the light of thy Countenance upon me Psal 4. 6. Let others take the ring let her have but the kiss and it is sufficient for her but single influences of Grace will not serve her turn every look of grace is sweet and frequent influences of Grace are necessary for her Secondly Observe How she begs 1. Reverently Let him kiss me Thus we ought to draw nigh to God with Reverence and Godly fear Reverence becomes the great Majesty of Heaven and Earth those that come without it towards God understand not his greatness 2. She begs humbly But a kiss The crumbs that fall from the Lords Table the touch of the Hem of his Garment any thing of Jesus Christ that may but argue distinguishing love 3. She asketh boldly not rudely but boldly Thus we ought to come to the Throne of Grace with an holy boldness the boldness of faith the word is in the future tense and may be translated He shall kiss me or he will kiss me His Majesty requires reverence His promise gives boldness and confidence 4. Lastly she asketh fervently There is a bluntness discernable in the form Let him kiss me which speaketh the Souls fervency Besides the trina repetitio repeating the same thing by three terms denotes as Lud. de Ponte observes flagrantissimum cordis affectum The most flagrant earnest desire of the Spouses heart I have thus far opened to you the Spouses first Petition in which the believing Soul with a Reverent holy humble boldness yet with all possible fervency begs of the Lord Jesus Christ her Spiritual Husband some special distinguishing token of his love more especially a near fellowship with him in his ordinances and the sealing up of his love to her soul in Gospel Doctrines This first petition she presseth with a double Argument 1. The first drawn from the Excellency of his love This she sets out per modum comparationis comparing it with Wine and preferring it before it 2. Comparing the name of Christ with Ointment and that not shut up in a box but poured out Thy name is as an Ointment poured forth v. 3. Her 2d Argument is drawn from her Love to her Beloved in the close of the third v. The Virgins love thee and the cause of this love is expressed to be the savour of his good Ointments Because of the savour c. Let me open the terms by which these Arguments are expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We translate it because thy loves are better than Wine what we translate Loves the Septuagint translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom the Vulg. Lat. and the Arab. Interp. follow Thy Breasts the Syriack translate it Bowels otherwise there is no difference in the Translations Delrio tells us that Alanus an Ancient Interpreter makes these words not the continued speech of the Spouse pressing her Petition by an Argument but the reply of her beloved to her assuring her of his love and that he valued her Breasts above all things That which probably led him into this mistake was his interpreting the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Breasts and not understanding how in any propriety of Speech the Spouse could commend the Breasts of her beloved they being parts from which usually the woman not the man is commended in ordinary Speech but as the whole stream of Interpreters runs another way so this seemeth to be no constraining argument to enforce us to acknowledge such a sudden and a subitam abruptam verborum commutationem as Delrio calls it abrupt change of words as this interpretaâ—ioâ— must necessarily infer For â— Though it be true that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a breast Ezek. 23. 3. v. 21. yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies beloved And loves in the Abstract and so it is translated Ezek. 16. 8. it was a time of love Suppose we should allow more authority to the Septuagint than to our Hebrew Text for which there is no reason yet it is not improper to assert these the words of the Spouse speaking to her beloved for although the God of Nature intending the woman for the Nurse hath provided that sex with larger breasts yet the man hath breasts also and such if you will believe the Philosopher as may have milk in them However he who runs may read the expression figurative Amoris sedes est in corde in uberibus quae cordi adhaerescunt The heart is the seat of love and the Breasts are nigh to the heart and this evidenceth the difference of Interpreters as to the translation of the word as to this Text to be but a word-bate for Ubera tua and Amorestui Thy Breasts or thy loves are much the same thing in signification Neither lastly is this the only Text in Scripture where the breasts of men are mentioned if we should be constrained to that sense Isaiah 60. 16. Thou shalt suck the Breast of Kings so also God is said to bear his People from the Belly and to carry them from the Womb. They are Metaphorical expressions and it is granted on all hands that if our Interpreters with whom concur most modern Interpreters have not hit the literal signification of the word yet they have not missed the sense in translating it Thy Loves By which Interpreters generally understand either the private influences of Grace with which God refresheth the particular Souls of his Saints or The publick ordinances and institutions of the Gospel by which God expresseth his love to his Church in general and every believing Soul in particular 1. Some understand Divine institutions Ordinances are indeed the Breasts at which Christ suckleth his Children those means by and through which he conveyeth the streams of his love to them and there is a great excellency in them David prefers a day in Christ's Courts before a 1000 elsewhere Origen observes that in some copies instead of quia ubera tua c. it was quia loquelae tuae thy Speeches are better than Wine which also excellently suits with the former expression The kisses of his mouth This sense in the general notion of it much pleaseth many Interpreters though something divided in their more particular notions Origen interprets it Dogmata tua thy Doctrines and seems indifferently to understand it of the Doctrine of the Law or of the Gospel The Popish Interpreters reading it Breasts expound it concerning the two Testaments so Genebrard c. Others interpret it more strictly concerning the sweet Doctrine of the Gospel which Saint Peter 1 Pet. 2. 2. compareth unto Milk which as new born Babes we ought to desire and concerning the Apostles and Prophets which were the first Instruments which God made use of to convey that Doctrine to us The sweetness of the Gospel saith Aquinas is meant here by which as with Milk those who are Babes in Christ are nourished Mr. Brightman making this the Speech of the Jewish
Servants of God is yet to be found in the souls of such as have any acquaintance with or relation to the Lord Jesus Christ And indeed our reason will tell us that it must be so if we consider but these following particulars which will give you a reasonable account of the truth of this Proposition The least token of special distinguishing Grace is of an infinitely sweet and salvifick nature and evidence There are common gifts of the Spirit of God which indeed may be sweet and very grateful to a spiritual nature such are the gifts of Prayer and Prophecy c. but yet are not of a saving nature or evidence a man may have them and perish for ever but it is not so with such influences of the Spirit as are tokens of special distinguishing love spiritual gifts are to be coveted because of a subserviency in them to spiritual and saving ends but they are not of a saving nature and have nothing of a saving evidence in them but in the least token of special distinguishing love there is something of an evidence for Salvation the least of it is of a saving nature Faith that is but as a grain of Mustard seed is as much saving as the strongest Faith is The measures of our comforts much depend upon degrees of grace but our Salvation doth not Christ bids Zacheus go home for that day Salvation was come to his house Salvation cometh to the soul that hour in which the least of special love shineth upon it the least of that brings Salvation and consequently is exceeding sweet and must be so if you consider this soul as first seeking the Kingdom of God allarumed with the spiritual sense of its misery by nature it s lost and undone condition in Adam This is the one thing that such a soul seeks after in comparison with which all other things are as dross and dung to it That it may discern it self beloved of God one of those for whom Christ died and whose sins are washed away with his blood for this it hath wept and prayed and resolved to seek after it and resolved not to be silent There is no evidence of special Love but is suited to some great spiritual want of the soul Our souls are exposed to a great variety of wants All the tokens of God's special Love are suited to some or other of these wants Our souls are impotent and weak both to the performance of spiritual duty and to resist our spiritual adversary to this want now strengthening grace is suited They are dull and heavy and move heavily in spiritual duties to this quickening grace is suited They are sad and troubled for fear of God's wrath to this consolatory grace is suited There is no influence of the special Love of God but is suited to some special want or burden of our souls and therefore the least of them must be exceedingly desirable for so every thing is that suiteth our necessities and so much the more as it suiteth some more special and eminent wants If the Sun doth but arise upon the soul it healeth Mat. 4. 2. though it shineth not out in its fullest glory if Christ spreadeth but a wing over it there is healing in that wing His very shadow gives delight to the soul Cant. 2. 2. the least of his fruit is pleasant to its taste If saith the woman I can but touch the Hem of his Garment I shall be whole Such is the purity of the Saints Love that though they may have an Eye to the Recompence of Reward which his Love brings yet they love him for himself who appears to their souls as Totus desideria altogether desirable It is his Love which their souls thirst after now the least special token of Love sheweth that he loves it and his heart cleaveth to it He that valueth the Love of his friend regardeth not the quantum of the Token but the nature of it if it be of such a nature as he doth not ordinarily give to any common friend that is it which he eyeth If a soul can see any thing which speaketh its Lord joyned to it cleaving unto it this is it which makes it valuable A discerning soul will take little joy in gifts of common providence Riches Honours good Relations common gifts It may and will desire these things while it is in the flesh as they fill up some emptinesses in that our state but it can by no means be satisfied with these things As Haman said when he had been telling his Wife of his great preferments and honours All this doth me no good so long as I see Mordecay sitting in the King's Gate my Enemy is honoured and advanced as well as I So it saith The Lord hath given me riches honour c. but all this doth me no good so long as I see the haters of God enjoy as much of these things as I do let me have some special token of God's Love Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth Fourthly The Child of God knoweth That the least token of Christs special love is more worth than all the world There is no proport on betwixt a corpâ—ral and a spiritual good betwixt what is sutable to our flesh and to our wants in this life and what is sutable to our Souls and necessary for us with respect to our eternal felicity The Philosopher could say Animus cujusque est quisque The mind of a Man is the Man The Christian knows that Anima cujusque est quisque The Soul of a Man is the Man What shall it profit a Man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own Soul The sensual Man values his life above those things that are only good because of their subserviency to that The rational man valueth his mind above his flesh and accordingly sets a price upon knowledge and moral Virtue above those things that meerly gratify his sense The spiritual Man valueth his Soul his Soul considered not only as a rational Being but as a Spirit an immortal Spirit capable of the favour of God and an union and fellowship with him and ordain'd to an eternal existence not only above his body which he knoweth is made up of dust moulded up into flesh and blood and bones but above his mind It really is of more value and he is made apprehensive of it hence he cannot but value the least that tendeth to make that happy above any thing else whatsoever Besides he knows himself created to an eternity and believing that his reason teacheth him infinitely to prefer what is good for him with reference to an happy existence to eternity above any thing that can only serve him for the short time he is to be clothed with flesh and to live in this world This Election of the loves of Christ before all things else and the value he puts upon the least tokens and manifestations of it doth naturally and rationally follow his
Rocks of Pearl or ten thousand Rivers of Oil. But possibly some may say This is to plead my own merit I answer no for consider who it is that hath wrought in thy heart this value and esteem Is it not God Did flesh and blood reveal any such thing unto thee thou dost not then plead thy own merit thou only pleadest with God from what he hath already wrought and begun in thee 2. It is but the pleading of the promise which God hath made to them that love him and keep his Commandments 3. Neither dost thou plead thy esteem and value for the loves of Christ as meritorious as thinking that thy prizing the loves of Christ meriteth the further manifestations of them to thy Soul thou only pleadest it as a gracious habit wrought in thy Soul by which God hath fulfilled in thy Soul the condition of the promise thou only beggest of God that he who hath wrought in thy Soul that condition to which he hath annexed his promise would now fulfil also that promise to thy Soul which is annexed to that condition Thus I have finished the discourses I designed upon the first Petition of the Spouse as pressed by her first Argument Let him kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth For thy Loves are better than Wine Sermon XIII Canticles 1. 3. Because of the savour of thy good Ointments Thy name is as an Ointment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love thee I Proceed to the next Proposition which I at first observed from these words which I then largely opened Christ hath good Ointments which cast a savour my meaning is according to my former explication of the words That the Lord Jesus Christ is filled with the graces of the blessed Spirit which in themselves are as good Ointments and whose excellency is discerned by every true Believer by every Soul that is espoused to the Lord Jesus Christ to use the Apostles phrase I have espoused you to one Husband For a further discourse upon this Proposition let me first shew you 1. What I mean by Christs Grace and when I say he is full of the Graces of the holy Spirit 2. In what respects these graces are like to good Ointments 3. What particular graces of the Spirit are thus like to good Ointments 4. Whence it is that they are discerned and more effectually discerned by a gracious heart than another We read in the Psalmist that Christ was anointed mith the Oil of gladness above his fellows Heb. 1. 3. That he was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power Acts 10. 38. That phrase in the Epistle to the Hebrews borrowed out of Psal 45. as I shewed you is excellently interpreted by John God gave not the Spirit unto him by measure Joh. 3. 34. The Grace of God was said to be upon him Luk. 2. 40. and he is said to be full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1. 14. Grace in Scripture as it relateth unto God is usually taken in one of these two senses 1. For the favour and free love of God by which a Person is accepted of God and so Grace is in St. Pauls Epistles to the Romans and Galatians and in his other Epistles opposed to works thus we are said to be justified by Grace saved by Grace In this sense it is also in Scripture applied to Creatures Esther obtained Grace that is favour in the sight of the King Esther 2. 17. and so in many other Texts Or 2dly it is taken For some holy and virtuous qualities and dispositions by which our Persons being first accepted in Christ we are acceptable unto God Thus it is said Joh. 1. 16. Of his fulness we have all received Grace for Grace thus Love is called a Grace 2 Cor. 8. 6. and in this sense the Apostle telleth the Corinthians God is able to make all Grace to abound to them 2 Cor. 8. 9. In this sense we are commanded to grow in Grace that is in holy virtuous dispositions or habits 2 Pet. 3. 18. It is expounded by 2 Pet. 1. 5. Add to your 〈◊〉 virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly-kindness and to brotherly-kindness charity The Grace of Christ is taken in a double sense 1. Subjectively For that free love and favour which is subjected in Christ and being in him as its Fountain floweth from him to cur Souls In this sense Christ is said to be sail of Grace and truth full of love free love towards his Peoples Souls and truly in this sense Grace comes by Jesus Christ for out of him God loveth no Soul In this sense the Apostle wisheth to the Romans Grace and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ Take Grace in this sense Christ is the Subject of it and the medium by whom it floweth from the Eternal Father to the Children of men he himself was from Eternity beloved of God and that both necessarily and freely being his Fathers Son begotten from Eternity the Father loved him delighted in him and indeed in this sense Christ may be said to have been the object of Grace but he was not anointed with this in time he had it from before all times only as to the Grace of Vnion the humane Nature until Christ assumed it was not beloved of God Christ assuming it it became the object of this Grace 2. But secondly the Grace of Christ is also taken objectively for that Grace which was poured out on Christ as Mediator and this is either 1. The Grace of Vnion which is the free love of God assuming the humane nature into a personal union with the Divine Nature in which thing God put a great deal of dignity upon and shewed a great deal of love unto our Nature 2. The grace of Sanctification by which I understand not the same which the Children of God receive upon Regeneration when of unholy they are made holy of impure they are made pure of proud they are made humble c. But those holy dispositions and qualifications which were found in Christ considered as the Son of Man by vertue of the union of the Divine Nature with the Humane Nature and his anointing with the Holy Ghost not given by measure unto him by which he was not only acceptable to his Father as Mediator but he is also exceeding lovely to his Saints So that when I say Christ hath good Ointments abundance of Grace I understand 1. Abundance of free love which dwelt in him as God over all blessed for ever to be dispensed out according to the particular exigencies of all his Peoples Souls 2. Many gracious dispositions which eminently dwelling in the God-Head from all Eternity were also by the Spirit poured out upon the Humane Nature in his Incarnation These are here called by a Metaphor Ointments and good Ointments 1. Because by the communication of these from the Divine
Soul in which it is shed abroad through the Holy Ghost but it also constraineth others at least to some inquiries after it The Fathers kindness to one Child maketh every Child more studious to please him and the Masters kindness to one Servant encourageth others to their duty We have not perfect single Hearts to act meerly in compliance with a preeâ—pt even Moses himself had an eye to the recompence of reward Nor are we only incourag'd from the prospect of a futur recompence but we must also be encouraged from some promises or hopes of present assistance Solomon tells us The Sluggard saith there is a Lion in the way We are prone to fancy Lions where indeed there are none The way of holiness is a plain and lightsome way no rough nor dark way God hath said Waysaring men though fools shall not err therein but we know not how to adventure and indeed there are Lions and Mountains in the way The roaring Lion is in the way who goeth about continually seeking whom may he devour we have Mountains of Lusts and Corruptions as well as of Worldly Temptations that are in our way Christ hath told us that his Yoke is easie his burden is light We cannot understand it Is it an easie thing to deny our selves to take up the Cross and to follow Christ To keep a steady even pace with God The very Thoughts of the difficulty of a Christians life make many to turn away from it looking upon the Yoke of Christ as a Yoke which no Flesh and Blood is able to bear But now the effects of Divine Grace upon one Soul here incourageth many others We are like Travellers going toward the City of God we meet with Rivers over which we must pass the River seems deep and the Stream seems to run swift here our Hearts fail but as it is with earthly Travellers in such a case if one ventures through and gets safe on shore then many follow So when we see some that were under our discouragments from entring upon the ways of God yet through Grace got into them and finding them easie and pleasant this is a great encouragement to others I have known some who have long stumbled at this Stone Better never to know the way of Righteousness never to enter into a course of Profession than having entred into it to fall Back that I shall do I shall never be able to hold on in a course of Duty I shall never conquer such Corruptions c. Now when God draweth but one Soul others are incouraged to run Psal 40. v. 1 2 3. I waited saith David patiently for the Lord he inclined to me and heard my cry He brought me up also out of an horrible Pit out of the miry Clay and set my seet up-a Rock and established my goings and he hath put a new Song into my Mouth even praise unto our God Many shall see it and fear and trust in the Lord. One blessed Martyr is upheld by God and Burns chearfully his ashes set many others on fire From hence it is that the conversation of Christians is a Winning conversation and Christians are persuaded to walk that others may be won by them There is nothing unlovely in the effects of special Grace Serenity and peace of Conscience contentation in all Estates Justice and Charity towards men they are all the effects of Grace and exceeding lovely in the Eyes of all reasonable Creatures 2. A second ground of this lyes in that Charity or good will toward men which is the steady effect of this grace whosoever is taught of God to love God is also taught to love men all men with a love of good will though the Saints only with a love of complacency or delight Two things in pursuit of this will be found the effects of true Saving grace in every Soul that hath been made partaker of it 1. First Such a Soul will reveal the grace that it hath received 2. It will excite and quicken others to look after their share in the same grace 1. First A gracious Soul is alwayes communicative Grace in the Soul is like new Wine in the Bottle which must have vent see David Psal 66. 16. Come and hear all you that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my Soul I cried unto him with my Mouth and he was extolled by my Tongue Christ when he healed the lame Man in the Gospel bid him that he should tell no Man of it yet he must go and publish it He never when he heals a Soul saith to it Tell no Man of it nay he saith the quite contrary When thou art converted saith he to Peter Strengthen thy Brethren Luk. 22. 32. Such a Soul cannot hold its peace Job could not eat his bodily morsels alone but much less can the Soul eat his Spiritual Morsels and let none know of it If the Woman in the parable could not find her lost Groat but she must call in her Neighbours and spend it upon them how shall a Man that discerns his lost Soul to be found his lost Peace and strength and liveliness to be recovered not call his Neighbours and tell them what God hath done for him Sorrow and joy both fill the Heart both pain it the communication of either unto others in some degree easeth it There are in the World Mysteries of other knowledge which Men have and do very studiously conceal because the more are made partakers of them the worse it is for those who got the first knowledge they get the less but it is otherwise as to Grace that is an inexhaustible Fountain all may have their fill of the Fountain of Living Waters and the Soul that makes first discovery of it to another loseth nothing by the discovery If Abraham knoweth any thing of the mind of God he will teach his Family therefore God will not hide from Abraham what he intends to do to Sodom Several reasons might be given why grace will not lye hid in the Soul Such a Soul apprehends it self under some Obligation of duty that of Christ to Peter when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren must not be understood as a special and particular precept 2. The Joy of that Soul that hath any evidence that it hath tasted of of this grace is such as cannot be concealed little Streams may be circumscribed by the Banks of the River but great falls and flows of Water will overflow them We cannot bite in great passions Nor can a greater joy fill the Soul than that which ariseth from the sense of God's special love either in the first Collation of it upon or the returns of it unto the Soul 3. Again this Soul knoweth That much of God's praise ariseth from his Peoples telling of his wondrous works you shall in Scripture observe it as a constant piece of God's Peoples thanksgiving and what we are often called to for Now the good report which a pious Soul
I do not misconceive him David seems in this to have failed Psal 22. 2 3 4. O my God saith he I cry in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent But thou art holy O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel Our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them they trusted in thee and were not confounded but I am a Worm and no Man a reproach of Men and despised of the People c. To silence this corruption so exceedingly natural to us let me offer a few things to thy thoughts 1. The first shall be the Lords Prerogative to shew mercy where he will shew mercy This our Saviour hints me in the Parable of the Labourers sent into the Vineyard Mat. 20. 15. when those who had wrought all the day received their penny in proportion to those who had wrought but a few hours they complained the Master of the Vineyard saies to them May I not do with my own what I please All influxes of grace are Gods own It is a prerogative that every one of us claims for himself to dispose of his love especially some degrees of it as we please why should we deny that to God which every one of us claimeth to himself The Prince will not allow the Subject to dispose of his favour no more will the Father allow it to his Child why should we think God is not at the same liberty especially considering 2. That God by it doth us no wrong You have this in the same Text Friend I do thee no wrong Mat. 20. 15. This now dependeth upon this hypothesis that the grace of God cannot be merited by any he that hath the greatest manifestations of Divine love hath them freely he who hath the least discoveries of it hath what he hath freely without any preceding merit in himself If God will let one of his Children walk in the light of his countenance and another to walk in the dark and see no light if he will treat one in Chambers another in a low and more common Room yet he doth not wrong to any There is no injustice in the case in appearance to us he sheweth indeed more severity to the one and more goodness to the other but he is unjust to neither because neither hath merited any thing that he receiveth 3. God hath with held from thee nothing for which he agreed with thee This is a third thing which the Master of the Vineyard told those labourers that repined because they had not more then those who had laboured less Mat. 20. 15. Did I not saith he agree with thee for a peny we can lay claim to nothing of anothers but either upon the plea of a Native right thus the Child laies claim to his Patrimonial Estate as heir at law or upon the account of purchase by vertue of some compact or agreement or some valuable consideration given him for it we can lay no claim to the Grace of God as our Patrimonial right as Heirs to it we are indeed called Heirs but it is by adoption nor upon the account of any valuable consideration given who hath given first to God and it shall be repaid to him again All the claim we can lay to any thing either of Grace or Glory is upon the account of a Covenant that God hath made with us or with Christ on our behalf and by us accepted when we come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ The question is what God hath agreed with us for he hath agreed with us for a Kingdom Fear not little Flock saith Christ it is your Fathers will to give you a Kingdom He that believes on me is not condemned saith our Saviour he is passed from death to life He hath agreed with us for all that grace and mercy which is necessary to bring us to this Kingdom That he will give us a clean heart and a new heart that we shall be kept by the power of God through faith to salvation But where hath the Lord agreed with the Souls of any of his people for equal measures of his manifestative love Nay plainly God in the Covenant of his Grace hath reserved himself a liberty to chastife and afflict his people either for the probation of Grace or for the punishment of sin and this is one species of affliction by which God doth both try the faith and patience and also correct the errors and miscarriages of the best of his people But you will say is not manifestative love promised I answer it is but so are not the measures of it nor yet the particular time for the discovery of it 2. It is but the matter of a conditional promise John 14 21. He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him Psal 50. 21. To him that ordereth his conversation aright I will shew the Salvation of God The promises of Eternal life and Salvation are made to Faith and holiness without which both which none shall see God but not to degrees of the one or of the other a weak faith may bring a Soul to Heaven so will an upright and sincere heart though incumbred with many lustings of the flesh against the Spirit but the case is otherwise as to some degrees of the manifestative love of God which much depend both upon degrees of faith and degrees of holiness also Our Saviour hath determined doubts and fears indications of little faith and reason will determine them inconsistent with much joy peace and comfort in the Soul that holiness in some good degree is necessary to our peace will appear to any Soul that considers that nothing but sin will break our peace with God So that if thou beest not conscious to thy self that thy faith is as strong as others and thy ways as perfect before God as theirs thou hast no reason to expect the same manifestations of Divine love No tho thou beest one who truly believest and truly lovest and fearest God God hath agreed with every believer for eternal life and salvation for pardon of sin and a clean heart and the upholding of him by his power unto salvation But he hath not agreed with every such Soul for the same measures of peace and comfort the same degrees of his manifestative love he hath reserved himself a liberty to reward those with these more special favours who walk most closely and exactly with him in their conversations Those therefore who find their Souls under temptations to repine at God for doing more for others then for them should do well to reflect upon themselves and to consider whether the faith of those others be not more strong and their walking with God more close and exact then theirs if it be they are not to wonder that their Souls are more highly favoured and more
Christ himself Is 53. 3. But how far is this from the duty of Christians where is the scorners Brotherly love and compassion how doth he forget that himself also is in the body and may be tempted Affliction is what may befall the best of men and who can scorn and despise a Christian fallen through infirmity and temptation that considers how David and Peter fell and that himself standeth by Grace and that the reason of his standing is because God keepeth off from him the like temptations that others meet with 4. It is our duty not so to look upon the Spouse in the day of her blackness as because of it to be scared from her company to shun and avoid her and to withdraw our selves from her either from advising and counselling her in order to her cleansing or doing what in us lieth in order to it Solomon saith A friend loveth at all times and a Brother is born for adversity If there were no obligation upon us from any religious bond or relation yet our participation of the same common humane nature ought to oblige us to pity counsel advise and what we can to help Persons in distress but Religion lays yet an higher tie upon us as it obligeth more specially to love the Church and to love the Brethren and to be Friends to those that are Christs Friends now a Friend loveth at all times Our Saviour in the Parable of him that fell amongst Thieves Luke 20. 31. determines him no Neighbour that seeing the man stripped of his rayment and wounded and half dead came and only looked on him and passed on the other side much less can such a one call himself a friend God by Obadiah tells the Edomites v. 11. of their standing on the other side when the strangers carried the Jews away into captivity Nor are we only obliged to this in case of the Spouses blackness through affliction but through sin also and corruption and that both in the case of the particular Christian and of the Church of God let me a little inlarge upon this because I fear there is too much failing of Christians upon this account 1. In the case of the particular Christian It is true there may be such faileurs of particular persons as may oblige conscientious Christians to shun an intimacy with them I have written to you saith the Apostle 1. Cor 5. 11. not to keep company if any man be called a Brother be a fornicator or covetous or an Idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such a one no not to Eatâ— 2. Thessal 3. 14. If any man obey not our Word by this Epistle note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed But observe the next words yet count him not as an Enemy but admonish him as a Brother I ought not wholly to withdraw my self from that man who may have so fallen as it may be my sin to have an intimacy of fellowship and communion with him I ought not to count him as an Enemy whom yet I may not make my intimate and bosom friend but what I can do by counsel and advice by reproofs and admonitions in order to his recovery I am bound not to neglect so as I ought not wholly to withdraw my self from him 2. In the case of a Church black through corruption the admission of undue mixtures of members of erroneous doctrine Supâ—rstitious rites c. it is undoubtedly our duty not to defile our selves by communion with her in those things wherein her blackness appeareth But it is also our duty not so to withdraw from it as to lend it none of our help There is indeed a time when God saith of a Church Wherefore come out from amongst them and be you separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a father unto you and yoâ— shall be my Sons and daughters saith the Lord God Almighty God said so to the Jews when Jeroboam set up the Calves at Dan and Bethel The honest Priests and Levites resorted to Judah out of all their coasts leaving their suburbs and possessions and after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came to Hierusalem to Sacrifice to the Lord God of their Fathers 2. Chron. 11. 16. But where God hath not said to a People you are not my People where Idolatry is not crept into the Worship of a Church nor such errors in Doctrine as destroy the foundations of faith and repentance tho it may be the duty of Christians not to be so blind as not to see manifest errors and corruptions and to mourn for them yet it is also their duty not so to look upon them as wholly to shun communion with such a Church so far as Christ owns it and to put themselves out of the obligations of charity and brotherly Love or to think themselves discharged from such obligations all the diseases and wounds of Churches are not incurable and we ought so far as we can to attend and indeavour the cure of them It is indeed a sad case when a Church is so far corrupted as to its officers and members as a Christian can see no hope of a reduction of it to the divine rule but certainly a great deal of waiting and patience in this case is our duty tho that a Christian can be obliged all the days of his life to keep in the communion of a Church in which he cannot injoy all the Ordinances of the Gospel according to the will of Christ is more then I know But it is one thing to Satisfy our own consciences as to the purity of acts of Worship and communion another thing wholly to reject cast off and condemn such Churches in which we cannot see such a purity It is apparent that in and after our Saviours time the Church of the Jews had wofull mixtures and were corrupted both in Doctrine and in Worship and in discipline indeed little in it was right The whole Ceremonial Worship was abolished by the death of Christ He pulled down that partition wall betwixt the Gentiles and the Jews and abolished the law contained in Ordinances yet observe the Apostles practice tho they kept their private meetings of the Christians yet they also went into the Temple and into the Synagogues and Acts 19. v. 8. When Paul came to Ephesus he went into the Jewish Synagogues and spake there for 3 Months disputing and perswading the things belonging to the Kingdom of God But when diverse were hardned and believed not but spake evil of that way before the multitude then indeed he departed from them and separated the disciples disputing daily in the School of one Tyrannus If the foundation Doctrines of the Gospel be any where denied or blasphemed the ways of God reproached in any Church and those that walk in them reviled and persecuted or Idolatry
see your good works Shew me thy saith by thy works faith James Faith without works is dead It were endless to reckon up the several Texts of Scripture by which God hath directed the Government of our Tongues our Eyes our Ears our Hands our Feet In short the several Precepts for good works are all proofs of this 2. It must be so if we consider what influence the heart and will affections have upon our whole outward man commanding all the outward members out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh from the dictates of the heart the Eye looketh the hand moveth the mouth speaketh the Feet turn this or that way So that if the Tree be good the fruit must be good also the Fig-tree brings not forth thistles nor the Vine thorns A naughty tongue eye hand foot is a certain indication of a corrupt and naughty heart 3. The â—â—liever is made conformable to Christ He went up and down doing good finishing the work which his Father had given him to do glorifying his Father on Earth doing his will manifesting his name no guile was found in his mouth no iniquity in his hand No iniquity towards God no unrighteousness towards men 4. See the Patterns of holy men upon Scriptural record Abraham and David all the holy Servants of God you will find their holiness did not lye only in the obedience of their heart but of their whole external converse a strict walking with God in obedience to his will 5. Observe the promises of God they are not onely made to Faith and Love and the more inward habits of the mind but to external acts such as Prayer hearing the Word Sanctification of the Sabbath shewing mercy to the poor doing justly walking righteously 6. The descriptions of holy men also make out this They are described to be men fearing God and eschewing evil walking in the Commandments of God Working righteousness all which expressions signify that a believer must not only be internally holy but externally so also Lastly the end which they serve shews also a necessity of it they are lights to inlighten the World and therefore they must not be hid under bushels They are Salt to season the World and therefore must be exposed to their use their end is to glorify God before men which cannot be without an external as well as an internal holiness thus the first thing appeareth I have passed over these things easy enough to have been extended into a much larger discourse Because it is a point so exceeding obvious and indeed agreed by all men The 2d thing is that holiness is a believers beauty it is so in the Eyes of Christ which is here spoken of Nor is this of any thing more difficult demonstration then the other What is that which we call beauty but an amiable external appearance of a Person arising from a Symmetry of parts a due mixture and Proportion of colours in conformity to some Original Pattern or Idea A Christians Original Pattern is God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be you holy at your Heavenly Father is holy As I am holy saith the holy Writ What can be a Christians beauty but his conformity to God and that amiableness which ariseth from that All Spiritual beauty is to be measured from the symmetry of the Soul to the divine law That which makes the Soul amiable to God and to all those who are like God This is holiness But I shall sum up all in some few Words of application I shall first observe from hence two or three Corollaries for our instruction then close all with a few words of exhortation Observe then That it is not enough for one that owneth the name of a believer to glory in a good inside There goeth a good outside as well as a good inside to make up a good Christian There are 2 Sorts of hypocrites and I am at loss with my self to determine which is worst The first sort glory in appearance but not in reality The Pharisees were of this Sort they were painted Sepulchers they made clean the outside of the platter of this Sort are men that pretend much to acts of devotion praying fasting hearing and acts of righteousness toward men and perhaps charity but are without any true faith in God or love to God full of malice and envy and cruelty and covetousness these are Pharisaical Hypocrites The 2d are such as will pretend to a good inside but they have a bad outside These men bite and devour their brethren lye and cheat and defraud and oppress neglect duties of Religion c. And yet tell you they have a good heart they have faith in God Love to God c. Thou Hypocrite shew me thy faith by thy works thy pretended Love to God by thy keeping his commandments Truly of the two these are the worst they pretend to holiness but which way will you look for it What notion of holiness have these men taken up Will you look for it in their conscientious constant attendance upon duties of publick Worship there you see their places empty or if they be filled observe their behaviour they are prating or sleeping or sporting or with their Eyes compassing the whole congregation Will you look for it in their private families There it may be you may hear the voice of Cursing or Swearing or reviling but the voice of Praying of reading the Word of those that sing praise unto God is seldom or never heard in their Houses Will you look for their holiness in their behaviour toward men you shall there find neither Justice nor Charity cheating defrauding Oppression cruelty hard-hearted behaviour c. Yet they will tell you they have good hearts Either now these men have Souls not like other mens Souls that have no command of their tongues and hands c. Or else they speak falsely I say these are of all others the Vilest Hypoerites 1. Because they have nothing good the first mentioned do some good things materially good they read fast pray walk justly give alms But these wretches have nothing do nothing at all that is good There is nothing good in their lives and that assureth us there 's nothing good in their hearts 2. These men do much more hurt then others do these are they that cause the name of God to be Blaâ—â—â—emed and evil spoken of Brethren be not deceived they are fifty men that you can impose upon but you cannot impose upon that God who searcheth the heart tryeth the reins Let none be deceived by the pretences of these Hypocrites The Spouse of Christ hath beautifull Cheeks and a beautiful Neck as well as a beautiful inside her Cheeks are comely betwixt rows of Jewels She hath a Chain of gold upon her Neck The laws and instructions of her Heavenly Father are an Ornament to her head and a Chain upon her Neck She durst not before men dishonour God Let this be the first
Doctors generally understand this of an ill savour strangely interpreting this Text of the Golden Calf which the Israelites made soon after they came out of Egypt after the commission of which Idolatry they say the name of the Israelites which before was exceeding sweet in the nostrils of God stank and had an ill savour But all of the most valuable interpreters of this Text understand it of a sweet and fragrant smell which alone is proper to Spikenard Thus far we have inquired out the Grammatical sense of the words Let us further inquire 1. What is meant by the King sitting at his table 2. What is meant by the Spouses Spikenard sending or giving out the smell thereof By the King that King is doubtless meant the same Person whom the Spouse in the two next verses calleth her Beloved by whom we have all along understood the Lord Jesus Christ the only question here is what is meant by his sitting at his table Some by it understand his Incarnation the time during which he tabled with us others his glorifyed estate so Tremellius I think Genebrard hitteth the sense right who saith the phrase Denotat praesentiam Christi cum Ecclesia signifyeth the presence of Christ with his Church Thus also Mercer interpreteth it while Christ saith he is present with his Church feeding it with his Word the Church sendeth forth the sweet smells of Faith grace and good works as Paul saith we are a sweet savour unto God And what he saith of the presence of Christ with the Church is as true concerning his presence with the particular Soul that believeth in him he who fitteth with another at the table hath a fellowship and communion with him while Christ vouchsafeth me his presence That I take to be the sense of this Phrase You read in the Gospel of a Marriage Supper which the King provided for his Son And Rev. 19. 9. You read of the Marriage Super of the Lamb and God promiseth Rev. 3. 20. That if any man opens to him while he standeth at the door and knocketh he will come in and sup with him Which phrases only note Gods nearness of presence intimacy of fellowship and mmunion with his People The next question is what is here meant by the smell thereof Tremellius translates it Nardinum that which is of spikenard taking the Suffix not as a Pronoun but as forming a Noun adjective So it should be read thus while the King sitteth at his Table that which is of Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof as if the smell related to the fulness of Grace which is in Christ But I shall rather follow our own translation To send forth its Smell saith Mr. Durham on the Text is to be in lively exercise Grace without smell or lively exercise being like flowers somewhat withered that savour not nor like unbeaten spice that sâ—nds not forth its savour My grace is in exercise that is his Sense But 2dly The smell of a thing is that which discovers a thing that both to our selves and to others Not only the motions and vigorous actings and exercises of grace but the Notifications and discoveries of it both to our selves and others depends upon Christs presence with and influence upon the Soul that is possessed of it Two Propositions of Doctrine arise from the words thus opened 1. Prop. That true grace will give its proper smell 2. Prop. The smell of the Saints grace doth much depend upon Christs influence upon them and communion with them I cannot but observe the connexion of this verse with the two former Her beloved had told her that her Cheeks were comely with Rowsrof Jewels her Neck with Chains of Gold he had been commending her for her grace holy conversation in the World Ay saith she while my beloved whiles the King sitteth at his Table my Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof So long as it pleaseth the Lord to keep my Soul company to vouchsafe me his gracious influence so long I can do something those habits of grace with which he hath blessed me so long send forth their smell but if he hath withdrawn himself from me if he withholdeth his blessed influences my grace moveth not smelleth not But before I can reach that I would willingly speak something to the first Proposition concerning the nature of true grace to send forth a smell a peculiar smell 1. Prop. True grace where it is will send forth a proper smell The Philosopher tells us that a smell is a quality of a mixed body which is drawn out by heat arising from a due temperament of things in it which are hot and moist But I have nothing to do with the Philosophical notion of a smell it is here without question taken Metaphorically and as I before hinted signifieth Motion and discovery In all smells that arise from things there is 1. Something of motion the thing giving out the smell moveth and sends some quality into the air The smell of grace signifies the motion and exercise of it 2. There is in smells something of discovery By the smell of a thing we both discover the place of the thing and know where it is and also the nature of things in a great measure I will open my meaning to you in this proposition in three conclusions shortly Where a truth of grace is in the Soul it will not lye hid but discover it self both to him that hath it and to others or at least to one of them A man may carry dust in his pocket and neither himself nor others with whom he converseth know it but he cannot so carry Musk or any odoriferous thing if it be open grace is a glorious light which God kindleth in the Soul and must not be hid the Kingdom of Heaven which is within us as well as that without us is like unto leaven which cannot lye long hid in the meal The Romans faith was spoken of throughout the World Rom. 1. 8. The elders obtained a good report Heb. 11. 2. Grace where it is will be heard of Eph. 1. 15. After I had heard of your faith and your love to all the Saints The like he saith to the Colossians Colos 1. 4. It is a thing to be seen in its fruits and effects Shew me thy faith by thy works and I will shew thee my faith by my works James 2. 18. The grace that dwelleth in Christ hath a favour so we had it before Because of the Savour of thy good Ointments therefore do the Virgins love thee Grace is the salt of the Soul Have salt in your selves saith our Saviour and sale must not be without a Savour It is compared to light to fire neither of which will be restrained Secondly grace doth not send forth a Savour only but a sweet savour like the Savour of Spikenard which is very grateful to the exterior senses Corruption and lust hath a savour The Savour of the body of death is like
