth unto Job 11.8,9 It is as high as heaven what canst thou doe Deeper then Hell what canst thou know the measure thereof is longer then the earth and broader then the sea But now in vers 19. we have this immensity of Christ's love set forth more plainly The love of Christ passeth knowledge that is cannot be perfectly fully and exactly knowne either by men or Angels The Apostle thinks b Videri potest Apostolus respice real Gnosticos qui hoc superbo nomine sese nuncupaverunt à scientia quam sihi peculiariter venditabant utitur enim vocabulo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Atqui longè majus est scire charitateÌ„ Christi â—…pote quae universam Gnosticorum omniúmque Philosophorum scientiam excedit quia mysterium charitatis Christi quâ semetipsum pro nobis tradidit in cor hominis cujusquam non ascendit sicut in genere de hujusmodi mysteriis sapientiae Christianae testatur Apostolus 1. Cor. 2.9 Estius seems to have regard unto the Gnosticks who called themselves by this proud name from that knowledge which they pretended unto above others To take them off from this overweening conceit the Apostle tels them that the love of Christ is so incomprehensible as that it surpasseth all the capacity of our wits fully to conceive it in our minds and therefore it is able to puzzle and non-plus them and all others that vainly boast a knowledge of darke and hidden mysteries Unto these testimonies I shall adde two other arguments of the fulnesse of Christs love 1. The freenesse of it And 2. the unmeasurablenesse of it's fruits or effects 1. The absolute freenesse of it It was neither for his advantage as an end nor for our deservings as a motive He first loved us 1 Joh. 4.19 While we were sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5.8 When we were enemies we were reconciled unto God by the death of his Sonne vers 10. As it is unmerited so secondly its fruits and effects to wit his purchase and application of our redemption are unmeasurable by our understandings here in this life 1 His purchase of our redemption not by corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious bloud of Christ 1 Pet. 1.18,19 did so farre exceed humane reason as that it became thereunto a rocke of offence Greater love saith our Saviour hath no man then this that a man lay downe his life for his friend Joh. 15.13 But he himselfe hath given us a greater expression of his owne love He hath laid downe his life for enemies for traytours and rebels and besides this life that he laid downe cannot be equalled by the lives of the greatest of all the sons of men For it was the life of the Son of God and therefore of peerelesse and inestimable value 1 Joh. 3.16 2. As for his application of our redemption if we endeavour to search it unto the bottome it will be found farre to surmount humane reach Is not the originall of it our election one of the most mysterious points in all Divinity are not the parts of it vocation justification adoption sanctification glorification all matters of perplext difficulty Alas how endlesse intricate are the disputes of most learned Theologues touching their nature order and distinction And we should but flatter our selves to expect a decision of these disputes fully and clearely satisfactory as long as we remaine cloathed with corruptible flesh To make now some briefe application of this fulnesse of Christ's love unto us 1. It yeilds abundant consolation unto all true believers That may be said of them which was prophesied of Naphtali Deut. 33.23 They shall be satisfied with favour and full of the blessing of the Lord. The earth is full of the goodnesse of the Lord Psal 33. â—5 Therefore much more the Church Riches of patience long suffering and forbearance are extended unto vessels of wrath Rom. 9.22 Rom. 2.4 therefore undoubtedly the c Divitias gloriae pro gloriofissimas Hebraismus Pareus riches of glory that is glorious grace or the most glorious riches of grace Rom. 9.23 shall be heaped and poured upon vessels of mercy If Christ as a private person out of Charity unto the humane nature as * Dr Twisse some hold did commiserate the impenitent Jewes and wept over them Luk. 19.41 O then what yearning of bowels what tendernesse of compassion is there in him by vertue of his office as he is mediator towards those whom his father hath given him If our hearts be sad and disconsolate our spirits weary wounded and heavy laden with the sense of sinne Why Christ's love saith the Church is better then wine Cant. 1.2 Wine is a very comfortable creature making glad the heart Psal 104.15 and the life merry It maketh the needy and those that are of heavy heart to forget their poverty and remember their misery no more Prov. 31.6,7 and therefore may very well by a synecdoche be put for all worldly delights The words then may be thus paraphrased Thy love is sweeter more comfortable pleasant and rejoycing the heart then the choicest of earthly pleasures If we are assayled by our Corruptions within by temptations afflictions and persecutions without why Christ's love is a banner over us animating us to quit our selves as becommeth the souldiers of the Lord of Hosts for the use of a banner standard or ensigne is as to draw and keepe souldiers togeither Isay 5.26 and 11.10 So also to encourage them Psal 60.4 thou hast given a
