Prov. 14.20 Both these Motives to love the Believer seeth in every Believer Grace doth very much sweeten Nature and Grace doth very much enrich the person These Motives of love may be found in every Legatee who hath share in the choice Legacies of Christ he giveth an excellency of spirit which sweetneth their disposition they are meek lowly faithful and without guile He also giveth an Inheritance a heavenly a glorious Inheritance these win with the considerate Christian and either thou knowest not what Christ hath bestowed on Believers or thou must confess they are well worthy of thy love and brotherly affection 2. Another Inducement to Brotherly Love contained in this consideration of Christ Dying a Testator may be this Every Believer having interess in this Will was near to Christ's heart as art thou or I or any other who pretendeth title and interess in Christ's Last Testament Now should it not move us to love with hearty love every Christian for so much as every one of them was equally near to the hearty love of Christ Let our hearts be toward them Joh. 15.12 as Christ's was toward us and them It is a maxim in Love and Friendship that it extend it self to all our friends friends Hence the advice of Solomon that thy Father's friend be not forsaken Prov. 27.10 carries sound reason in it for he that is the Father's friend and heartily loved him that begot will be a friend to the Son and love him that was begotten too as the Apostle argueth in a like case 1 John 5.1 The Apostle urgeth this Love of Christ to us as argument to perswade us to love one another Rom. 15.5 with vers 7. to be of the same mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vide 2 Cor. 13.11 Idem velle idem nolle ea demum est firma amicitia that so ye may live in Peace and Love which is the fruit of that Union the Apostle perswades us to 2 Cor. 13.11 and Phil. 2.2 where he explaineth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The being of one mind by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having the same Love The Love we should have for the Brethren of right should be so strong as death because that Love which Christ had for them equally and indifferently was even unto death This is the Apostle's Argument 1 John 3.16 And there is strength in it whether we apprehend it or no. In the last Will of Christ thou mayest discern a Love equally embracing all that believe that seek their portion in Christ There we may find Christ a friend to the poor as to the rich Believer to the unlearned as to the learned Believer to the despised as to the honourable Believer As the Apostle speaketh of Righteousness I may speak and you must understand of all the blessings of the Covenant and Testament The whole is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference Rom. 3.22 Now where Christ hath made no difference in his Love darest thou make so great a difference in thine as to withhold thy love from some Wilt thou not love those who are dear friends to thy dearest Lord thy best friend I do not press an equality of love to all Believers I know our brethren by nature our kindred by alliances our acquaintance and intimate friends have a right to our love and affections both Natural and Civil and where such a Right is doubled by our Relation to each other in Christ our affections may be allowed to double themselves also Whilst Grace and common Hopes do increase our love to each other they do allow for the respects which Nature calleth for of us We must love all with an unfeigned love though we may love some with a more fervent love whom Christ hath equally loved we must unfeignedly love and what reneweth the remembrance of such love to us should renew our love to others 3. In the last Will of Christ is to be seen That it is the express desire of our Dying Lord we should love one another heartily and unfeignedly He hath therefore put them all into one Will and into the same capacity every one by his Will made an heir The Saints do inherit the Riches of Glory Ephes 1.18 Their title is a joint-tenancy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are coheirs Heb. 11.9 And this title is by gift of Christ in his last Testament Joh. 17.24 Who desired they should all be where he was that they might behold his glory And read we John 15.12 This is my Commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you This is that Commandment that is so mine as if all others were to yield place to this This is the New Commandment Joh. 13.34 and 35. When Christ attended with Angels gave the Law to Israel the First Great Commandment was Love the Lord c. The Second was Love thy Neighbour c. When he was to die he renewed the Commandment of loving our Brethren Yea so resolvedly doth our Lord require this Brotherly Love that whosoever he is pretends to Christ must make good his pretensions to Christ by his affections to all that are Brethren in Christ Joh. 13.35 Hereby shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love for one another Add hereto 1 John 4.20 He loves not God who loveth not the Children of God For how shall he love God whom he hath not seen who loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen In a word read the last words of Christ's Intercession John 17.26 which do breathe out the earnest desire of Christ that such love may be among the Brethren one to another as was in the Father and in the Son to them all Now after all this vehemency of desire in Christ that we who are heirs by his Will should love one