objects Christ now cannot shew his grace to such a Soul the bank hinders where he pleaseth indeed he worketh secretly takes away the heart of stone and makes it an heart of flesh takes away unbelief vanity earthly mindedness sensual affections and then he emptyeth the treasuries of grace upon the Soul In a word to apply this No wonder then to hear many a poor wretch complain that God never yet spake peace to his Soul others indeed have heard their beloved hath said to others behold thou art fair my love behold thou art fair but they never yet heard such a voice Let me ask thee who thus complainest this question Did Christ ever yet hear thee say as a bundle of Myrrh is my beloved unto me he shall lye all night betwixt my breasts Hast thou served Christ with Ordinary expressions of duty How canst thou expect to be feasted by him with extraordinary returns of mercy If thy breathings after him have been faint and short what reason hast thou to expect that his breathings should be so full upon thee He is indeed a full ocean of free grace but it may be thou hast cast up a bank against him it may be thou hast clogg'd him with an hard heart and unbelieving heart a vain heart a filthy sensual heart Wonder not O Christian that he is so little towards thee in a way of mercy if thou beest scant towards him in thy way of duty There is a generation of men and women in the world who are taken notice of to behave themselves as if they thought that all the World were made to serve them and they not made to serve any but they are an unreasonable generation and sober persons so account of them and accordingly slight them Oh that there might not be such an unreasonable Christian found in the World who should so much as think in his heart that Christ stands concerned to open all his Treasuries of Love upon his Soul which in the mean time hath scarce a thought of doing any thing more than ordinary for the Lord Jesus Christ if thou findest thy heart cold in duty frozen in affections toward Christ wonder not at all if thou findest the bowels of thy Saviour which yern upon others tied up towards thee And I fear me this is the cause of most complaints of this nature although it may be possible that this is not the case of every such complaining Soul witness David Psal 22. 1 2 3 4. 2. What an ingagement doth this Notion of Truth lay upon the Sons and Daughters of men to stretch out their Souls for and towards God Certainly if there be any thing in the World of force to open a Soul for Christ this will do it to hear that Divine Grace keeps pace with our duty and that the proper way to have Christ speak to us and say Thou art fair my Love Thou art fair is for us to get up our hearts in a readiness to say and say it in truth As a bundle of Myrrh is my Beloved to me The Psalmist cries out Psal 34. 12. What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days that he may see good Depart from evil and do good seek peace and pursue it Give me leave to speak to all you who fear the Lord in the same dialect What man is there amongst you who would not gladly have Christ speak peace unto your Souls and whisper the words of my Text in your Ears Thou art fair my Love thou art fair O let Christ be yet more and more precious to you let him have the strength of your Love that you may have the seal of his Love let the World know and let him know that he is dear in your Eyes that you may know that you are fair in his Eyes But this is enough for the second Circumstance which I observed I pass to a third Thou art fair my Love thou art fair It is not said thou O man or thou O woman art fair but thou my Love art fair It is both the observation of our own Annotators and some others Obs The Spouse of Christ is fair as she is His Love I observed to you before that the word signifies Amica Socia a Friend and a Companion the Object of ones love and the Companion of ones life This is not after the manner of the Children of men amongst them Beauty raiseth Love but with Christ it is Love that raiseth Beauty Locutio verbi infusio Doni Christ in calling her fair makes her fair Ezek. 16. 14. Thy Beauty was perfect through my comeliness which was put upon thee saith the Lord God A good complexion with a lovely air of the countenance and a due proportion of bodily parts makes the Children of men fair to a sensual Eye An head well furnished with Notions of Learning and a mind indued with vertuous generous dispositions makes a man fair and beautiful to a rational Eye But it is Grace alone that can make the Soul fair to the Divine Eye 1. Nature doth it not for all are by Nature Children of wrath Eph. 2. 3. like the Infant not cut not washed not swadled Ezek. 16. We are by Nature all Blackamores in the Eyes of God our Father an Amorite our Mother an Hittite 2. Art will not do it Though thou wash thee with Nitre and take thee much Sope yet thine iniquity is marked before me saith the Lord Jer. 2. 22. The Pharisees were men who used as much Art as others yet their Beauty to our Saviour's Eye rose no higher than to the Beauty of a Painted Sepâ—lchre that outwardly is beautiful but within full of rottenness so little that our Saviour saith Publicans and Harlots should as to the Kingdom of Heaven have the preheminence before them 3. Grace then alone must do it Those who are Christ's Love are fair only so far forth as they are his Love his Companions There is a double Grace the first of Justification the second of Sanotification according to the first the Believer is Christ's Love according to the second the Believer is Christ's Companion 1. I say first the Grace of Justification this is gratia gratum faciens that Grace by which the Soul is accepted of God It is the free Love of God shewn to the humbled Soul upon its exercise of Faith pardoning its sins reckoning over the Righteousness of Christ unto it and accepting it as righteous in and through Christ this changeth the Soul's state this is it which taketh away its filthy garments and covereth the Soul with Christ's Robes with this is conjoined the Grace of Regeneration by which God changeth the Soul's nature and disposition old things pass away with it and all things become new this is no quality infused into us or inherent in us but the free and pure love and good will of Christ imbracing us 2. The second is the Grace of Sanctification this makes the Believer the Companion of
new birth Light I black am in your curious Eye And in my own much more But white in my Beloveds sight Since he hath paid my score XVI Look not on me because I 'm black With a too curious Eye Nor with disdain nor let my black Visage you satisfy Much less dis-colour you Behold Sisters and pity me My Blackness is not my delight Ah! 't is my misery XVII The Sun hath scorch'd me with its heat It is by that I am tann'd My Mothers Children also have Touch'd me with unkind hand Their Vineyard they would have me attend Mine own I did not keep The envious one hath collied me While I thus lay asleep XVIII What Souls will not Afflictions tann If they be sharp and long Or who is not discolour'd by Temptations if too strong Worldly distractions spoil the look Of a Religious mind But ah through negligence I have Been to my self unkind XIX But O thou whom my soul loves best Tell me where thou doest use At noon to feed thy flock At noon Do not my Soul refuse When as Afflictions scorch me most Be thou at hand to me And teach my Soul at such a time How it may come to thee XX. O thou Shepheard of Israel Let me but know the hour When most of thee I may enjoy Tast most thy Grace and Power By th' flocks of thy Companions I would not turn aside With thee alone I would converse Be thou O Lord my guide XXI Thou fairest she dost thou not know Where me at noon to see The footsteps of the flock will teach Thee the right way to me Feed by the Shepheards Tents for there I shall most surely abide The Shepheards that derive from me Shall be to thee a guide XXII I have compar'd my love unto The goodly company Of Horses which King Pharaoh draw Made strong by Unity Of Horses which march on to meet The armed men and ne're Do from the glittering Sword turn head But mock at Cowards fear XXIII Thy Cheeks my Love are comely made With rowes of Jewels given Thee by my self Thy lovely neck Adorn'd with Chains from Heaven I will yet give thee further grace Borders of Gold I 'le make And spots of Silver thou shalt have And for thine own them take XXIV O may my dearest Royal Lord From 's Table never stir How sweetly doth my spikenard smell While 's that he sitteth there Even his own Graces will not smell When he is gone from me His Grace in me doth daily need His Royal company XXV My well-beloved is to me Myrrh in a bundle tyed More precious medicinal and sweet Than all the world beside Betwixt my Breasts he shall have place There he shall alwaies lye It is the place for posies There I will this bundle tye XXVI Engaddi's Vineyards have their plants Of Camphire Cypress All Are names too short for me whereby My Dearest Lord to call My sweet companion thou art fair Thou lookest with Doves Eyes Eyes which both meek and harmless are Not sparkling Cruelties XXVII Thou hast a satisfyed Soul A rich contented mind A plain and clean and lowly heart Which is to others kind A tender heart a mournful Eye Exceeding quick These are The things which make me say again Thou art exceeding fair XXVIII Nay my Beloved thou art fair My beauty is to thee As nothing worse than nothing 't is But meer deformity Thou fair art and pleasant too Thy conversation's sweet Thrice happy souls to walk with thee Whom thou dost please t' admit XXIX When thou within my bed dost lodge How soon it waxeth green When thou art gone no fruitfulness In it at all is seen Not a good work at such a time Can my poor soul produce Not an heart chang'd in Churches when Thou art not in the Pewes XXX The Beams and rafters of thy house Of Cedar are and Fir. Sweet beautiful and strong they are Such as shall never stir Thy word and Ordinances Lord Support thy Church for ever O let my Sins within thy house Me sever from it never CHAP. II. MY dearest Lord I 'm like the Rose Which Sharons fields doth grace Like th' Lilly of the Vallies which Doth beautify its place A flower and the noblest flower Which in the Fields doth grow My structure smell and fruitfulness Thy Workmanship all show II. But Lord I dwell i' th' common field And in the Vallies there To winds and weather I 'm exposed I live in daily fear Lest Sharons herds would me devour Or tread me under-foot And leave me nought to speak me thine But only a true root III. As Lillies are amongst the Thorns So I my Love do see The Daughters of the peevish world Are grievous Thorns to thee Yet thou art lovely there and thrivest The ugly Thorns commend My fairest Love and do improve Her while they do her rend IV. My dearest Lord it is enough Amongst Thorns let me be If while I stand there thou wilt be A shadow unto me Amongst the barren Trees in Woods Let me converse if I Thee as an Apple Tree may have That there I do not die V. Thy shade thy pleasant fruit shall be To me enough for food And for protection too while I Traverse th' untrodden wood I like an Hermite sit and sing Thy Apples to my tast Do much excel what other Trees Afford the world for mast VI. God manifested in the flesh O how exceeding sweet When infinite and finite did In one Redeemer meet Thy suffering being tempted is When tempted my relief Saran would rob me of my all Thou hast disarm'd the Thief VII Lord thy compleat obedience Unto thy Fathers will Is all relieves me when I think How often I do ill While I do good But O thy death Who can describe that fruit Which all my soul necessities Exceeds while it doth suit VIII Thy Resurrection thine ascending Unto thy Fathers Th rone Thy sitting there at his Right Hand Thine intercession How sweet they are And then to think That thou again wilt come To Judgment not me to condemn But only fetch me home IX Thine Ordinances Lord in which Thy loves thou dost display The Hony and the Hony-Comb Are not so sweet as they The Spirits sacred fruit those sweet Influxes of thy Grace Are what alone me patient make Of sublunary place X. These things my house of mourning turn drop Into an house of Wine Wine not which from Earths Grapes doth But from thee the true Vine Thy Love O Lord thy Banner is O're me and makes men see Men who thee hate I do'nt belong Unto their company XI Thy Loves thy Banner teaching me Where to resort when move When I fight for a Victory Then I display thy Love 'T is that unites me unto thee And every one that 's thine Where e're those colours I but see I run to them as mine XII
Bridegroom whose it is to bless us with all spiritual blessings in and through him Supposing the latter the believing Soul directeth her request as her beloved directeth when he commands us to pray saying Our Father If the petition be understood as directed to the Lord Jesus Christ Let him kiss me is as much as Do thou kiss me Vicem nominis supplet vis amoris the force of her love supplyeth the omission of his name saith Lud. de Ponte It is a very usual dialect of Scripture to put the 3d Person for the 2d so the Psalmist God be merciful unto us and bless â—us But 3. Qu. What doth the Spouse mean by Let him kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth Some read it He did kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth Thus the ancient Chaldee Paraphrast Blessed be the name of the Lord who gave us his Law written by the hand of Moses his Scribe who wrote it in two Tables of Stone and spake with us face to face as a man who kisseth his Companions through the greatness of his love wherewith he loved us more than threescore and ten Nations But the stile of the Song is rather pathetical and optative than historical and narrative and it is rather referred to Christ as Mediator than to God the Father or the Lord Jesus Christ considered only as God over all blessed for ever besides that the Hebrew word being in the future tense referrs rather to the time to come than to the time past and I see no need of inventing a figure There is a threefold kiss of which you read in Scripture 1. The kiss of the feet Thus the penitent Woman Luk. 7. 38. kissed her Saviours feet 2. The kiss of the hand Job 31. 27. If my mouth hath kissed my hand 3. The kiss of the lips Prov. 24. 26. and so in many other Texts The Schoolmen tell us of a seven-fold kiss a kiss of 1. Love 2. Union 3. Reverence and Honour 4. Adoration 5. Reconciliation and Peace 6. Treachery as Joab kissed Abner and Amasa and Judas kissed Christ 7. Wantonness According to the usages of several Nations there were several sorts of kisses distinguished by their objects and ends they were wont to kiss the head lips cheek shoulders hands backs feet of their superiours inferiours and equals and that for several testimonies which yet I think are reducible to two heads For a testimony of honour reverence and subjection Thus Parents were kissed by their Children Jacob came near and kissed Isaac Gen. 50. 1. Joseph fell upon his Fathers face and kissed him Thus Exod. 18. 7. Moses went out to meet his Father in Law and did obeysance and kissed him and Orpah kissed her Mother in Law Thus the Persians were wont according to the differences of Persons in respect of quality to give differing kisses Equals kissed one anothers lips the Person who was but a little inferiour kissed his superiours Cheek The lower sort fell at their superiours feet and kissed them Thus Idolaters shewed their reverence to their Idols and the true Worshipers of God were by this distinguished They had not kissed Baal 1 Kings 19. 28. and the Idolaters in Israel said Let the men that sacrifice kiss the Calves Hos 13. 2. Thus also we are commanded to kiss the Son least he be angry Psal 2. 12. which Jerome translates Purely worship the Son This is now a kiss wherewith we ought to kiss Christ but this is not the kiss of the Text. Secondly Kisses were used for a testimony of love which sometimes was hypocritical and so the kissing deceitful such were the kisses of Joab and Judas ordinarily real which might be considered either as continued or interrupted Kisses were 1. Used in token of continuing love As appears by the several precepts of the Apostles regulating the use of them by a law of holiness and chastity Rom. 16. 16. 1 Cor. 16. 20 c. Or 2. In token of renewed love and reconciliation Thus Laban kissed Jacob upon their reconciliation Esau kissed Jacob and David kissed Absalom Beza thus gives the propriety of this testimony in affection Whereas our life lies in the breath which goeth out of our lips and our Soul goes away when our breath at last goes the joining of the friends lips and mouths signifies that they are so dear each to other that they could willingly unite Souls if it could be and bestow their lives each upon other The kiss of the text must needs be this In testimonium amoris for a testimony of love But still here remains a question whether she desires the kiss of Reconciliation 2. Or that which is a pledge of continuing love Those who understand the first confess a breach betwixt God and his Creatures which indeed there was made in the beginning of the world which breach is as to the meritorious part made up by the incarnation death and passion of Christ Indeed there was an ancient Covenant of Grace concerning it Gen. 3. revealed immediately but I say it was done quoad pretium by the incarnation and death of Christ according to those Texts 2 Cor. 5. 18 19. Col. 1. 21. Eph. 2. 16. according to the prophecy Dan. 9. 24. And as to the particular application of that purchase it is daily done by the Spirit of God working faith in us by which we are united to Christ Now the question is whether the Spouse here beggeth 1. Christs coming in the flesh being incarnate and dying for us for the fulfilling of the eternal Covenant of Reconciliation to which some encline 2. Or the kiss of Justification the actual reconciliation of the Soul unto Christ and application of Christ to the Soul by fâ—rth 3. Or The further influences of â— Love as pledges of that first Grace and Seals of that Original love of his to the Souls of his People Indeed the Eternal Son of God kissed us and he stooped much to kiss us when he took upon him our nature uniting finite and infinite corruptible and incorruptible when he nothinged himself for us and this was foreseen and so might be desired Abraham saw the day and rejoyced Joh. 10. 48. and not only Origen and Bernard of old but many modern interpreters think that the Spouse here hath a great respect to this matchless testimony of Divine Love which being granted the Text is no other than the breathings and pantings of the Church of God then living or the particular members of it after the Incarnation of Christ which doubtless was a great object of their desires Kings and Prophets and Righteous men desired to see the things which the Disciples saw and did not see them c. Others understand the text of those testimonies of Divine Love which followed the death of Christ particularly The sending of the Spirit It is true this is called The promise of the Father and was so under the old Testament Ezech. 36.
c. and it proceeds from Christ as the great testimony of his love nor indeed doth Christ otherwise testify his special love than by the influences of his Spirit but I cannot tell why we should restrain it to the particular dispensation in the days of Pentecost I think Piscator expresseth the sense well by suum erga me amorem patefaciat let him manifest to me his love let me know that he loveth me yet supposing it the Reconciled Believing Soul that speaks it seems rather to be understood of further grace than the first grace of regeneration and reconciliation unto God the desire seems to be a desire of free familiar communion with Christ This seems to be the main of her request the great sum of her desires the uppermost of her Souls concernments But observe yet further She begs but a kiss not let him imbrace me but let him kiss me She asketh modestly if saith the woman in the Gospel I might but touch the Hem of his Garment Thus the woman of Canaan also Truth Lord but the Dogs eat the crums Thus the Spouse If he would but kiss me Oh! how precious is the least of Christ to a gracious Soul It is better to be kissed by him than to lie in the worlds arms to be a Door-keeper in the House of God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness But thirdly The word is plural One kiss will not serve the turn she is not a stranger but a Spouse The plural number either imports 1. Various dispensations of Grace Or 2dly Repeated influences of the same Grace 1. It may be understood as denoting various dispensations of Grace Beza saith the Lord kissed the Soul thrice 1. In this life when he is by faith united to it 2. In the day of death when the Soul is taken up into the enjoyment of God 3. In the Resurrection when Body and Soul shall be united and together glorified Another reckons up 7 kisses with which the Lord kisseth his Peoples Souls The Grace of 1. Incarnation 2. The descending of the Holy Ghost 3. The preaching of the Gospel 4. Reconciliation to God 5. Sanctification 6. Divine Consolations 7. The kiss of Glory And the same Author makes the Spouses petition comprehensive of all these certain it is there are various dispensations of Grace there is quickning strengthening comforting Grace and there may be frequent repetitions of these to the Soul according to its particular wants and Gods favour towards it and you may indifferently understand the Text in either sense Fourthly The Spouse here doth not only desire kisses but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the kisses of Christs mouth concerning which observe these 2 things 1. The kiss of the mouth was the highest kiss This was the kiss of Love the kiss of Reconciliation Osculum pacis the kiss of the Hand Feet c. was a kiss of honour and reverence and subjection the kiss of the mouth was the kiss of love and friendship of peace and reconciliation 2. I find most Interpreters hinting by this expression something yet more special viz. Communion with Christ in his word The word indeed is the fruit of the lips and cometh out of the mouth and God may seem in some propriety of speech to kiss the Soul with the kisses of his mouth when he speaks to it in his word The Lord will speak peace to his people saith the Psalmist and I create the fruit of the lips peace peace saith the Lord by his Prophet Isaiah some expositors to further this notion have observed that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies sometimes to instruct but I cannot find that usage of it in holy writ Grace is poured forth upon Christs lips she desires those kisses some drive the notion higher observing the difference between the Doctrine of the Law and that of the Gospel the first is terrible the second sweet and comfortable holding forth nothing but the love of God in Jesus Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their sins hence the Gospel is called The word of reconciliation Lastly She saith Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth She desires not only to hear the Doctrine of the gospel but that Christ should speak it to her The Preacher speaks to the Ear Christ to the heart Quoties ergo in corde nostro quod de divinis dogmatibus sensibusque quaerimus absque monitoribers invenimus toties oscula nobis á Sponso esse data verbo Dei credimus saith Origen so often as we find God by his word Speaking to our hearts so often doth our beloved kiss us with the kisses of his mouth This is sufficient to have spoken for the Explication of the matter of the Text. There onely remains something more circumstantial to be observed The words are Vox Sponsae The Voice of the Spouse According to the civil usage of our Country and I think most others the Lover speaks first Here the Spouse begins It is so betwixt God and the soul Christ speaks first He is found of those that seek him not and of those that enquire not after him He first loves us and our Love to him proceedeth from his Love first manifested to us But you must not understand her that speaks as one that is a stranger and in a state of disunion with her beloved but as one that is already espoused and made a Spiritual Bride not desiring first grace but further grace which she needeth as well as the first grace for he giveth both to will and to do he is both the author and the finisher of faith and other grace Secondly The words are Vox Volentis The Language of a willing Soul Willing that Christ should come near unto it and take it up into fellowship and communion with himself God's people are a willing people They are indeed made so by a divine power Psal 101. 2. But Certum est nos velle cum volumus saith Aug. It is God who makes us of unwilling Willing When he hath had his first work upon our wills and subdued that strong hold unto himself Then we are willing Nay more Thirdly They are Vox cupientis The voice of a panting Soul not barely content that Christ should kiss it but passionately desiring his kisses They are as much as Oh! that he would kiss me Every gracious Soul passionately desireth fellowship and Communion with Jesus Christ Oh! saith holy David when wilt thou come to me Neither is this all the words are not onely to be considered as a good wish or passionate desire but as a fervent prayer Lastly therefore they are Vox supplicantis the Language of a praying soul where observe What she beggs Not riches not honour not pleasures not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the good things of fortune but the riches of grace her Petition is like that of David Lord lift thou up
Church understands it of the Doctrine of the Law which also suiteth with Davids high commendation of the Law of God in his 19 Psal and in the 119. more largely 2. But reading it Loves possibly they may better interpret it who understand it concerning the Graces of Gods Holy Spirit When we speak of the Grace of Christ we either understand that goodness which is essentially in him as he is the fountain of all Grace full of Grace and Truth the fulness of the God-Head dwelling in him or that goodness which he communicateth to his People in the free pardon of their sins and acceptation of their Persons Or 3 dly Those fruits of his Spirit which abide and dwell in us such as faith love I find some Interpreters both ancient and modern interpreting the Text of the latter So Gregorius Mag. That love to thee and to my Brethren which thou hast wrought in my heart But Beza observeth That it is not usual to Saints to commend their own graces and therefore doubtless it is to be understood of that Grace which is and remains in Christ subjectively of which we are the Objects and to this sense agree the most sober and spiritual Interpreters making the phrase to signify that sweet pleasure which the Soul takes from the feeling of Christs love And possibly this is that Vis lactandi that suckling vertue which Delrio mentioneth which Christs puts forth refreshing the Souls of his Saints with his consolations The word is in the plural number by which the Hebrews were wont not onely to express a multitude of things but also the infinite vertues and dimensions of any thing You must not think saith Beza That in the One Essence of God there are more numerical loves No in him all things are one and he is one But his grace is manifold in respect of our feeling and apprehension and he deals out his love to us in different measures according to our different necessities or capacities The Chaldee Paraphrast with some of the Heb. Doctors understand here the Concret by the Abstract and interpret God's loves to be his beloved people of the Jewish Nation whom he preferreth before Wine viz. before any other Nations threescore and ten Nations to which purpose by their Cabalistical Art they have found out the numerical letters for 70 in the word which we translate Wine But I shall not insist upon so fond and improbable a Notion Having therefore spoken Enough for the Explication of the Subject Thy loves Let us indeavour to understand what is praedicated of this Subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are better then Wine good before wine saith the Heb. Text which is but the same thing in their dialect who so use ordinarily to express the Comparative degree 1. Good in the Philosophical notion of it is whatsoever is the Object of our desire the nature of it lying in a convenience and sutableness of the thing unto our natures which makes it desirable which a thing may be either upon the account of pleasure or profit or nobleness Accordingly the Heb. word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is variously translated merry Esther 1. 10. Beautiful Ruth 3. 7. Thy loves are more good i. e. more sweet pleasant profitable than Wine 2. Wine in its primary signification is the juice of the Grape whose proper Effect it is to make the heart of man merry Psal 104. 15. But this were too low a signification for it in this Text. We must therefore allow a figure The Hebrews were wont under the notion of wine to express all other delectable and pleasant things Hence Ahashuerus his feast is called A Banquet of Wine though it cannot be imagined that Wine was all the guests had for their intertainment It is an usuall Synecdoche to express all things that fall under a common genus by some Eminent Species Some of the ancient Rabbies understood by Wine here quamcunque Laetitiam whatsoever is pleasant and acceptable And in that sence Mercer and the best of modern Interpreters agree For that other interpretation which some make of it who understand by loves Gospel Doctrine and by Wine the Doctrine and dispensation of the Law though it seemeth to have some advantage by the use of Wine in the legal oblations and it be a truth That the Doctrine and dispensation of the Gospel being more sweet and perfect is better than that of the Law which brought nothing to perfection Yet I cannot think it the sense of this Text. Let us conclude then that the words are the Language Either of the Church of God preferring the injoyment of God in the Doctrines and dispensations of his word and Gospel or the words of the believing Soul preferring the influences of divine grace before the sweetest of all creatures comforts And this I take to be the most free and consistent sense and interpretation of the words The particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be conceived here to have a double use Either To give a reason of her former desire that her beloved should kiss her with the kisses of his mouth Which she professeth to be like theirs who desire wine They desire that because it is good She desires these because there is a far greater goodness in these heavenly influences than there is in the best of created comforts by which she shews that she was not carried out to these desires insano quodam affectu sed prudente consilio saith Beza by prudent advice and deliberation reason dictating to us the choice and desire of the things which are most excellent Not by an heady and misguided passion Or else to make an argument which might be advantageous to her for the obtaining of her request drawn from the Estimate of Christs love with which her Soul was possessed Lord I esteem thy favour to me above all created comforts in the world Therefore let not my Soul want it And so it suteth with that of David Psal 4. 6. Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness into my heart more than the time that their Corn and Wine increased And thus these latter words of the Text contain the Spouses first Argument by which she urgeth her petition mentioned in the former part of it She proceedeth v. 3. V. 3. Because of the Savour of thy Ointments Thy name is as ointment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love thee The Sept. translate it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Vulg. Latine joyneth the former part of this verse to the former thus Thy breasts perfumed with the best ointments are better than Wine The difference is not much nor is it an easy labour to determine it because the points and stops which make it are of no great antiquity at least as some think the Hebrew translated for a word seemeth to be thus To the smell of thy good Ointments Thy name is as Oil or Ointment poured out
and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 desideravit he hath desired Love is nothing else but a willing of good to the object beloved and desire is the eldest Daughter and first fruit of love For the particles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore they shew the cause of the believers loving of the Lord Jesus Christ because of the savour of his good Ointments The excellencies of grace which are in him of which it hath a spiritual sense This whole verse comprehends a second Argument by which the Spouse inforceth her first petition The first was drawn from that high esteem which her soul had of the love and grace of Christ 2. This is drawn from that particular affection which she had for him common to all spiritual Virgins which she shews was not brutish and irrational no it was because he was full of grace which was more precious than the most excellent Ointments and she had received the savour of this grace for his discovery of himself to the world as a Saviour and more specially to her soul as her Saviour was as an Ointment poured forth You may now take the substance of these two verses and so of the Spouses first and great petition thus Oh! That it might please my dearly beloved Saviour who is my Spiritual Bridegroom to shew me some token of special love and to multiply those tokens to me more specially in and by the words of his Mouth in Gospel Doctrines to speak unto my Soul which doth really prefer the tokens of his love and influences of his grace before the most choice of all creature comforts My beloved is full of grace and love which is sweet like good Ointment every discovery of himself is as sweet as Ointment poured forth therefore doth my Soul love him and not my Soul only but the Souls of all those who are not deflowered by the world and by lusts From the words thus opened several propositions of truth may be observed The mercies which the believing Soul thirsts after are spiritual distinguishing mercies The least of Christ a kiss is exceeding precious to a gracious Soul Though the least influences of grace be precious to believers yet they will not be satisfied without the fullest dispensations of grace and most frequent repetitions of it Believers have special thirstings after the Word of God The kisses of his Mouth The thirst of a true believer will not be satisfied without a Spiritual inward communion with Christ in his Ordinances The kisses of his Mouth A gracious Soul will be very bold and earnest with God for this spiritual communion with him The Lord Jesus Christ hath Loves A variety of Grace The Loves of Christ are better than Wine than all created comforts whatsoever The believing Souls knowledge of the Excellencies which are in Christ is the ground of its earnest desire of fellowship and communion with him It is an excellent Argument for a Soul to use with God for the obtaining of favours from him if it can truly say that it preferreth his favour before all created goods The Lord Jesus Christ hath good Ointments which cast a savour The name of Christ is as an Ointment poured forth Virgin Souls love the Lord Jesus Christ for those excelling graces which they discern in him Sermon II. Canticles 1. v. 1. 2 3. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth for his loves are better then Wine Because of the savour c. I Have in my former Exercises opened the Text and named those propositions of Doctrine which are couched in the words or rationally to be deduced from them I come now to the particular handling of them beginning with the first The thirst of a believing Soul is after Spiritual distinguishing mercies Nature teacheth every one to say who will shew us any good Good is a thing that all the creation is enamoured upon God is the fountain of all goodness Every good and perfect gift cometh from above from him who is the father of lights Who being not a debtor to the creature must needs dispense it out freely Hence that goodness of God which is his goodness of Beneficence not only dwelling in him as a piece of his divine perfection But flowing from him as a stream from the fountain of his liberality is properly called Mercy whether it be good to us in respect of its sutableness to our outward and bodily wants or to our more inward and Spiritual necessities Hence the Mercies and savours of God are either Bodily respecting out outward Man or Spiritual respecting our inward man The former such now as life health peace and prosperity riches c. are such as God gives to his Enemies as well as to his Friends he maketh his Sun to rise upon the evil and the good And sendeth rain on the just and unjust Math. 5. 45. Spiritual good things again are either Gifts of common or of Special Grace Gifts of common grace such as knowledge invention memory utterance c. These are indeed Spiritual gifts so called by the Apostle 1 Cor. 12. 1. ch 14. 1. because given out by the Spirit of God and tending to innoble the Spiritual part and they are also called the best gifts 1 Cor. 12. 31. They are so in their kind better than those which only concern the outward man but St. Paul himself mentioneth better than these in the very same Text I shew you a more excellent way Neither are these distinguishing favours but given in common to wicked as well as to good men But now there are Spiritual mercies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so called Not only because they come from the Spirit of Grace and innoble the Spiritual part of man but because they are suted to the greatest necessities of our inward man Such are the grace of Justification Union to and reconciliation with God pardon of Sin and the Senses of that pardon together with all the fruits of the Spirit of regeneration and Sanctification These are the distinguishing favours of God which difference the Child of God from him that is not Now I say these are those favours which the believing Soul thirsteth after and longeth for expressed here under the Metaphor of kisses And properly expressed under that notion Men and women use not to kiss such as they hate but such as they have an affection for It is a civil usage amongst us so to salute strangers indeed but frequency of kisses speaks a distinguishing love and some intimacy of Affection and are not ordinary unless amongst very intimate Friends such as is the Husband and Wife Brethren and Sisters c. But yet a little further When Isay the thirstings of gracious Souls are after such distinguishing tokens of divine love I understand it not Exclusively The Children of God are made up of flesh and blood as well as any others and subject to the same necessities and infirmities
hope there 's none who hears me this day but is sometimes breathing out the desires of his Soul unto God in Prayer Oh! let this be the lauguage of your Prayers Let him kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth Let others beg of God Riches and Honours and the favours of Men Let others beg the golden Ring but do you desire the kiss Consider The Soul of the rational Creature stands obliged by the law of reason to desire the best things Is there any thing to be compared with special grace this is that more excellent way which the Apostle propounds to be coveted before the best gifts You read in the book of Esther ch 5. v. 9. 11. concerning Haman that he called for his Wife and tells her of the great honour to which the King had advanced him and of his great Riches but saith he all this availeth me nothing while I see Mordecay suting in the Kings Gate When the poor worlding sits down and thinks how God hath blessed him with Riches Honours and whatsoever contentments the creature can afford him hath he not cause to say All this availeth me nothing whil'st I have no assurance of the love of God whil'st for ought I know or have reason to believe the wrath of God may be flaming against me and I one of those who shall after all these sweet enjoyments spend an Eternity in that fire which is prepared for the Devil and his Angels Riches profit not in the day of Wrath no nor any thing else will profit in that day but an interest in Christ How much better is a dinner of Herbs with the love of God than great Treasures with his hatred A morsel of bread with an interest in Christ than a stuffed Ox with the wrath of God Secondly These influences alone will evidence distinguishing love Indeed other gifts may possibly speak no love at all The Israelites desired a King God granted them their desires and saith by his Prophet that he gave them a King in his Wrath. It may be truly said concerning the gifts of God to many a poor Creature he gives them Riches in his Wrath Honours in Wrath outward prosperity in Wrath outward good things dipt in divine vengeance the wrath of God may smoke against them while the quails are betwixt their teeth Poenalis nutritur impunitas This is a secret of Divine Justice which every one seeth not It is the saying of a devout Author that God often useth impios melle suo punire to punish wicked men with their own Hony But God never gives a kiss in Wrath he cannot give osculum Iscarioticum where he kisseth he loveth God throws the good things of this life amongst his Enemies his Friends living in the same world it may be get something of them but they are no distinguishing mercies But whomsoever he kisseth that Soul is certainly beloved of him Thirdly There are no petitions please God so well as those which are put up for spiritual things When Solomon begged of God a wise and understanding heart it is said that the saying pleased the Lord well Yea God shewed that it pleased him well for he received in abundance what he asked not Nor is this hard to be conceived by us who have the same affections towards our own Children had any one of us who are Fathers 2 Children and we should put it to their choice what they would ask of us and the one should ask that we would settle so much land upon him the other should tell us he desired not our lands but should importunately beg that his Father would love him best would not the latter please you best should we not be ready to give that Child-more than it asked You read of the two Daughters of Naomi Orpah and Ruth Ruth 1. 14 15. they both followed their Mother in law while she was full but when she was empty Orpah kisseth her Mother in law and leaveth her Naomi would have had Ruth have done so too but v. 16. Ruth refuseth and tells her Whither thou goest I will go and where thou lodgest I will lodge thy People shall be my People and thy God shall be my God where thou diest I will die and there will I he buried Which is as much as if she had told her that she valued the company of her Mother above all other concerns Did not this think you indear her to Naomi and certainly nothing can more endear a soul to God than for it to judge his favour better than life and his loves more than Wine Now to engage your hearts to prefer the kisses of God before any other good things with which the hand of his providence can make you happy there needs no more than that you should be truly possessed with the notion of your own wants and rightly understand the differences of good He that knows how much more excellent than the Body the Soul of man is will quickly understand that those things which are proportioned to its wants are more desirable goods than those which are only suted to our more outward concerns Study but the excellency of the love of God and the vanity and Earthliness of the Creature the state of your souls by nature and with respect to that guilt which by multitudes of Sins you have contracted from which nothing can excuse you but the blood of Christ nor any thing evidence your absolution to quiet your accusing and condemning consciences but the kisses of his Mouth and you will need no more to evince to you that these coelestial kisses are of all good things the most excellent the most desirable which being well understood the rational Soul directly moveth to a choice and desire of them above and before all other things Sermon III. Canticles 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth IT is the Spouse that speaketh she saith not Let him embrace me nor as elsewhere He shall lie all night betwixt my breasts but Let him kiss me Quid tam minimum submissum quam osculetur me is De Ponte his note upon the Text. A kiss is the least token of conjugal love and affection Hence observe The least tokens of Christs special distinguishing love are very desirable to believing Souls The free Love of God shining out through Christ upon souls predestinated unto glory in the pardoning of their sins the acceptation of their persons the renewing of their natures in strengthening quickening comforting influences of grace is what we call the distinguishing Love of Christ being not the effects of his Philanthropy but his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now the tokens of this are more or less or may be so called According to the degree of their Emanation from Christ and the Spirit of Christ Or According to our judgment and apprehension or Estimation 1. According to the degree of their Emanation God whose heart is at all times the same towards his people yet is pleased gradually to
discover it and to manifest himself unto his people As the Sun in the Firmament whose Light in it self is alwaies the same and which hath alwaies the same ability and aptitude to illuminate the Air and to refresh the Earth with its Beams yet gives out its Light variously according to its position in the Firmament or aspect upon the Hemisphere its nearness to or distance from the Object to be inlightened or refreshed or as it is more or less hindered by the interposition of Clouds or Vapours so doth the Sun of Righteousness also diffuse his Beams variously Or as indeed a prudent Father though at all times his heart be full of love to his Children yet in the discoveries and manifestations of it he governeth himself by his own prudence relating to the Child 's good and with respect to the Child's behaviour and demeanour towards him So though whom God loveth he loveth with a great love and to the end yet as to the discoveries and manifestations of it he governs himself by his own Infinite Wisdom and with a great respect to his Peoples carriage and demeanour towards him Hence it is that though every Child of God be beloved of God with the same special and distinguishing Love yet every one lives not under the same manifestations and emanations of it He sheweth to some more to some less to some scarcely any according to the Wisdom of his Counsel and the good pleasure of his own will One soul shall have just light enough to discern that the day is broke in his soul that the Sun is arisen with healing in his wings upon him another shall hardly have so much light as to discern that but shall walk in the dark and see no light Another shall have the Sun of Righteousness more fully shining upon him and be able to say with Job I know my Redeemer lives and that I shall see him with these Eyes and though Worms shall destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God Or with Paul Rom. 8. 38. I know and am persuaded that neither life nor death nor any thing shall separate me from the Love of God in Jesus Christ Yea the same soul shall sometimes see its Beloved standing as it were behind the wall and looking in upon it through the Lattice see him in a Glass darkly another time it shall see him with a fuller sight as in the house with it face to face One while it shall only see as by a Wicket of hope open and possibly but imperfectly open neither another while its vision shall be as it were of the Heavens opened and Christ sitting at the right hand of God making intercession for it 2. The more or less of special and distinguishing grace is often measured by the soul's apprehension and particular fancy which judgment possibly is not alwaies according to Truth but yet such as we ordinarily make Thus we commonly judge the comfortable reflections of Divine Love to be the greatest tokens of it The sweetest indeed they are but possibly the strengthening Influences of Divine Grace by which the soul is inabled to perform its spiritual duties and to fight the good fight both against motions to sin from within and temptations to sin from without may be no less manifestations of special and distinguishing grace But take your measures how you will the gracious soul valueth at an high rate the least manifestations of such grace as may evidence to it that it is beloved of God with a special and distinguishing love I do not say the least of these will satisfie such a soul That it will not for the soul in which God hath caused by his Spirit a spiritual thirst after himself is continually crying out Give Give The soul will not be satisfied until in the Resurrection it awakes with God's likeness but in the mean time the least influences of this nature will be to it very precious and desirable The truth of this Proposition will appear to you from the petitions of several of the Servants of God in holy Writ more eminently those which we read of concerning David Psal 4. 6. There be many that say Who will shew us any good Lord saith he lift up the light of thy countenance upon me and in the following words he declares that it should be more to him than the worldlings Harvest or Vintage greater matter of gladness than their increase of Corn Wine or Oil And Psal 84. 9. he asks no more than that the Lord would look upon the face of his Anointed What can be less than Beholding and giving the soul a good look The liberty that the Birds of the Air the Swallow and the Sparrow had to make their Nests about the Lord's Altars one would think argued but a small favour yet David prefers their condition before his One would think the Office of a Door-keeper in the Lord's House were but a small preferment yet David valueth it above a Mansion in the Tents of wickedness The several expressions which David maketh use of in the Psalms to testifie his desires after God such as Beholding Looking upon him Remembring him c. are all evident proofs of this The Woman Luk. 7. 38. counts it honour enough to sit at Christ's feet to wash his feet with her tears and then to wipe them with the hairs of her head The Woman of Canaan is called a Dog and contented with it so she may but lick up the Crumbs under her Master's Table You read of another Woman that cried out If I may but touch the Hem of his Garment The Prophet Zechariah foretold of a time when men should take hold of the Skirt of a Jew saying We will go with you for we have heard God is with you Any thing of Christ is precious to a soul that hath once tasted how good he is Joseph of Arimathea must have his dead body and the Disciples must run to the Sepulchre where he was laid The People of God of old had a favour for the dust of Zion and the stones thereof But much more precious must the least emanations of that virtue be which is in him suited to the wants the spiritual wants of poor souls What can be less than a look a smile a word yet we find these have been very precious to the People of God What can we think of less than the hearing of a Prayer yet David esteemeth this ar an high rate Psal 116. 1 2. For this he professeth his love to God and his resolution to call upon him so long as he lived One would think that of all other Fellowship and Communion with Christ a Fellowship with him in his Sufferings were least desirable St. Paul glorieth in this and speaks of it as a thing desirable Phil. 1. 10. ch 3. 11. And we read of the Apostles praising God that they were thought worthy to suffer for the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ The same Spirit that was in all these