banner to them that feare thee that it may be displayed because of the trueth If the great men of the world be averse from us slight and contemne us it matters not Christ's desire is unto us Can. 7.10 He will put us as a seale upon his heart and his arme Can. 8.6 Though we have but little favour with the world we have a fulnesse of favour riches of grace with Christ We should not be discouraged at the unspeakable and implacable malice and hatred of our rageing persecutors as long as we have an unexpressible and incomprehensible love of Christ to oppose unto it We should not be dismayed at the depth's of Satans envy and malignity Revel 2.24 For in Chri'sts love there are all dimensions We should not afflict our selves for our povertie meannesse of birth and calling and the like outward abasures For none of them exclude from the grace of Christ He is rich unto all that call upon him We should not therefore despaire of pardon though guilty of many and great enormities For Christ's love passeth knowledge the comprehension of men or Angels and therefore hideth covereth nay quite burieth a multitude of sins All the sinnes of believers But now that prophane persons may not abuse this comfortable doctrine of the fulnesse of Christ's love I shall desire you to take notice of the character that the Scripture giveth of those unto whom it is appropriated The riches of his Glory that is glorious grace is made knowne only on vessells of mercy Rom. 9.23 and vessells of mercy are vessells unto honour sanctified and meet for the masters use and prepared unto every good worke 2 Tim. 2.21 The Lord Jesus Christ is rich in mercy but it is only unto those that call upon him to wit out of an unfeigned faith and undissembled love Rom. 10.12 that have a Spirit of prayer and supplication powred upon them 2. From this fulnesse of Christs love we may be exhorted unto three dutyes 1. Thankefulnesse for it 2. A diligent study and 3. a carefull imitation of it 1. Thankefulnesse for it We will remember thy love more then wine saith the Church unto Christ Cant. 1.4 But she hath a thankfull tongue as well as heart as she remembreth it inwardly in her selfe so with joy and triumph she outwardly publisheth and manifesteth it unto others chap. 2. chap. 3. chap. 7. And this her recognition and commemoration of Christs love is not in a formall dull cold and unpracticall way for it hath such an impression upon her heart as that it makes her even sicke with the love of him Cant. 2.5 It begets in her a love of a most powerfull and unconquerable influence It is a love as strong as death Cant. 8.6 that is it is as forcible and irresistible trampling upon and breaking through all difficulties that occurr in performance of duties unto or undergoing of sufferings for Christ This love is inflamed into jealousy and this jealousy is as cruell or hard as the Grave ibid. that is as inexorable unto all the enemies of Christ unto her most profitable and pleasant sins her darling and most indulged lusts This love is for its intensivenesse motion upwards unto heaven and consumptive efficacy compared unto fire ibid. The coales thereof are as coales of fire which hath a most vehement flame 1. Fire is the hottest of elements So the Churches love of Christ is more solidly intense then her love of any creature whatsoever She is as it were all in a fire with the love of him 2. The motion of fire is upwards towards heaven The love of Christ is as a fiery Chariot whereby a soule is carried up unto heaven 3. Fire burnes all things combustible So love of Christ consumeth all a mans corruptions And whereas elementary fire may be quenched the love of Christ is a celestiall flame Many waters cannot quench it neither can the flouds drowne it Cant. 8.7 It cannot be extinguished or abated by calamities And in the last place it is so sincere and incorrupt as that it cannot be bribed by any treasure If a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would utterly be contemned ib. If your love of Christ reach not this height we have described it comes short of a due gratitude we are unthankfull for Christs fulnesse of love if it be not as a loadstone to attract from us a love of him with all our hearts soules and might In the language of the Scripture we are utterly forgetfull of Christs love if it do not constraine unto duty and restraine from sin We despise the riches of Christs goodnesse grace and bounty forbearance and long-suffering if it do not lead us unto a strict and severe repentance 2. The fulnesse of Christs love may provoke unto a most diligent study of it It is an inexhaust fountaine an unfathomeable ocean a bottomelesse unsearcheable mine There is therefore more then enough in it to satisfy the restlesse inquiries of those that are most curious and thirsty after knowledge In Eph. 3.13,16,17,18 There be 4. Motives unto this study of Christs love 1. The comprehensivenesse 2. the incomprehensiblenesse of this love 3. The subject and 4. the influence of the knowledge thereof 1. The comprehensivenesse of the Love of Christ It takes in all the d Paulus nihil per istas dimensiones intelligit quam Christi charitatem de quâ continuò post significans eum cui verè perfectè cognita est undequaque sapere ae si diaeisset quaquaâ—versùm respiciant homines nihil reperient in salutis doctrinâ quod non huc referendum sit Continet enim una Christi dilectio omnes sapientiae numeros ideo quo facilior sit sensus ita resolvi debent verba ut valeatis comprehendere Christi dilectionem quae est longitudo latitudo profunditas alâ—…tudo sapientiae nostrae hoc est tota perfectio Similitudinem enim sumit à Mathematicis ut à partibus totum desigâ—et Quoniam hic omnium ferè communis est morbus rerum inutilium studio ardere utilis vallè est ista admonitio quod scire nobis expediat quid Dominus considerare nos velit sursum deorsum ad dextram sinistram à fronte à tergo Dilectio Christi nobis proponitur in cujus meditatione nos exerceamus dies ac noctes in quam nos quasi demergamus Hanc unam qui tenet satis habet extra eam nihil est solidum nihil utile nihil â—enique rectum aut sanum Circumeas licet coelum terras maria non altius transcendes quin legitimum sapiendi finem transilias Calvin in Ephes 3. v. 18. dimensions the length breadth depth height of spirituall wisedome all the objects of saving knowledge which are some way or other reducible unto it And hereupon that great Doctor of the Gentiles resolved to study privately and to preach publikely nothing but what did some way or other referre unto that