another Shall any of us dare to hate undervalue reject or despise the other Will you read the last Testament of Love with a heart of enmity Dare you come to the Ordinance which renews the remembrance of Christ's Love to us of his desire we should love each other and not labour to renew your love to them Renewed meditations on Christ's love to us will certainly renew our love to him and to all his renewed thoughts of his last desire of his earnest commending mutual love will renew mutuall love in us if any degree of ingenuity remain in us 4. In the Testament and Last Will of our Dying Lord we have this inducement to renew our love to the Brethren He hath by will designed one onely place in which with most perfect love to enjoy as all the blessed Legacies of our Lord so to enjoy all our fellow Legatees Whether I shall perswade now I know not whether my arguings be powerful enough to suppress envyings and jealousies to remove animosities and quarrels from amongst saints I cannot tell But this I know and this I will tell you when you who
see then our duties are compared to incense and if the native scent of our duties cannot be pleasing to God yet the superadded sweetness of Christ's incense will render them very acceptable to our God though their savour be unpleasing which ascends with them out of our hands yet the savour which they carry with them ascending from the golden Altar doth delight the Lord do not give way then to discouraging fears that imperfect duties and unsavoury offerings will estrange God from thee God hath removed this fear also the Sacrifice of Christ will perfume thy Sacrifices which now become acceptable to God by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2.4 3. Thirdly That there may remain no scruple or fear beside what he doth reconciling our persons to God and ennobling our Dutyes through the excellency of this Sacrifice he hath by the same Sacrifice made an atonement or expiation for the sinful defects of all the duties of Believers Although it is true so many culpable defects adhere to our duties that God might in the strict examination of them justly reject them yet he will not impute these defects to the persons nor for them reject the duties of his Saints because in Christ's Sacrifice he hath received an atonement and will pardon those defects an atonement and will pardon those defects to his children Let us then hold fast our profession of particular hope and delight in duties as of the general Doctrine of the Gosple Seeing we have a great High Priest who is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God Now the Apostle presents us with Chrst as having Sacrificed and with the blood of that Sacrifice entring into Heavens i. e. to intercede for us in the vertue of that excellent Sacrifice so that we may well take boldness to draw unto God with hope that neither unworthiness of persons nor the worthlesness of duties shall ever be able to divert divine acceptance seeing that if the intercession of a High Priest of a Great High Priest in the Heavens in the presence of God if the intercession of Jesus the Son of God can prevail for the removeal of whatever might possibly impede our acceptation both we and our obedience shall be acceped In sum art thou a believer dost thou by faith commemorate the death of Christ thy Sacrifice dost thou believe there is vertue and worth in this Sacrifice how much vertue thinkest thou in it certainly either there is enough to reconcile thy person to recommend thy services to pardon thy sins or else Christ died in vain for as good not at all as not to purpose will be verified in this case he died a Sacrifice that he might bring these to good effect viz. That we might be reconciled that our duties might be a sweet smelling Sacrifice that our sins also might be pardoned which either are attained by the vertue of this Sacrifice or else Christ doth not attaine his purposes of love towards true believers which who but an infidel dares to surmise Sect. 4. 4. The fourth and last disquietude of the believing soul I mentioned to be the return of his doubts and fears lest God should with-hold the most desirable mercies and comsorts of this present state and hide good things from him who hath forfeited them all Many are the fears of those who shall never be condemned who have enjoy'd the light of God's countenance who are perswaded God accepteth their persons and duties also unto all the purposes of rewarding them hereafter who yet are apt to sear overmuch the stroakes of a smart rod here or the darkness of this present condition Now the Sacrifice of Christ well considered would remove all such fears and perplexing jealousies for 1. This Sacrifice removing sin removeth what would hide good things from us When the blood of this Sacrifice hath effected our reconciliation God will not think any mercy too good or great for us He that spared not his own Son but gave him up for us all how shall he not with him give us all things also Rom. 8.32 Facilius enim dare amicis factis quam adbuc hostibus facilius omne quam filium dare Grot. in loc It is easier to conceive he should give to us made his friends then when we were enemies and it is easier to give every thing then to give a Son On a just stating matters it will appear that the Sacrifice of Christ removing guilt removeth the ground of all perplexing tormentful fears of what nature soever I do not say it removeth them actually I know the contrary by observation But I say there is no justifiable ground