knowledge convictions and faith and proceedeth upon the same reason upon which any reasonable creature valueth a greater and more comprehensive good above what is of an inferiour vertue and more insignificant Nor is this other than according to the workings of our Souls in other cases towards Creatures which we have made the objects of our love The good look and smile of an Husband a letter from him a small token be it never so small how welcome and acceptable is it to the Wife The reason lies in her love to her Husbands Person To you that believe saith the Apostle he is precious It is impossible indeed rationally impossible that a Soul should believe take it in what sense you will but it must love the Lord Jesus Christ Take believing as it signifies no more than a firm and steady assent to the proposition of the word revealing Christ to us as he is the eternal Son of God the brightness of his Fathers glory the express image of his Person full of kindness to the Sons of Men pitying them taking a delight in them willing to save them and to communicate of his fulness to them and to this end coming from Heaven to Earth clothing himself with out flesh encompassing himself with creature infirmities then dying upon the Cross that he might purchase us unto himself c. I say it is not possible that a Soul should firmly and steadily assent and agree to these things but he must love Christ But if you take believing in the second sense as it signifieth the Souls receiving of him as its Lord and Saviour its resting and relying upon him and trusting him with all its Spiritual and Eternal Concerns it is impossible but that the Soul should have a love for him above all created Objects and having so it cannot but naturally desire to be mutually beloved and be passionately desirous of some evidences of it and the least evidences of the reciprocations of love on his part who is so exceeding dear in the Eyes of the Soul must needs be exceedingly desirable to and valuable by that Soul This is yet further advantaged from the consideration of the exceeding low Opinion and Estimate which grace teacheth every soul upon whom it hath shined to have and make of it self The proud man valueth nothing but great things from his friend nay he scarcely thinks any thing great enough for him to put any value upon The reason lies in the high opinion which he hath of his own worth and merit but the humble man puts a value upon the least kindness because he hath a low and mean opinion of himself so he looketh upon every thing as more than he could merit or challenge Naaman huffs when the Prophet sends to him to go and wash in the waters of Jordan he expected the Prophet should have come out and stroked him and he thought the Waters of Abana and Parphar were as wholsome as those of Jordan were The Centurion desireth but a good word from Christ when Christ spake of coming to his House Mat. 8. 8. Lord saith he I am not worthy thou shouldst come under my roof The Woman of Canaan knowing her self to be a Dog challengeth no more than Crums Every gracious Soul is sensible that it deserveth nothing but Hell and Wrath this makes the least tokens of Divine love highly valuable in its Eyes who am I said Elizabeth that the Mother of my Lord should come to me who am I saith an humble Soul that the Lord should look upon me that the Sun of righteousness should shine so much as with one healing beam upon my Soul Hence it valueth the least tokens of special love It valueth nothing less than that this proceedeth from its knowledge and spiritual judgment of things that differ It valueth the least of this This proceedeth partly from its knowledge partly from that humility with which it is clothed as with a Garment 7. Lastly This Soul knoweth that Christs Love will not terminate and be bounded with little things The least tokens of distinguishing Love are but the Earnests of a greater bargain they are but the first-fruits to a larger Harvest Those that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God Psal 92. 13. God at first gives the soul but a good hope a glimpse of his glory but it shall go on from faith to faith and strength to strength Are the least tokens of Christs distinguishing Love so valuable so desirable what should then his fullest and largest tokens be the things which God hath prepared for them that love him which Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard nor can it enter into the Heart of man to conceive The Assurance of his Love The Manifestations of himself to his Saints in glory If it be so sweet so desirable to see him in a glass darkly what will it be to see him face to face If his kisses be so desirable what will his imbraces be If the Hem of his Garment be so full of vertue and a touch of that so desirable what is his long white Robe which is the white linnen of his Saints If a good word a good look be so good what will it be to be set as a seal upon his Heart and upon his arm Surely that love will be as strong as death as the coales of that fire which send forth a vehement flame Let this notion of truth and the experience which any of your souls have had of the truth of it kindle in you further flames of desire after the further enjoyments of Christ in this life Imperfect tasts of desirable things use to do so in other things Quo plus sunt potae plus sitiuntur aquae Yet in all created goods there is ordinarily more in expectation than fruition but it is not so in Spiritual things The Apostle prayeth for the Ephesians That they might be able with all Saints to comprehend what is the breadth and length and depth and heighth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that they might be filled with all the fulness of God Eph. 13. 18 19. It is most certain that there are many holy and gracious Souls that want assurance they may live they may die without it but that Soul hath nothing of grace that doth not desire it that doth not thirst and pant after it 2. What will it be to be ever with the Lord what an object of spiritual thirst and desire is a fulness of communion with our Lord in his Fathers House when we shall know as we are known see Face to Face How should this fill all our hearts with desires to be dissolved that we might be with Christ which is best of all The least of Christ is good but that full fruition is best Let this discourse leave some strong pantings in your hearts 1. After the assurance of Gods love 2. After the further manifestations of Christs strength
to and in your soul to inable you further to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. 3. After the beatifical visions of God in another life Learn hence the great difference there is betwixt earthly and spiritual objects of our desires and delights The worlds Crums are little valuable tho some are fond of its Loaves The good things of the world derive much of their value from the quantity of them that it throws into our laps The minimum quod sic the least portions of the pleasures profits or honours of it have little of value in them but the least of Christ is exceeding precious the things of the world affect not the Soul or or its necessities they are not certain pledges of greater measures they will go but a little way to fill the creatures emptinesses but it is otherwise with Spiritual blessings in and through Christ Thirdly You may from hence observe the difference betwixt the Hypocrites and the Saints desires after Christ An Hypocrite may pretend some desires after Christ nay he may really desire something of his love consider Christ as a Saviour as one that brings the Soul to life and immortality so he must necessarily be the object of the desire of every man that hath any view of his own mortality and that Eternal State to which man is ordained Even Balaam saith Oh that I might dye the death of the Righteous that my latter end might he like his But mark ye these are the fullest manifestations of Divine Love these are more than the kisses of his Mouth but for those tokens of love which are below these for such manifestations of the love of Christ as tend to the inabling of the Soul to serve and glorify God by the subduing of Mans will to the will of God the mortification of lusts and corrupt affections these are not at all valuable to a sensual man not indeed to any but to the changed and renewed Soul I do not know any one thing from which a Man may take better measure of himself and a good Christian may better distinguish himself from one that walketh in a vain shew and meerly glorifieth in appearance than this To a good Christian the least of Christs distinguisâ—iâ—g love is exceeding precious and more precious than the greatest portions of the worlds goods The workings of the Spirit of Christ within and upon the Soul subduing the will of Man to the will of God mortifying our Members and the deeds of the Body Taking the affections off the Earth and Earthly things and fixing them on more sublime and spiritual objects the giving of the Soul a good hope through grace these are things which we usually count some of the least tokens of special and distinguishing love Really they are great things nothing of Christ is little but we judge ordinarily according to sense we ordinarily esteem a sense or assurance or full persuasion of the love of God a much greater thing than these But now for a Soul to set an high price and value upon these to be more satisfied more to triumph and rejoice in the conquest of a lust the victory over a temptation than in the conquest of all our Enemies More to desire that our hearts may be filled with love to God desires after God delight in God than to have our Barns filled with Corn or our Purses with Gold and Silver this I take to be such a difference between a Christian indeed and a Christian in a meer Name Title and outward Profession as a Christian may rest in when he is inquiring into his Soul for evidences of the truth of grace Other manifestations of the love of God may be desired for our selves and with a respect only to our selves and the quiet relief and peace of our own Spirits a Christian can desire these only for the glory of God Try your selves therefore Christians by this Touchstone An Hypocrite may desire to know that his Sins are forgiven and that God would not impute Sin to his Soul or that he would impute a righteousness without works an Hypocrite may desire to live with God in glory but these lesser tokens of love he valueth not But alas even the best of Gods People must I fear be here reproved not for their no valuing of these kisses of Christ that is incompetent with a Child of God but for their not enough valuing of them and being too passionate and unsatisfied for want of the comforting manifestations of Divine Love I have before told you that these sensible manifestations of Divine Love are exceedingly desirable and there is no Child of God but is concerned to wish to pray to labour for them But we must take heed that we be not like our little Children whom we shall sometimes see too much slighting and undervaluing and ready to throw away what good things they have because they want some particular thing which they have a mind to which it may be we that are their Parents do not see so proper for them especially under their present circumstances It was lawful for Rachel to wish for to pray for Children but she sinned in saying to her Husband give me Children or else I die Hannah was much in the same error 1 Sam. 1. 8. weeping not eating and vexing her self because she had no Child and in the mean time forgetting that God had given her an Husband who was better to her than ten Sons So it is lawful nay the duty of a good Christian to pray to endeavour for the sweetest and fullest manifestations of Gods love But I have often thought that though these be good things of a Spiritual nature and so vastly differing from the good things of this life yet in this they agree with them that they must be asked with submission to the will of God because they are not de necessariis ad salutem things that are necessary to life and eternal Salvation but such which a Soul may want without any breach of Gods Covenant with the Soul 2. But for a Soul not only too passionately to desire these things which speaketh its not submitting to the will of God in his not dispensing them to it but to over-look deny or undervalue all the tokens for good which it hath received from God meerly because it hath not these and to conclude that it hath nothing of Christs love this is certainly what doth no become a Christian Certainly a Christian ought as much to value himself upon those emanations of grace by which he is inabled to serve and honour God as upon those by which his Soul is rendred more at ease more refreshed and comforted Every kiss of Christ every measure of special distinguishing love is and ought to be precious to a believing Soul Let me in the last place bottom upon this discourse a double word of exhortation The first respecting the Men of the world those I would persuade to leave off their pursuit of
their worldly and sensual satisfactions I would speak to them as one standing this day in wisdoms Porch and crying after them in their hottest pursuits of the world Come and turn your hearts hither you that are simple ones and void of understanding I shall have a fairer opportunity to speak to these when I come to consider the argument by which the Spouse backeth her Petition But alas we had need make these cries often you can see the world and the gay and fine things therein precious and run after them with a swift pace but you can see no excellency in the kisses of Christ nothing for which they should be so desired when alas the world is but like a brave glass which whole is of some value but if broken in pieces the small pieces of it are worth nothing Christ his love is like a wedge of Gold or like a most precious perfume the least particle the least drop of which hath its value there is no emanation of his special loves but is suted to the Souls wants and to some eminent necessity under which the Soul laboureth Hear Solomon speaking to you Prov. 1. 22. How long you simple ones will you love simplicity And Fools hate knowledge Turn you at my reproof I will pour out my Spirit unto you I will make known my words unto you Your reason tells you that a vessel of Silver or Gold is much preferrible to one of Earth or Glass and as for other reasons so for this which you ordinarily say break a vessel of Earth and Glass the pieces are worth nothing but if one of those more valuable mettals be broke the least pieces have their value Why should not the same reason instruct you that Christs favour is to be prefer'd to all the world can afford you a little of the world is not much valuable a plentiful estate the highest pitches of honour a belly full of pleasure that indeed may appear desirable but the least tokens of Christs love the least expressions of his favour are most valuable things The kisses of the world are for the most part but Oscula Iscariotica or Joabitica like the kisses of Judas who in order to the betraying of his Master first kissed him or like the kiss of Joab to Amasa who under pretence of kissing him smote him under the fifth rib and slew him Christ's kisses are kisses of peace and reconciliation of love and favour Secondly This notion calleth to all those that are true Christians and that for three things For a due value of the least tokens of Christs special and distinguishing love look narrowly to make up your judgment whether what you take to be such be such or no and there you must take heed that you do not make conclusions from the gifts of common providence No man can judge of the love or hatred of God to his Soul from any thing which befalls him in this life No man can judge of any special love from Gods giving him a longer life greater measures of health a more plentiful estate or any thing of this nature God gives the worst of men their portion in such things as these No nor â—dly from common gifts such as those of knowledge utterance c. look therefore narrowly to make your judgment and the surest Judgment is from such things as more conform you to the nature or will of God but if you will find aliquid Christi any thing which you can call Christs or speaks his distinguishing love take heed of undervaluing that Secondly It calls to you for the use of all means for proficiency and growth in Grace Such as hearing the Word Prayer the use of all the Ordinances of God for in reason if the least tokens of Christs special love be desirable greater manifestations of it are much more desirable Labour for more holiness more heavenly-mindedness more subjection of your will to the will of God Hath the Lord blessed you with a faith of adherence a power given you from above to cast your Souls upon the Lord Jesus Christ Labour for faith of evidence be like the Travellers to Zion of which David speaketh Psal 84. that go from strength to strength until they all appear before the Lord in Zion It may be a good question sometimes to satisfy a troubled doubting Soul what is the Minimum quod sic the lowest degree or measure of saving grace but it is an ill hearing from a lazy wanton Soul Lastly it calls loudly to us to thirst after Heaven where the believing Soul shall be the Lambs Wife and follow him whithersoever he goes and be blessed with the clearest vision and the fullest imbraces of its beloved Oh how pleasant will the mansions of glory be to those Souls to whom the imperfect views that it hath had of Christ in this life have been so desirable while we are present in the Body even Paul himself owneth himself absent from the Lord. Now indeed we are the Sons of God now we are in a capacity of his kisses tokens of special love sufficient to uphold and refresh our Souls but there we shall be at the rivers of pleasures where there is not only pleasure but fulness of pleasures and that for evermore O Blessed are they that shall be alwaies before the Throne of God seeing their Redeemer with those Eyes and taking their fills of his love Sermon IV. Canticles 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth BY the beloveds Kisses mentioned in this Text I have understood Christs special and distinguishing love and the tokens of it by which either as God blessed for ever or as the Mediatour of the world he may discover his kindness to the Children of Men or the Members of his Church in common from whence I have already observed that the heart of a Believer is after distinguishing love Kisses being the least of those Evidences I have shewed That the least tokens of Christs special and distinguishing love are and will be very sweet to Believers Souls But I observe the word is in the plural number Kisses and so may signify either 1. Various dispensations of Grace Or 2. Various repetitions of the same Acts of Grace Hence the next Proposition ariseth That altho the least dispensations of special and distinguishing love be exceeding sweet and precious to Souls which have once tasted how good the Lord is yet their hearts will be after fuller and frequent dispensations and repetitions of it I take both these to be comprehended in the plurality of the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace is a thing which is but one piece considered as it is in God their 's nothing plural in the one Divine Being but as the Sea which is in itself but one yet as it washeth upon several coasts receiveth several names and denominations as the English Sea the Irish Sea and the Baltick Sea So as the Grace of God respecteth the several necessities and wants of us
necessitous Creatures it also obtaineth several names and admits of several distinctions and is shewed by several Acts. The Grace of God in the sense I am now speaking to it signifyeth nothing but the free love of God looking upon the Sons of Men with respect to the several necessities of their Souls It s variety ariseth from us and our necessities it is not divided in the fountain only in the stream and thus Grace admits of several distinctions which I shall open to you in a few words that you may rightly understand the various notions of it The most famous distinction of it is into that which doth render the Soul acceptable to God and that which is love and freely given but doth not make the Soul acceptable in Gods sight at least not first acceptable or is not that for which God doth at first accept the Soul The first is that which we call the Grace of Justification which is the free love of God shining upon the Soul imputing to it a righteousness without works and not imputing transgression as the Apostle expoundeth it Rom. 4. 6. 8. the second we call the grace of Regeneration and Sanctification which is the love of God freely shewed to the Soul by which its heart is renewed and changed and filled with new habits and dispositions inclining and inabling it to what God requireth of it This is Grace it is from the power and free love of God though it be not that grace for which God at first accepteth the Soul as the Papists say This Grace of Regeneration and Sanctification is also usually distinguished into Habitual and Actual Habitual Grace is nothing else but the free love of God shining upon the Soul inabling it to will and to choose the things that are good and pleasing to God he giveth to will saith the Apostle and we are made willing in the day of his power saith the Psalmist Actual or acting Grace which is the love of God shewed to the Soul in inabling us to do the things that are good for as it is he that giveth to will so it is he who giveth to do both of his own good pleasure and our Lord told his Disciples John 15. 3. Without me you can do nothing There is another distinction of Grace into Preventing and Subsequent Preventing Grace is that love of God which preventeth and goeth before any good motions or actions of ours according to that of the Prophet I was found of them that sought me not and of those that did not inquire after me This is usually called the first grace Subsequent grace is that love of God which followeth this and is variously manifested to the Souls of Gods People In the first we are meerly passive we only receive it in the other we are active There are other notions of grace but I shall instance only in one more Special grace is the free love of God either concerning the being of a true Christian or 2dly Concerning its well being That grace which concerneth the being of a true Christian which quickneth the Soul which before was a Child of Wrath dead in trespasses and sins is either the Grace of Justification and what concerneth that this is first grace and preventing grace Or 2. The grace of Regeneration by which a new heart is given unto us and we are inclined disposed and inabled to the operations of a spiritual life Or Secondly What concerneth the better being of a Christian in the managing of all the actions and concerns of the spiritual life This again is divided into quickning grace strengthening Grace and consolatory Grace 1. Quickning grace may either signify that love of God by which our Spiritual powers habits and inclinations are drawn out into acts 2. Or that whereby a Soul is made more active and lively and free in the service of God which removes those difficulties that heaviness and deadness and dulness which we often find upon our Souls as to spiritual things For this you read David so often praying in Psal 119. Strengthening grace which is the love of God shewed to the Soul in further inabling it both to its spiritual actions and to the managing of the good fight against the World the Flesh and the Devil the Apostle calleth it a being strengthened with might in the inward Man of this Saint Paul speaketh Phil. 3. 13. I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Consolatory grace which signifieth the love of God shining upon the Soul that is sad and heavy refreshing it either from the view and sense of the truth of its gracious habits or from the sealings of some promise giving the Soul an assurance or full persuasion of the love of God David crieth out when wilt thou comfort me Thus you see the variety of gracious dispensations the love of God is one as it is in him as the fountain but it divideth itself into several streams as it shineth upon divers Souls or the same Soul oft-times in differing circumstances or with respect to divers wants which our Souls have Secondly As there is variety in the dispensations of grace so grace discovers itself in various acts Divines say that the grace of Justification so far as it respecteth the Souls State varieth not Nor is repeated but the acts of grace referring to our justified estate they are repeated God doth not pardon sin before it is committed but repeateth his gracious act in pardoning as the Soul repeateth its transgressions Now this is that which I say in this proposition that the Spouse of Christ the truly gracious Soul is not satisfied with any single dispensation of grace nor with a single act it desires not only the first grace but further grace not only the grace of Justification but the grace of regeneration also not only gracious habits but that it may be excited and quickned to spiritual actions not only that it may do them but that it may do them with some strength and vigour with some life and chearfulness it desires renewed acts of pardon renewed influences of spiritual strength and life Let us but a little see it in the great instance of David the man according to Gods own heart we shall find him speaking to our purpose in several Psalms Psal 19. 13. Cleanse thou me from secret faults there he beggeth for pardoning love will this satisfy this holy man will he think it enough if God pardoneth his Sin see what followeth in that Psalm Keep back thy Servant from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me he must have strengthening as well as pardoning grace he desires to be freed from the commanding as well as from the condemning power of Sins Look into the 51 Psalm a Psalm much spent in petitions for special grace v. 7. He prays for pardon Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than the Snow he speaks in an old Testament phrase
with reference to the Levitical rites Christ speaketh to Peter Joh. 13. much in the same dialect Except I wash thee thou canst have no part in me But the meaning is pardon me remove the guilt of my sin from me but is this enough for this holy Man Is this all that he asketh of God No v. 8. Make me to hear the voice of Joy and Gladness that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoice There he prayeth for Consolatory Grace Well will this yet satisfie the thirst of this holy Man No he must also have a renewed Heart a right Spirit The Spirit of God resting upon him dwelling abiding in him A right Heart as well as a righteous Heart v. 10. Create in me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me v. 11 12. Take not thy holy Spirit from me Uphold me with thy free Spirit He must not only be set right in Gods way but he must be kept right and upheld in it Look upon him in that 119 Psalm Psal 119. 28. Strengthen me according to thy Word The Lord had given him the Pardon of his Sin he had given him Wisdom so as he tells us in that Psalm he was become wiser than his Teachers God had sanctified Affliction to him so as by it he had learned to keep Gods Statutes The Lord had given him an heart to love his Law to make it his Meditation night and day yet he cries Strengthen me O Lord And again v. 25. Quicken me in thy way Quicken me after thy Loving-kindness v. 4. O Quicken me in thy Righteousness Hath he enough yet No one thing he yet wants v. 42. Mine Eyes fail for thy Word when wilt thou comfort me There is hardly any Dispensation of Grace which we do not find David in that Psalm pleading with God for This one instance of David is enough to shew you the temper of every Soul which hath but once tasted how good the Lord is Nor indeed can it be otherwise If we consider the Beauty and excellency which appeareth to such a Soul in every Dispensation of Grace The Spouse saith of Christ in another part of this Song He is altogether lovely There is no part of Christ which is not in itself lovely he is the brightness of his Fathers Glory the fulness of the God Head dwells in him bodily As every Beam of the Sun every Emanation of that Body of Light is lovely to him whose Eyes are open to discern it So every Beam of the Sun of Righteousness every Emanation of his Love must necessarily be lovely to the Soul that hath its senses exercised to discern betwixt good and evil All Beauty is attractive whatsoever appeareth to our Souls lovely and beautiful appeareth also desirable But this is not all though Beauty and Comeliness be attractive and allures our Souls into an earnest desire after it yet profit is more Secondly There is no Dispensation of Divine Grace but suiteth some great want of the Soul It is the same Reason that I gave you why the least of Christ is so pretious Because the least of his Grace is suited to some great want of our Souls What I there applied to the least of his Love I here apply to the varieties of his gracious dispensations and indeed reasonably for there would be no variety in grace if there were not a variety of defects and wants and emptinesses in our Souls that which distinguisheth divine grace is our various wants and necessities and we can as naturally not desire a supply for our own discerned defects and wants as we cannot desire various emanations of divine love suited to the supply of them Nature prompteth us to desire a supply for every craving of our Souls The Soul is sensible that it daily sinneth and cannot but desire pardoning grace and say unto God every day Forgive us our debts it is sensible that it wants purity and holiness and therefore cannot but desire a right Spirit Its wants are many and it therefore desireth various dispensations of grace to supply them they are daily renewing therefore it desires repeated acts of grace to be renewed also A third reason lyeth in the Concatenation of grace The Philosopher saith Virtutes sunt Concatenatae that all vertues are chained together and no man is truly virtuous but hath in him the habits of all Virtue they make Virtue to lie in the reduction of the whole Soul to the rule guidance and conduct of reason I am sure Gratiae sunt concatenatae the Graces of Gods Spirit are like Pearl stringed together and that upon a double account 1. With respect to themselves 2. With respect to our sense and apprehension Pardoning grace never goeth without renewing and regenerating grace God never saith to any Soul Thy Sins are forgiven but he addeth sin no more The Grace of Consolation never goeth without the Grace of Sanctification The Grace of Regeneration is alwaies attended with some degrees of that Grace which strengtheneth and quickneth the Soul unto its Spiritual work and duty 2. As to our sense of it The Grace of God being as I have before said nothing else but the Love of God freely shining upon us with respect to our several circumstances and diversified wants the Soul is prone from the want of a supply as to one thing to suspect its want of all Hence it is that it suspecteth the want of the love of God in the whole from its sense of the want of it in part Indeed this oft-times is the error of a Soul that is truly gracious from it s not distinguishing betwixt those things that are necessary to Eternal life and Salvation and those influences that are meerly accommodating and tending to the better being of the spiritual life the dispensations of which are not meerly directed from the divine love but from the divine wisdom and sometimes are with-held from the wisdom of God by which he directeth his own motions to their ends Hence as Gideon when the Angel came to him and said The Lord is with thee O thou mighty man of valour replyed If the Lord be with us why am I thus So the Soul thirsting after the love of God if any go about to persuade it under its sadness and dejections under the sense of its weakness as to spiritual duties or dulness and heaviness in the performance of them that yet the love of God is toward it it hath a truth of Grace it cries out If God loved me why am I thus I am weak why am I not strengthened or my Soul is dull and dead and heavy why am I not quickned Or I am sad and dejected if God loved me why am I not comforted The Soul of a believer is apt to conceive that because Love is one in God therefore it 〈…〉 be a sharer in his love while it wants any one aspect of it 〈◊〉 might suite its spiritual wants Another reason may be the possibility
which the Soul apprehends of obtaining all grace Let a thing appear to us never so beautiful never so useful yet if we lye under an apprehension of its impossibility to obtain it this moderateth its desires after if nay extinguisheth them for our Reason forbids our Wills to move after things which we apprehend not possible to be obtained But such is the goodness of God towards us that there is no dispensation of his love but he hath somewhere or other promised and revealed to us as possible to be obtained by us Now good apprehended possible to be obtained by us is the proper object of the desires of our Souls we are told that it hath pleased the father that in Christ all fulness should dwell And that the fulness of the God-Head dwelt in him bodily 1 Col. 19. 2 Col. 12. and of his fulness saith the Evangelist Joh. 1. 16. We have all received grace for grace To pass by other interpretations of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some understand Grace suited to all that Grace which is in Christ There is no habit of Grace in Christ suited to our human nature and state but believers may receive something from him in proportion to it There is no love of God to Christ which fitteth us or may fit us in our proportions but we may receive Nay there is no love of God which floweth from the fulness of the Divine Nature of which we are capable but the believer may receive For saith the Apostle the Fulness of the God-Head dwelt in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bodily In him as our mediator that he might communicate to those that are the members of his body and that I take to be the properest sense of those words Of his fulness that is of the fulness of the God-Head which dwelt in him as Mediator and dwelt in him so as that he could communicate it to those that believed in him Hence he tells us that all power was given unto him both in Heaven and Earth and that the Son of Man had power upon Earth to forgive Sins and that God had given unto him Eternal life that he might give it to whomsoever he pleased so as the Soul apprehends all grace not only beautiful and lovely but also as possible to be obtained by it from Christ and having such apprehensions of it conjoined with its before-mentioned apprehensions of the beauty and excellency of it and the usefulness of it with respect to the various and renewing wants of the Soul it must necessarily desire it This notion may as the other which I have handled shew you 〈◊〉 difference betwixt the desires of the Hypocrite and those of the true Child of God after Grace There may be some desires after Grace in Souls in whom there is no true and real change of heart but they are either terminated 1. In the common gifts and graces of the Spirit Or 2. in the Comfortable manifestations of it 3. Or at furthest in some particular dispensations of it The common gifts and graces of the Spirit of God may be desired by those in whom the love of God doth not dwell By common gifts I mean knowledge utterance an ability to pray to discourse of the things of God c. And the reason is because these may serve a double end which an Hypocrite may have 1. His honour and credit and reputation in the world Common gifts and graces may give Men and Women a great name in the Church of God though they will give a Man no place in the Kingdom of God They may especially as times may go much serve a man both as to his lust of gain and covetousness and also as to his lust of Ambition and seeking after the honour which is from men and serve him to appear as some body in the world and to make him pass for a great Professor and help him to preferments also in the Church and so serve his Belly You have an eminent instance of this in Simon Magus Acts 8. 9. of whom it is said That he used Sorcery and bewitched the People of Samaria giving out himself to be some great one v. 13. He beheld the signs and miracles that were done this Man now to augment his reputation and probably that he might be in a capacity to get more mony than he had been able to get by his tricks of Hocus Pocus and diabolical Arts seeing the Apostles conveying the Holy Ghost to their Disciples by their laying on of hands he did not only desire the graces of the Spirit thus far but offered them mony for that power that upon whomsoever he laid his hands they also might receive the Holy Ghost There is no doubt but whatsoever may promove the lusts of an Hypocrites heart may be the object of his desire Now as a National knowledge of the things of God or the common practical gifts and graces of the Spirit may serve a man as to his profit and advantage or as to his honour and reputation so they mightily gratify the lusts of an Hypocrites heart who doth all to be seen of Men and whose utmost design is but to glory in appearance and in the praise of Men. Besides this they may also serve him very far in the quieting of his natural conscience Natural light discovering to us that there is a God doth also shew us that there is some homage due to him and hence ariseth a natural obligation upon men to be doing something in discharge of this homage to which these common gifts are subservient The like might be said of moral habits which are but common grace men that are 〈◊〉 touched with the love of God or desire to please him may yet see a beauty and a profit too in a moral just and righteous conversation and desire so much grace as may keep him from the scandal and reproach of the world and from the ruining of himself and Family or Relations Nay Secondly his desires may extend to the consolatory manifestations of the love of God the pardon of his sins and the sense of that pardon what should hinder In a time when a Prince is free of his pardons it is not impossible that some of his Subjects may take out their pardons that it may be have no great sense or apprehension that they stand in need of them Hypocrites that live within the compass of the Church of God are often hearing of sin and the wrath of God due to sin to Original sin to Actual Sins to Sins of Omission and Negligence as well as those of Commission and Presumption they also hear daily proclamations of Gods grace and readiness to forgive what should hinder but that they ex abundanti cautela tho they be not touched with any great sense of sin tho they have some good opinion of their own Righteousness may yet earnestly desire to know their iniquities are forgiven and that the Righteousness of Christ might be imputed to them
also that they may know that they also shall another day stand righteous before God Nor do I see any reason why they may not go one step further and passionatly desire some strengthning and assisting grace against some particular lusts Some extravagant desires or lusts of the heart of man do not only expose him to the wrath of God in another world but to the wrath of God manifested in this life Such now as the lusts of the flesh drunkenness c. Experience tells us that the pursuit of these ruines mens healths estates reputations whatsoever is desirable to us in this life and concerning such extravagant motions of our affections and passions as have these issues which are contrary to the natural desires of life and health and prosperity in the world I cannot tell any reason but that an hypocrite may sincerly desire of God strength against them But now in this stands the child of God distinguished from all hypocrites In his desire after all grace not this or that kiss but every kiss of Christs mouth every manifestation of the love of God to a soul particularly such manifestations of Gods love as serve not at all to gratify any desires of the flesh whether respecting gain and profit or honour and reputation in the â—â—rld but such as serve to make the soul more holy and spiritual 〈◊〉 like to God more compliant with the will of God in all things the hypocrite desires influences of grace not that he might glorify God but meerly that he might serve a turn Secondly This discourse will let us see The great difference betwixt the desires that are found in the child of God after Grace and those desires which may be found in him after the things of the world The best of Gods people are compositions of soul and body as they have a spiritual part which hath its desires and cravings so they have the cravings of the flesh also their outward necessities justify in them some desires of the things of this life but now these desires are limited If God will be with me saith Jacob and will keep me in the way that I go and will give me bread to eat and rayment to put on so that I come again to my fathers house in peace then shall the Lord be my God Gen. 28. 20 21. Two things saith Agur Prov. 30. 7. have I required of thee deny me not them before I die Remove far from me vanity and lyes give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me The child of God is so far from desiring abundance of the world that he often prayeth against it He would not be full lest as Agur expresseth himself v. 9. he should deny God and say who is the Lord he would not be wholly empty lest being poor he should steal and take the name of God in vain As to grace he is like the horseleaches daughters still crying give give But for the world if he hath food convenient for him he saith to all the world as Esau once to Jacob. I have enough my Brother I have enough keep that thou hast unto thy self No child of God covets all the world His conversation is as to it without covetousness if he hath but Bread to eat and Rayment to put on if he can but make a competent provision for his family and have but something to give to them that want he blesseth God he hath enough but as to grace he may be added as a fifth thing to those four which Solomon Speaks of which never say they have enough Nor indeed do I know two worser evidences against any soul than never to think it hath enough of the world and yet to be satisfyed with any measures of grace I must confess I have been often troubled to see those whom I should otherwise have judged excellent Christians so fond of the enjoyments of this world and so unsatisfyed when the providence of God hath crossed them in those desires and expectations I wish I could see equal pantings in the souls of some who yet would be thought great professors after Christs kisses as I often see in them after the kisses of the world But alas that is impossible that nail would drive out the other Sirs that is a dreadful text which you have 1. John 2. 15. Love not the world neither the things of the world If any man love the world the love of the father is not in him The world is a thing that may be touched with a Saints hands and moderately used for his necessities but it must not be loved it must have no place in the Child of Gods Heart What shall we say then to such Professors as are much more fond of sensual satisfactions to gratify their sensitive appetite than they are of the Grace of God to mortify that appetite to sublimate their affections subjugate their passions to learn them in all Estates to be content to submit their wills unto the will of God How dwelleth the love of Christ in such Souls as are more fond of the worlds kisses than of his But I shall shut up this discourse with a word of Exhortation persuading you to speak after the Spouse in my Text Let him kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth Cease not till you have brought up your hearts to this frame that they cannot be satisfied without something of Christs fulness without some tasts of all the riches of Grace whatsoever I have given you as the reasons of this truth may be used by you as arguments in the case There 's no kiss of Christ no Beam of Grace but hath its lightsomness and glory in it No dispensation of Grace but is suited to some eminent want of the Soul if you discern it not the fault is in your Eyes you do not understand the cases of your own Souls so well as you ought to do it would be no Grace no Love if it were not proportioned to some want in us It will be an hard thing for you to satisfy your Souls in the having any truth of Grace if you find not your Souls thirsting after every manifestation of it There is no influence of Grace but is possible to be obtained There is a fulness of the God-Head in Christ considered as your Mediator and he is therefore full that we might drink abundantly of his fulness but to all these before enlarged upon I shall add two It is an evidence of true Grace to be thirsty after all Grace That Soul loveth not Christ truly that doth not desire that he should love it fully True love is satisfied with nothing less than all of the Beloved and renders the Soul jealous presently if it wants but one good look bestowed upon another Secondly The more thou hast of Grace the more thou wilt doubtless have of Glory I know some question whether there shall be any degrees of glory for my own part I see little