for such wracking fears of future occurrences in our life for the Believer hath through this Sacrifice a Covenant of Promises 2 Cor. 1.20 with 1 Tim. 4.8 both of this life as of that to come ratified and confirmed to him 2. This Sacrifice gives the believer a justifiable title to every mercy whether temporal or spiritual that he is capable of receiving and enjoying with safety and good to himself as with gloty to God and if any one particular mercy notwithstanding the believers desire of it and earnest labour after it be with-holden it is because his weak foresight and small scantling of wisdom cannot discern what the All-seeing Eye of God doth see and what his Infinite Wisdom knows viz. that it is fittest for the present to with-hold that particular desired mercy and to reserve it unto a season wherein it will be a choicer mercy and more advantageous Now a small measure of patience might quiet the heart in the absence of such blessings if the man would reflect upon his condition so well setled by Christ his Sacrifice that he hath by this a title to every good and that the time and the manner of entring on the possession of this good is assigned by the Lord in greatest love to us that we should not by our haste snatch an unseasonable blessing nor by our sloth lose a seasonable mercy It cannot enter my thoughts what may pacifie the soul dispel murmuring discontents and prevent perplexing fears if these will not viz. Christ by his Sacrifice hath reconciled me to the Eternal God and wrought me into such favour with God that he hath made over himself to me to be mine for ever and he hath assigned me with his Elect a portion in his alsufficiency and because I know not what measure and what season is fittest for me he doth employ his own Wisdom to determine both so that I know he hath love enough to give more if his Wisdom saw it not greatest love to give but so much 3. The hovering fears and doubts from uncertainties whether we shall enjoy our desired mercies for this present state might be scattered did we consider that this Sacrifice of Christ was not only expiatory of guilt but also a Peace-Offering In which kind of Sacrifices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 portio Domino Deo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 portio
Christ unto the soul there the soul seeth the real Testimonys of his Saviour's love Last Wills or Testaments are those in which we profess all our affection Quibus affectum omnem fatemur Brisson de Form After this men can do no more at this time therefore they will do what they can for their beloved Friends This love is an immortal love attempting to fill the cistern to leave it full when the spring head dryes up it is a love surviving Death when the lover cannot a peice of Friendship rescued from the hand and power which kills thy Friend When Jacob could live no longer to love his Joseph his love could not die but fleeteth from his feeble dying heart and reposeth it self in the sacred and unviolate treasury of Jacobs last Will where it doth and shall still survive both the Lover and the Beloved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 48.22 1 King 1. in this you discover Joseph had a double share in Jacobs love When David was to make his last will you may see which of all his Sons had most of David's heart so true is it that last Wills are open windows of the heart through which we may see the living affection of our Dying Friend This is undeniably true of the last Will of Christ who looks into it shall see the dearest love the tenderest affection the faithfullest friendship the seasonablest care and the fullest provision and who seeth this can do no less than wish he had a more dear affection to return for that which is so incomparably grater than all other Sect. 6. 6. That improves Grace which shakes off security and awakeneth out of sloth security is the lethargy of the soul and it must be cured or the soul Dyeth sloth is that scorbutick disease of the soul which weakens all its graces and takes off the edge of them and this must be removed by a vigorous exercise of that strength and life which yet remaineth in Grace or Grace will decay wither and dye rid the soul of these two and Grace will suddenly recover it self and grow Now it is unquestionable that the last Will of Christ carrieth in it sufficient considerations to awaken the soul out of pernicious security and to quicken it unto vigorous diligence For all the legacies of Christ are conditional requiring either precedent conditions or enjoining subsequent conditions of love and obedience and this love with obedience will be found such as will take up all thy time and strength set to it so soon as thou wilt here will be work enough for thy Christian care Thou wilt find life short love long work weighty strength weak The Philosopher rowsed himself with this Vita brevis ars longa life is short Art is long Christian look over Christ's expectation expressed in his Will and Testament and write this presently as thy monitory Vita brevis Fides longa The time of Life is short the work of Faith is long and rowse up thy self both from security and sloth make haste to do thy Lord's will that thou mayest have large share in the last Will of thy Lord. When a very rich gist is given by Will upon conditions and reservations and all revoked from every claimer who performeth not those conditions and disposed to others who will do and have done and performed the conditions how great care and diligence