reason to question it doubtless those that lie most in Christs Bosom here shall sit nearest him upon his Throne hereafter I shall shut up my discourse with four or five directions in this case First Labour to understand the various emanations of special and distinguishing Grace how many ways the Sun of Righteousness may shine upon Souls with healing in his Wings I am afraid many talk of Grace special distinguishing Grace who do not understand it as they ought to do Study to understand Christs saving looks upon Souls and to distinguish them from other looks which have no such saving vertue and evidence in them Christs saving looks upon Souls are either such as evidence pardon of Sin or contribute to the change of the heart in first or further degrees of holiness Or comforting us with the view of our own sincerity take a right notion of Christs kisses Be sure in thy desires of further Grace thou forgettest not to be thankful for what thou hast the least token of love for good to thy Soul is more worth than the world ther 's nothing little in Grace I before observed to you the passions of some Christians who are ready to overlook all that God hath done for their Souls if they want some particular dispensation of Grace which their hearts are set upon Make use of what thou hast To him that hath shall be given It is a saying which our Saviour applyeth to the parable of the sower Mat. 13. 12. Luk. 8. 18. and to the parable of the Talents Mat. 25. 29. In the two first places the meaning may be To him that hath in actual possession so it may be conceived as a promise of further grace to those who have any thing of the truth of grace but in the 25. Mat. 29. it is plainly to be understood of such as make use of and improve what they have for it is spoken with reference to those Servants that had ten Talents and had gained other ten and five talents and had gained other five In thy desires of more Grace distinguish betwixt necessary and comfortable influences betwixt manifestations of the Spirit given thee to profit withal and such as are given thee to make thy life more easy and cheerful the first thou mayest beg more absolutely and be as earnest for them as thou wilt The latter must be asked with more explicite submission to the will of God they being such as are not only not necessary to thy glorifying of God under all circumstances but not necessary to the eternal Salvation of thy Soul such for which the wisdom of God may see more reason under some circumstances to with-hold from thee and that in order to thy edification and improvement in holiness As to such influences though thou oughtest to desire them and to pray for them yet thou oughtest also to be content to wait for them David did so His Eyes failed while he said When wilt thou comfort me Wait upon God in all his own institutions The Ordinances of God are usually called means of Grace because they are usually made use of by God as means in and by which he communicateth his Grace in the several influences of it to our Souls These Ordinances are the Word Sacrament and Prayer The first Grace is usually dispensed to us upon reading or hearing the Word of God and so is further Grace also Therefore the Apostle Peter commands us to desire the sincere Milk of the Word that we may grow thereby I had saith David perished in my affliction if thy Word had not been my delight The Law of the Lord saith David is perfect converting the Soul the Testimony of the Lor d is sure making wise the simple the Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart the Commandment of the Lord is pure inlightning the Eyes Psal 19. 6. 7. Christs love is a thing different from the Word but it is shewen to the Soul in the use of the Word Infinite instances might be given you of Christs kissing Souls manifesting his special love to Souls is it which I mean by it in the reading and especially in the hearing of the Word there it is that is in the use of that that he usually speaks to the hearts of Men and Women hence the Apostle tells us that the holy Scriptures are able to make the Man of God wise to Salvation and are profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instructions in righteousness Yea and for patience and comfort too Rom. 15. 4. For whatsoever things were written before were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope The Sacrament that is another mean the Sacramental believing eating of the Bread and Wine is an eating of the flesh and a drinking of the Blood of Christ a feeding upon all Christs fulness as Mediator Prayer is a mean of all Grace whatsoever God hath promised in a way of Grace is all promised upon this condition That he will for it be inquired of by his People Walk humbly and uprightly before God The humble he will teach saith the Psalmist Psal 25. and to the humble he will give more Grace Ja. 4. 6. 1 Pet. 5. 5. he dwelleth with those that are of a contrite and humble Spirit to revive the Spirits of the humble and the hearts of those that are contrite and for the upright he hath told us that he will with-hold from them no good thing But this is enough to have also spoken to this Proposition There is another term in the petition of the Text. which I shall take notice of she prayeth not only that her beloved would kiss her and that not with one but many kisses but she adds of his Mouth But of that hereafter Sermon V. Canticles 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth I Told you in the close of my last diseourse that I should not yet leave this Text because of the last words of his Mouth which we must either be allowed as a Pleonasme and superfluous or to contain in them yet some further spiritual Instruction The Jews say there is not the least tittle of the Law upon which great things do not depend nor do I fancy the allowing of more Pleonasms in holy writ than must necessarily be allowed I shall therefore take notice of what Origen and Beza and divers others have before me noted from the addition of these words That the believing Soul thirsts after a communion with Christ in his Word Mr. Ainsworth taking special notice of the term kisses understands the Doctrine of the Gospel which is the Word of Reconciliation as kisses are amoris reconciliationis symbola the tokens of love and reconciliation I am sure the notion is in itself true whether the sense of this Text or no. The Law worketh Wrath faith the Apostle the Doctrine of the Gospel alone speaks love and peace Christs Spouse here
say some interpreters desires his manifestation in the Flesh the publication of the Doctrine of the Gospel together with the comfortable application of those Doctrines to her conscience I am sure there is a truth in that Let me therefore a little make use of their notion Take this for the Proposition Prop. It is of the nature of a believing Soul to thirst after a communion with Christ in his Word his Gospel especially and the teachings of his Spirit in and by that I here join two of those propositions together which I distinguished upon the opening of the words She desires the kisses of his Mouth 2. That he should kiss her with the kisses of his Mouth This Proposition will offer me an opportunity to discourse to you the affection of the believing Soul to the words of Christ both in the more external and more spiritual and internal teachings and ministrations of it The words of the Gospel are the words of Christ the kisses of his mouth whether they be applied and set home to the particular conscience yea or no. The ministration of the Gospel is in itself exceeding glorious Therein saith the Apostle is the Righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith Rom. 1. 17. Therein in Gods way of Salvation revealed to lost sinners and by it life and immortality are brought to light Now this word of God is to be considered As written for our Instruction For saith the Apostle Rom. 15. 4. whatsoever things were written before were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope As preached So it is the Ordinance of God for our faith and therefore called The word of Faith Sanctification Consolation and Eternal Salvation for indeed the supply of all the spiritual wants and necessities of our Souls Hence there are three ways by which our Souls have a communion with God in his Word Reading Hearing and Meditation Reading is one means by which we come to the knowledg of the will of God in his Word The King of Israel was commanded to read in the Book of Gods Law all the days of his life that he might learn to keep the Law of his God and there is a blessing pronounced to him that readeth Indeed he that readeth the word as it lyeth before us in our Bibles hath this advantage that he is sure what is there plain to his understanding is the undoubted pure Word of God and while a man readeth the Scriptures he is but repeating of Gods Word to his own soul or hearing God immediately speaking to him Hearing the word preached is another means of communion with God in his Word This is an Ordinance of God and such a one as he honoureth with being the great means of calling and saving such as he hath ordained to life So as in that ordinance a soul hath an opportunity to meet God to draw nigh unto him to hear him speak unto it We must take heed that we do not think that all which we hear out of pulpits is spoken by God God no further speaketh by the Minister than the Minister keepeth unto his Text speaketh according to the Scriptures either by way of interpretation or application And therefore every good Christian is to search the Scriptures whether what their Preachers deliver be consonant to them Those noble Bereans mentioned Acts. 17. did so when St. Paul was the Preacher and are commended for it The Scriptures are to be judged by no other rule but Sermons are to be measured by the holy Scriptures No man hath communion with God by hearing further than so far as that is consonant to the will of God which he heareth But admitting the Minister of Christ answereth his name and Office and faithfully revealeth and applieth the will of God while we hear we have communion with God God communicateth his holy will unto us and we communicate with him by an obedient Ear who hath comanded us to hear that our souls may live A third way is by Meditation This is an act of our inward man standing upon the things which we have read or heard as necessary to the souls spiritual nourishment as Digestion is to the nourishment of our bodies by what is their proper food a duty much practised by David Psal 119. 97 99. And a good man is described by it Psal 1. 3. He meditateth in the law of the Lord night and day By this the soul doth not only fasten the word of God upon it self but it also dives deeper into the depths of it I say this communion with God in his word is very desirable to the spouse of Christ I added his gospel especially The Word of God in the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament is made up of several parts There is in it sacred history no unuseful part of holy Writ it being that which more than any other acquainteth us with Gods way of of providence with his people of old You have in it many Moral Instructions and Precepts of Christianity and Godliness an admirable part of Scripture that which makes the holy Scriptures to be what no other book in the world is a light to our feet and lanthorn to our paths Shewing us what we are to do what to decline and avoid but yet these are not properly called Gospel doctrines You have in it many Prophesies or predictions of what God intended to do in the world most of which are fulfilled some we yet live in the expectations of You have also in it many terrible threats and curses and many woes denounced against the violaters of the law of God these are excellent portions of holy Writ to keep your souls in awe and make us afraid of sinning against God but these are not properly Gospel Doctrines but properly belong to the Law which declareth and worketh wrath You have also in those sacred books many declarations of the good will and love of God to poor lost Sinners declared in and through Jesus Christ You have an historical part of the Gospel declaring what Christ hath done and Suffered for us a declarative and promissory part proclaiming Salvation to poor lost creatures and promising life and Salvation and all grace to some poor undone sinners promises for the conferring and increase of grace These and such like I principally understand by Gospel Doctrines The Doctrine of Gods free grace in the pardoning of sin and the imputation of Christs Righteousness to the soul Doctrines that reveal Christ and tend to bring the soul to Christ or direct the soul in walking with him Now I say tho the believing soul values every line of holy Writ and hath a reverence for the whole Word of God and desires a communion with God in reading and hearing and meditating in every part of his revealed will yet it hath a special thirst after those portions of it which contain these Revelations Other parts are
good pleasure yet he breatheth upon he teacheth no Souls but those Souls that are willing and desirous to learn and to be instructed It is true it is he who first maketh them willing who first enclineth their Ears to hear but he first prepareth the Heart and then causeth his Ear to hear as to Prayer so in hearing he first circumciseth the Ear of a man and enclineth him to hear his Statutes and then he teacheth them He dealeth not with us as with Stocks and Stones but as with rational Creatures in a rational way Attend unto the word which thou goest to hear No teaching no good is to be expected from any teaching where the person only lends an Ear but suffers his Mind extravagantly to wander here and there The Schoolmaster hath no Patience for such a Scholar I am sure God hath no Blessing for such a Soul as in hearing doth not hear nor encline his Ear to Understanding The Scholar gets little by his Master or Tutors reading upon an Author if the Scholar attendeth not to the Text of the Author The Spirits teaching is but a Commentary upon the word it bringeth to remembrance the things which we have heard from God The Soul that attends not to the word which he reads or heareth can expect nothing of the Spirits teaching the word is not like to dwell in that Soul that will not suffer it to come so much as over the Threshold into it I mean into its memory or notion Take heed of Vexing the Spirit in its Teachings It was laid to the charge of the Israelites Isa 53. 10. that they vexed his holy Spirit They vexed the Spirit by an afterwork rebelling against his word not being obedient to what they were taught But men may in hearing vex the Spirit in its Teaching either by Non-Attendency suffering their hearts to be wandring elsewhere when God in his word is teaching the Soul this vexeth any Father or Master in teaching a Child but of this I spake before And not only so but by not giving a special regard to its special Instructions Scarce any of us but in hearing shall find some notions of truth some particular passages that God sets more particularly home and do in a special manner affect the Soul The not observing them or quick forgetting of them is a special vexing of the holy Spirit in its Teachings of our Souls Work together with the Spirit in calling to remembrance what you have heard Talk of the Law of the Lord when thou liest down and when thou risest up when thou sittest by the walls of thy House when thou goest out and when thou comest in The Jews had Phylacteries Rolls of the Law fastened to their Garments to keep the Law in their mind perpetually Our Saviour blamed them for their broad Phylacteries and narrow Practice but he blamed not the means to keep the Law of God in their minds only they used them to a wrong and false â—nâ— used them not to the end for which they made them Follow the word with Prayer Do not only pray for the Spirit before thou hearest but pray for the abidings ofâ— it after thou hast heard to bring to thy remembrance what thou hast heard from God Labour to practise what thou hearest The Master or Tutor is weary of teaching the Scholar to whom he hath read Lecture after Lecture but yet he will do nothing but on the contrary how chearfully doth an ingenuous Master teach that Scholar that to his utmost pâ—tteth in practice what he hath read to him and then cometh to his Tatâ—r begging to be further taught and instructed The Spirit of God will give over that Soul that pretends to be ever learning and yet never comes to any practical Knowledge of the Truth He that is not a meer hearer but a doer of the Word also is the man that shall be blessed indeed Sermon VIII Canticles 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for his Loves are better than Wine I Have done now with the matter of the Spouses that is the Churches or the particular believing Souls prayer in this her first Petition I have nothing as to the petition it self to consider but the form of it As to the matter we have found that the thing she would have is Some Special distinguishing favour Some token of God for good to her which might speak him to love her with the Love of a bridegroom to a bride a Husband to his Wife I have shewed you that she asketh modestly but a kiss thereby letting us know how precious the least of Christs Special distinguishing love is to the truly believing Soul Not that the least dispensations and measures of grace will satisfy the Spiritual hunger and thirst of a pious Soul it is one thing for a pious Soul to prize and value the least another thing to be satisfied and fully contented with it she therefore mentions Kisses in the Plural Number as well to signifie the variety of gracious Influences as their frequent Emanations I have further taken notice of her particular desire after a communion with God in his word especially Gospel Doctrines and that not only a more external Communion with God in reading hearing and thinking upon it But the more reall internal Spiritual communion with God in his word which the Soul hath by the teachings of the Spirit She desires not onely to hear the words of his mouth but to be kissed with the kisses of his mouth I have now nothing to do but to consider the form of her words and see if from thence we can gain any further Spiritual Instruction The words are first Vox volentis the Language of a Soul that was willing to receive these impressions if she were not willing she would not have made them the matter of her request Secondly They are Vox cupientis not onely the Language of one that was willing but of one inflamed with a desire after the object willed and proposed They do not express a bare velleity with an indifferency as to the thing They sound a great deal more then He may if he will kiss me with the kisses of his mouth Lastly They are Vox petentis the language of one upon her knees begging it of God as the great thing which she sought after And as I observed to you in the opening of the words she begs reverently modestly humbly boldly fervently The form of her Petition speaketh a well ordered Prayer a Prayer according to the Rules which God hath given us for putting up our Supplications Hence results the Proposition Prop. That believing Souls are not only very willing but exceedingly desirous of a near spiritual communion with Christ and to obtain it will use rightly ordered Prayer In the Proposition here are three things predicated of such a Soul as is the Spouse to this glorious Bridegroom 1. It s willingness that the Lord should have a near and spiritual
motions of the Affections as it is said Sechem's heart clave to Dinah But I extend it further to all overt Acts by which this inward Affection may be discovered in the same sense as we say to our Friends I will stick to you or I will stand by you Christ performs his part he sticks he cleaves to the Believers in all its Spiritual Combates and Dangers with or from the World the Flesh and the Devil Thus must we cleave to him Fourthly 'T is a piece of Conjugal Communion That the Wife does nothing but she will first acquaint her Husband with it ask his Counsel take his Direction The Husband also imparts much of his Counsel to his Wife 'T is a piece of our Communion true Communion with Christ to do nothing without taking Counsel of him in his Word without asking his Directions in Prayer in every difficulty where we have not a clear direction in the Word of God to fly to him by Prayer and Supplications Are your Souls willing to entertain such a Communion with Christ as this is Are you desirous of it Do you pray for it This speakâ—eth well for the Union betwixt Christ and your Souls nothing less than this will This Discourse may be further useful to some Souls that it may be cannot satisfie themselves in that Communion which they have with the Lord Jesus they would willingly that Christ should impart more of his Loving-kindness and of his Power to their Souls and they are troubled that they can no more freely no more fully give up themselves to him their Hearts are not united enough to love and fear God and indeed the best Souls are seldom satisfied in the Reception of Grace or in the Actings of it Now such Souls as are overmuch troubled in this case troubled to that degree as for want of degrees to suspect all the truth of Grace in their Souls This may be some satisfaction to hear that it speaks a Soul to be the Spouse of Christ to be truly willing sincerely desirous much in Prayer for those degrees of nearest Communion with Christ which it stands in need of In Earthly Marriages three things are required 1. Consent of Parties 2. Consent of Parents 3. Publication of it to the World The first alone is essential to the Union The second to make it a perfectly lawful Act. The third only to avoid Scandal and to keep up Civil Order in the World In the Spiritual Marriage the Consent of Parties makes the Union Christs Consent to be united to thy Soul is evidenced in his Word declared by us who are his Proxies to espouse you to this Husband If thy Soul also truly consents if thou truly desirest this Union and that Communion which followeth and ought to follow it the Match is made thou art joined to the Lord though it may be there be not a Publication of it to thy own Soul much less to the World I shall conclude with a Word of Exhortation To labour for this evidence of Grace That you may be truly willing to truly desirous of such a Communion with Christ as I have been describing You that are yet strangers to it labour for the beginnings of it You that find any thing of it labour to uphold it and labour for the Perfection of it To the first by way of Counsel I would only speak a few things 1. Labour to be convinced of your sad condition till Grace hath brought you into this better State Christ told the Woman of Samaria she had had many Husbands and he whom she then enjoyed was not her Husband Unregenerate Men have many Paramours for there is no Soul but cleaveth to somthing one mans Heart cleaveth to his Pleasures another to his Profits but all these are not the reasonable Souls Husbands the Soul cannot feed upon these things Let a Woman be married to a Man and run away from him she may have another Paramour but he is not her Husband It is Mans Case he was in Creation united to God he is run away from God and followeth many Lovers but none of these are the Souls Husbands O therefore return to your first Husband what can you imagine God should do for any of your Souls more than any one of you would do for a Wife that had run away from you and clave to another man 2. Look as the Woman that wanteth her Husband hath none that so naturally careth for her none that will be a covering to her Head or a Light to her Eyes so neither hath the Soul in its state of disunion with God any that will care for it as to its Spiritual and Eternal Concerns I might add the infinite advantages of this Union and Communion I remember the Argument used by Hamor and Sechem to persuade their People into a Willingness to be circumcised that Sechem might be married into Jacob's Family Shall not say they their Cattle and Substance and all that they have be ours only consent to them Shall not the Grace and Glory and Kingdom of Christ be yours only consent to him and be willing to a Communion with him But it is the Lord that must persuade Japhet to come and to dwell in the Tents of Shem. No man comes to the Son but he whom the Father draweth and while there is a spiritual Union it is unreasonable to think there should be any Willingness in a Soul to any near Communion with Christ We may use Arguments with Souls estranged from God to reconcile them to him and it is our Duty so to do till God concurreth with the work of his Spirit they will be of no force Let me therefore turn to such with whom this mystical Union is made Nor shall I need use words with any such to persuade them to a consent or willingness to or desire of this near Communion with Christ which I have been discoursing there is no such Soul but must be willing must be desirous of it But there is none of them which hath attained there 's no such Soul but hath attained somthing nor any that hath attained to Perfection none but may receive from Christ more than it hath received none but desireth his Heart might be more in subjection to Christ than it is The way further to attain is Prayer rightly ordered Prayer It is the Spouse that speaketh in the Text she had attained she was already united to her Spiritual Bridegroom but yet she finds her Soul in a continuing need of his Influences and further Tokens for good to be shewed unto her for these she useth Prayer as an apposite means Only we may ask and not receive because we ask amiss Let us look over the form of the Spouses Petition and see what we may learn from thence to guide our Souls in our Applications to God First The word in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the future Tense which is often used for the 〈◊〉 Mood in the Hebrew and may indifferently
in the habitable part of his Earth and his Delights were with the Sons of Men. The Apostle tells those of the Ephesians who were Saints and faithful That they were chosen in Christ before the Foundation of the VVorld that they should be holy and without blame before him in Love predestinated unto the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his VVill. To the Praise of the Glory of his Grace wherein 〈◊〉 hath made us accepted through the Beloved in whom we have Redemption through his Blood the forgiveness of sins according to the Riches of his Grace c. There is no portion of the Word of God that part of it especially which we call the Gospel but affordeth us an abundant proof of this What meant his being made Surety of a better Covenant for us as the Apostle to the Hebrews tell us His being given for a Covenant for the people Isa 42. 6. a Light to the Gentiles to open the Eyes of the blind to bring out the Prisoners from the Prison and them that sit in Darkness out of the Prison-house His being the Lamb slain from the beginning of the VVorld Rev. 13 8. His Speaking by the Mouths of the Prophets as the Apostle tells us His growing up as a tender Plant and as a Root out of a dry ground having no form nor comliness nor beauty to be desired his being despised rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs his bearing our griefs and carrying our Sorrows being Smitten of God and afflicted his being wounded for our Transgressions and bruised for our iniquities when the chastisement of our peace lay upon him His suffering strips that we might â—e healed c. What signified his incarnation his death and 〈◊〉 his resurrection and ascension his taking care for his Gospel to be preach'd to every creature c. his being grieved for the hardness of peoples hearts and troubled for their unbelief his frequent preaching while he was upon the Earth his weeping over Hierusalem his invitations of people to come unto him that they might have life his complaints that they would not come unto him c. I say what do all these things signify from him who needeth not his creature being over all God blessed for ever but that he hath loves an infinite good will to the Children of men No man is at cost taketh pains in any business suffereth hard things to go through it but either out of kindness to himself or to another Our Lord did not do and suffer these things for himself he had no need of them if it were for us it speaks his loves 2. But this is no more than what every one who owneth Christ and the Gospel will easily grant That Christ is Love and hath a Love for the Sons of men yea and that there is an infiniteness and unmeasurableness in the Love of Christ But that he hath Loves in the Other sense Some Specialties of Love some particular propensions to some Souls more than others this is what the proud world cannot so easily digest Yet is this as plain in the Revelation of holy Writ as the other It speaks of an Election or choice of some to Holiness and Happiness before the foundation of the world the choice of Some must suppose the passing by or not electing others experience shews us that not onely the good things of common pro vidence but even the external means of Grace are granted to some not to others 3. Neither doth this grate so much The most perverse opiners in this point must grant the publication of the Gospel an effect of the Love of Christ and that there is a very inequal distribution of it by the wise Providence of God but as to them to whom the Gospel is alike preached they know not how to allow Loves in Christ have they then forgot what the Apostle saith Rom. 9. 6. For they are not all Israel which are of Israel Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all Children But in Isaac shall thy seed be called that is They who are the Children of the flesh these are not the Children of God but the Children of the Promise counted for the seed And again Rom. 2. 28. 29. He is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh But he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circnmcision is that in the heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose praise is not of men but of God Doth not experience teach us that even where the Gospel is preachd some repent of their sins some are hardened some believe others are lockt up in unbelief some are holy and blameless others are leud and profane But they will say This is not from any Loves in Christ he his alike to all but from the differing motions and inclinations of the will of man I yet ask Whence is it Seing human Souls are Equal and have the same powers and faculties how comes it that one man loveth God and the ways of God another hates and abhorreth every thing almost that hath the image and Superscription of God upon it Is a man a God to himself and the first cause of any motions that are truly and spiritually good Is it not God that giveth to will and to do of his own good pleasure Hath a man any thing which is good which he hath not received If one hath received such a power such an inclination such a disposition from God there is Special Love then Christ hath Loves besides a common Philanthropy a good will to the generality of mankind shewed in other things which will not bring Souls to Eternal Salvation he hath a special Love and kindness to some Souls which he manifesteth in such dispensations to it as shall certainly bring the Soul to Eternal Life and Salvation and these are those of which the text Speaks But I have Spoken enough in evidence of so plain a Proposition as this is I come to the application 1st How should this Revelation of Christ reconcile the world unto him Christ hath Loves for us why should there be found in our hearts or ways any hatred to or opposition against him Yet is not the World full of this What is an opposition to the publication of his Gospel an hatred to his Ministers to his People to his Laws and holy Institutions but an hatred to him Christ hath so judged of it he told some of the first Minister s of his Gospel Math. 10. 14 15. That in the day of Judgment it should be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha than for those that did not receive them and hear his words Wicked men and Enemies to the Gospel are in Scripture called unreasonable men 2. Thessal 3. 2. Absurd men The absurdness and unreasonableness of men that are Enemies to Christ and the Gospel for of such the Apostle speaketh
high Priest became us c. Give me leave upon this argument to make use of the same words Christ hath Loves such a Saviour became the Sons of men and that upon a three fold account 1. As love stands opposed to hatred and wrath and Enmity Considering man as Gods Creature he was not hated of God God hâ—teth not the work of his own hand but considering him as a lapsed creature as degenerated into the Plant of a strange Vine after that God had created him a generous noble plant so he became the object of Gods wrath hatred and Enmity We were Children of wrath by nature saith the Apostle E ph 2. 3. God is angry with the wicked every day How Sutable to us now is it to have a Saviour That is Love and who hath Loves considering the aversion in the holy Divine Beeing from Mankind as rebellious Seed a Seed of Evil doers Who could have suited us to have become a Saviour unto us but one who had akind propension and inclination to us inclining him to the great work of mans Redemption and Reconciliation to God especially also considering that there could be no remission of sins without blood no reconciliation without the reconcilers Death he had need have loves that should dye for his Friend and he much more who should dye for Enemies that were by his death to be made friends 2. As Loves signifies multitude and infinitness of Love We have all a multitude of sins and there is a kind of infiniteness in sin indeed our Acts of Sin are not infinite we cannot number them we cannot measure them but they are to be numbred that is our comfort so that the ballance is on Gods side he hath infinite Mercies But there is an infiniteness of a will to sin in every Sinners heart if a Sinner were let alone he hath such a depth of vileness in his heart that if he were to live infinitely he would sin without limits without bounds infinitely there is an infiniteness in the guilt of Sin we had need of a Saviour that should have Loves an infinite of Love a multitude of Mercies for our multitude of Sins numberless pardons for numberless Sinnings we Sinned yesterday we sin this day and we shall sin to morrow If Christ had not Loves we could have no hopes 3. Thirdly such a Saviour became us As Loves signifyes a Variety of gracious inclinations We have a variety of wants Our wants are not all of one nature we have need of Love to pardon us and to bring us into a state of favour Love to preserve us and uphold us when we are in such a state of favour One or another gracious aspect and inclination of Christ would not have been enough for our Souls which are not onely miserable and stand in need of mercy but poor and stand in need of the riches of divine grace and naked and stand in need of the long White robe of Christs righteousness and blind and stand in need of his Eye Salve We are all Emptiness and stand in need of his fulness that we might receive of his fulness Grace for Grace Less than infinite Loves and variety of gracious inclinations a readiness to serve our Souls in a variety of distresses with a sutable Supply of grace grace suited to every necessity of our Souls could not have fitted our Souls which have not only wants and infirmities but are incompassed about with wants and infirmities Fifthly Let this report of Christ to your Souls ingage you to indeavour to be made the Objects of these Loves I have observed to you before that this text doth not speak of the Love of Christ with respect to his Father but with respect to us to the Sons of men they are the objects of the Loves of Christ here mentioned How should we all study and indeavour that we may be the Beloved the objects of these Loves not of his Love onely but of his Loves Arminians keep a great deal of stir with a Philanthropy in Christ a common Love which he hath for all the Sons and daughters of men Nor is the question betwixt them and other Divines so much about the thing as the extent of it Sober Divines will many of them grant in Christ a common Love to all mankind and speak of some things which they take to be the effects and products of it but admit it yet it is certain he hath also an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a good pleasure of his will or Special kindness to some Souls So he hath Loves that is the benignity and kindness of his inclinations is more to Some than to others Let none of us satisfy our selves to be the Object of Christs Love unless we be the object of his Loves I shall press this onely with One Argument It is this Nothing but the Loves of Christ can serve our Souls as to their true Spiritual and eternal Concernment There is a great stir made in the world about a common Love which Christ should have for all the Sons and daughters of men and there are many that would make the Death of Christ to be the Effect of this Common Love And so conclude that he intentionally dyed for all and Every man Others are not of that mind but yet will allow all men and women in the world to receive some good from Christ and that not onely considered as God over all blessed for ever and one with his Father and so in him we live move and have our Being But as Mediator It is from him they say that the world yet stands that the Gospel is preached to the worst of men I see little in this worth the contending for I would gladly know what real advantage accrueth to any Soul from being the common object of Divine Love Admitting that all shal not be saved for whom Christ dyed which they must hold who hold that Christ dyed for all and every man unless they hold universal Salvation I would fain know what relief any Soul can have from this notion of Christs dying for all which some so much contend for Supposing that all men shall not be saved but those onely whom Christ hath loved with a Special Love Nothing can possibly revive a Soul troubled as to its Spiritual and eternal concerns but some evidence of that It is said of the young man who came to Christ so hopefully Mar. 10. 21. kneeling to him saying Master what good thing may I do that I may obtain everlasting Life that he loved him With that general Love which he hath for all his Creatures especially such as have any seeds of goodness in them yet the Text saith he went away Sorrowful Let us labour for the Special Love of Christ Such tokens of his Love as may distinguish betwixt us and those who shall perish But to shut up this Discourse This notion calleth upon all of us who would be like Christ to have Loves also There are two
from God and Heb. 9. 14. the Apostle tells us That the blood of Christ purgeth our Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God Hence the Apostle 1. Cor. 1. 30. Telleth us that Christ is made unto us Wisdom Sanctification and Redemption 5. The 5th great Want of the Soul which I mentioned was Hopes or Assurance of an happy Existence to all eternity This Want now accrueth from the Soul's Immortality The Consideration that God hath created us under an Ordination to an Eternal Existence and State Admitting this which indeed is the main thing that distinguisheth a reasonab'e Soul from the Soul of a brute Creature it is impossible that the Soul should be under any degree of Happiness that hath not some Hopes or Assurance of Glory That its Soul shall go to God when it leaveth the Body And that the Body shall rise again in a joyful Resurrection in which it shall be again united to the Soul that both may live with God for ever Now this is a Good which floweth unto the Soul from the Loves of Christ This needs no further proof than 1. That no Soul is born to this glorious and incorruptible Inheritance for we are by nature Children of Wrath and eternal life is the Gift of God as the Apostle tells us Rom. 6. The Gift of God is eternal Life and it is a gift which cometh from God to us by the Hands of Christ John 17. 2. As thou hast given him Power over all Flesh that he should give eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him And John 10. 28. Speaking of his sheep saith he I give unto them eternal Life and they shall never perish Now as their having a certain right to and their future possession of eternal Life is necessary for them in another Life when this transitory Life shall be determined so the hopes or full assurance of it is necessary for them to make them in any measures happy while they live here And this is in and from Christ also and therefore he is called our Hope 1 Tim. 1. 1. And the the Apostle Col. 1. 27. saith Christ in us is the Hopes of Glory That is all the Hopes we have of Glory are from Christ This is abundantly enough to evince that positive goodness that is in the Loves of Christ their high and sutable conveniencies to the necessities and wants of our Souls I shall in the next place shew you the transcendent Goodness and excellency that is in them that they are as the Text saith Better then Wine or as it is expressed in the Hebrew Idiome good before Wine Wine as I have before shewed you literally Signifies the Juice of the Grape Figuratively whatsoever is good sweet and excellent in the World Now take it in one or both Senses The Demonstration is very easy I shall make it in 3 particulars 1. First all the Goodness that is in Wine taken either litterally for the Juice of the Grape or Figuratively for all created comforts lies in a Sutableness of them and that but for a time neither to the more external wants of a Creature Three things must be yielded concerning all created Goods 1. None of them reach the wants of the Soul which is the best and noblest part of man What do Pleasures Riches Honours whatsoever this world affordeth signify as to the Souls wants It wants Pardon of sins Will any of these procure or purchase it It wants a Righteousness wherein to stand before God Will these procure it It wants Peace of Conscience Will those give it It wants Purity Will they cleanse it It naturally wants a Right and title to Glory and the Hopes or Assurance of it Can any of these help the Soul to it They indeed sute the more external wants of Man The wanton Sense wants grateful Objects They will Supply it The body wants Food and Rayment they will Supply it But for the more inward Spiritual Wants of the Soul they have no Sutableness to them no conveniency But as I have shewed you the Loves of Christ have nay they are not onely suted to the Souls greatest wants but to the Bodies also at least so far as the Soul hath influence on the Body upon the Happiness of which it undoubtedly hath for a good Conscience is a continual feast The Contentment which Grace filleth the Soul with the Mortification and Subduing of the Passions and stubborn Will of Man have a great Reflection upon the Health and chearfulness of the Body So that here is a double Argument to prove the Loves of Christ better than Wine 1. From their Sutableness to the necessities and wants of the Soul which are the wants of the noblest part of man 2. From their sutableness to the wants both of Soul and body by reason of the Reflection which the Souls good hath upon the outward Man even in this Life to say nothing of the joyful Resurrection of the Body and the Happiness both of Body and Soul reunited in the Enjoyment of God for ever 2. All created Comforts last but for a Season and that a little Season They only sute the wants of our Bodies in this Life Riches profit not in the day of Wrath Honours lie down with our Bodies in the dust Pleasures cease when our senses which they gratified are gone Nay very often the Sutableness or gratefulness of these created Goods extinguisheth before the determination of our natural Lives When Barzillai was Fourescore years old his Eye took no pleasure in seeing nor his Ear in hearing There are daies in this Life Eccles 12. 7. in which a man shall say he hath no pleasure in them What do Riches Honours Friends Pleasures signify in a day of Sickness 3. No created good suteth all our wants one suteth one want another fills up another Emptiness none suteth all But the Love of Christ as it suteth our Soul wants So it is Suted to all times and is certain and a Supply to all wants of Souls This is my first Argument to prove his Loves better then Wine 2. Secondly there is no need or want which Wine or created goods supplieth but the Love of Christ will supply and much more eminently and abundantly Let me open this in a few particulars 1. Wine in regard of the Subtile Spirituous nature of it hath a great vertue to exhilarate the Spirits and to raise up the Affection of Joy Hence you read of those who shout by reason of Wine Psal 78. 65. And the Psalmist saith VVine makes glad the heart of Man Psal 104. 15. and Ecc. 10. 19. Wine maketh merry But do not the Loves of Christ do this much more Eph. 5. 19. And be you not drunk with Wine wherein is Excess but be you filled with the Spirit speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs making Melody in your heart to the Lord. David Psal 4. cries out Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon me for thou thereby
further to consider the relation they stand in to the Petition considered as an argument used by the Spouse to inforce it I have already shewed you they are brought in by the Spouse 1. Partly to shew us the reason why the Spouse so earnestly desired these tokens of Christs distinguishing love viz. because she had found them good yea good before Wine as is the Hebrew Idiom 2. Partly as an argument she inforceth her Petition drawn from the value she set upon the love of Christ Each of these will afford us a distinct Proposition That the ground of Believers earnest desire after the tokens of Christs distinguishing love and nearest communion with him is their knowledge and experience of the goodness and transcendent excellency of it That it is a good argument for Christians to use in pleading with God for the choicest dispensations of his grace if they can truly tell him that his Grace is very precious to them These 2 propositions remain yet to be handled I begin with the first of them 1 Prop. The ground of Believers earnest desires after the tokens of Christs distinguishing love is their knowledge and experience of the goodness and transcendent excellency that is in it I say their knowledge of the goodness and transcendent goodness of those tokens of Divine Love By knowledge I here mean no more then their believing apprehension God hath in his word revealed the excellency of them this revelation they have read and heard and God hath wrought in their hearts a firm and steady assent to the Divine Revelation This indeed is Gods first work in the Soul the motion of the will and affections follow it I added and experience Experience is a sensible evidence Knowledge is gained by reading and hearing experience by seeing and enjoying knowledge conduceth something to move the Will and Affections experience more The reason is because good things in the fruition and enjoyment of them do not alwaies answer our first apprehensions of them and expectations from them but nothing can be imagined more potent to incline the whole Soul to any thing than knowledge in conjunction with experience justifying our apprehension As we have heard saith the Psalmist Psal 48. 8. so have we seen in the City of our God when a Soul hath not only heard of the Loves of Christ but its Eyes hath seen them the Soul hath tasted how good the Lord is this mightily engageth the Affections Especially if we further consider that whereas in all sensible objects called good the fruition or enjoyment rarely answers the report of them or the apprehension of them which the Soul first entertained and apprehended it is quite contrary here the enjoyment infinitely transcends the notion and apprehension so that as the Queen of Sheba said to Solomon It was a true report that I heard in my own land of thy Acts and of thy wisdom howbeit I believed I eved not their words until I came and mine Eyes had seen it and behold the half was not told me thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard 1 Kings 10. 6. 7. So saith the Soul that being justified by faith hath arrived to a peace with God Lord it was a true report that I read in thy word and heard from thy Ministers while I was yet in my natural state and condition of thy loves and the infinite sweetness that is in them how beit I believed not the words until my Soul came to tast something of it and behold the half of that quiet and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost the half of that serenity of conscience and satisfaction which the Soul hath from a peace with God was not told me thy loves far exceed the fame which I heard I shall lay the proof of this Doctrine upon these 2 Propositions which have a natural rational evidence to every reasonable Soul 1. The Soul of man naturally and necessarily knowing an object to be good and wanting it in whole or in part to any considerable degree doth desire it and without such knowledge it desires it not It is a rule in Philosophy we will nothing but what to us appeareth good It is our misery in our lapsed state that many things to us appear so which are not so but they must so appear or we cannot will them Three things must concur to make any thing the object of a reasonable Souls desires 1. An apprehended goodness in it That is an apprehended Sutableness in it to our state or circumstances if there be never so much goodness in a thing if we have no knowledge of it no apprehension of such goodness in it our will moveth not by desire toward it Hence it is that the Clown desires no learning and the man of learning and knowledge desireth no excess of gold or Silver Though there be a goodness in learning and knowledge Yet the Clown apprehends it not so doth not desire it and though there be some degrees of goodness in a great estate yet the Philosopher and man of contemplation apprehends it no further than as it serveth for a Viaticum a Travelling Penny to pay for food rayment whiles he passeth through the world And indeed this is the true reason why the sensual profane man saith to the Almighty depart from me and to Christ what do I care for thee for being under no conviction of his lost and miserable estate and possibly hardly believing that he hath an immortal Soul or shall have any existence beyond this Life he seeth nothing in Christ or the loves of Christ that any way suteth the necessities and wants of his Soul and Ignot i nulla cupido what good a man doth not know he never longeth for 2. A Second thing concurring to make the Object of desire is an apprehended possibility of attaining to or enjoying what he apprehends so sutable for the reason of man will not suffer his Soul to move towards what he apprehends impossible to be attained Hence as no Schollar ever heartily desired all kinds degrees of learning knowledge so no worldling ever desired all the Gold and Silver in it Hence it is also impossible that a Soul under an habituated despair should heartily desire the Love and favour of God which it apprehends not possible for it to obtain 3. The object of it must be somthing which the Soul wanteth either in whole or in part either as to the thing it self or as to some degrees of it or at least what it apprehendeth itself to want Still apprehension is necessary for De non Entibus non apparentibus eadem est ratio It is the same thing as to this motion of the Soul not to have a good and not to apprehend that it hath it for our Souls move according to their apprehensions and this is the reason none desires being though they may desire the continuance of it the healthy man desireth not health though he may bless God for it
and desireth the continuance of it The Ignorant bold presumptuous Sinner desireth not the Love of God the pardon of Sins he thinks he is sure of all Hence now it is that the believer desires the Loves of Christ it apprehendeth them good possible and what its Soul doth stand indaily and further need of which apprehension is the reason why our Souls desire any thing be it of what nature soever we can desire nothing but what we must apprehend good sutable to us in some of our circumstances possible to be attained and such as either wholly or in some degree at least we need 2. According to the degree of our knowledge or apprehension of the goodness of any object so are our desires after it This will justify itself upon experience in all other things we do not desire them according to the degree of goodness in them for then every man must desire the favour of God Union and Communion with him but according to the degree of our knowledge or apprehension of such a good as such Now there are various degrees of knowledge 1. The first and meanest is the meer act of our Understanding which by the help of our Eyes and Ears gaineth the knowledge of things And thus the vilest of men may know that the Loves of Christ are good yea good before wine that is they may have so read in the Bible so heard from Ministers of the Gospel And even this knowledge may produce in a bad man a desire after these things proportioned to his apprehension Hence such a man may faintly will and lazily desire these things 2. A Second degree of Knowledge is Opinion This riseth a little higher the man who thus knows that the Loves of Christ are good doth not onely know it from reading or hearing but from probable Arguments Nor is it difficult for a wicked man thus also to know that the Loves of Christ are good Assoon as he can be made to believe that there is a God and that he is the Fountain of Good and that Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of God and Equal with the Father both in Essence and all Divine Perfections his Reason will persuade him that there must be a Goodness yea a transcendent Goodness in Christs Loves But while Flesh and Blood only revealeth this thing unto him his Knowledge is incertain and faint and he is subject to thoughts that he may be mistaken and therefore though he may sometimes desire Christs Love yet it is but by fits and with incertainties according to the Nature of the Knowledge and Apprehension he hath of the truth of the things 3. A Third degree of Knowledge is Persuasion arising from Demonstration Now there is 1. A Demonstration of Sense thus we know the Sun shines the Fire burneth c. 2. A Demonstration of Reason when we can conclude a thing from infallible Principles of natural Reason 3. A Demonstration of Faith which is the Demonstration of the Spirit When men know things from the holy Spirits fully persuading them of the truth of this or that from a Divine Revelation This is the Demonstration of faith 4. There is yet a further and higher degree of Knowledg that ariseth from Experience being a sensible Evidence of the truth of what the Soul had before received a little of from the sight of the Eye and hearing of the Ear and more from the persuasion of the Spirit and some Argumentations within itself I say now that according to the degree of the Souls knowledge and apprehension so are the workings of the Affections This of desire in particular Hence the desires of Believers to the Loves of Christ must necessarily be the strongest For the degree of the Knowledge and Apprehension the Believer hath of the goodness of them is higher than it is possible any other Souls should have Other Souls may have read Books discoursing the Loves of Christ or heard Discourses of that tendency or judge so from Arguments of Scripture which may make such a thing probable to them But none but these have any persuasion wrought in their Souls by the Spirit of God of the Excellency of them none else have had any real Tasts and Experience of them Knowledge and Experience of the Goodness of any Objects being those things which move the Soul to desire them and the degree of the Souls apprehension of such Goodness and Excellency in Objects the ground of the Souls Intention in such desires it must necessarily follow that a good Christians Knowledge and Experience of that Goodness which is in Christs Loves must be the grounds of their desires after them There needeth no Scripture to prove this it is evident to our Reason Yet take the Instance of David Psal 4. 6. David desires of God to lift up the light of his Countenance upon him Observe now v. 7. what made him prefer the light of Gods Countenance to the Worldlings Corn and Wine and Oil Thou hast put gladness into my Heart Accordingly he tells us Psal 9. 10. They that know thy Name will put their trust in thee Hence you shall observe that David concludeth many of his Psalms of Praise with Prayer But will some say If they have had experience of the Loves of Christ why should they yet desire them None desires what they have This is true if our Enjoyments were perfect but there is an heighth and depth and length and breadth of the Love of God in Jesus Christ an heighth which the Soul hath not taken a depth which the Soul hath not fathomed a length and breadth which the Soul hath not measured from end to end It is true we desire nothing but what we want either in whole or in part therefore in Heaven will be no desire That which is perfect will be come and all that which is in part only will be done away But we shall never be filled with the Loves of Christ till our Mortality be swallowed up in Life I come now to the Application We may learn from hence That God must shew some act of Love to us before we can shew any Love to him Desires after the Loves of Christ though sincere are the least and first and lowest motions of our Souls toward God These you have heard must arise from a Knowledge and Experience of the goodness of those Loves Now this Knowledge this Experience must be the Gift of God to and the work of God in and upon the Soul yea and that not in a way of common Grace and Illumination but in a way of special Grace for though a common Illumination may produce some faint desires yet it will produce no sincere and effectual desires because the Knowledge begot by them will be flitting and incertain and attended with Doubts Fears and Incertainties So as till the Lord by his Spirit hath wrought in the Soul a persuasion of Faith commanding the Soul without dispute to give credit to what he hath revealed in his Word
there will be no sincere desires in the Soul after these things The Schoolmen tell us there are three ways by which we gain the Knowledge of a thing By Signs Conjectures and Effects as some Causes are known 2. By the enquiry of our Reason into the nature of it 3. By Divine Revelation The Excellency of the Loves of Christ is a spiritual thing and to be judged upon Spiritual accounts and in a Spiritual manner The natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2. 14. So as the natural Reason of a Man will serve him very little to the gaining of this Knowledge by the Effects having never experienced it he cannot know it so as there is no other way to know it but by Divine Revelation God saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 10. hath revealed them to us by his Spirit And v. 12. We have received the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given us of God So as that I say God must shew some special token of his Love to our Souls for good before we can shew any Love to him or make so much as one step toward him Observe from hence That a Believers Soul moves rationally and accountably enough in all its desires after the Loves of Christ The Souls of Believers are not so unintelligible as some prophane Persons would make them in their Passions for and Motions towards Christs Loves The Knowledge a Soul hath or the Experience which it hath had of the Goodness and Excellency of any Object moves the reasonable Soul to the desires of it Admitting the Believer to see things in another Light than a natural Man hath or can see in to have other Notions of Good and Evil and to take the measures of them from their subserviency to the Spiritual and eternal good of the Soul the Passions and Desires of his Soul after Christs Love are as natural Motions of the reasonable Souls as the Worldlings Desires after Riches or the sensual Mans Passions for such things as gratifie the sensitive Appetite The Reason why every Soul moveth not after these Spiritual Things is because every Soul seeth not the Good and Excellency in them Multitudes hardly know that is believe they have immortal Souls that shall outlive their Bodies in a state of Happiness or Misery or if they know or believe that yet they do not believe that there is no other name under Heaven by which they can be saved but only the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Nor ever had any experience of the Love of God to Souls Their deriding of Religious Passions and the Breathings of pious Souls after the Manifestations of Divine Love flows from their ignorance of them and their unreasonable Rudeness in speaking evil of the things which they know not The original difference betwixt a person truly pious and panting after the Love of Christ and others lies here These Creatures know that they have Souls Souls ordained to an eternal existence either in HÄ—ll or Heaven in eternal Happiness or in eternal Misery They believe what God hath said that there is no other Name under Heaven by which Men and Women can be saved but only the name of Jesus Christ neither is there Salvation in any other That he that believeth on him is not condemned and he that believeth not is damned already the Wrath of God abideth on him and he shall never see Life they do not only read these things in their Bibles and hear them from their Preachers but the Holy Spirit of God hath firmly persuaded them that they do as fixedly believe them as they do any thing of sensible or rational Demonstration they have more waky thoughts with reference to Death Mortality and Eternity are things more in their Eyes than in the Eyes of others Again they have tasted and experienced more of the Love of Christ Allow the Souls of others to be in the same Circumstances they would have alike Motions but because they are ignorant knowing nothing of Spiritual Things or at least nothing as they ought to know it thence it is that their Souls move not this is now but the natural working of reasonable Souls in other cases nor is there any such unaccountable or unintelligible thing in it And indeed this gives us the true Reason why every unregenerate Soul is so cold in its motions toward Christ and also may inform us how far it is possible such a Soul may go in motions of this nature The Reason why such a Soul moves no more is want of Evidence which such a Soul hath of the Goodness of his Loves Simple Goodness and Excellency in an Object is not attractive of the Soul but Goodness apprehended by evidenced and appearing to us All the apprehension that it is possible a natural man should have of the Loves of Christ must be from Reading Hearing or its own Reasoning and concluding from what it hath so heard or read for it wants both the demonstrative persuasion of the Holy Spirit and also any experimental Tasts or sensible Evidence All Knowledge which hath no better Foundation will arise no higher than to beget in the Soul an Opinion and leaves the Soul at some Incertainties and unfixed and hence its Motions towards an Object of which it hath no better Evidence are also incertain and faint and fluctuating Knowledge being the Foundation of Desire Reason will tell us that the Desire must bear proportion with the Knowledge The unregenerate man having no Knowledge of Spiritual things that is productive of more than an Opinion the desire must be incertain and faint according to the nature of the Opinion that causeth it By this also Christians may be able to take some Measures and make up some Judgments of themselves whether the desires they find in their Souls after Christ and his Loves be such as are peculiar to the Souls of Believers yea or no. We usually say that Desires after Grace are Evidences of it and there is a truth in it but all desires are not so for as I have said there may be desires after Christ and his Loves in an unregenerate Man commensurate to that knowledge which he hath of the Goodness of them but this will speak nothing of good to the Soul only such Desires as flow from a Christians Knowledge of Faith and from Experience He that hath only a knowledge of Christ and his Loves from Reading the word or from the Report of Ministers may so far desire Christs Loves as may serve him for his own ends nay though he hath no great Faith as to that eternal State of Happiness to which Christ brings the Soul but hath only received Notions of such ablessed State to which he gives no great credit yet for his own Security because his notions may be true though he hath no great fixed persuasion of them he may yet desire the Loves of Christ so far as to bring him to
an everlasting Happiness As a Merchant that hath heard a Report of the rare Commodities and cheapness of them in a Country which Report he doth not so far believe as he will adventure an Hundred Pounds to try the Issue yet may desire the Commodities at such Rates as he hears of so may an unregenerate man that hath fate under the Preaching of the Gospel and heard abundantly of the Excellency of Christ and the rare effects of his Love though he will not do any thing toward the obtaining them yet may wish that Christ loved him that he might be made partaker of such Love though all this while in Heart he believeth little or nothing That you may not therefore deceive your selves in this point take a few notes of such desires as are indeed Evidences of Grace 1. They are not meer velleities lazy wishings and wouldings as we say but alwaies attended with the use of means which we judge or find proper to obtain our desires And indeed this alone without anything further said will try this issue a desire arising from the knowledge and experience a Soul hath of the goodness of an Object is alwaies attended with the use of what means are within our reach for the obtaining of it Hence a Souls pretended desire of the pardon of sin through the blood of Christ and of living with Christ in glory not conjoined with fervent prayers with an endeavour to reform our lives and to sin no more is of no good significancy at all It is only an indication that the man or woman would be happy and secure as to eternity if there be such a thing which he hath heard but now when these desires are attended with sad reflections upon ourselves for sin serious indeavours against sin and hearty and fervent prayers to God for pardon these things speak the truth and sincerity of our desires 2. Desires upon knowledge and experience of the goodness of a thing are alwaies most intense and strongest If you observe it the desires of our Souls are augmented from a double cause 1. The certainty of our knowledge of that goodness which is in the thing desired 2. The quickness of our apprehension of the want of it The more full and certain knowledge that we have of the goodness and excellency of an Object the more we desire it For I told you before it is not the simple goodness and excellency of a thing that draweth out our Souls after it but our apprehension of such a goodness hence in reason it must follow that the desire must be strongest in that Soul where the apprehension is most full and certain And all goodness being measured by us by the suitableness of the thing to our wants the quicker and fuller apprehensions the Soul hath of its wants of Christ love the stronger must the souls motions for and towards it be Now the believing Soul having the most certain knowledge of the goodness of the Loves of Christ and having also the fullest and quickest apprehension of its wants of them of necessity its pantings after them must be most intense and strong As the Hart panteth after the Water Brooks as David speaketh Psal 42. 1. Hence it is that when the Prayers of Hypocrites are but complementings of God a few words of course the prayers of the Saints are wrestlings with God as Jacobs prayer is stiled strong cries and groans which cannot be uttered as the Apostle speaketh Rom. 8. where any Soul findeth such desires as these it hath reason to rejoice and be comforted concerning the truth of its grace tho it findeth its actions imperfect and Gods manifestations of himself to it in consolatory influences not so full In this sense it is true that desires of grace are indications of it provided they be such desires as flow from a knowledge or any experience of Divine Love I mean a knowledge of Faith a certain firm persuasion wrought in the heart of that goodness and excellency that is in Christ and his loves not a meer knowledge from report and the credit of others but such desires can never admit of a regardless carelessness whether the Soul obtaineth what it desireth or no but will be attended with an inquiry after and a due use of all means for the obtaining the thing desired And besides they will alwaies be strong desires according to the nature of the good desired and the apprehended degree of the Souls want of it and hence again The Soul that hath these true desires will find them attended with trouble and unquietness till it hath in some measure at least obtained the thing which it desireth for as the wise man saith of Hope so it is true of desire deferred it maketh the heart sick The Soul filled with desires is like the Woman in Travel pained till it obtaineth the thing desired As when the desire is accomplished it is sweet to the Soul Prov. 13. 19. So while it is accomplished there must be some bitterness and uneasiness in the Soul But now desires after Christ and his loves attended with no trouble no uneasiness for want of the accomplishment and obtaining of them faint and cold and languid desires without the use of means within our power to obtain the thing desired are of no significancy as to a truth of grace Solomon hath two sayings in his Proverbs that may be applyed here Prov. 13. 4. The Soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing but the Soul of the diligent shall be made fat And Prov. 21. 25. The desire of the slothful killeth him for he refuseth to labour Two things are said of the slothful sluggard 1. That he desireth and hath nothing he never obtaineth his desire 2. That his desires kill him they do him hurt no good what is the reason Because he refuseth to labour But the Soul of the diligent is made fat Solomon speaketh as to the things of this Life The Soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing It is as true as to Spiritual things the Grace of God the Loves of Christ The Souls of Sluggards that will sometimes say O that I had my part in Christ O that my Iniquities might be pardoned O that I might live with God in Glory c. but never will do any thing toward these things not so much as deny themselves in a Lust nor keep under their Body and bring it into Subjection in any thing these Souls have nothing The truth is they have nothing of any true desire proceeding from any sound knowledge or any true experience but they shall have nothing Their Desires kill them if they trust to these desires of Grace as Indications of a truth of Grace they kill them they cheat their own Souls to an eternal ruine and destruction But the diligent Soul is made fat That Soul that from a sound and firm persuasion of the goodness and excellency of the loves of Christ desires to tast and further to tast of them and is
diligent in the use of means to have its desires accomplished that Soul shall be made fat That Souls desires shall be accomplished tho it may see it falls short of its duty in the use of means and tho it may be God is not pleased to give the Soul the sensible manifestations of its love so that its desire is deferred and while it is so differred the heart is pained and it meets with some trouble and uneasiness through the not accomplishing of its desires to its sense yet it shall be made fat The hope of the righteous saith Solomon shall be gladness so the desire of such a Soul the diligent Soul shall be satisfaction This is according to the words of our Saviour Mat. 5. 6. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled Thus much I have thought fit to add in this place in answer to that question which we sometimes meet with Whether the desire of grace be grace A true resolution of it is of mighty use sometimes to Souls under melancholick distempers or in an hour of temptation to relieve them where they both want sensible manifestations and a just view of the sincerity of their own actions I shall shut up this discourse with a word of exhortation 1. To all to look to their desires their pretended desires after Christ and his loves That of the Apostle 1 Cor. 16. 22. is a dreadful Curse If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha accursed till the Lord come Love is the complacency of the Soul in an object the first fruit of its desire None hath a true complacency in an object but he desireth an union with it in such a degree as he is capable of Hence every one that liveth under the preaching of the Gospel and hath heard of Christ will pretend to desire him But one desires him from a knowledge by hearsay of the goodness of his loves another desires him from a knowledge of faith a setled persuasion of it wrought in his heart by the Spirit of God and some tasts and experience of it you have heard that the desires of the Soul which arise from a knowledge of report and hearsay are weak and faint and cold and lazy and will speak nothing of good for the Soul that hath them you have heard the other desires are strong and intense vehement and fervent active and diligent Nothing more relieveth a Soul sometimes than to find in itself that though it wanteth a strength to perform yet to will is present with it tho it cannot yet rejoice and delight in the apprehension of his loves yet for these are its desires Nothing more killeth and destroyeth a Soul than to trust to desires of grace as indications of it which indeed are not so O therefore look to your desires after Christ See that they proceed from knowledge and experience For experience indeed it dependeth upon Divine influence and breathing upon the Soul and the holy Spirit of God like the wind breatheth where it pleaseth But see that your knowledge of the goodness of these loves be a knowledge of faith not a meer knowledge from report and hearsay as we may know many things of which we believe nothing that is we know such things are written reported talkt of rake heed this be not all the knowledge your Souls have of the loves of Christ I have shewed you that the Knowledge of Faith is a knowledge of persuasion of the excellency of the loves of Christ in themselves for I am not now discoursing of the persuasion that you have a particular interest in them a firm setled constant persuasion of the Soul that the love of Christ is the most desirable good in Heaven or Earth better then Wine yea better than life itself This is the work of the Spirit of God in the Soul A man can by no study persuade himself of this we can by no art no words no arguments of ours persuade Souls of this All that you can do or which we can advise you to do in this case in the use of such means to the use of which God hath promised his blessing or in the use of which God ordinarily concurreth with his blessing These means are reducible to a few heads 1. His Word 2. His Sacrament 3. Prayer 4. A reformed holy life and Conversation 1. The Word is the great means he hath given you it in writing that you may exercise your selves in it by reading he hath appointed the Ordinance of Preaching that you may receive it by your ears neither reading nor hearing will beget in your Souls such a knowledge of Christs love as will be productive of this knowledge which I call the knowledge of faith but they are both means means within our own power and with the use of which God useth to concur and in the neglect of which noâ—e can expect that the holy Spirit of God should work such a knowledge of the excellency of Christ and his loves as will be productive of these desires after them The Word of God is therefore called the Word of faith not only because it containeth the substance of what we are to believe but because it is that with the use of which God ordinarily concurreth in giving the Soul a power to believe therefore the Apostle tells us That faith cometh by hearing If you would know Christ and his loves read hear the Word of God and that in a conscientious manner but I have had occasion to speak of this under a former proposition 2. The holy Sacrament is another means at least for a further knowledge of Christ and his loves I am not of their minds who think that the Lords Supper is a means for conveighing the first knowledge of faith concerning Christ and his Loves to the Soul if it had Christ doubtless would have given it in commission to his Apostles not only to go and preach to and Baptize all Nations but also to Administer the Supper to them which he did not if any will say both Sacraments are intended I shall not contend but the Apostles practice expoundeth our Saviours precept who baptized none till they believed and made a profession of their true faith in Christ the Sacrament is not a means for ignorant persons and unbelievers to come to the first knowledge of Faith but an excellent means in order to the getting a further knowledge of Faith that is a confirmation of their Faith in the love of Christ 3. A third means is Prayer He gives his holy Spirit in all the manifestations of it to those that ask him 4. The last I mentioned was a reformed holy life and Conversation None know the loves of Christ more fully and effectually then those Souls who walk with him most closely You know the promise of Christs manifestation of himself is to those that love him and keep his commandments but of these things I have before
inlarged in my discourses upon some former propositions Sermon XII Canticles 1. 2. For thy Loves are better than Wine I Am now come to the last proposition I observed from these words which I told you might be either considered As a Reason why she desired the tokens of Christs distinguishing loves a reason drawn from her knowledge and experience of the goodness the transcendent goodness of them In this notion I have already spoken to the proposition arising from them Or 2. As an argument of her petition by which she pleadeth with God for the thing which she desired An argument drawn from the value she set upon his love From whence results this proposition Prop. 10. That our value and estimate of the love of Christ above all other things is an excellent argument for a Soul to use with God for the obtaining of it An argument is a mean brought either to prove a proposition or to move the Affections The Logicians bring arguments to prove the just connexion of Subjects and Predicates in propositions The Orator useth them to move mens wills and affections the business of the Soul with God in any prayer is the business of an Orator the Arguments he hath to use are such as may move God to bestow the good things upon him which he desireth If you observe all the prayers of the Servants of God upon Sacred Record you shall find them much to consist of Requests or Petitions and arguments backing or inforcing those requests These arguments you will observe drawn from several heads Sometimes from the Nature of God Sometimes from their relation unto him Sometimes from the promises made in the case Sometimes from the greatness of their misery Sometimes from Gods Power and the freeness of his Grace Psal 25. 7. According to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness sake O Lord. Sometimes from their faith alliance to and dependance upon God Psal 25. 2. O my God I trust in thee let me not be ashamed So from various other heads I say amongst others A Souls just prizing and valuing of the loves of Christ is an excellent argument for a Soul to use to inforce a petition for them 2. The goodness or badness the strength or weakness of an argument derives wholly from its subserviency to its end its cogency or no cogency The End here aimed at is by prayer to obtain the loves of Christ so as the goodness of the arguments to be used in this case depends upon the force they have with God to move him to grant the requests of our lips 3. Persuasive arguments have their force either upon a natural account and that is mostly from the infirmity of our Natures which renders them subject to be affected with fine words passionate expressions we must not imagine that God can be moved with any such thing and therefore fine phrases in prayer are very insignificant things Or else upon a moral and rational account As now amongst men if one can come to another requesting a favour from him and say Sir you promised it me there is a force in this argument upon a moral and rational account such an argument is this in this case If a Soul can go to God pleading for the manifestations of his love unto it and truly tell him that it valueth his love and favour above all created comforts tho the bare naming of this and delivering it in fine significant words will do nothing with God in order to the obtaining of it nay though this affection and temper of our Souls can merit no influence of grace from God yet considering the persections of the Divine Nature and the obligations which God hath laid upon himself It will have a great moral vertue and efficacy and be of great force with him for the obtaining the influences of Divine Grace and the communications of his love Hence I shall desire you in the first place to observe what frequent use the People of God have made of it in their applications to the Throne of Grace David especially Psal 42. 1 2 3. As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God my Soul thirsteth for God the Living God when shall I come and appear before thee O God His Request there lies in the last words That he might come and appear before God the Argument he useth is from the value he had for such a mercy so as the Hart did not more pant after the water-brooks The same Argument he useth and much in the same case Psal 84. 1 2. The great Petition of that Psalm was for a liberty again to enjoy God in his Ordinances what is the Argument he useth to enforce this Petition How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts V. 1. My Soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh cryeth out for the Living God So he goes on in a variety of Phrases all expressing but his great value and estimate of such a mercy to that degree that he preferreth the condition of a poor Sparrow or Swallow to his own in the want of it You have him using the same Argument again Psal 63. 1 2 3. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my Soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no water is To see thy Power and thy Glory as I have seen Thee in the Sanctuary Because thy loving kindness is better than life The Petition is much the same and the Argument the same I might instance in many other places of the Psalms but this is sufficient And certainly this were enough if no more could be said to justifie this Proposition That Argument which the man according to God's own heart used and so often used is certainly a good Argument and of due force and efficacy but this was an Argument he often made use of But I shall further shew you the value of this Argument from Reason First This Argument speaketh Christ in the Soul What the Apostle saith in another case No man calleth Jesus Christ Lord but from the Spirit may be applied in this No man can truly say that he prizeth the Loves of Christ above Wine above all created comforts whatsoever but from the Spirit none but the true Christian the truly spiritual man sets any considerable value upon Christ's Loves To you that believe saith the Apostle he is precious Now what Joseph said to his Brethren of Benjamin Bring your Brother Benjamin or see my face no more God hath said to every one of us Bring Christ with you or see not my face We are all transgressors from the womb and God heareth not sinners for their own sakes but for Christ's sake therefore we are commanded to ask in Christ's Name God indeed as our Father by Creation may hear us crying for temporal good things in the day of our wants so he heareth the young Ravens when they cry
for food to him But we are blessed with Spiritual Blessings in Christ and upon the account of Christ he giveth the first grace upon the account of Christ's Intercession pleading for the Application of the purchased Redemption He giveth further grace upon the account of Christ's Intercession for us and the Spirit 's Intercession for us For we know not what to pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered and he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh Intercession for the Saints according to the Will of God Rom. 8. 26 27. Now a due estimate and value of the Love of Christ in a Soul is an Indication of the Spirit of Christ dwelling in the Soul hence it must needs be an Argument of force with God for he that searcheth the heart knoweth the mind of the Spirit making Intercession for the Saints according to the will of God Secondly The force of this Argument lies here in that it layeth hold upon many Promises The Promises are but as so many Bonds in which God hath made himself a Debtor to his Creatures All Promises oblige the truth and faithfulness of those persons that make them God being the true and faithful One cannot lye He is faithful that hath promised saith the Apostle so that if it be a sufficient Argument to use with a man to obtain any thing we would have to tell him He hath promised it it holdeth towards God more strongly as his truth and faithfulness is much more certain and infallible than any Creature is Besides that it is a further advantage when Promises are made upon a due and just consideration for these is not only the truth but the justice also of the person promising is concerned to the fulfilling of them Hence in Scripture you shall ordinarily find the Servants of God pleading the Word the Covenant of God spoken to and made with them Psal 119. 49. Remember thy Word unto thy Servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope and in many other Texts of Scripture I say when a Soul can go to God and say in truth that he valueth his love and favour above Wine above Life above all created comforts this Argument layeth hold upon several Promises of God I will a little enlarge upon this â— It layeth hold upon a Promise of filling and satisfaction Matth. 5. 6. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled It is a mighty large and comprehensive Promise To fill a Soul with the influences of Divine Love is a very great thing It is not easie to fill the covetous man with Wealth but he may be sooner fill'd with Riches than the Soul of a good man with the Love and Grace of God But here is a Promise of being filled Open thy mouth wide saith God and I will fill it To whom is this Promise made To him that hungers and thirsteth after Righteousness Righteousness is Grace whether you take it for the Righteousness of Justification the Righteousness of Christ in which every Soul must stand righteous before God Or the Righteousness of Sanctification habits and acts of Holiness wrought in us and done by us they are both from Grace from the free Love of God shining upon our Souls He that hungers and thirsts after it is he that intensely desires it Hunger and thirst are natural passions arising in us from our want of due aliment nature inforcing in us a sense of that want and of all other they are the most vehement Thence our English Proverb Hunger will break through stone walls and experience tells us to what hard things these passions have brought people not only to eat Carrion but to kill and eat their own Children yea the flesh of their own Arms so as hungring and thirsting after Righteousness importeth vehement desires after Grace which desires testifie the Soul's estimate of it and value for it and to those who thus hunger and thirst the Promise is made that they shall be filled Again such a Soul hath a right to those Promises of all Grace propounded in the most large and comprehensive terms and general phrases as where God promiseth a new heart the water of life his coming unto Souls dwelling in them abiding with them The Soul that can go to God and truly say that he prizeth the Loves of Christ above all things layeth hold of all these Promises of which the holy Scriptures are full Isa 55. 1 2. Ho every one that thirsteth come you to the waters and buy without money and without price buy wine and milk So Rev. 22. 17. Let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him drink of the water of life freely Joh. 14. 23. If any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him So v. 21. He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self to him These now and such like are general Promises comprehensive of all the Love of Christ to the Soul in the various manifestations of it according to the Soul 's diversified necessities with respect to its several circumstances Now observe to whom these Promises are made to those that love Christ and in evidence of that love hunger and thirst after him to them the Promises are made 1. That the Father will love that man or woman 2. That both Christ and his Father will come unto him 3. That they will manifest themselves unto them that they will dwell and make their abode with them That they shall have Wine and Milk without money and price Now I appeal to any ordinary capacity what evidence of Love any Soul can give greater than the valuing of his Loves above all other things So that where this can be said in truth to God God is challenged upon a multitude of Promises even so many as are made to the Love of God and Christ and to the Soul's hungrings and thirstings after him Nay there is yet another sort of Promises which such a Soul challengeth viz. all those Promises of a further supply and increase of Grace to those that have the Seed of Grace As Matth. 13. 12. To him that hath shall be given and he shall have in more abundance I might add many more of like nature but there is hardly any of you but know how to furnish your selves with them Now where the Soul can challenge God upon a Promise and lay claim to the mercy which it asketh from an obligation which God by his Word hath laid upon himself to give it This is a great Argument for it toucheth God upon the account of his Truth and Faithfulness 3. Further yet this argument toucheth God as he is a tender Father God you know to let us know his heart to his poor Creatures amongst other names
of relation hath taken to him that of a Father to let us know there is in his gracious nature something analogous or proportionable to the heart and bowels of Earthly Parents to their Children and accordingly our Saviour argues that if any of our Children ask of us bread we will not give them a Stone nor a Scorpion instead of Fish and thence concludeth that if we being evil know how to give good things to our Children much more will our Heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him You many of you know the heart of a Father To which of you would it not be a great argument to draw you out to any acts by which you could manifest your loves to a Child for your Child to come and beg your love to it telling you that it valueth your love above all things in the world that it had rather have your love your heart towards it than have all the estate you can give it Shall there not be something in the heart of God proportionated to this affection in your hearts Is it possible that a Child of God should come to God and in sincerity say to him Father I beg some tokens of thy special distinguishing love to my Soul thou that knowest all things knowest that I love thee and that my Soul doth value thy loves above all that the world affords and Gods heart should not yearn and his bowels melt towards such a Soul God must say of the voice of such a Soul as Isaac sometimes said It is the voice of my Son Jacob None but a Child can speak such a language 4. Finally No arguments can be of more force to use with God than such wherein the Interest of his own glory is concerned The Glory of God being his own great end which he pursueth in all his actions he useth a great argument to God that saith unto him Father glorify thy self So gracious is God that he gives us leave to fetch arguments from our selves our own wants and the misery we are in which arguments affect God as he is a God full of pity and tender compassion But those arguments which we can fetch from the Interest of his own glory seem to have a greater force as complying with what is the Lords great and chiefest end He that sets an high value and estimate upon the love of Christ giveth God a great deal of Glory preferring him to all things in the world for God cannot be more glorified by the Creature than to be in heart esteemed above and preferred to the whole Creation So as that Soul that goeth to God with this argument doth in effect say Father my Soul hath glorified thee upon the Earth and doth give thee the glory of being the most excellent object and more desirable than all the world besides Now therefore glorify thy self in manifesting of thy love to me that I may further exalt thee in thy rich and free Grace I now come to the application By way of Instruction first we may observe That the meanest Child of God is furnished with a better argument to encourage his hopes in his addresses to the throne of Grace than the greatest and proudest Sinner in the world hath There are arguments which Sinners may use from the infiniteness and freeness of the divine bounty and goodness from their relation to God as his Creatures from the greatness of their misery c. and they may obtain something from God upon these pleas from that infinite goodness and compassion that is in the Divine Nature but no unregenerate man can use this argument which hath in it a much greater force On the other side there is no the meanest child of God not the meanest believer that is in the world but hath this argument to use with God Other arguments may be of avail with God for the obtaining some good things of this life this is of force for the obtaining those of highest consequence relating to the internal and eternal happiness of the Soul Secondly This offers us a great incouragement to examine our selves upon this point Whether we have a due estimate of the loves of Christ Whether we can truly say to our blessed Lord That his loves are better than Wine and that we value them not only above all sensual satisfactions which the profane scandalous Sinner doeth not but above all sensible satisfactions which no unregenerate carnal man doth I remember when our Saviour examined Peter about his love to him he propounded to him this question Joh. 21. 15. Simon Peter lovest thou me more than these I do know that many Interpreters by these in that Text understand his other Disciples standing by There was a time when Peter preferred himself as to his love towards his Master to all the other Disciples Tho saith he all should deny thee yet I would not deny thee Peter since that time was humbled our Saviour had a mind that his humility should be manifested and therefore say some he propoundeth that question to him but I remember Bernard in one of his Sermons upon the Canticles puts another sense upon the words Lovest thou me more than thou lovest these and so it may be referred either to the company with whom he was or to the diversion of fishing they were employed in or to the great draught of fish which they had taken I do but allude to the text who so truly loveth the Lord Jesus Christ if all the persons and things in the world were before him must be able to say I love Christ more than these Admit his friends and nearest relations to be in his Eye all the pleasant and delectable things in the world all the Crowns and Scepters and honours in the world all the Gold and Silver and Houses and Lands in the world in his Eye He must be able to say I love the Lord Jesus Christ more than these yea if his own life be set before him not to be enjoyed without the loss of Christs love he must be able to say that he loves Christ more than that Mat. 10. 37. He that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth Son or Daughter more than me is not worthy of me Lu. 14. 26. If any man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple But I have formerly given you some directions how to try your selves whether the loves of Christ in the apprehension of your Souls are good before Wine and shall therefore add no more on this argument In the third place This notion may be of great use to relieve Christians doubting whether they have any one good Argument to use with God in their applications to him 2. Whether any of their Prayers have at any time pierced the Heavens and been accepted of God A good Christian is often doubting whether
wants but it deriveth from Christ Good things suited to the more external wants of our Body derive from God as the great preserver of man and flow from that common providence of his which dayly worketh in the upholding and preservation of created Beings but good things for our Souls derive from Christ as Mediator and as they are purchased by his blood so they are dispensed out by his Spirit This now can appear to a Soul from no other light but that of Revelation study therefore the holy Scriptures meditate therein night and day they testify all this concerning Christ A full persuasion of these two things 1. That we have immortal Souls ordained to an eternity either of happiness or misery 2. That nothing but the love of Christ can furnish them with those good things which are proper and necessary for them with respect to their Eternal Happiness are enough to convince Men and Women that the loves of Christ are as much better than Wine and to be preferred to it as the Soul is better than the Body and the things suited to its wants better than those things which are only suited to the wants of the outward man But still I say and every days experience maketh it good Non persuaseris etiamsi persuaseris you shall not persuade Men and Women tho you say enough to persuade them though you shut up their mouths and they having nothing to say such a power hath lust in the heart of man into such a debauchery is the nature of man degenerated Admitting men to believe that they have immortal Souls and that the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God there is nothing in nature hath a fuller evidence than this truth that the loves of Christ are preferrible to all things in the world and a man cannot act like a reasonable creature in preferring any thing unto them yet who believes it who lives up to this demonstration It is God must persuade the Soul of this and till the Soul hath this written and ingraven upon it by the finger of his Spirit it will never so Judge Lastly therefore Pray mightily that God would open your Ears to see this and persuade your Souls of the truth of it for till he doth it in vain are mens persuasions To move you to it consider 1. This will bear some proportion to the love of Christ to mankind Christ loved us more than these more than all the Kingdoms and pleasures and profits and honours of the world yea more than his own life yea he preferred us to the Angels the fallen Angels for he took not upon him the nature of Angels but the nature of man 2. This will speak the Soul to be a wise and understanding Soul Certain it is as I have already shewed you that the loves of Christ are good before Wine The wisdom of a Soul lyeth much in a right discerning betwixt good and evil and betwixt that which is good and that which is more good or better The excellency of a Soul lyeth in its conformity to God he is an Atheist who owneth not God to be the first Being and to be of all Beings the most excellent and perfect Being So as necessarily that Soul that comes nearest in conformity to God must be the most excellent Soul now that Soul which acteth most up to the principles of improved and pure reason and to the rule of that holy Writ which we all confess to be the revealed Will of God and liveth most up to the Divine Pattern doing what God doth that must needs be the most wise excellent understanding Soul Now will not a little reason serve to convince us that Christ is the most excelling Object and therefore to be preferred to all sublunary enjoyments Doth not the Scripture represent him to us as altogether desires as the chiefest of ten thousand as the well beloved of the Father in whom he is well pleased as he whom we ought to love with all our heart all our Soul all our Strength Doth not the Father the Heavenly Father love him above all other objects To which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day I have begotten thee and again I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a Son He was brought up with the Father and daily his delight rejoycing alwaies before him 3. This will speak an heavenly sublimated Soul purged from the dregs of sensuality and from an earthly mind a Soul risen with Christ and seeking the things which are above Col. 3. 1. The preference of Wine any sensual satisfactions or any sensible enjoyments to the loves of Christ speaks a dirty Soul that feedeth upon carrion and can be filled with wind Lastly You have heard what an argument this will supply a Soul with in all its addresses and applications to God for any grace or favour no argument can be more moving more prevailing with God none that layeth hold upon more promises or that toucheth God more as a tender Father O therefore labour for this frame of Spirit and give your Souls no rest until you find that they indeed do prefer the love of Christ before all other things in Heaven and Earth Secondly This notion calleth to all you who profess Godliness and to any thing of the Spirit of Adoption which teacheth to cry Abba Father to take heed of a Carnal mind an heart cleaving to any created comforts in excessive degrees so as for the enjoyment of them or any of them to run the hazard of the loves of Christ you will by it prejudice your souls in a great argument which you might use at the Throne of Grace There are amongst others three distempers of heart which those that would do much with God in Prayer must take heed of 1. A revengeful not forgiving frame of Spirit It is a dreadful Text Mat. 6. 15. But if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you Our Saviour hath taught us to pray Forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors 2. A doubting and unbelieving frame of Spirit He that cometh unto God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him he that lifts up his hands unto God must lift up pure hands and that without doubting 3. Thirdly A Carnal heart cleaving to the world preferring the things of the world to the loves of Christ the good things of Grace Lastly Is this such an argument of force with God Let then such as can use it in truth make use of it I doubt not but I speak to many who can in truth say that they value the loves of Christ the tokens of his special and distinguishing love above all earthly contentments when you go to God plead this take unto you words and say Lord let me be made a partaker of thy special distinguishing love thou knowest that my Soul valueth it above mountains of Gold