doth this awaken how speedy is the considering Legatee what haste doth he make to perform lest non-performance of his duty should disappoint his hope and cut off his claim Christian thou hast the Inheritance given by Will and that Will prescribes thee thy duty and if ever thou intendest to put in claim for it look thou put thy hand speedily to the doing of what is there enjoyned thee For I tell thee thy Lord who made the Will who prescribed the terms who enjoyned thy performance and before whom thou must make thy claim is not now dead but liveth is not far off but near to thee seeth and observeth all thy sloth and laziness and will reject thy suit and dash thy pretences and confound thy hopes unless sight of his Will quicken thee to do his will CAP. IV. Graces enumerated Improvable by the last Will of Christ I Have performed 〈…〉 at potui â—amen if not as I would yet as Bernard said as I could the three first parts of my Promise I shall now endeavour the performance of the fourth viz. in a particular enumeration of those graces which I apprehend may be much improved by the consideration of Christ's last Will or Testament renewedly remembred at the Communion of the Lord's body And Sect. 1. 1. First Faith is one Grace which is improvable by due managing our thoughts of Christ's ordaining his last Will ere he died and dying to ratifie and make his last Will firm and irrevocable This gives us greatest assurance of the truth of the Promises and so addeth to the evidence of things that are not seen Man verily believeth and boldly pleadeth his title and right to the Legacy which his dying friend bequeathed to him Sect. 2. Secondly Hope and Expectation of enjoying the good things promised is another grace improvable by the application of Christ's Death dying a Testator and ordaining his last Will. The certainty of future enjoying and the goodness of the thing to be enjoyed is the life of hope the root and strength of it Now the goodness of that we expect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the certainty of our future enjoyment are jointly contained and declared in the last Will of our Lord to which in more particular manner we hope to speak Sect. 3. 3. Longing desires of surer interess in the Covenant or Testament of Christ and desire of nearer union unto Christ is improvable upon the reflections of our serious thoughts on the Death of Christ dying and making his VVill. Every one who needeth would wish himself of the kindred and affinity of that rich bountiful and kind friend who enricheth all his kindred by his large Legacies at his Death and he will desire to be so related unto Christ who duly considers what may be obtained by Christ Sect. 4. 4. Love to the Lord and a high prizing of his person and concernments is an other Grace of the believer improveable by this meditation of Christs Death as the Death of a Testator Every one honoureth the remembrance and speaketh well of him who doth liberally and wisely provide for his indigent and needy relations strangers do value such an one and much more doth his ingenuous and considerate Friend Sect. 5. 5. Zeal to his glory and honour a spiritual fervency of heart in all that such a Friend is any whit concerned in is another qualification of a believer and this also is improved by the due manage of our knowledge of Christs last Will and Testament Were there but little cordial Friendship in the heart of a believer toward
Sarah's severity made Hagar weary of her service and fly from it I observe she was perswaded to return to submit her self and to become obedient to Sarah at the command and upon the promise of God who liveth and seeth Gen. 16.13 For memorial of which she gave name to a Well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 calling it Beer-la-hai-roi Christian thy Lord who commandeth thy obedience and encourageth thy diligence and willingness both liveth and seeth Wilt thou not obey that he may perform his promise to thee What shall slothful careless and unfaithful servants shake off sloth and put on a shew of diligence and faithfulness whilst under the eye of their Master and shall not the Christian who is ever under the eye of his Master be thereby perswaded to care diligence and faithfulness in his obedience Whoever thou art that attendest at the Lord's Table dost know or else now learn it that for future thou mayest know it and consider it That the Lord of the Feast cometh to entertain his Guests and to receive their promises of renewed Obedience and when thou hast made the promise Christ makes the observation what diligence thou usest in performing thy promise he seeth whether thou art mindful of thy promise and will one day call thee to account for it and require it of thee And what wilt thou answer to such a demand Friend wast thou not guilty enough under the single guilt of neglect but must thou needs add the guilt of perfidiousness and falshood to thy other guilt How didst thou dare to affront me to my face to give me thy promise at the Sacrament and under my eye break the promise thou madest me Let me O God! ever keep it in mind my Testator liveth and seeth may he see my obedience renewed in its fruits as my obligations are renewed in the Sacrament 4. Consider in Christ a Testator living and seeing who do or who do not perform the conditions qualifying the Legatees for the receiving the Legacies Thou mayest see him Judge supreme Judge of all the claims that are made to the whole or to any part of what he hath bequeathed