and came and dwelt amongst us then as the Evangelist saith we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father full of Grace and Truth All the comfort of a Soul dependeth upon Christs Incarnation and what he did and suffered as manifested in the fl sh Oh! how sweet this is to the Soul to think of this together with the satisfaction which by vertue of this he gave to Divine Justice and the daily intercession which he makes together with the consideration that in this Capacity he entred into the Heavens as our forerunner and we sit together with and in him in heavenly places as the Apostle speaks are matters of exceeding sweet Meditation upon these the Soul liveth and supporteth its faith The Grace of Vnion also considered in the last notion is exceeding sweet This Grace is rooted in Christ and terminated in the Soul By this the Soul is consecrated to God by vertue of this it is consecrated a Priest to offer up Spiritual Sacrifices to God acceptable through the beloved by this it is comforted and refreshed when it is terrified with the thoughts of the disunion with God occasioned by the fall of Adam and that separation which its daily sins make betwixt God and it By this the Soul liveth its Spiritual life for Spiritual life lies in the union of the Soul with God which is made by and in Christ Secondly The Grace of Love in Christ is as a sweet Oil or Ointment That holy disposition which is in him by which he takes delight in the Sons of Men willeth them good with respect to their several capacities God is love saith the Apostle Christ is Love as he is God but as Mediator he is infinitely full of love his pardoning Grace is nothing but free love respecting a guilty creature his healing restoring Grace is free love respecting a backsliding Soul I will heal your backslidings and love you freely He hath in him comfort for them that are sad strength for them that are weak now is not this an Ointment that giveth a good savour I appeal to any Soul that hath been pricked at the heart for sin and felt the load and burthen of it How sweet hath it been to a Soul to apprehend the Lord Jesus Christ as one who pardoneth its iniquities How sweet hath it been to a Soul smitten with the sense of its backslidings to apprehend Christ as one who healeth backslidings and hath mercy even for the rebellious also When a Soul is discouraged at the apprehended difficulty of duty the strength and prevailings of sin and corruption how sweet is it to the Soul to think of Christ's strengthening grace the Promises against the Dominion of sin and the over-powering of temptation c. That we who of our selves can do nothing yet can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth us Thirdly The Righteousness of Christ is a good Oil or Ointment There is a threefold Righteousness may be conceived in the Lord Jesus Christ 1. Considering him as God so there was in him an universal rectitude and perfection of nature What is essentially good pure and perfect is the object of Love Thy Word is pure saith David therefore doth thy Servant love it 2. Considering him as Mediator so his Righteousness was his Active and Passive Obedience Whether both be imputed to us for Righteousness that is another question as to which I shall only say this That the usual Objection That his Active Obedience was but the debt of his humane Nature which was a Creature and therefore could not be imputed is of no value for his Righteousness was the Righteousness and Obedience of a person that was God Man so had a surplusage infinitely beyond the debt of the humane Nature considered as a creature Most certain it is he had a Righteousness yea and a Righteousness which is reckoned to us for Righteousness his Name is The Lord our Righteousness and he was made of God for us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption and this is a sweet Ointment for by this the Soul knows that God hath said to it Take away that Soul 's filthy garments and clothe it with a change of garments By this it knows under the utmost sense of its own unrighteousness that it hath a Righteousness wherein it shall stand before God and its Sins shall be as if they never had been by this the Soul knows that its imperfect duties and short performances of the Divine Law shall be made up through the more perfect performance of the Lord Jesus 3. There is also a Righteousness of the humane Nature of Christ which was the conformity of his Soul to the whole Will and Law of God There is no holy disposition required of any humane Soul but was to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ Holiness Meekness Patience universal Obedience now this also is a sweet smelling Ointment 1. As these dispositions render any Subject lovely any creature though found in it more imperfectly much more Christ in whom they are found most eminently There is none but naturally loves one who behaveth himself blamelesly in whose heart we can discern no guile one who is in his behaviour humble meek lowly gentle patient full of goodness now these and all other excellent Virtues being in Christ eminently make him the excelling Object of our Love Christ was meek and lowly Matth. 11. 29. he was humble condescending to those of low degree He made himself of no reputation Phil. 2. 7. Though he was rich yet for our sake saith the Apostle he became poor For his patience he was led as a Lamb to the Slaughter and as a Sheep before the Shearers so opened he not his mouth What should I speak of his readiness to forgive his praying to his Father that he would forgive those that crucified him all these made Christ an exceeding lovely Object 2. But now Christ as Mediator hath not only these excellent habits as Ornaments for himself but as the Fountain of Grace to distribute to us Of his fulness we have received Grace for Grace 1 Joh. v. 16. These are now Christ's good Ointments for the savour of which the Spiritual Virgins love him And that they may do so it is necessary they should receive the savour of them At the savour of thy good Ointments So then they must not only cast a savour but the Soul that loveth Christ for them must receive the savour of them The last Question is How a Soul receiveth the savour of them I answer two waies 1. By Faith I mean not here Justifying Faith that brings in experience to the Soul of which more by and by I mean here only Faith of Assent whose Object is the Proposition of the Word to which the Soul fixedly and steadily subscribeth So as the Revelation which is there becomes as certain to it as matter of sensible demonstration For Faith is as the Apostle telleth us the Evidence of things not
Name I will mention but three things First His Word is his Name The Gospel of Christ is his Name that expresseth to us what Christ is Christ saith that he had manifested his Father's Name unto the men whom he had given him out of the world Joh. 17. 6. that is his Fathers Truths the Doctrine of his Gospel The Lord Jesus is made known by his Gospel That doth the same thing for Christ that our Name doth for us it lets the World know whose Son Christ is what he is what he hath done and suffered for Sinners and this is to the Soul exceeding sweet as an Oil that is poured forth Secondly His Mercy is his Name All those declarations of his love and good will towards his Peoples Souls of which his Gospel is full All the Emanations of his Love When the Lord telleth Moses his Name he thus proclaimeth it The Lord The Lord merciful slow to anger As God gets him a great Name upon Pharaoh and the wicked of the Earth by executing Justice and Judgment so he gets himself a great Name amongst his Saints by shewing meâ—cy His Name is I even I am he that blotteth out transgressions for my own Names sake I will heal your backslidings and love you freely Lastly His Truth is his Name By Truth I mean his Faithfulness in fulfilling his Word Thy Truth reacheth unto the Clouds saith David Psal 108. 4. David Psal 138. 2. resolveth to praise God's Name for his Loving-kindness and for his Truth Jesus Christ is much known to us by his Truth and Faithfulness to his Promises making good to his Peoples Souls what he hath said hence he is called the Amen the Faithful and the true Witness Rev. 3. 14. Pareus upon that Text saith that Christ is called the Amen for that reason which the Apostle giveth 2 Cor. 1. 19 20. because he is not Yea and Nay but he is Yea and because all the Promises of God in him are Yea and Amen Thus I have opened to you what that Name of Christ is which the Spouse compareth to an Oil or to an Ointment poured forth 2 Qu. But why to an Oil poured forth Certainly for the usefulness of it under that circumstance Ointment in the Box Oil inclosed and kept up in the Vessel is no way so useful as when it is poured out If we use it for food it must be poured out if for Medicine if for Ornament which way soever we use Oil or Ointment it must be poured out then it becomes useful to us But that which I take to be what is principally intended is Thy Name is exceedingly infinitely sweet Oil is sweet in the Vessel where it is kept it is sweet if but dropped out by drops But saith the Spouse of Christ Thy Name is as an Oil or Ointment poured forth Thou hast not only a sweetness and excellency in thy self but all the grace and mercy in thee is communicated and that not in drops or little measures but as Oil poured forth that hath scope of Air enough to diffuse it self in and by If Christ had No Name by which he could be made known to us yet there would be in him as God blessed for ever infinite goodness as well as Majesty and Glory the fulness of the God-Head would be in him he would be full of Grace and Truth but now his Name makes him to be as an Oil poured forth by that we behold his glory the glory as of the begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1. 14. When the invisible incomprehensible excellency love and grace of Christ is made known unto us either by the Gospel or by the emanations of his grace and mercy or the demonstrations of his truth and faithfulness by any of his personal names or names of Office wâ—ich are given to him then like Oil or Ointment poured out he appears to the Soul transcendently incomparably sweet This now appears both from Scripture and from experience 1. From Scripture how sweet are thy words unto my tast faith David Psal 119. 103. More to be desired are they than gold yea than much fine gold sweeter also than Honey and the Hony-comb Psal 19. 10. In his name shall the Gentiles trust Mat. 12. 21. Adam had a little of Christ made known unto him One promise we read of no more The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head Gen. 3. 15. It was like Oil poured forth and kept him from a deliquium in the sense of the first sin and his being turned out of Paradise Abraham heard a little of Christs name it was to him like Oil poured forth he saw my day and rejoiced saith Christ John 8. he saw the day star arise afar off he saw but the morning the dawning of the morning too of Christs day and at a great distance how sweet was it to him He saw my day saith Christ and he rejoiced I might give you very many instances of the sweetness which the Saints of God perceived upon the several discoveries of Christ made to them But what needs any further demonstration than what ariseth from the consideration of the thing and from the experience of any Child of God to whom Christ is or hath been made known how sweet must rest be to one that is weary ease to one that is heavy laden both these are promised from Christ Mat. 11. 29. how sweet must the name of a Saviour be to one that is lost and undone the name of Redeemeâ— to one that is a Captive The name of a Mediator to one that hath offended a potent adversary able to crush him every moment 2. I appeal further to the experience of every Child of God even every Soul who hath tasted any thing of Christ and who hath heard any thing of his Name when a Soul is troubled to think how often how heinously it hath offended God how sweet is the name of a Mediator when it is brought to a sense of its sin and apprehends itself lost and undone how sweet is it to remember the name of Jesus given unto Christ because he was to save his People from their sins when a Soul considereth that without Blood without a Sacrifice there is no remission of Sin how sweet then is the name of an High Priest over the House of God who offered up himself once for our Sins and having done so ascended up into Heaven and ever sitteth at the Right Hand of God to make intercession for the Sins of his People How sweet to the Soul that is afraid lest its lusts should have dominion over him is the name of Christ as a King given unto him because he is to rule in the hearts of those who are once subjected and subdued unto him How sweet are his mercy his truth his promises when at any time the latter are applied to the Soul and the former any way made known in the Soul Doth any one ask whence it is that the name of
Bed-chamber 2 Kings 6. 12. An inward Chamber Judg. 3. 24. A Bridegrooms Chamber Joel 2. 16. A Summer Chamber Judg. 3. 24. It is also used Prov. 24. 4. Prov. 7. 27. Job 9. 9. and in many other Texts It plainly signifieth the more inner secret retired part of the house where Persons can be most private and most secure The King hath brought me into his Chambers that is into the places of most private secret communion with him where I can be most private free and secure but yet for the clearer explication of the words we will more strictly enquire upon two things Qu. 1. What is here meant by the Kings Chambers Doubtless it is spoken in a figure The House in the Heavens not made with hands is not as our Earthly Houses divided into rooms and stories by partitions let us therefore rightly comprehend the notion of a Chamber and we shall without much difficulty understand the priviledge in which the Spouse doth glory Three things will give us the notion of a Chamber 1. It is a lofty place elevated from the Earth you know that you ordinarily call those rooms in your Houses Chambers which are above the lower floor 2. It is a place of privacy any one is admitted into your lower rooms but very familiar friends only into your Chambers when those of the same family would be more retired and private they chuse Chambers for that privacy our more hidden private fellowship with our friends or near relations is in our Chambers 3. A Chamber is a resting place we eat and drink and have our ordinary converse with our neighbours in other rooms we lie down and rest in our Chambers These three things I should think may make us to understand the Spouses meaning in this metaphorical expression and what it is that she glorieth in The Lord my King hath heard me and taken me up into the nearest degrees of close private communion with him where my Soul enjoyeth him in the most heavenly free and most familiar manner Qu. 2. But how cometh the Spouse thus soon to glory who but now was praying that the Lord would draw her and facitly complained for the want of the manifestations of his Divine Grace how soon is her tone altered she but now groaned as one that could not get up the Stairs now she glories that she was brought into the Kings Chambers To which I answer two things 1. Possibly she speaketh but in the dialect of Faith you know the Apostle calleth Faith the Evidence of things not seen It like God calls the things that are not as if they were and often forgets the future tense and speaks in the Present or Praeterperfect Tense The believing Soul while it is in the dungeon of a desertion being assured the Lord will do it can say The Lord hath brought me into his Chambers And thus those must necessarily understand it who with Piscator by the Chambers understand Heaven and Glory 2. But I rather think the words are to be understood as they lie before us She is heard while she is speaking while she prayeth Lord draw me she is drawn and is in Heaven e're she is aware of it thus the learned Mercer expounds it If you understand the words in the first sense They speak the vertue and efficacy of faith the believer by vertue of it can look upon things as done which yet are to be done why because the Soul eyeth the promise and knoweth that he who hath promised is both able and faithful If a debt be owing to you from an able and an honest man you say it is as good mony as any in your purse you count you have so much as that debt maketh addition to your estate Gods hand is an able hand and he is faithful the Soul may count upon it that it hath so much either in Grace or glory as the Lord hath promised it If you take the words in the latter sense as I shall do they inform you of the efficacy of Prayer spiritual fervent prayer it availeth much while the believer is speaking God is answering I proceed to the latter part of the Text. We will be glad and rejoice in thee and remember thy loves more than Wine we have heard the Spouses petition Draw me she prayed for Divine Grace that might both sweetly and powerfully draw her Soul after Christ We have heard her promise which I told you might be considered as an argument to enforce her Petition an argument drawn from the glory of God and the concern of it in the answer we will run after thee A prayer for the best things and to receive them for the best end to make her more holy We have heard how well pleasing her petition was she had no sooner prayed but God answereth and she recognizeth her answer My Lord the King saith she hath brought me into his Chambers now she cometh to shew the effects this quick and gracious answer had and would have upon her She mentioneth three The first as some if not too critically distinguish respecting her heart We will be glad 2. The second respecting the action of the whole man We will rejoice in thee 3. The third respecting the record of it We will remember thy loves more than Wine This now distinguished her spiritual affection from a foolish transient passion We will exalt or be glad the Radix 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is very often used in Scripture I will point you to 3 or 4 other Texts from whence you may gather the sense of it Is 65. 19. And I will rejoice in Hierusalem and joy in my People Pro. 23. 24. The Father of the Righteous shall greatly rejoice Psal 21. 5. The King shall joy in thy strength So Psal 2. 11. Psal 13. 11. My heart shall rejoice in thy Salvation Psal 16. 9. Zech. 9. 9. Forster thinks it rather signifieth the expression of the Joy of the heart by some outward gesture than the meer internal affection It doubtless signifies the highest affection of the heart upon its union with its desired object We will be glad the Radical word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to rejoice and to be merry and is very often in the old Testament used to express the gladness of the heart Exod. 4. 14. The rejoicing of a Virgin in a dance Jer. 31. 13. I shall not insist upon that critical distinction which some make betwixt these words restraining the one to the inward affection the other to the more outward expression nor do I think it will hold but clearly both these are expressed by these two words whither distinctly or jointly I shall not determine and the sense is this O Lord thou hast heard my prayer thou hast granted the request of my lips thou hast brought me into thy Royal Chambers admitted me to Spiritual secret and most sweet communion with thee Our hearts shall be most highly affected with thee and our outward man most
and weak without strength We are like Lot in Sodom though we daily hear that the wicked shall be turned into Hell with all those that forget God though the Lord useth all intreaties with his poor Creatures and the love of God be displayed before us in the fullest measure yet till the Lord doth by us as the Angel did by Lot lay hold upon us and pull us out of our sinful state we move not a jot Yea verily man in his best estate man regenerate and brought home to God must also be drawn or he will not run he must be kept by the power of God through faith to Salvation or he will never come into Heaven when to will is present with us we have no strength to perform The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak O miserable men that we are who shall deliver us from our bodies of death I need say no more it being what is justified by the experience of the best of men and their prayers directed to God accordingly Sermon XIX Cant. 1. 4. Draw me and we will run after thee I Have formerly discoursed from this Text this Proposition That the Soul till drawn doth not run after Christ I am in the application of that discourse and that by way of Instruction This may inform us in the true nature of special saving Grace It is a drawing to and after Christ Grace in its general notion signifieth nothing but free love and favour Let me find grace or I have found grace signifies no more in Scripture than though I have no worth no merit yet shew me love and favour when applied to God it signifieth no more in the general notion whether this love be shewed in the collation of the good things which concern this life or those which concern that life which is to come they are all grace in a large sense because emanations of divine love not merited by Creatures But words taking their significancy more from use than etymology Grace in a more strict and usual notion hath been taken to signify The emanations of Divine love concerning the Souls and Eternal Salvation of the Children of men which is called the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation Now these divine emanations having different effects this Grace of God is also distinguished into Common and special ineffectual and effectual under the notion of common grace we comprehend all those effluxes of divine goodness by which God sheweth his kindness to the Souls of men in order to their Salvation whether they prove effective of their Salvation yea or no under this head some will bring both Election and Redemption owning no other Election than the eternal counsel of God to save such as should believe so denying all eternal Election of persons and making Christs intention in dying to extend to all either equally or at least so far as to put all in a possibility of Salvation if their own perverse wills do not hinder The Publication and proposal of the Gospel with the common influences of the Spirit attending the preaching of it certainly come under this notion for though all hear not that joyful sound yet it is granted on all hands that of those that do hear it to some it is the savour of life unto life to others the savour of death unto death And this is all the grace which some will acknowledge antecedent to the pardon of sins and regeneration But we affirm a further special grace than this is which we call special because it is not equally administred to all no not to all that hear the Gospel saving because it brings salvation not only in a general tender and offer unto all but to that particular Soul upon whom it shineth and so is effectual because effective of the blessed end to which it is levelled and aimed and doth not evaporate in a meer tender and proposal of the will of God This is that which we conceive expressed here and in John 6. 44. under the notion of drawing Which term is fully expressive of the Nature of it as it signifieth both 1. An act of power 2. An act of sweetness and love 1. An act of power The converted Soul is made willing in the day of the Lords power Psal 110. 3 4. The holy Scripture describes us in our natural state as dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2. 1. Enemies to God Col. 1. 21. and alienated from the life of God Having hearts harder then rocks then nether milstones iron sinews stiff necks Let those that think a meer intreaty of a Soul to come to Christ that it might have life a meer moral suasion or persuading a Soul to Spiritual duty will change it and renew it and beget in it spiritual habits try what their Rhetorick will do to melt a rock or to raise a dead body If the disadvantage of an ill education and a customary course of debauchery added to our vitiated nature hath such a power to beget in us a moral impotency that the drunkard and the unclean person cannot obtain of himself notwithstanding the advantage of his own ratiocination and the potent arguments drawn from the health of his body the upholding his reputation amongst men the preservation of his estate the pleasing of his sober friends to turn from an Alehouse and Tavern and from the house of the strange Woman no not tho his own experience and the daily experience of others verifieth these arguments and the acts are but such as by the force of reason supposing the common grace of God denied to none may be declined How shall we ever think that a man hath a natural power to the most sublime and spiritual acts and that the power of God must not be put forth upon a Soul causing it to love God and to hate sin and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Two things evince this grace to be an act of divine power 1. The invisibility of Christ and his excellencies 2. The natural alienation of our Souls from him If indeed our need of Christ or the suitableness which is in him to the lapsed state of Souls were either evident to sense or demonstrable to reason or the excellencies of Christ were demonstrable to either something might be said for the sufficiency of rational arguments to persuade the Soul to Christ yet not enough in that case for the sensibility of the goodness of temperance and sobriety and chastity their suitableness to the frail state of our bodies ready to be destroyed by debaucheries opposite to these vertuous habits we see by experience are not enough to keep Souls within the circle and bounds of morality But the other things being neither subject to the demonstration of sense or reason it is most irrational to plead for a power in the will of man to chuse them The sweetness of what the lapsed Soul in its state of alienation from God tasteth in sensible satisfactions is a thing evident to sense and it is
most absurd to imagine that a Soul should ever call these things bitter till it be convinced of a more excellent good and the incompetency of its fruition both of the one and of the other Could it be any thing less than a powerful act of Divine Grace that could make Moses willing to refuse the pleasures of Pharaohs Court and the honour of being called his Son and to chuse rather to suffer affliction with the people of God counting the reproach of Christ greater riches then the Treasures of Aegypt O study and adore the power of faving and effectual Divine Grace Do but consider your own weakness and the mighty power of Satan in tempting and you will be convinced that there had need be a divine power exerted in the collation of saving Grace 2. But yet as it is mighty and powerful so it is also sweet we are drawn to Christ but it is with the cords of a man the divine power put forth hath the will for the object which is not forced but melted renewed changed by the influence of the mighty God upon it Indeed the will is not capable of violence but yet it is capable of a divine influence sweetly renewing and changing it the Soul is made willing and then it wills and chuseth desires delights in the things which are good and acceptable in the sight of God Grace doth not meerly exhibit and propose Christ as a lovely and beautiful object altogether desires it doth not only furnish the Gospel and fill the mouths of Ministers with suasive arguments but it fills the Soul the inward man with a powerful divine influence which quite reneweth and changeth it and altereth the byass and inclination of it This is the nature of saving grace effectual grace thus it differs from that Grace of God which may shine upon reprobates which they may finally resist and abide still in darkness This notion in the next place wonderfully commendeth the love of God to those Souls that are made partakers of this Grace of God that bringeth Salvation that maketh a Soul meet for the inheritance of the Saints in light The great boast which those who maintain the contrary systeme of Doctrine to what I have maintained make is that their Doctrine doth vastly more commend the love of God to mankind Let us try that a little According to their Notion of the Grace of God it is no more than might have been consistent with the Eternal perdition of all mankind for they say God hath determined no particular person unto eternal life Christ hath laid down a price no more for the Soul that is saved than for those that perish In the Acts of his Providence he doth no more for one than another Both have the Gospel both have the common assistances of the Spirit and one hath no more than another both have Souls of the same species indued with the same faculties both might have resisted the Grace of God and that finally Now do not these mightily magnify Grace who will allow no more of it then what is consistent with the eternal destruction of all men yet neither are they consistent to themselves in their doctrine of Grace so far as they will allow any thing to it they pretend the advancement of the love of God by their conditional Election incertain Covenant universal Redemption common Grace yet they cannot deny but that the far greater part of the world hath not so much as the means of grace the sound of the Gospel is not in their Ears and how little of it is there in Popish Countries where the People have not the Bible in their own language and hear stories and tales out of the Legends instead of the Gospel nay in Protestant Countries how many places are there where People have Stones instead of Bread Scorpions instead of Fishes where they from the Pulpit hear little of Christ or the great motives of the Gospel to faith and holiness so as to make out their notion of their Doctrines commending the love of God they must find out a way to Christ and Salvation for more than three parts of the world without Christ and that an ordinary way too or but few of them will be saved yet in this extraordinary that their Salvation must be without the Gospel and the potent motives and arguments of it the Preaching of it and the ordinary concurrence of the Holy Spirit with it The opinion of Divineâ— on the other side is this That God out of the Mass of Mankind whether considered as created or to be created they are not so universally agreed did chuse a certain number of Persons great in itself but small in comparison of the whole number of mankind as to whom he willed a Kingdom of life and glory and also chose them and ordained them to obtain this life by having Redemption through the Blood of Christ the forgiveness of sins and by being holy and unblameable before him and to this end sent his Son to die for them and gives to the most of them whom he thus ordained to life and to faith and holiness as the means of it his Gospel and the Ministry of it by which he intreateth all those to whom it is Preached to be reconciled to God but for those whom he hath ordained to life he powerfully and effectually worketh in them by the Spirit of his Grace by which their hearts though they may for a time oppose and resist yet are subdued to the obedience of faith and drawn unto Christ and by which also being come to Christ they are drawn after him being by his power through faith preserved to Salvation Now whether is the Love of God more seen to mankind in the certain Salvation of many though comparatively but few and ordering of causes accordingly Or in such an ordering of causes as it was possible notwithstanding any thing God had done for man all might have perished And whether is God more glorified by our predication of him as one who though from all eternity he knew who would believe and live holily and who would not yet left it possible that all men should believe if they would Or by the predication of him as one who knowing all things because he willed them so being the first cause of all good in the creature ordered all things according to the good pleasure of his own will In the mean time this Drawing Grace which we maintain infinitely commendeth the Love of God to those who are thus drawn if we consider 1. The infinite distance of God from the creature He is a self-sufficiency to himself and in order to his happiness needed not the company of any creatures Now if there were no more in drawing grace than some would make drawing with the Cords of a Man intreating and persuading Souls to be reconciled to God his love might be just matter of admiration and astonishment Who are we that God should treat us and send Embassadors to intreat
us to be reconciled unto God If the Lord had only sent to us to give us warning of a wrath to come and timely notice to flee from it leaving us meerly to our own wills whether we would hear or forbear accept or refuse This had been love above the usual mercy of men who do not usually spend much time in treating and intreating those enemies whom they can easily crush and tread under foot Yet had God done no more for our Souls though in this he had shewed great love yet we through the natural stubborness and perverseness of our hearts had been undone for ever How many are in a high Road to ruine and eternal destruction whom God hath been thus intreating and beseeching many years 2. But now that the Lord should not only do this but put forth an act of power though not saving them against their wills yet making them willing to be saved and in order to it not verbally but really willing to receive Christ as tendred to them in the Gospel so as not only to be saved by him but to submit to those Laws and Rules in the observance of which they shall obtain Salvation and not only so but that God should assist the Soul in the performance of these acts not only giving it to will but to do also This certainly must transcendently commend the love and goodness of God to those Souls that have experienced such grace That God doth not so much for all speaks indeed severity to them but that he doth it for any speaks his unspeakable goodness and good will to their Souls I say that he doth not this for all speaks to them severity but yet justice and that not only in regard of that stock of sufficient grace wherewith our Pro-parent was intrusted which being lost God is under no obligation to restore but also in regard that God never denieth his special Grace until the Soul hath abused his common Grace 3. Nay lastly That the Lord should take care of our Souls after that we are once brought to Christ that he should put his fear into our hearts to keep us from departing from him and never depart from us to do us good that drawing Grace should follow us all the days of our life This certainly is the heighth of Divine Love more than this God could not have done for any Soul those for whom he hath done this must be highly beloved What now is left for such a Soul to do but to strive after perfection to live in a constant eying this All-sufficient God this Fountain of all Fulness and living in dependance upon him To live in a continual thanksgiving to and love for that God who hath dealt thus graciously with it and in a daily care not to grieve that holy Spirit by which it was first drawn to Christ and by which it is sealed to the day of Redemption and guided and kept that it doth not slip fatally O love you the Lord all ye his Saints Let drawing Grace find no renitency no resistance from any of your Souls God hath done for you more than others what will you do for God nay what can you do for that God who hath not only called but pluckt you out of the horrible Pit Take the Cup of Salvation and be for ever praising the Lord. Again we may from hence learn though not the proximate yet a true and remoter cause why the Gospel is preached to many so ineffectually Our Saviour tells us Many are called but few are chosen Isaiah cried out Who hath believed our report to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed Paul in his Preaching was to some the savour of life unto life to others the savour of death unto death When Christ himself Preached some believed others were hardened Whence so great a difference when the Word was the same the Preachers the same both to those that believed to those who were hardened They had all reasonable Souls those Souls had all the same powers the same faculties I mean powers and faculties that had the same virtues We see the same in the experience of every day Indeed there may be some Preaching that may bear no better proportion to the instruction of the ignorant or the conviction of a sinner and turning him from his sinful courses than the Clay and Spittle had to cure the blind man's eyes from which no such effect could have flowed but by a miracle but where there is the same Scriptural spiritual lively powerful Preaching we see this effect Two sit in the same seat one's heart is changed the other 's is not one goes on in his leud courses and perisheth for ever the other is converted his heart changed whence is this difference Is it from him that willeth or him that runneth think you or from him that calleth from him that sheweth mercy because and on whom he will shew mercy We will grant that the one doth not make that use of God's common Grace which he might and therefore the Lord righteously with-holds his special Grace But could not the Lord if he pleased influence the one Soul as well as the other to make a good use of his common Grace Hath God think we no influence upon men inclining their hearts to make a due use of his common Grace When men have said what they can the conversion of every Soul is the effect of the Lord 's drawing and when the Lord doth not draw the Soul doth not cannot come or run The natural man hath many things which draw him another way and God is not pleased to put forth his power upon the Soul Indeed properly nothing but our own lusts draw us another way but our natural passions are inflamed several waies You have an instance of the principal of them in the Parable of the Marriage-Feast which the King made for his Son recorded by Luke c. 14. 18 19 20. Matth. 22. v. 5 c. A certain great man Matthew calls him a King made a great Supper Matthew calls it a Marriage for his Son he bade many saith Luke he sent forth his Servants to call them that were bidden to the Wedding saith Matthew They would not come saith Matthew They all with one consent began saith Luke to make excuse They were invited by potent Arguments I have prepared my Dinner my Oxen and my Fatlings are killed and all things are ready come you to the Marriage Matth. 22. 4. In general it is said They would not come they made light of it they made excuse What drew them another way Lu. 14. 18. The first said I have bought a piece of ground and I must go and see it I pray thee have me excused And another said I have bought five yoke of Oxen and I go to prove them And another said I have married a Wife and therefore I cannot come who is this King Even the King of Kings the Lord of Lords who is his Son but the Lord
when that other never so declared his mind to him or any one else And 2. The Promises being not made to persons by name but to persons that do thus thus it is altogether as unreasonable for any to pretend a rest and confidence in Christ for the collation of those spiritual blessings as it had been for any Commanders in the Jewish Army having heard Saul 's declaration of his Will That whosoever killeth Goliah should have his Daughter to Wife should have promised himself Saul 's Daughter without incountring the Philistine Now this resting and relying on Christ which is the only true reliance is so difficult by reason of our former sins and daily infirmities of humane nature and the lapses and backslidings we are guilty of that no man thus comes to Christ until he be drawn Thus far I have shewed you how far this discourse may be useful to guide us in our enquiry whether we be drawn and come to Christ yea or no directing you to distinguish true Faith both from a faint and languid assent and from a natural presumption of our good Estate with reference to Eternity 2. But it may be further useful also to try your holiness That also must be the effect of Drawing Grace There are two usual mistakes about holiness 1. The first is when what we usually call Moral Virtue is called holiness 2. When we mistake it for a formal running a round of Religious Duties I say first When we mistake holiness for what we usually call Moral Virtue or Moral Righteousness I put in those words we usually call because I perceive some modern Writers possibly because pinched with their Arguments who have contended for something else besides Moral Virtue to be necessary tó salvation have extended the notion of Moral Virtue far beyond what Aristotle and the rest of the Philosophers learnt us to understand by that name and do not only bring Faith within the compass of it but will pretend it to be necessary to it that the action to be done should be performed from a Principle of Faith and Love and Obedience and directed to the Glory of God as their end These acts and actings our Fore-fathers were wont to call Grace but to let us know that those in our days who have inlarged the acts of Morality mean no more than what men may do by nature having no more than the motives of the Gospel and the assistances of the Spirit common to all to whom the Gospel is Preached therefore they well call these things Moral Virtues As to Moral Virtue in the latter notion of it it cannot be mistaken for holiness for it is so It is in the antientest and most proper notion of it that I am speaking to it So Chastity Sobriety Temperance Liberality Justice are moral habits and the acts of them are acts of Moral Virtue and Righteousness whether he that doth them doth them out of any Principle of Faith or Love or Obedience or with any respect to the Glory of God yea or no but if any thinks this is holiness he is wonderfully mistaken for it is essentially necessary to an act of holiness that it should be done from a Principle of Faith the Soul being fully persuaded that it is the Will of God and in Obedience to his Will eying his command in our action And 3. Proposing to our selves the Honour and Glory of God for our end So that though the same acts be done yet if they be done from other Principles and to other ends they may be acts of Moral Virtue that is under the government and conduct and guidance of reason but no acts of holiness Besides there are many actions which are our duties in obedience to the Will of God the reasonableness of which is not to be concluded nor ever was concluded by the men of reason amongst the Heathens from any other Principle than this That it is the highest reason that we should do what God commands us So that to reduce our duty as Christians to the Precepts of what we have used to call Moral Virtue is partly to secure our selves from a great part of our duty by that Art and partly to do what we do out of such Principles as God will never more thank us for than we will do our Servants for doing what we would have them do but they do out of respect to themselves without any regard to the pleasing of or obeying us Now though it be true that acts of Moral Virtue that is conformable to natural reason may be performed by men without any special influence of the Holy Spirit Yet without such a Drawing Influence the Soul will neither do those acts from any true Principle or to any right end Nor yet do many things which are required of us under the notion of holiness in order to eternal life Besides the holiness required of us is in all our conversation 2 Pet. 3. 11. Now it is observed of the greatest Moralists that they failed here and indulged themselves in some things of immorality yet went for morally virtuous men if they excelled in Justice though they failed in Temperance Sobriety and Chastity c. And indeed herein is the drawing of Divine Grace with respect to holiness seen and from hence to be judged If the Soul finds it self under a constant obligation to whatsoever God hath commanded and that because God hath commanded it and that it might please him and do what is acceptable in his sight This no Soul doth from a meer natural power and though the renewed Soul be made willing yet to keep on in this course it stands in need of the daily excitings and quickenings and assistances of the Holy Spirit 2. A second mistake which men may be deceived by as to Holiness is when they take a formal performance of Religious duties to be it Holiness lieth in Godliness and Righteousness And as men may mistake Righteousness towards men for Holiness so they may as easily mistake a Form of Godliness which may consist as the Apostle teacheth us with a denial of the Power of it to be Holiness Godliness in the sense I am speaking to it signifieth the performance of those acts of homage and worship which God hath required of us to his more immediate Service and Glory This lieth in the performance of some external actions of God immediately according to the prescription of his Divine Will which respecting the manner as well as the matter all such actions as are meer bodily labour are indeed no Godliness but meer formal performances and things so short of obedience to the Commands of God that God in Scripture is said not to require them that is not them alone or them performed in such a manner as Isa 1. 12. When you come to appear before me who hath required this at your hands to tread my Courts Bring no more vain Oblations Incense is an abomination unto me the New Moons and Sabbaths the calling of
God even the God of Israel only he desires that the Lord would be merciful to him as to his bowing down in the House of Rimmon They are neither uniform nor steady and constant in their service of God they seem to run in publick duties but follow them into their Families and Closets there they halt They appear like those that run in duties of more external communion with God but halt in duties of more secret heart communion with God Nor are they constant that of the Apostle to the Galatians is applicable to them Gal. 5. 7. You did run well who hindered you Heretofore one would have thought them in a great zeal for God but they are grown cold and remiss and are very careless of their conversations these never truly ran though they appeared to others to have ran at least they never ran so as to obtain It is said Isaiah 40. 12. That they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings like the Eagle they shall run and not be weary walk and not faint 3. How many more are there that seem to stand at a stay We cannot say they halt that they are not uniform or not constant they are not to be accused of any notorious lapses or goings backward but alas they are come yet but to a little pitch in religion their knowledge of the things of God is but little that of the Apostle Heb. 5. 12. is applicable to them Whereas for the time they might have been teachers of others they had need be themselves taught the first principles of Religioṅ and must be spoken to as Babes in Christ such as had need of milk and not of strong meat and truly this is much the fault of good People they do not grow in the knowledge of Christ we see something of heat in them in whom we want a great deal of light Others seem to be increased in light but to be decayed in heat and warmth for God sure we are we see a great decay of religion amongst Christians or at least but a small improvement they have in profession seem'd to be such as have walk'd with God a long time we do not see them running yet It is true some plants grow downward in the root when they do not grow upward into the air so as their growth is not so sensible and difcernable So it is possible there may be some such Christians who though their proficiency may not so much appear in their outward performances which requires a growth in gifts and parts yet they may be grown more in faith and love and hatred of sin and resolution for God c. and this is a good running in Grace they grow best who grow in the root not those who improve most in leaves and more exterior branches of Christian profession 2. If Christians cannot satisfy themselves that they run in any sense it would be enquired from whence they are hindered whether from some cause from within or from without 1. A man may be hindered in his bodily running by some inward obstructions bodily decay or weakness this must be cured or purged out Christians ought to search whether they have no secret lust no love to the world no greedy desire to be rich nothing of sensuality which weakens their Souls and keeps them from this running after Christ 2. As a man may be kept from running from some external cause So may a Christian also be hindered in his spiritual race from some ill company with which he is linked from some impressions of his grand adversary the Devil From the withdrawings of Divine Grace those measures of it I mean which are necessary to a Christians running though not to the upholding of the spiritual life If a Christian be hindred from such ill company as he cannot avoid or from some temptations of Sathan or from such divine desertions he is the object of our pity but not to be hastily censured or condemned but in the mean time he ought to lie under convictions of his duty to run though it be his misery that at present he cannot run Secondly We may from hence learn one great reason Why many move not at all after Gȯd and also of that uneven pace which is discernable even in the best of God's People The greater part of the World moveth not after Christ at all One Man runs after his sensual satisfactions anoher after sensible enjȯyments making hast to be rich few after Christ◠What is the reason The Scripture layeth the fault upon the immediate proximate cause that is Man 's perverse will he will not come to Christ that he might live but there is an higher cause for no more would any other Soul have done if the Lord had not drawn it and made it partaker of his powerful special Grace had it pleased the Lord to have done as much for those other Souls they would have come they would have run likewise But you will say then mens Damnation is from God and is not caused so much from their not running as from God's not drawing I have before spoken to this Objection but it comes again a cross me I will add but a word or two or rather repeat what I have already said in the case The Objection were indeed considerable if 1. God did not in some degree draw every Soul to whom the Gospel is preached 2. If the Sinner did to his utmost obey those drawings and God yet denied his further and more effectual Grace But as I have before shewed you there is no Soul that liveth under the preaching of the Gospel but is drawn drawn by Exhortations Arguments Promises of reward c. the proper Cords of a Man Nay there are none amongst the Heathens but are drawn by the Cords of common gracious Providence God saith the Apostle leaveth not them without witness Now though none of these Cords are sufficient to draw the Soul home to Christ yet they are sufficient with that power which is left in the will of Man to ingage him to many acts of Reformation and to the performance of many acts of moral discipline yea and of Religion too that part of it which lyeth in Bodily exercise if men will not do what they have a power to do how shall their destruction be from God for denying them his special grace Especially when we say That although the good use of common Grace meriteth nothing at the hand of God yet God doth never deny his special Grace but where common Grace is first wilfully abused and thus the destruction of Sinners lyeth at their own Doors not because that if they would they might repent believe and turn to God but because that if they would they might make such an use of the common Grace of God as in the use of it God would not be wanting to them in the giving them that further power to Spiritual acts which they have not of themselves But
now if we rise higher and enquire how some come to use common Grace better than others when all have an equal Natural power to do those acts of Moral discipline and of Religion also which extend no further then to a bodily labour how it comes to pass that some get leave of themselves of their Lusts and Passions to do them others do not We must say there is an influence of God's Spirit of Grace more upon the one than the other inclining them thereto but so long as others have a Natural power thus far which they do not use God is acquitted of their Blood and their Damnation is of themselves though his abounding grace be more seen as to others whom he doth further incline to a better use of common Grace and their natural abilities but of this I have spoken before and do now little more than repeat 2. The same account must be given of the uneven pace which is discernable in such as are Christians indeed The running of God's own People is not alike though they have all the same renewed Nature and inward principle of life To will is present with them all yet they have not all an equal strength to perform Nor an equal life liveliness freedom and chearfulness in their walkings with God there may be much blame to be laid upon themselves for not using the Grace of God as they ought to do not keeping their Watch as they ought to keep it but the Original cause is the want of Divine drawings which are sometimes with-held as a punishment to some loose and careless walking sometimes as the product of Divine Wisdom for the exercise of some habits of Grace which are not so well tryed and exercised under the full influences of divine grace upon them as under the partial withdrawings of it There might be other uses made of this point but they would be mostly such as were proper to the former Doctrine and there inlarged upon So as I shall proceed no further in Application of this Discourse Serman XXIII Canticles 1. 4. Draw me and We will run after thee YOu have heard the Spouses Petition opened what she means when she saith to her Beloved Draw me you have heard her Promise or Argument opened We will run after thee She prayeth for drawing she promiseth her running Drawing was the act of her beloved Running was her own Act though in force of his drawing But here is as I before observed an alteration of the Number She saith Draw me She addeth We will run She begs but for one she promiseth for more she prayeth for her self she promiseth for others How is this 1. I told you when I opened thé words that some by We understand The Spouse and the Spirit of God in conjunction I and thy Grace This is a Sense hinted by Genebrard and De Ponte upon the Text and it may seem to have some colour from that of Christ Without me you can do nothing and that of Paul Gal. 2. 20. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God It is a great truth that when ever the Soul runs after Christ the holy Spirit assists its motion but yet it is drawing that is Christ's and his Spirits work running is ours Grace works together with the Child of God but it worketh by drawing the Soul works by running it is not Christ or the Spirit of Christ that is in us that runneth the way of God's Commandments but it is the Soul of the Christian in and with the strength and power of Christ Grace is the Principle of our Spiritual life like the Spirit within Ezechiels Wheels without which the Wheels move not but they are the Wheels that move I cannot therefore agree this sence 2. Bernard hath another Notion She begs saith he The sowre part for her self the sweeter part for others but this is an interpretation which to me seemeth to have many faults 1. It maketh the drawing here prayed for to be a drawing by Afflictions which are indeed the Lord's Cords but such as he seldom draweth Souls to Christ by not are they the proper matter of our Prayer Secondly It turneth the Promise into a Prayer and makes the Sense to be to this purpose Lord for me Draw me with the Cords of Affliction Let others run after thee but I see no ground at all for such an Interpretation It is not others but We she includeth her self It is not let others run but we will run 3. Thirdly If by the Spouse we here understand the Church speaking The Church being many yet make but one Body So the Spouse prayeth for her whole Body which is but one and saith properly draw me and then promiseth for every part Rom. 12. 5. We being many are one Body She prayeth for Grace she promiseth not only action and obedience but unity in her obedience and action God's Kingdom is not divided against its self not different from it self especially in the Fundamentals of Faith and Holiness They are an Army in order and fighting together against the World the Flesh and the Devil but this still is more than I will run 4. I rather choose another sence of this Promise A promise of an endeavour to cause others to run after Christ or a Prophecy that others would run so as the sense should be this Lord draw me and I will endeavour to be a cause of more than my own running after thee others seeing or hearing of thy Grace and Goodness to me shall also by my example be provoked to run after thee In this sence I shall carry it The Proposition resulting from hence is this Prop. That God's sweet and powerful drawing of one Soul to or after himself will be a means of causing others also to run after him God's drawing of John 1 John 26. draweth first two other Disciples who when they heard him followed Jesus and Andrew drew Simon Peter v. 40 Christ's drawing of Philip was the occasion of Nathaniel 's running v. 45. Philip findeth Nathaniel and saith unto him We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write Christ draweth the Woman of Samaria John 4. v. 28. She leaves her Water pot and goes her way into the City and saith to the men of the City Come see a Man which told me all things that I ever did is not this the Christ Then they went out of the City and came unto him and v. 41. Many more believed because of his own word There are two main grounds upon which the truth of this Proposition depends 1. The first is the alluring nature of Divine Grace 2. The Second is The exceeding Charity of every pious Soul I will alittle enlarge upon them 1. I say first Divine Grace in the effects of it is exceedingly attractive The love of God saith the Apostle constraineth nor doth it only constrain the
his Spirit but thy Soul is yet unquiet and impatient it is thy duty yet to wait upon God to chide down thy tumultuous and unquiet thoughts all the risings up and murmurings of thy Soul against God to adore and to admire God where thou canst not see or understand him to acknowledge Gods goodness and holiness though thou canst not discern his goodness as to thee in this particular Thus did David Psal 22. 3. after he had complained that he had cried in the day time and the Lord did not hear and in the night season and was not silent v. 3. he saith But thou art holy O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel This is most certainly our duty under such providences as these are we must not look in this life to understand all Gods ways and methods of providence much less the reasons of them that is a piece of knowledge reserved for another world all that we have to do is to observe and study them and where we cannot find them out to admire and adore them and to wait upon him that wrappeth up himself in thick darkness and hideth his face from the House of Jacob. This waiting doth not only signify a passive quietness silence and patience but an active doing our duty Waiting on the Lord and keeping his way are put together Psal 37. we ought not to leave off praying because in our apprehensions at least our prayers lie by without answer much less to slacken our course of holiness but to resolve as the Church did for Zions sake so for our own sake not to hold our peace we have for this an excellent president in the example of the Church Psal 44. 17. All this is come upon us saith she yet have we not forgotten thee nor dealt falsely in thy Covenant Our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy way though thou hast sore broken us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death then she concludeth with prayer v. 23 24 25 26. Awake why sleepest thou O Lord arise cast us not off for ever wherefore hidest thou thy face and forgettest our affliction and oppression For our Soul is bowed down to the dust our belly cleaveth to the Earth Arise for our help and redeem us for thy mercy sake Sermon XXV Cant. 1. 4. The King hath brought me into his Chambers IF any asketh who is this King whom the text speaks of as the question soundeth like that Psal 24. v. 8. Who is the King of glory So the answer must be much the same The Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in Battel the Lord of Hosts he is the King of Glory He is the King of Nations for all the Nations of the Earth are the work of his hands and he hath a Native Lordship and dominion over them He is the King upon the holy hill of Sion the King of Saints they have chosen him he ruleth in them and reigneth over them they have chosen him he hath subdued their hearts unto him and hath chosen them for his peculiar people this is the King of whom the Church and the believing Soul here speaketh and saith The King hath brought me into his Chambers It is the same Person of whom she spake v. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth To whom she said v. 3. Draw me and we will run after thee There she spake to him as her beloved here she speaketh of him as a King there she prayed for something that she wanted here she praiseth and giveth thanks for something she had received I have already taken notice of the alteration of her stile of her so sudden giving thanks upon the quick return God had made to her prayers I come now to consider the mercy or good thing she had received which she expresseth in the same metaphorical dialect which she useth throughout this Song The King hath brought me into his Chambers when I at first opened the whole verse I endeavoured to find out what this mercy was in the receit of which the Spouse triumpheth in this text I then considered Chambers as places more lofty then others and and of more privacy and secrecy and from thence concluded that the Spouse by this phrase signifieth some special favours which she had received from God some special and more near and intimate degrees of fellowship and communion with God into which her beloved had taken her The Proposition I offered from the words for my further explication was this That the Lord Jesus Christ hath Chambers in which he sometimes entertaineth the Souls of his people He hath a favour for them all Rooms in his House for all the sizes of his people but he hath Chambers for some or into which he sometimes takes up the Souls of his Saints the subject of my discourse will be such special favours as God sheweth to some Souls or to the Souls of his people at some times This is evident in holy writ Abraham was called the Friend of God Moses is called his Servant emphatically Moses my Servant is dead David the man according to Gods own heart Solomon was named by God Jedidiah a man beloved of God There are four degrees in the love of God as it respecteth the Children of men 1. He hath a Philanthropy or general love which he sheweth towards all He leaveth not the Heathen without witness In him all men live move and have their being from him they have fruitful times and seasons which fill their bellies with food their hearts with gladness their bellies are filled with his hid treasure The patience of God leadeth them to repentance The invisible things of God even his eternal power and God-head are made known to them by his works of Creation by the things which he hath made 2. He hath a more special love for his Church This is seen in his more special providence exercised towards his whole Church which are more watched over and preserved by a common providence then any other body of people are They have also the Oracles of God the Ordinances of God and means of grace and this latter is certainly an effect of the death of Christ 3. He hath yet a more special love for all those within his Church who are effectually called whose hearts God hath seized and subdued to himself they are made partakes of more special grace being called justified and sanctified and such who shall hereafter be most certainly glorified 4. But there is yet another specialty of Divine love even amongst those who are made partakers of special saving graces some are more specially favoured in this life and shall be more eminently then others glorified in that life which is to come These more special favours to the Saints that are all made partakers of the same saving grace are the subject of my present enquiry 1. Some here understand the mansions of glory but they are forced to make an
But there is no true believer but either hopes in his mercy or hath some assurance of his love and from hence it is 1. That the true believer alone can rejoyce truly rejoice in Christ 2. That one believer rejoyceth in him above what another can I say the true believer alone can rejoyce in Christ for he alone is sensible of that goodness and excellency that is in him and he alone is apprehensive of any relation that he hath to him or any interest in him others are without Christ he alone can say my Lord and my Saviour And hence I say it is that one believer can rejoice in Christ more than another because one mans apprehension of his part and interest in Christ may be more full than anothers One hath but the apprehension of a good hope the other may have a full persuasion But though there may be a great difference in the degrees of believers joy yet they concur all in their object Christ is the object the singular object of all their joy After this discourse I need not enlarge in telling you how Christ becomes their object of joy not meerly considered as God blessed for ever nor meerly considered as Mediator betwixt God and Man and the Saviour of lost Sinners if he were not so they could not rejoice in him but neither doth his being so give them any cause of rejoycing but in the notion in which he is mentioned all along this Song i. e. considered as their Bridegroom as united unto them and having a particular favour and relation to their Souls For though good considered abstractly may be the object of our love desire and hope yet only good united to us is the object of joy yea and good apprehended by us as our portion and according to the degree both of our union with the good and apprehension of that union so will our joy be And hence again the most perfect joy of believers must necessarily be in their glorified estate hence Heaven is called Out Masters joy for as our union with God and Christ will be there most full and perfect so our apprehension of it will be most clear and not interrupted But that is not the theme of my present discourse I am speaking of the object of believers joy in this life not in that which shall be in that life which is to come when their joy will be unspeakable and full of glory I added in the Proposition that Christ is the singular object of their joy We will saith the Spouse be glad and rejoice in thee this is â—ruâ— both exclusively and inclusively 1. Exclusively 1. He will râ—joyce in nothing inconsistent with the fruition of Christ There is a â—â—mâ—al rejoycing in the satisfaction of mens lusts this is the joy of an Epicure the Drunkard shouts for new Wine And you read of some whose rejoycing was to devour the poor Hab. 3. 14. I told you before that Joy is nothing else but the satisfaction that the Soul hath and the rest which the Soul takes with the Triumph which it makes in its union with that Object which it judgeth good Now the gratifying of lusts and pleasing the senses and the concupiscible or irascible appetite being that which low-born Souls have chosen as their good their rejoycing in this satisfaction is natural to them This Joy is but for a moment Job 20. 5. and shall one day be turned into heaviness Jam. 4. 9. This mirth this laughter is madness as Solomon speaks Eccles 2. 2. like the crackling of Thorns under a Pot Eccles 7. 6. Sorrow saith Solomon is better than it for those that thus laugh shall weep Luk. 6. 25. The Soul that loves Christ cannot rejoyce with this Joy Charity rejoyceth not in evil 1 Cor. 13. This is inconsistent with the enjoyment of Christ and of his favour with that self denial which is necessary to those that will be his Disciples with that taking up of the Cross which is another Law of his Discipleship 2. It is exclusive of rejoycing in any thing without him Though Christ and his Love and Favour be the believing Soul's supreme good the One thing which he desireth yet there are other things which he may and doth account good in their order God hath not forbidden a man to rejoyce in the Wife of his youth and in the Children which God hath given him nor in those providential dispensations by which he accommodateth the lives of his people and maketh them more sweet and happy but the believing Soul cannot rejoyce in these things unless at the same time he seeth reason also to rejoyce in Christ Men of the world can rejoyce in full Barns Coffers though in the mean time they have no sense no hope of the pardon of their sins and reconciliation with God the reason is because they have set up these things as their chief good and are not affected with the concerns of their Souls as they relate to Eternity But neither can the Believer partake of these Joys The Soul can neither rejoyee in any enjoyment exclusive of its chief good nor yet in any thing in the absence of its chief good A believing Soul in any measure satisfied concerning the Love of God to it can rejoyce in the Wife of his bosom in the Children which God hath given him in the accommodations with which God hath blessed him as to the sweetning of this life but without some assurance or some good hope at least through grace that Christ is his and he hath the favour of God in and through his blood he can rejoyce in none of these things It was a peevish expression of Haman Esth 5. 11 12 13. When he told his friends of the glory of his riches the multitude of his Children and all the things wherein the King had promoted him and how he had advanced him above the Princes and Servants of the King and how that Esther had invited him and none but him and the King to the Banquet which she had prepared and added All this availeth me nothing so long as I see Mordecay the Jew sitting in the King's gate Envy slayeth the fool saith Solomon But every pious Soul when he thinks how God hath blest him with a loving Wife sweet and dutiful Children a plentiful Estate yet saith All this availeth me nothing so long as I suspect and fear that I have no part or Interest in Christ There be saith David many who will say Who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me thou hast put gladness into my heart more than in the time that their Corn and Wine increased 3. The Joy of the Soul in Christ is such that it can rejoyce in him alone It is the expression of the Prophet Habakkuk ch 3. v. 17 18. Although the Figg-tree shall not blossom neither shall there be fruit in the Vine the labour of the Olive shall sail and the Fields shall yield no
admiration Now as we cannot remember any thing but we must think upon it so the remembrance of any object maketh way for further meditation upon it the Spouse promising to remember Christ's Loves promiseth not only the revival of them in her thoughts but the seeding of her thoughts with them the fixing of her heart upon them 3. It implieth suitable affections the exciting of such inward affections in the Soul as the remembrance of so sweet and obliging objects are proper to excite Such as love to God further thirstings and breathings after God a suitable hope and confidence in God Vnbelief in Scripture is called a not remembring because forgetfulness is one cause of unbelief Psal 78. 42. v. 41. They turned back and tempted God and limited the holy one of Israel there was their unbelief v. 42. they remembred not his hand nor the day when he delivered them from the Enemy So Mat. 16. 9 10. Christ calls his Disciples men of little faith for reasoning with themselves because they had brought no bread in a distrust of his power and goodness in providing for them v. 9. 10. Do you not understand nor remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many Baskets full you took up Our Saviour there chargeth their unbelief upon their not remembring the former works of God No man doth rightly remember the loves of Christ but he who is suitably affected with them and whose Soul moves toward God as one that remembreth his love 4. Lastly Remembring implyeth a suitable practice Thus it is often used in Holy Writ Remember thy Creator in the days of thy Youth is the same with Serve and Obey thy Creator and Remember to keep holy the Sabbath-day is the same with be diligent and make it thy businesâ— to sanctify the Sabbath-day So then the sense of the Proposition is plainly this Those Souls which have once tasted how good the Lord is and have had any experiences of his special saving grace will and ought to be careful to preserve the savour of it upon their hearts to think and medâ—tate upon them to be suitably affected toward God according to the nature and degrees of them and accordingly to manage their conversations that men may see that they value them above all the pleasures and profits of this world Thus did Asaph Psal 77. v. 10. I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old I will meditate also of thy works and talk of all thy wondrous doings these were the ancient works of God in kindness to his people as you will find v. 14. 15 16. My mouth saith David Psal 63. 6. shall praise thee with joyful lips when I remember thee upon my Bed and meditate on thee in the night watches because thou hast been my help So Psal 143. 5. I remember the days of old I meditate on all thy works I muse on the work of thy hands You will find the people of God in Holy Writ much in these resolutions to remember the works of God 1. There is great reason for our remembrance of the loves of Christ more then Wine 1. Because they really are much better than Wine Every mans Soul doth naturally desire good good and evil are the two things which make impressions upon the mind of man evil leaves an impression of fear and sorrow and anger Good makes an impression of love joy delight and as are the degrees of the one and the other so are the impressions made by them Great evils make deep furrows in our Souls and leave great impressions upon our minds minute evils leave lesser impressions so things that are good in the highest degree leave impressions of joy and delight suitable to the nature of that good which is in them The manifestations of the love of Christ to the Soul are the greatest goods and therefore should make the greatest impressions upon us They are goods not suited to the Souls irregular passions but to its greatest wants Health peace success in business are things we call good but their goodness lieth only in a suitableness they have to the wants of our outward man what are any of these things to the Soul the loves of Christ are suited to the wants of the Soul and that not only considered as a reasonable being so knowledge and learning are also suited to the Souls wants and all improvements of reason or means in order to it but to the wants of the Soul considered as an immortal being capable of an eternal happiness Nothing more becomes a reasonable Soul then to put a due rate and value upon things and to prefer what is truly preferrible 2. This is one great reason of the Lords works That he might be remembred for and by them God indeed in his gracious influences aims at the supply of the Soul as to what it needeth but he hath an higher end then this viz. his own glory the glory of his goodness truth and faithfulness Psal 111. 4. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembred It is a complement we sometimeâ— use with our Friends when we make them presents and give them gifts we say we do it that they might have something to remember us by God in the dispensations of his grace and mercy is often in Scripture said to remember his Covenant his word his holy promise and he expecteth that when we receive any such favours we should remember his loves and remember our Covenants and Vows so as that Mâ—n or Woman that doth not remember the loves of Christ doth not answer Gods ends in the manifestations of his love to us nor the expectation which God upon that account hath upon us I shall apply this discourse 1. By reflecting upon the most of Christians for their not living up to this duty 2. By persuading to the revived practice of it Do the most of Christians such I mean as are so called remember the loves of Christ more then Wine What means â—hen the most of peoples never looking after a particular share or interest in them The love of Christ considered in itself is nothing else but his good will to the Children of Men this was evidenced in his not taking upon him the nature of Angels but the nature of the Seed of Abraham in his dying upon the Cross for us the publication of his Gospel to us the committing of the word of reconciliation to his Ministers who are sent out as the Ambassadours of Christ intreating men to be reconciled unto God Do men remember this love more then Wine who reject this counsel of God for their salvation who trample this blood under foot and do despight to the covenant of Grace and all this for what comes under no better notion than this of Wine either things pleasant or things profitable either the satisfaction of their lusts or the filling of their Coffers The world
For who is not guilty of a great Errour in this particular We think of sensible things more than of the Loves of Christ they are more the objects of our meditations the subjects of our discourses and the marks of our actions It is well for us that our Salvation doth not depend upon the perfection of our gracious acts and that we have another Righteousness than that of our own to appear in before God That when our Consciences check us in this particular and tell us that we do not remember Christ's Loves more than Wine yet the Gospel relieveth us by telling us that he was made of God for us Righteousness and we can remember that this Christ whose Loves we should remember after a better manner than we do is the Lord our Righteousness an High Priest that can have compassion on our infirmities he in whom we are compleat But yet neither will this relieve us unless we humble our selves before God for our failures in this particular Fly to him for pardon and endeavour even in this thing to perfect holiness and that bringeth me to the last thing I have to do viz. To offer you my Advice in order to the bringing up of your hearts to this just valuation and remembrance of these Loves of Christ 1. Labour to understand them We can meditate upon nothing but what we have some notion of we can remember nothing but what we have had some notion of There are the loves of God and the loves of Christ indeed the loves of Christ are the loves of him who thought it no robbery to be equal with the Father who is God over all blessed for ever but by the loves of Christ I mean the kindness which floweth to us from Christ as God-man united in one Person as our Mediator There is a love and kindness which floweth to us from the providence of God working either more generally and extending to all or more specially towards some There is also a love and kindness which floweth from Christ as our Redeemer Mediator Saviour Both these loves are to be remembred but the latter more especially are called the loves of Christ understand the loves of God in the effluxes of his good providence More especially understand the loves of Christ as the Saviour of Man there are also some of these more common to others some more special to some Of the first sort are the Gospel and the publication of it to us of the latter sort are those effects of grace which are wrought in us in the justification of our Souls the change of our hearts the renovation of our natures the strengthenings quicknings and consolations of the Spirit of Christ Labour to understand all your good things as coming from the hand of God and to understand the kindness of God in them see your good things as mercies as Divine gifts and then study them 1. In the suitableness of them to your States In this lies the nature of all good from this must be judged the degrees and measures of good that are in every grateful thing 2. In the freeness of them Freeness is indeed of the nature of grace take away freeness and you take away the nature of grace which must flow freely without any merit in the creature or it is no more grace but debt no more love but justice If you understand not Christ's Loves it is impossible you should duly remember them 2. Labour for to find the experience of the Loves of Christ in the best and most salvifiâ—k manifestations There is a love of God seen in giving us our Wine for it is God that gives us our Corn and Wine and Oil and multiplies our Silver and Gold We must look for higher things then these or else it is impossible we should remember them more then these The best manifestations of love must be discerned in the giving us those things which more suit our state and are suitable to greater wants Neither shall we effectually remember these till we find we have a propriety in them You will upon experience in all things find that it is propriety which gives us the sweetness in any good thing Supposs a brave and noble House or Estate we may look upon it and admire it and it may please us but it is propriety in such an estate that must make it sweet and pleasant to us We may have a kind of love for a Prince of whom we hear that he is just and merciful and endowed with many other qualities acceptable to humane nature but we shall not much delight in him nor remember his love until our selves have in some measure tasted and experienced it an interest and property in the love of another that is it which gives it an impression upon our Souls God hath commended his love to the world in sending Christ to die for sinners Christ hath commended his love to them in coming into the world and dying for them not for all but for those that shall believe in him men may talk of this love of Christ and use their Rhetorick a little about it in the magnifying of it but till their own Souls come to be washed with this blood till they come to have their iniquities forgiven and their sins covered it is not to be expected that his love should affect them much or sink any thing deep into their Souls so as to be revived by any effectual remembrance 3. Would you remember the loves of Christ as you ought to do more then Wine Set then your selves sometimes for soliloquy and meditation When the Sound of the Gofpel passeth into our ears we receive a little of it but transient things affect not much nor leave any great impressions upon us Meditation upon a Subject is the Souls standing and dwelling upon it it is like the digestion of our food there is nothing can be conceived a more rational means to affect the Soul with any thing or to make it fit for the memory to reflect upon then meditation One great reason why we remember the loves of Christ no better nor more is because we are not at leisure our heads are so unreasonably full of wordly cares and employments the cares of the world so choke and fill up our thoughts that we have no leisure to meditate or stand upon the thoughts of Christs loves or any spiritual objects Would Christians allow themselves more time to fix their thoughts upon spiritual objects to pierce into the depths of divine love to consider what Christ hath done for them in particular they would better remember them 4. Take heed of any wilful sinnings against his love Sinning as I told you before is usually set out in Scripture under the notion of a forgetting God and forgetting his loves Psal 78. 11. Psal 106. 13 21. the committing of sin frequently is like the continual dropping of water upon a thing which washeth and weareth out impressions upon it Besides it is natural to us
not to desire or to be willing to remember the kindness of a friend whose kindness we have abused Sin puts the tast of Christs love out of the Soul A remembrance of Christs love so as to be in any measure duly affected with it is incompetent with wilful and presumptuous sinning None but the holy and heavenly Soul remembreth the loves of Christ 5. Lastly Wait upon God in ordinances in hearing the Word in the Holy Sacrament of his Supper The ordinances of the Gospel are not only means of grace but great helps to Christians memory as to Christs loves we preach a Christ crucified there his loves come to our ears in the Supper you have a representation of a Christ crucified there his loves his dying love is set before your Eyes both are helps to the mind of that man or woman who desireth to feed his thoughts upon the loves of Christ But to shut up all Pray that is a general prescription in order to the obtaining of any mercy from the hand of God amongst other blessed effects of the holy Spirit of God promised by Christ to his Disciples this was one John 14. 26. He shall bring to your remembrance the things which you have heard of me it is the influence of the Spirit of grace that quickneth and inableth us to bring Christs love to our remembrance our Saviour hath taught us how to obtain this blessed remembrancer Luke 11. 13. He giveth his holy Spirit to them that ask him Sermon XXX Cant. 1. 4. The Vpright love thee Or Heb. Vprightnesses love thee STill it is the Spouse that speaketh She had prayed Draw me and promised that being drawn both she and others would run after Christ She had received a gracious answer to her prayer The King had brought her into his Chambers In this she hath Triumphed We will be glad and rejoice in thee For this she hath covenanted that she would remember the Loves of her Beloved more then all the pleasant or profitable things in the world Which she expresseth under the Metaphoricall notion of Wine Now lest any should say to her Why so fond O thou fairest amongst women to justify her self in this rapture of Joy this extacy of love she may be conceived to add these words The upright love thee or as the Hebrew is Uprightnesses love thee the words may be variously rendred with consistency enough to the Grammar of the Hebrew text 1. Uprightnesses or right things love thee The Same word is used Psal 17. 2. Thine eyes shall behold right things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be right or to appear so The word is used in the form that it is here Psal 9. 9. He shall judge the World in righteousness and the People 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in uprightnesses It is used Prov. 1. 3. Is 33. 15. Prov. 2. 9. Psal 75. 2. If we expound the phrase as it is literally according to the abstract Righteousnesses or Right things the Question will be whether it should be read as in the Nominative case Uprightnesses love thee or as in the Oblique case which the Heb. prefix seems to import In Uprightnesses they love thee accordingly the sense will be very different for if we read it as in the Nominative case the import of it seems to be to set out the Excellency of her beloved as he who was the very seat of all excellent things in whom did all fulness dwell even the fulness of the God-head all righteousness all Equity whatsoever is good If we read it as in the Ablative case as the prefix in the Hebrew seemeth to guide us The import of it seems to be to express to us the nature of the Saints love to God which is not in word or in tongue onely but in deed and in truth in uprightnesses that is as Buxtorf expoundeth it Rectissime fortiter most intirely intensely sincerely thus I say it denoteth the truth and reality of the believing Souls love to Christ 2. But our translators have thought fit to translate it otherwise conceiving the abstract here put for the concrete Uprightnesses for upright men possessed of uprightness this is very usual in the Hebrew dialect and indeed in most languages so the sense is this Do not wonder that I love Christ and am so affected with the injoyment of him there is never an upright Soul in the world but loves him all upright Souls love him Thus the Proposition is plain Propos Upright Souls love Christ To this I shall Speak in my ordinary method by Explication Confirmation Application Under the first I shall give you the true notion of Uprightness and an üpright soul shew you in what sense the Proposition is true The Question may well be propounded Who is the upright who is the righteous man For the Psalmist tells us the Apostle Rom. 3. confirmeth it There is none righteous no not one and although God at first made man upright Eccles 7. 29. Yet the world is so warped by men seeking out to themselves inventions that the prophet Micah 7. 2. Tells us there is none upright amongst men To resolve this difficulty I shall first give you two or three distinctions concerning righteousness or uprightness without which we shall hardly understand the true notion of an upright man 1. There is an uprightness of heart Psal 32. 11. Shout for joy all you upright in heart so Psal 94. 11. Judgment shall return unto righteousness and all the upright in heart shall follow it And there is an uprightness of way or conversation Prov. 29. 27. The upright in his way is an abomination so◠Psal 37. 14. The wicked man seeketh to slay such as be of upright conversation Indeed it is true there is no man who is upright in his heart but he will also be upright in his way for the upright directeth his way Prov. 21. 29. but there is a seeming uprightness of way when the heart is not upright with God Prov. 14. 12. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death The Proposition must be understood of such as are upright not in their way only seemingly but both in heart and in way 2. Secondly there is a Legal and there is an Evangelical righteousness or uprightness The legal righteousness or uprightness lyeth in a full and perfect conformity to the Law of God In this sense it is as true That there is none righteous no not one none upright amongst men as that there is none who liveth and sinneth not against God for the least Flye maketh this box of ointment to stink all Sin is crookedness and the least crookedness spoileth this rightness But then there is an Evangelical righteousness and uprightness and thus every Soul that is justified by grace through the imputation of Christs righteousness is a righteous Soul and every Soul that is Sanctifyed and renewed the bent of which is towards
God and whose heart is sincere before God is an upright and righteous Soul In this Sense the upright heart is the Sincere heart Thus David saith of himself I was upright before him 2 Sam. 22. 24. And God saith of Job He is a perfect and an upright man The Proposition must be understood of the latter he that is Evangelically righteous or upright for there are none of the former upon the Earth none that are legally righteous 3. Thirdly As there are degrees of Sanctification so there are degrees of uprightness The text seems to speak of the highest degrees Uprightnesses It is very ordinary with the Hebrew to express the Superlative degree by the plural number besides this is Signified by putting the Abstract for the Concrete we usually call men notoriously vile and wicked by the Abstract names of vice and persons eminently good and virtuous by the Abstract Names of virtue and goodness Those that are highest in grace who do most excel in holiness are fullest of love to Christ Love teacheth every Child of God the weakest babe in grace to cry after Christ and the grown Christian to delight in him and to walk up and down in his name Every righteous every upright Soul loveth Christ and that with a true sincere love though not in an equal degree she saith our Saviour who hath much forgiven will love much Having premised these distinctions let me a little further inquire into the true Notion of these upright men upright by this Evangelical rectitude In short they are such as are justified and Sanctified made righteous through Christs righteousness imputed to them holy through the Sanctification of his Spirit 1. Such as are justified This is the first thing requisite to an upright right man let the unjustified Soul be what it will do what it can it cannot be upright either in heart or way Suppose a stick naturally crooked you may pare it and paint and colour it and cover its crookedness alittle but until it hath been in the fire and bended right it will be crooked still the natural man the Soul not justified by grace not washed with the blood of Christ may be pared by education and brought off from some flagitious and enormous practices he may be coloured and painted over by some acts of moral vertue and some formal performances of religious duties but still in Gods Eye the Soul is a crooked Soul until the Lord hath made it right till it be justified by faith 2. To this uprightness is required not only justification or the removal of the Souls guilt and imputation of a righteousness a perfect righteousness but the sanctification of the heart God never sanctifieth any whom he doth not justify hence no Soul can be said to be an upright Soul that is not justified nor doth the Lord at any time justify a Soul but he at the same time also reneweth and sanctifieth it hence the upright Soul must be a renewed Sanctified Soul But yet in regard our regeneration and sanctification is not as to degrees perfect though as to parts Divines say it is that is the whole man is renewed it may be yet worthy to be inquired from what degrees of Regeneration and Sanctification a man may be denominated an upright man the rectitude of any thing is to be judged from its conformity to some rule The rule of mans uprightness is the Lords Statutes which are right saith the Psalmist Psal 19. 8. holy and spiritual and just and good Rom. 7. Thy judgments are right saith David Psal 119. 75. 128. It is said so of nothing else so as from a conformity to this rule must rightness or uprightness be judged And thus 1. There is an uprightness of judgment when the Soul judgeth according to truth both concerning notions and practices when it judgeth aright concerning truth and is not warped by error and when it judgeth aright concerning the ways of God then the Soul is upright with respect to the understanding and judgment 2. There is an uprightness of the whole Soul with respect to the scope and bent of it when the heart of man doth not stand inclined and bent to sin but the Soul can say with David I hate vain thoughts but thy law do I love I hate every false way c. The man that in all his actions designeth and intendeth the honour and glory of God and obedience to his will though in many things he cometh short and offendeth yet this man is an upright man his end and general scope is right 3. There is an uprightness of will in this the uprightness of a mans intention discovereth itself when to will is present with the Soul as St. Paul saith Rom. 7. Though he wanteth a strength to perform the man or woman in heart willeth the honour and glory of God and this not by fits but steadily and certainly and is really unwilling to do any thing by which God may be dishonoured though through ignorance he may offend and through a natural impotency not being able to love the Lord with all his heart and strength yea and through moral impotency and a mixt infirmity through the great power of temptations whether from the seduction of lust or the violent motions and impressions of Satan 4. There is an uprightness of action which lieth in a true and sincere endeavour to do the will of God and by this both the uprightness of intention and will also is to be judged This is the upright man though he may stumble and fall and oft doth fail who liveth and sinneth not against God And as these holy dispositions are found in the Soul in more remiss or intense degrees so the Soul is more or less upright and the man deserves this honourable denomination less or more These now are the Souls that love Christ To love any object whether person or thing signifieth to take a delight and complacency in it Whether in the thoughts of it if absent as the Apostle saith whom we having not seen yet love or in the contemplation and fruition in converse and communion with it if more present This Praedicate concerning the upright that they love Christ is to be understood exclusively and inclusively concerning the Person of Christ and whatsoever beareth his image and superscription 1. Exclusively these and none but these love him Others may talk of loving Christ but it is but a talk and pretence they love but in word and tongue only not in deed and truth there is something else either lust or the world something or other that hath more of their affection more of their heart then Christ hath 2. Inclusively These and all these love Christ there is not an upright Soul in the world but loves Christ and takes a pleasure complacency in him and preferreth him before his chief joy 3. They love the person of Christ He is in their Eyes altogether desires the chiefest of ten thousand there is nothing in the
world so sweet and pleasant to their thoughts as to think of Jesus of Nazareth him that was incarnate of the Virgin that died upon the cross for sinners all their contemplations and meditations of him are exceeding sweet and their hearts exercised about them melt in them 4. They love whatsoever bears the image and superscription of Christ The Gospel that gives them the history of Christ and revealeth to them his will the ordinances of Christ in which the loves of Christ are set forth represented opened applied to the Souls of people The members of Christ even every Soul in which they can but see aliquid Christâ— as Bucer speaks any thing of the features of Christ This is enough to have spoken for the explication of the Proposition For the proof of it 1. Look into the Word of God see if you can find an instance either of an upright man who did not love Christ or of an bypocrite or unregenerate man that did love him Abraham believed and it was imputed to him for righteousness he was one that walked with God and was perfect that is upright he loved Christ Our Lord saith of him Abraham saw my day and rejoyced Simon and Anna and Peter and Mary Magdâ—lene all were upright Persons they all loved Christ On the other side there is not so much as one instance of an unjustified unregenerate Soul that had any real love for Christ no not when they saw him here in the flesh It is said of the young Pharisee who came to our Saviour Mat. 19. that when Christ saw him he loved him but he had no love for Christ for when he bid him go sell all that he had and he should have treasures in Heaven it is said he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions Judas followed Christ and so did the Capernaites but Judas carried the bag and the Capernaites followed him for the loaves None of them loved Christ in sincerity and truth We need no other instances then what our own age affordeth us But we need no Scripture in this case Reason will evince the necessary truth of this Proposition if we consider that all love is founded either 1. In the apprehended goodness and excellency of the object beloved Or 2. In some similitude and likeness c. Or â—loweth 3. From some instinct of which we can give no very just account I will begin with the last first 1. Love to another often proceeds from some inaccountable instinct we see this very ordinary amongst us the heart of a woman cleaveth to a man or of a man to a woman â—o the heart of one friend is knit to another and we are able to give our selves no great account of it the man loveth the woman to whom he had a former aversion and the woman loveth and chuseth the man for her Husband that she did never think of and they can give themselves no account of the change which they find in themselves this is undoubtedly a providential instinct or influence of which we can give no account The Souls love to Christ also floweth from an instinct of God an influence of special grace for certainly if we must be taught of God to love one another to love the brethren whom we have seen and daily do see and much that is lovely in them we have much more need to be taught of God to love Christ whom we have not seen and whose excellency and amiableness is only matter of faith to us Hence it appeareth that no unrenewed no unsanctified heart none but the upright Soul can possibly love the Lord Jesus Christ for this love is no natural habit no man by nature loveth Christ nor is it any acquired habit but an infused habit and indeed a piece of regeneration 2. Love to an object is founded in an apprehension of some goodness and excellency in that object we cannot love any object that appeareth to us evil or unlovely Now none but the renewed and regenerate Soul can possibly see any goodness and excellency in Christ for it is spiritually discerned besides the reason of love in us to any object is not so much the abstracted goodness and excellency of the object as its relative goodness unto us now none but the Soul that is justified and regenerate Soul hath in any thing tasted of the love of God or hath found him in any degree good as to it 3. Lastly Whereas love is founded in likeness in some similitude of nature or disposition and qualities there is such a dissimilitude between a natural man whether he be one that is profane and flagitious or meerly moral and formal and hypocriticaâ— that this Soul cannot love the Lord Jesus Christ who is holy and harmless and separate from sinners and the very same reasons make it necessary for every Soul to love Christ for every such Soul is renewed and regenerate and taught of God to love the Lord Jesus Christ every such Soul is beloved of him and under some apprehensions and experience of the love of God in Christ unto it every such Soul finally hath the Image of God renewed in it in righteousness and holiness and by grace wrought up into a conformity to Christ and the more upright the Soul is the more is the image of God renewed in it the more it hath tasted the special love of Christ the more it hath received of the potent influences of Divine Grace hence it must needs love Christ more I now come to the application In the first place This may let us know That Christ is a most excelling object and the non-adherence of our hearts to him is a piece of the natural crookedness and defection of the Soul of man The goodness or excellency of an object is not to be determined from a vulgar judgment Learning is an excellent thing the foolish ignorant person doth not so judge it nor look after it this detracts nothing from the excellency of it Wise men value it It hath no enemies but the ignorant man Now the judgment of the best and wiser part of the world their value and prizing of it is enough to commend it though fools hate knowledge So the upright mans loving Christ is a sufficient evidence of the transcendent goodness and excellency that is in him tho the loose and profane man the formal hypocritical man hath no love at all for him There are thousands in the world in the Christian world whose conversations testify that they can see no beauty no excellency in Christ at all to them he grows up as a root out of a dry ground in their Eyes he hath no beauty no comeliness at all They stand and admire what sweetness Gods people have in their meditations and contemplations of him what is that sometimes makes them so sick of love for him so breaking with longings after him as holy David expresseth it The business is not what fools judge of Wisdom in the mean time Wisdom is