In this he excelleth all other Testators who can only make their Wills and dye they cannot judge and determine the pleas and pretences which are made upon their last Testament Hence it often falleth out that such get and possess the goods bequeathed whom the testator never intended should be the better for them But here no pretender can by sleight and fraud get any of the great and rich Legacies of Christ Nor shall any who hath good right ever miss of them Oh! let us look to our Blessed Redeemer the Soveraign Judge of his own last Testament and readily diligently constantly do what he commandeth that we may receive what he promiseth Fulfil his holy Will that he may make good his last Will to us Let Sacraments bind us to an increase of Obedience for this will be the only Plea allowed by our Judge this will be the only Plea advantageous to us These are some few of many inducements which may move us to renew our obedience for so much as we obey our Lord a Testator bequeathing us Legacies rich and worth our greatest obedience Legacies no way to be attained but in the sincere obedience of our life and heart Legacies that shall be given by him who is now living to see who obeys him as he once died to ensure the reward to their obedience Legacies that must be adjudg'd to the obedient by him who commands the obedience and made the Will out of all which resulteth 1. A Motive that may prevail with our ingenuity and hopes we obey in expectation of a Noble Reward our Legacies are worth better obedience 2. A Motive that may work on and prevail with our fears and our less ingenuous principles Our Judge his eye is on us and he is our Judge who will give only to the obedient 3. A Motive that may meet with and prevail on our mixed affections to encourage our hopes to manage our fears to enforce our backwardness we must obey or lose our reward to cherish our ingenuity the reward is generous and noble exceedingly well becoming the ingenuity of the most free and noble spirits CAP. V. Sect. 12. Brotherly kindness improved on Christ's last Testament THE Twelfth and last Grace mentioned cap. 4. sect 12. as a Sacramental Grace well suiting with the Lord's Supper that Feast of Love and improveable by the consideration of Christ's dying a Testator is Brotherly Kindness and Charity a peaceable disposition of mind towards our Christian friends and a loving affection for our Brethren in Christ This grace is so needful that none are so ignorant as to doubt none so prophane as to deny it a needful qualification yet whilst ignorance and prophaneness confess it in words they are both far from the true exercise hereof The considerate meditating and discerning communicant will be careful to provide this grace for this Sacrament and to improve it by the Sacrament which may very well be done by such considerations as these 1. First Our Christian Brethren whom we should love are made truly lovely by the Legacies which Christ hath bequeathed to them and which he hath in some part already bestowed upon them For Christ the great bountiful and wise Testator hath as is already observed so disposed his estate and treasures of grace consolation and glory with other advantages and needful supplies that all his friends should be handsomly maintained out of his Treasury although the principal of the estate be reserved in Heaven to enrich them there As Rebeccah was adorned with rich Jewels before she was brought to Isaac who invested her with all when she came to him and the marriage was consummate So the Church so each particular Believer is adorned with very rich Jewels of grace gifts and comforts in which she is brought to Christ who will invest all on her when he shall consummate the Marriage in Glory The Crown it is true is reserved for the future state of Glory but there are many single Jewels already bestowed The King's daughter is all glorious within Psal 45. The Saints of God the Righteous ones are the excellent on earth Psal 16.3 They are filled with the Spirit of Christ and they are led by that Spirit into all the waies of Truth Holiness Meekness Goodness Long-sufferance and the like The Philopher tells us that true Friendship is only among the true vertuous Vice cannot be a cement of Friendship In the Redeemed Called Sanctified there is what fitteth them for and renders them worthy of our love and brotherly affections Two things do ordinarily prevail with men to excite Natural love first the sweetness of disposition a skill and delight to shew our selves friendly as Prov. 18.24 He cannot be much beloved who is not ready and prone to love Secondly the largeness of estate and wealth it is the Rich man that hath many friends
continuing of me in my free noble and honourable condition If I depart from Christ through unbelief I shall go from honour to dishonour from excellency to baseness from the noble state of a Son to the ignoblestate of a servant of a slave And I know the considerate soul will not easily return to the baseness and ignominy of such a state No! no! Faith in my dying Lord did set me free from such baseness and advanced me to the dignity I now enjoy and my persevering confirmed faith will and must preserve and confirm me in that dignity This prerogative my Dying Lord purchased for me whenever I would believe this prerogative he gave me so soon as ever I did believe and there is none can take it from me so long as I do believe oh let me believe for ever that I may have it for ever I would never lose this honour I will never leave my Lord. Whilst thou art able to make the best of this Death of thy Lord commemorated in the Sacrament and presented to thy faith which is done on purpose that thou mayest make the best of it thou canst resolve or conclude nothing less than that thou wilt adhere now faster than ever In this manner may the Humiliation the Desires the Purposes of the Soul be wrought drawn forth and confirmed upon the consideration of Christ dying a Curse for us The sight of our cursed state will lay us low and convince us the sight of a deliverance by Christ will make us desire that deliverance may be ours and then knowledge of its being ours upon first believing and that it shall be ours so long as we believe will perswade us to look that our faith continue lest unbelief should reduce us into the misery of a Curse whence we almost escaped And let it be next observed 4. That Love to God and unto Christ 4th Sacramental grace Love to God and Christ is another Sacramental grace which I am sure will be well improved by a due consideration of Christ dying a Curse for us I do verily suppose it needless to attempt the proving of this every one knows that Love to Christ is a necessary and suitable grace for a Communicant God requires that every one of his servants should love him and serve him with all the heart in every duty much more in this which is a more solemn and more than ordinary one If thou wilt come to the Table of the Lord thou must come with love to the Lord of the Table thou must not come with enmity in thy heart nor with a sword in thy hand They are friends who are invited to eat and drink with Christ at his Table and it is a monstrous incongruity to sit down as though you would friendly feast Cant. 5.1 and yet watch a season to muther the guests or him that invites you God will not have an Absolon ' s feast in which one of the guests was murthered nor will he have a feast like the unhappy Phocus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose guests slew him It is the express will of our Lord that we come to his Table in love and charity with our Brethren and in love and with sincere affections to our Lord. We must here feast without the sowre leven of malice against our Brethren and without the swelling leven of hypocrisie toward God Now let me a little point out what inducements are in this Death of Christ to draw forth our love to our Lord and so let it be considered 1. Did my Lord die an accursed Death for me do I now celebrate the memorial hereof Would he have done this if he had not loved me as his own life It was a love that is ever to be blessed by me which made my Lord take on him a Curse for me Greater love than this could not be shewn to me and less than love to him for it cannot not be tendred by me Is Love the loadstone of Love and doth not thy heart stir toward Christ when he draws it with this attractive When he calls Look upon my Living Love in my cursed Death and give me what you judge a reasonable acknowledgment for my Love and when the considerate soul looks on this it is ready with David to say What shall I render to the Lord for all his goodness What shall I render to God the Father who laid my Guilt Punishment and Curse on my Blessed Redeemer What shall I render to the Lord Jesus Christ unto God the Son who took this heavy load upon him What shall I render to God the Holy Ghost who supported the humane nature of my Blessed Redeemer that he should not fail nor be discouraged in this great work under this weighty burthen Oh Blessed Love of the Glorious Trinity worthy of an infinite Love though a finite creature is not able to give it Lord my Love shall be endless though it cannot be boundless though it is narrow it shall not be short I will make up its defect of intenseness with an addition of endless date let thy Love to me which caused thee to die once for me an accursed Death be a spring and source of Love in my soul to thee of such a Love as shall never die Lord thou deservest more than I can give but I would not be unwilling to give as much as thou deservest It was matchless Love that the Prince of Life would die for condemned subjects But 't is methinks more that the Lord of glory over all God Blessed for evermore should take upon him Death with a Curse 2. Do I celebrate the Death of my Lord dying a Curse for me why then oh my soul thou dost this day in this duty call to mind Christ's taking on him all faults and bearing all thy blame being content that thy faults should be accounted to him and that if there be as certainly there wlil be anger for it he will bear it Oh what endeared Love do servants in a family bear to that Son who is willing to excuse the servants fauls and to bear their blame to make up their peace and to continue them in or restore them to their offices again Reader whoever thou art that readest these lines it is thy case Thou oâ—est unto Christ the Eternal Son of God all thy innocence all thy safety all thy peace all thy continuance in the family of God unto Christ I say thou owest it for thou hadst sinned and provoked God thy Master and Lord he had cursed thee and would have damned thee he had declared thine office in his house void and would have turned thee out and then thou must have said with the unjust Steward what shall I do when God thus deals with me how shall I live Dig I cannot beg I am ashamed I shall be accursed on Earth and accursed iâ— Hell for ever oh thus had it been with me if my Lord Jesus had not stept in and took my faults upon him Blessed