keep my Commandments No Soul can so much as pretend to a love to Christ that makes no conscience of keeping the Commandments of Christ 9. The Soul lastly that hath a love for Christ will suffer any thing for his sake it will rather suffer the loss of all things then the loss of Christs favour By these and such like questions and notes as these it will be no hard matter for a Soul to judge of its love to Christ and by that it will be able to judge and determine concerning its uprightness In the last place doth every Soul that is upright love Christ and are the degrees of the Souls uprightness according to the degrees of the Souls love How do we then all stand concerned to love Christ In order to it 1. The Soul must be dispossest of other loves inconsistent and incompetent with the love of Christ Such is the love of all lust of any thing that is contrary to the will of God Such is the excessive and immoderate love of the world Love not the world nor the things that are in the world saith John 1. Joh. 2. 25. If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him in like manner we may say If any man love the world the love of Jesus Christ is not in him 2. Do what in thee lies to persuade thy self of the suitableness of Christ to the staâ—e and needs of thy Soul we love nothing but what appeareth good that is some way suitable to and convenient for us All we can do as to this is to read the Scriptures which alone give a true account of the state of Souls To hear them opened and applied to our consciences by able and faithful Ministers to meditate upon what we read and hear Christ must appear to our Souls an amiable object before we can love him 3. Lastly Pray for the Spirit of Grace both effectually to discover Christs loveliness to you and also to draw out your hearts to love him if we must be taught of God to love our Brethren whom we have seen we must much more be taught of God to love Jesus Christ whom we have not seen Those that think man hath a power in his own will to love God do not consider that we have not a power in and of our selves as we often find upon experience to love a creature whom yet it were our great interest to love O pray pray without ceasing that you may love the Lord Jesus Christ remember that the upright love him there is no upright Soul in the World but loves him 2. Thus thou shalt shew thy self to be upright Nothing more discovereth an upright heart then a sincere Love to Christ Now of how great moment it is for a Christian to discern his uprightness I need not tell you I shall conclude with a bare naming of some Scriptures containing promises made to uprightness leaving them to you at your leisure to meditate upon them Psal 7. 10. The Lord saveth the upright in heart Gods Righteousness belongeth to the upright in heart Psal 36. 10. The End of the upright man is Peace Psal 37. v. 37. Gladness belongeth to the upright in heart Psal 97. v. 11. The Generation of the upright shall be blessed Psal 112. v. 2. Light shall arise upon them in obscurity v. 4. They shall dwell in Gods presence Psal 140. 13. They shall dwell in the land Prov. 2. 21. The way of the Lord is strength unto them Prov. 10. 29. The integrity of the upright shall guide him Prov. 11. 3. His Righteousness shall deliver him v. 6. The upright in the way are the Lords delight v. 20. Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way but wickedness overthroweth the Sinner Prov. 13 6. Sermon XXXI Cant. 1. 5. I am black but comely O you Daughter of Hierusalem as the tâ—nts of Kedar as the Curtaines of Solomon v. 6. Look not upon me because I am black because the Sun hath looked upon me my Mothers Children were angry with me they made me the keeper of the Vineyards but my own Vineyard I have not kept IT is the Spouse in this excellent Song of Love that yet Speaks Twice we have heard her Speaking to her Beloved Once Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth begging some distinguishing token of his Special love Her heart suggesting to her that her beloved was far more ready to imbrace her then she was to run after him She spake a Second time Draw me and we will run after thee begging the sweet and powerfull influences of divine grace Here now she interrupteth her applications to her beloved with an Apostrophe to her companions whom she here calleth The Daughters of Hierusalem The verse contains a modest apology which the maketh for her self In which are considerable 1. The persons to whom she maketh it here stiled The Daughters of Jerusalem 2. The Apology it self I am black saith she as the tents of Kedar as the Curtains of Solomon c. In the latter is considerable 1. The thing which she apologizeth for That is her Blackness which she confesseth I am black saith she and illustrateth as the teints of Kedar c. 2. The arguments of her Apology or head from whence it is drawn They are four or five 1. The mixture of comeliness with her blackness I am black but comely 2. The Influence of heaven upon her The Sun saith she hath looked upon me 3. The oppositions she had met with on earth My mothers children were angry with me 4. Her worldly diversions and imployments They made me the Keeper of the Vineyards 5. Her own neglect But my own I have not kept Finally She pleadeth with them that they would not look upon her because she was black But what needed this Apology who faulted the Spouses blackness who questioned her comeliness This is not expressed in the letter of the Text but easily understood Patet quod dett axer ant ei nigredinem improper antes It is apparent saith Bernard that they did detract from her charging her with blackness Neither did the true Church of Christ nor any truely believing Soul ever want those that reproached them The man according to Gods own heart heard some telling him There was no help for him in God We must therefore Suppose our Spouse to have heard some saying to her to this purpose Canst thou think that Christ who is the fairest of ten thousand should kiss the with the kisses of his mouth Thee That art by nature an Ethiopian and by thy renewing actuall Sins hast made thy self much more black and ugly Surely when the King of glory humbleth himself to make love to his Subjects he will chuse one much fairer then thou art Did Aaron and Miriam wonder at reproach Moses because he had married an Ethiopian Num. 12. 1. And should not Christ be the wonderment of the whole creation if he should love one so black as thou art
bracelets upon thy hands and a chain about thy neck and I put a jewel upon thy forehead and ear-rings in thine ears and a beautiful crown upon thy head What do all these metaphorical expressions signify but the various habits of grace with which Christ adorneth the new creature in the day of its new birth in the day when he removeth from it the guilt of its iniquity he doth not only wash and cleanse it with his blood from the guilt of its Sin but he reneweth and sanctifieth it and furnisheth it with all habits of grace This is also Christs comeliness for as the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily so himself received the Spirit without measure that he might measure it out by measures to his people and they might of his fulness receive grace for grace The holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ and all its operations are his Christ tells his Spouse in this Song that she had ravished his heart with the chains about her neck but there is not a jewel in those chains but cometh out of Christs cabinet he giveth those chains with which himself is ravished though these divine powers and habits be his yet being once given and by us produced into Acts they are truely and inherently ours Our Faith Love Patience Meekness Joy c. Our stock of grace upon which our souls live yet not without the daily influence of Christ and assistance of his spirit and this stock is capable of augmentation or diminution as it pleaseth God to let out upon us or to withdraw from us and as we more or less improve it tho indeed Christ hath a constant inspection upon his Spouses treasury and will take care that it shall never so fail but there shall be a seed of God abiding in the soul continually and the grace of Regeneration in it shall be like a spring of water whose waters fail not This now is the Spouses real beauty and comliness which makes her inwardly comely tho she be externally black comely in Christs eyes and comely in the eyes of judicious Christians tho black in the Worlds eyes who judg from external accidents or in the eyes of less judicious Christians either judging from outward accidents or particular acts or from some corrupt passion in themselves 3. They must be comely in Christs eyes because he judgeth not of comeliness from the outward appearance nor yet from single spots and defects but according to the heart the scope and intention of that and from the more constant tenour of the Souls actions The speaking of a few words to this will prevent an objection How Christ can judg a soul comely that is yet full of spots infirmities and defects for even the best of men sinneth seven times a day and who can tell how often he offendeth I say Christ judgeth not from the outward appearance man judgeth so but God judgeth from the heart he looketh at the inward man how that is nor doth he there judg from every particular motion any more then from any particular act in our conversation but from the sincerity and uprightness of the heart If there be a willing mind it is accepted The World judgeth from the outward appearance and indeed that is one disadvantage with reference to the World that the spouse of Christ is under she is Nigra extrinsecus formosa intrinsecus Black outwardly but comely inwardly The Kings Daughter saith the Psalmist Psal 45. is all glorious within A good Christian is like a Merchants warehouse which is full of rich wares and commodities tho little appeareth without The hypocrite is lâ—ke a Pedlars stall where all is exposed and perhaps much more then the pretended owner is worth There is a double judgment of the comeliness of Virgins the one is sensuall from the lines and colour of the face the Symmetry of parts the other is rational from the complexion of the soul Knowledg Ingenuity Modesty Sobriety c. Those who judg the former way may be deceived that which the Vulgar calleth beauty is deceitful and vain and fading the person that is possessed of it is very often unlovely enough through a crooked and froward disposition and badness of humour the latter maketh the true judgment men judg of the comeliness and beauty of persons meerly from the visage and outside so the children of God are by them judged unlovely and black as Ravens If they see the Church or Child of God tossed with tempests and afflâ—cted groaning under the sense of sin they presently judg them according to the outward appearance black Christ looketh upon the heart the bent and scope of that its sincerity and uprightness its purity and holiness The World again judgeth of men by single acts tho Philosophy teacheth us that from them none is to be denominated either virtuous or vicious God doth not so which is remarkable in the two famous instances of Job and David Job you know had great fits of impatience yet saith God Behold the patience of Job David was a man of very great failings his defiling of Bathsheba his murder of Uria his numbring of the People were three to name no more yet God doth not onely mention him as a man whose heart was perfect a man according to Gods own heart But in all the following story of the Kings of Judah God mentions him as a Pattern telling us that such a one did walk according to David or such a one did not do according as David had done The Apostle also tells us that we have an high Priest that can have compassion on our Infirmities upon the ignorant and those that are out of the way All which makes it appear that Christs judgment of the Beauty and comliness of persons is not from single acts but from a constant and general course of life and conversation Now every true believer sets his heart to seek the Lord and to walk before God with a true and perfect heart and tho he faileth in many particulars yet the Lord overlooketh them and judgeth of the Soul only from its â—â—ope and intention and the general course of his actions hence it is that the spouse of Christ tho in some respects she be black and in the Worlds eyès she appeareth black yet in truth and in the Judgment of Jesus Christ she is comely Sermon XXXIII Canticles 1. 5. I am black but comely O you daughters of Jerusalem as the tents of Kedar as the Curtaines of Solomon My business in this exercise is but to apply my last discourse Where I shewed you how and in what sense the Spouse of Christ is Black and yet comely black in her own eyes in the worlds eyes and somtimes so in the eyes of her weaker Brethren but comely in Christs eyes and in the eyes of her more judicious Brethren Having a great comliness in some of her blackness and a comeliness besides her blacknes Black through remaining Just and corruption through Afflictions
from above 2 When we boast our selves to have some good or some measures of good and perfection which we have not 3 When we slight and despise others whom we judge to come short of our perfections They likewise prescribe a threefold remedy for this distemper 1. The consideration of our native weakness and infirmity 2. The consideration of the infinite greatness and perfection of God 3. The consideration of our own gifts and graces in the shortness and imperfections of them In short therefore there is no need to fear the discovery of any Pride in the acknowledgment of what God hath done for us provided 1. That we do not play the Hypocrites boasting beyond our line of what we never experienced what God never wrought in us The proud man arrogateth more to himself then doth belong unto him 2. Provided that thou doest intitle God to all that thou hast of good in thee It is truly said by the Schoolmen Cum aliquis aestimate bonum quod habet ab alio ac si haberet a seipso fertur per consequens appetitus ejus supra modum in propriam excellentiam That is If a man judgeth that that good which he hath from another proceedeth from himself his desire is immoderately carried out after his own excellency and this is Pride They are therefore highly concerned to look to themselves as to this that attribute so much to the power of mans will without any influence of special and distinguishing grace you shall observe how careful St. Paul was against this upon all occasions where he mentioneth his grace I live saith he but yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God I was a Persecutor a Blasphemer Injurious but I obtained mercy and the grace of the Lord was exceedingly abundant in me with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus I am the least of the Apostles not worthy to be called an Apostle But by the Grace of God I am what I am It is no pride to acknowledge what God hath given us and done for us but to arrogate it to our selves as done by our own power this is pride 3. Provided 3dly That thou dost not despise the day of small things in the Souls of others Scorning contemning and despising those for whom God hath done or we think that he hath done less then he hath done for us This will speak Pride the proud Soul as he alwaies arrogateth too much to himself so he alwaies giveth too little to his Brother and haughtily over-looketh what he hath so that his Brother alwaies seems low and vile in his Eyes 4. Lastly Provided That with the acknowledgment of thy perfections and graces thou conjoynest an admiration of Gods goodness an acknowledgment of thy unworthiness and of thy sinful failings and imperfections Thus you see the Spouse doth in this Text. I am black saith she but comely So did Paul in the places I before quoted 3. A third Bar to this is Novelty This can only be pleaded with reference to our acknowledgments to the Church or the Officers of it with respect to our either being admitted into a full communion with it in all Ordinances or being restored to it after some lapse for the more private practice of it to our Brethren it is as old as David as may be seen from Psal 66. v. 16 17. As to the former it was from the beginning certainly thus None were admitted into the Gospel Church without a profession of repentance and faith in Christ None after a lapse or Apostacy was restored to the Church without it Indeed through the corruption of times both the one and the other practice hath degenerated into a meer formality and now it seemeth new to us But as it is but a reduction of an Apostolical and Primitive Practice so there certainly is nothing more reasonable both for the comfort of the particular Soul from whom this declaration is desired and for the satisfaction of the Minister of Christ who is but a Steward of the mysteries of Christ and ought to be faithful and also for the mutual satisfaction of such as are to be Members of the same Body 4. But lastly whatever is pretended it is much to be feared that Pride is the true hinderance of this Christian and Spiritual duty 1. Either we think it beneath us to discourse of spiritual things and to acknowledge all to the free grace of God Or 2. We think we come short of some perfections which others have attained and we are ashamed to let others know how short we are But O that Christians would grow more familiar with spiritual things We think that it is a piece of Charity if we hear of a Neighbour that is full of pain or very sick ofsuch adistemper as we have formerly laboured under to goand tell him how we were what we did what effect and issue it had but we find an awkness to relate to fellow Christians how we lay labouring under the guilt of sin and perplexities of conscience and burthens of temptations and what our applications to God were and what relief we found from his free grace and mercy But in the performance of this as well as other duties there may be miscarriages Let me therefore conclude with offering some directions for the better management of this duty They shall be three 1. Take heed to the principle moving thee to such actions That must be love to God the principle of all religious actions without which we do nothing acceptably this is determined by the Apostle 2 Cor. 13. 1 2. It is love that is the fulfilling of the law and indeed we can no otherwise in any point fulfil it Take heed that self-self-love be not the principle if by it thou seekest thy honour and praise self love only principleth thee but if thou dost it that God may have the glory of his Grace that the Souls of others may be profited and advantaged That offences may be prevented or removed That the dirt may be wiped off which the world throweth upon profession In these cases the love of God is thy principle 2. Take heed to the manner of thy doing it As to that I shall only hint 2 things 1. See that God hath all the glory It is lawful for thee to boast of the Grace of God but you must be sure to boast in the Lord and in all thy acknowledgments of any spiritual good thou oughtest to sing with David Psal 115. 1. Not unot us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name be given the Glory for thy mercy and for thy truth sake 2. Do it with all the greatest lowliness and humility of mind and expression that thou art able so as nonw may for what thou hast received of grace think of thee above what he ought to think Paul forbare to speak what he could have spake after his rapture into the third Heavens
against them Thus David complains Psal 35. 11. that in the day of his ealamity False witnesses did rise up against him and laid to his charge things that he knew not The men of the world whose malice and hatred prompteth them to injurious actions against innocent persons conceive themselves obliged to defend themselves against the common reason of the world which teacheth them to cry out against such acts of violence with raising lies and slanders concerning such as they so oppress and persecute he that is any thing acquainted with the Psalms of David or other parts of Holy Writ will find that what we see in the age we live in was but the old practice of wicked and profane Persons ashamed to own the true cause of their hatred and malice It was Matchiavels maxime Fortiter calumniare aliquid adhaerebit lay loud enough though never so false upon thy adversaries something will stick to them and indeed it is hardly imaginable but it should 2. A second reason of this judgment is because the most of men judge of blackness and comeliness by a meer sensual Eye The life of the Spouse is an hidden life her beauty is an hidden beauty The world doth not consider the afflictions of Gods People Spiritually as they are the tokens of Divine Love for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every Child whom he receiveth nor as they purge away the Souls dross and take away its Tin as they melt it and try it and give faith a perfect exercise and patience a perfect work nor are they able to discern the Souls exercises of faith and patience of humility and meekness and quiet submission to the will of God The afflicted Spouse may not only be exceeding beautiful in the Eyes of Christ but in the Eyes of the Saints and People of God in their affliction and tribulation and the generality of men yet see no beauty and comeliness in them because their beauty is spiritually discerned all that is external is blackuess and unloveliness they are only glorious within 3. The generality of men and women in the world judge of the love and hatred of God by what is before men in this life The beauty of the Spouse of Christ lieth in two things 1. In her acceptation with God 2. In her habits of grace and the exercise of them both these are hidden from the Eyes of the world they see not the internal frame of a believers Soul as I but now told you and as their habits of grace are hidden things the world knoweth us not faith John so their state of favour and acceptation with God is an hidden thing also they cannot understand how God should love him or her against whom he suffers men to prevail to such a degree so that the wicked devours the men that are more righteous then they they judge of Gods love and hatred to Souls by what in this life happens to them The Apostles phrases 2 Cor. 4. 8 9. are all riddles to them we are troubled saith he on every side but not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed I have done with the Doctrinal part of my discourse Is this the lot of the Spouse of Christ to be Sun-burnt with afflictions and persecutions Is it their lot to be afflicted and will afflictions make them black and appear more black then possibly they are what then is our duty 1. In the first place it is certainly our duty to expect afflictions of this nature and to expect such usage under them as the people of God before us have constantly met with Our Saviour Christ having given to his hearers the law of his Discipleship Lu. 14. v. 27. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my Disciple addeth further v. 28. 29 30 31. For which of you intending to build a Tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether he hath sufficient to finish it left happily after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it all begin to mock him saying this man began to build and was not able to finish Or what King going to make war against another Ring sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand Or else while the other is yet afar off he sendeth an Embassage and desireth conditions of peace Our Saviour Christ by those two similitudes teacheth us all the duty of a pre-consideration a thinking before hand what may afterwards happen to us in the profession of religion and the owning of him and the profession of the Gospel It is certainly a true saying Mala inopinata graviora the less prospect we have of evils the more inexpected they come upon us the more heavy they prove to us unthought of evils are alwaies most intolerable because we are least prepared for them Let every good Christian therefore live in view of those Afflictions which the Apostle calleth the Afflictions of the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 8. Either because they constantly or most ordinarily follow the profession of it or because indeed it is unreasonable to think that any person should either adhere to the propositions of truth contained in it or live up to the rule of life which the Gospel prescribeth and be free from them If saith our Saviour John 15. 18. The world hateth you you know it hated me before it hated you and v. 20. Remember the word that I said unto you the Servant is not greater then the Lord if they have persecuted me they will also persecute you These things saith our Saviour John 16. 1. 2 3. I have spoken unto you that you should not be offended they shall put you out of the Synagogues yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God good service It is a most unreasonable thing for men to meet with more pleasing things and prosperity in the profession of Religion then the Author of that Religion or any of his Disciples ever met with or then he hath told us we should meet with in the profession of it who knew all things or that we should expect more tranquillity in the profession of Religion then the nature of that profession considered together with the ignorance and corruption of the world doth promise the professors of it It is true there is nothing in the nature and profession of the Christian Religion considered singly and apart by itself that is unlovely or disobliging to any it is a Religion full of good will toward men But considering this Religion together with the corruption of the world there is much in it which he that looketh but with a rational Eye will see that the world is never like to bear better then it hath hitherto done it tieth a man up to believe Propositions according to the revelations of the Word To live
was a 2d which I also observed from that viz. That as there is a time when such a Soul will conceal its Love to Christ and will not be brought to own its Love to him So there is a time when it will own and acknowledge it This now would lead me to a discourse of those times when a believer is free to own and acknowledge its grace particularly its love to Christ And those times when it findeth a difficulty and will not be brought to do it But I remember I handled that point when I discoursed the forgoing words I am black but comely I shall therefore here pass it over and come to the matter of the petition or thing wherein she desireth to be instructed viz. Where he fed his flock Where he made his flocks to rest at Noon In the explication of the terms of the Text. I considered the Noon time 1. As the time when Shepherds having driven their flocks into some shady places to lye down and rest were themselves most at leisure and one might have the most private free and full communion with them with the least interruptions At other times of the day till night again comes the Shepherd must have a constant Eye upon his flock According to which sense the phrase is expressive of believing Souls desires of all occasions and opportunities when it may have the most private free and full communion with Christ with the least interruptions 2. Secondly As the time when the Sun shines out hottest So it may be understood of the Churches Noon or the Believers Noon When they were most scorched with Trials and Persecutions So there are 3 Propositions which I before observed The first of which I shall begin with Prop. That a believing Soul is very covetous of such occasions and opportunities when it may injoy the most private free and full communion with Christ with the least interruptions Whiles the Shepherd is driving his flock to their pastures he is in motion one may exchange some few words with him but he cannot have much serious discourse with him when he cometh to his feeding place still his Eye must be after his flock which in their feeding may be prone to straggle but at Noon when his flocks are in the shadow that is the fairest opportunity of converse with the Shepherd It is true it is the infirmity of our humane natures that we cannot at the same time duly attend two different things God is not under the Law of it God cannot be so taken up with one business of providence as to neglect another because of it But while Christ is set out to us under imperfect and infirm comparisons he is set out as one compassed about with our infirmities And certain it is that our communion with him in this life admitteth of many interruptions on our part and there are times and places wherein a good Christian may and doth injoy a more perfect free and full communion with his God then he doth or can do at other times and places The Spouse here desireth to know the times places and opportunities of most free full and perfect communion with God and this I say is the object of every believing Souls desire As to times of this nature they are easily discerned by considering what those things are which most interrupt and hinder our communion with God those are either 1. Worldly cares businesses and distractions or 2. Temptations whether from the stirrings of lusts in our own heart for every man saith James is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed Or from his Grand adversary the Devil So that times of freest communion with God are times when we are likely to be most free from the incumbrances of the World or the â—â—â—lestations of our own lusts or Satans Suggestions As to the two latter there are indeed no times as to which which we can promise our selves an absolute immunity As to the former there are two times The morning or the night season 2. The Sabbath day 1. The morning or night season That is a time for rest and when the greatest part of the World are at their natural rest hence you shall observe that the Servants of God have often made choice of these times for their more private and free communion with God Psal 5. 3. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning in the morning will I direct my Prayer unto thee and will look up Psal 59. 16. I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning Psal 63. 1. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee v. 6. When I remember thee on my bed and meditate on the in the night watches Times of least business in the World and greatest silence from the noises businesses of the World are the times for freest communion with God not that God is not as ready to hear our Prayers and to communicate himself at other times but because the Souls of Gods People are not so free in themselves for whereas the life of our communion with God lyeth in the attention of our thoughts and fervency of our Spirits And the latter of these hath also a great dependence on the former it is impossible for us to keep our thoughts so intent upon our duty when the noises and businesses of the World distract us as when we have nothing of that nature from the World to disturb or divert us 2. The Sabbath day is likewise such another time and so are other times which we have voluntarily set apart for the Solemn seeking of God but the former especially For tho the Law of the Lord for the Sanctification of the Sabbath hath not such an influence upon the World as were highly to be desired yet in the places especially where we live it hath some influence so that the most of men and women cease from all servile labour and there is a great silence in the World that day in comparison of other days and that law taketh a great hold upon the hearts of all such as truly fear God so as none of them durst ingage themselves in wordly businesses as on other dayes and tho this be not the case as to such solemn days as Christians set apart for religious duties yet we having laid our selves under a private law tho the time at first was our own and we needed not to have dedicated it to the Lord yet having done it we think our selves justly to be more ingaged and concerned to lay the World out of our sight and thoughts and and this doubtless much commendeth the practice of Christians in setting some times of this nature apart for the solemn service of God As to places under the Gospel we have no such place as the Temple at Hierusalem none to which any such promise is made our Rule is Every where to Worship the Father Every where to list up pure hands But yet though there be no particular place concerning which we
Souls beautiful by prescription of good works not flowing from a true faith in Jesus Christ indeed the truely beautiful Soul will maintain good works for necessary uses and not be seen in any part of the world or in any station in it but clothed with them the Kings Daughter though all glorious within yet must have her garments also smell of Myrrh Aloes and Cassia but these are not her onely beauty in the Eyes of her beloved she still cries out O Lord my righteousness is all as a menstruous cloth as an unclean thing I am altogether in my self as a filthy and unclean thing 4. The beauty of the Child of God is not onely Adherent but also Inherent Justification is his beauty this I call adherent he is in a state of favour with God hath a right to be called his Child Regener at ion is his inherent beauty and makes not onely a change in his state but in his nature and temper Justification maketh an alteration in the Souls state and relation to God before that it was an enemy now a Child it cannot be properly said to be any thing inherent in us rather adherent to us without it the Soul cannot be comely in the Eyes of Christ those who in Johns vision were seen clothed in white were such as were washed in the blood of the lamb Let the Vertues of mens Souls be never so eminent their actions never so splendid yet while they are not justified they cannot be fair in the Eyes of Christ who judgeth not according to the outward appearance but according to the heart But yet this is not all the Spouse's beauty In the same moment wherein by justifying the sinner God maketh a change in his state he also maketh a change in his heart this cannot be alone neither is it causative of the other Those are wonderfully vain that charge us with asserting that God can be pleased with an unholy Soul or that any such Soul is fair and lovely in the Eyes of that God who is of purer Eyes then that he can behold any iniquity This is what Protestants do affirm That God reckoneth the righteousness or comeliness of Christ unto to the Soul and so makes us comely and in the same moment gives his Spirit to it to renew sanctifie it and dwell in it that both these make up the Spiritual beauty comeliness but God doth not accept our Persons upon the latter but upon the former account yet we say This conformity of the heart to the will of God wrought by regeneration is a great part of the Souls comliness Thou hast saith Christ ravished my heart my Sister my Spouse thou hast ravished mine heart with one of the Chains about thy neck Cant. 4. 9. This we also further say That although this inherent beauty be not that for which Christ accepteth the Person of a Child of God yet God is well pleased with it and it doth much increase Gods manifestative love towards a Person John 14. 21. 5. Fifthly The beauty of the Child of God is a desirable beauty desirable to God Indeed all beauty is desirable this is to God desirable You must understand it safely All desire in the creature speaketh some want and indigences in God it only speaks complacence Psal 45. 4. So shall the King desire thy beauty the meaning is no more then be well pleased with thy Beauty God is well pleased with their Souls and his will moveth toward them and the enjoyment of them not to fill up any vacuity or emptiness in himself but to fill up their emptinesses with the sulness of himself who filleth all in all Thus the Schoolmen say truly That though the creature works and moves to supply his own indigence yet God never moveth nor worketh but to communicate his own perfection and fulness 6. The beauty of the Child of God is a never fading beauty Corporeal beauty is vain age sickness contagious diseases many accidents either greatly abate or destroy this This Spiritual beauty though it may abate yet shall never sail It is one of Gods gifts to the Soul which are without repentance It is caused from the seed of God which abideth in the Soul The appearance of it to the world may abate but its beauty cannot wholly fail and perish It is as the air of the Soul resulting from its state of Justification which altereth not and from the infused habits of Regeneration which cannot dye 7. Lastly It is not apersect beauty The adherent beauty of Gods People is perfect the Soul that is justifyed from the guilt of one sin is justifyed from the guilt of all sins God never forgives in part if we understand by forgiving remitting the obligation sin layeth us under to Eternal death But the inherent beauty of the Children of God is imperfect we know in part and love in part sincerity is all we can glory in all our perfection as to that The habits of grace infused in Regeneration are capable of increase and augmentation nor will any be perfect in them till he comes to dye No nor then neither for though the actings of some grace proportioned to our indigent mortal state will then cease and so in that sense may be said to be perfected yet Love and delight in God habits of Grace which we shall carry with us into and exercise in another world shall be made perfect there But in the exercises of our habits of grace the best of Gods People are much more imperfect laying many a black parch upon a fair face which the pure God seeth and can distinguish from Beauty spots Though for them he will not cast his people off Thus far I have shewed you the nature of the Spouses beauty I shall now shew you whence it is that such a Soul in the Eyes of Christ is the fairest amongst Women This will appear but reasonable if we consider That their beauty is Christs workmanship I told you before that it is not an artificial beauty nor natural but created and superinduced upon the Soul The holy Scripture calls man Gods Generation Acts 17. 29. and borroweth the expression from an Heathen Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they saw that by the light of Nature The Apostle tells us Eph. 2. 10. That we are Gods workmanship created to good works which God had before ordained that we should walk in them God had ordained it Christ wrought it Whatsoever of good a Child of God hath in him it is all from God he is begotten of God John 1. 13. We are created by him to good works and he worketh in us to will and do Are we justified and is that any part of our beauty We are justifyed by his grace washed in his blood Except I wash you saith Christ you have no part in me It is natural to us all to account any thing best and fairest to which our selves have contributed any thing as a cause The Father and Mother value
condescension beyond the grasp of our faith The greatness of it causeth in us a difficulty to believe it Who is a God like our God a Saviour a Redeemer an Husband like our Saviour our Redeemer our Spiritual Husband When they told David that he should have Michal the Daughter of Saul to Wife and persuaded him to it Seemeth it to you saith he a small thing to be a Son-in-law to a King If there be any of you not affected with this Love this transcendent Love give me leave to speak to you in the language of David Seemeth it to you a small thing to be the beloved the friends the companions of the Lord Jesus Christ Ah! That I could send you away this day admiring the divine Love that he should take the fellowship of our nature upon him that he should make us his fellow Citizens admit us to a fellowship with him both in grace here and in glory hereafter that he should be our Companion in tribulation our Companion in labour and follow Soldier But I leave this to be further improved by you in your more private meditations 2. Secondly This notion is of wonderful use to relieve and comfort the People of God under all their present afflictions or fears of greater The face of things as to Gods People hath been a long time gathering blackness and there is this day a great blackness Prisons in the Primitive times were more the habitations of Gods People then Palaces God grant we may not see them to be so again we have been so used to beds of Feathers Down that the thoughts of a bed of straw make us shrink so wedded to our own Country that a strange land appeareth to us a strange thing The Providence of God looketh as if it were preparing Prisons and Fetters and banishments for his People and the hearts of Gods People are every where as sad as the times What a wonderful comfort and relief to the People of God at such a time is it for them to hear the Lord Jesus Christ calling them his Companions His Companions in tribulation and to call himself their fellow Souldier and fellow Prisoner There are a great many arguments with which the suffering Servants of God may be relieved Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer said the Angel to the Church at Smyrna Behold the Devil shall cast some of you into Prison that you may be tryed and you shall have tribulation that you might be tryed and you shall have tribulation for ten days Rev. 2. 10. There are several arguments 1. It is the Devil that cast Saints into Prison He doth it by men as his instruments but he filleth them with their rage and malice 2. It is that they may be tryed God permits it the Devil could have no power against a believer more then against Christ if God did not permit it The Devil and his instruments design is to ruin and to destroy them Gods end is to try them 3. It shall be but a tribulation for ten days a short time The rod of the wicked shall not always rest upon the lot of the righteous Well but how shall they hold out these ten days See Isaiah 43. 1 2. Thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel Fear not for I have Redeemed thee I have called thee by thy name thou art mine When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee When thou walkest through the fires thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee In the ten days of tribulation the Child of God shall not be alone he that Redeemed them will be with them This was made good to the three Children in the fiery fornace in Babylon Dan. 3. 24. Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire saith Nebuchadnezzar lo I see four men loose walking in the middest of the fire and they have no hurt and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God He was with Daniel Daniel 9. 22. With Paul and Silâ—s Acts. 16. They could never else have sang in the Prison at midnight Let the People of God lift up their heads as Moses seeing him who is invisible Only take the caution of Peter 1. Pet 4. Let none of you suffer as a Murderer or as a Thief or as an Evil doer or as a busy body in other mens matters But if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God one this behalf Let men look that they suffer for righteousness sake that is to avoid sinning against God all such suffering is for righteousness sake then they shall never be alone Saul Saul why saith Christ persecutest thou me calling out of Heaven to Paul when he was in his full carreer of persecution of the Church No man can expect that Christ should be a companion to him in his tribulation while he suffereth meetly for his stomach or out of humour much less if he suffereth for doing that which is plainly sinful and which he ought not to have done but if he suffereth to avoid sin against God to keep himself unspotted from the World as he is made a partaker of Christs sufferings so Christ will be a partaker of his sufferings his Companion in suffering and whensoever Christs glory shall be revealed he shall be glad with exceeding joy It is a marvelous sweet notion to suffering Christians to hear that Jesus Christ is and will be their Companion in sufferings fear not therefore Christians in despight of evil men and evil times to keep a good Conscience but Jam. 1. 2. Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations A good Conscience was yet never in Prison alone Nor will this be strange to us if we consider that even death it self though it makes Soul and Body part Company yet it doth not make Christ and a believer part Company Our Bodies shall be raised from the Grave by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us Rom. 8. 11. There are two great arguments amongst others to comfort the People of God in all their noons of Afflictions 1. That even then they are Christs fellows They then are in the fellowship of his death Phil. 4. 10 11. They suffer with him Rom. 8. 17. They are made conformable to his death Christ is magnified in their body They make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ 2. That Christ will then be their fellow it is to the Spouse at Noon that he saith here O My Love My Fellow c. When the World is spitting their Venom shewing their utmost Malice and hatred even then Christ is calling to them and saying My Love When the World is casting them out as Pestilent fellows then is Christ saying unto them My Companions Then will he be with them and manifest himself as a friendly Companion to them In
and the further grace of God merited It is all given We will saies Christ make for thee The porro esse as well as the esse the aboundings as well as the first breathings and motions of Spiritual life are all from God 4. Lastly He speaketh in the Plural Number We will make This is either spoken Stylo Regio in the stile of a Prince Christ is a great King Or else as it is said Gen. 1. 26. Let us make man to denote the Plurality of Persons in the Divine Being and the concurrence of the whole Trinity in the collation of Grace and more Grace upon believers It is a rule in Divinity omnia opera Trinitatis adextra sunt indivisa All the works of the Trinity out of itself and with relation to the creatures are individed what is the Act of one Person is the work of all three Persons The Father created the Son createth and the Holy Ghost createth So in the works of Providence The Father worketh hitherto and the Son worketh This is eminently true in that noble work of Providence The Collation of special grace John 14. 23. If any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him The Text being thus opened you see to what point in Divinity it leadeth us The Doctrine is this Prop. That Christ is ready to give out more grace more Spiritual Ornaments to the Souls of believers where he seeth the Cheeks of his Saints already comely with Rows of Jewels and their Necks with Chains of Gold he will still be preparing for them Chains of Gold with Spots of Silver To this purpose is the promise Matth. 13. 12. To him that hath shall be given and he shall have in more abundance It was the end of his coming into the World not only that his People might have life but that they might have it more abundantly John 10. 10. And he acteth in the dispensations of his grace according to and in fulfilling of the end of that his coming He giveth out pardoning grace abundantly Isaiah 55. 6 7. He will abundantly pardon even according to and much above the abundings of sin in the creature As sin hath abounded grace shall much more abound Rom. 5. And as sin reneweth so his gracious acts of pardoning are renewed also Sanctifying grace and that indeed is properly the Ornament of a believer he giveth abundantly He fills the Souls of his People with joy and peace in believing that their Souls may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost Rom. 15. 13. He maketh the Souls of his People to abound in loves hence the aboundings in this gracious habit are made the matter of the Apostles prayer 1 Thes 3. 12. They could not grow in grace if he were not alwaies ready to give out more grace for all Acts must proceed from habits and a growth and improvement in gracious Acts must flow from an increase of the power and principle of acting If any one asks the reason of this Liberality of Christ to his Spouse it is not hard to assign it 1. That fulness of Grace and Love which is in him is the great ground and cause of it what makes the loving Husband who knoweth that his Wife is already full stockt with Cloaths and Linnen and Rings and Jewels and other Ornaments that yet he can never go abroad but he must bring her home something to add to her stock in these things but only first he finds that his purse will hold out to it He hath wherewithal to do it 2. His Love and kindness to his Wife is such as constraineth him to it so as he can never think she hath enough and he is still giving to her as if she had nothing Christ is a fountain of fulness the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily and of his fulness saith John we receive grace for grace The full fountain runneth over neither doth he lose any thing by his communication while he giveth grace he is but like unto the Sun which loseth no light by imparting its light to the World Then his Love to his Saints is infinite transcendent he must not be outvyed by his creatures Doth therefore a loving Husband when his Wife hath already a competent wardrobe and a competent number of Ornaments yet add to her stores and so much to supply her wants as to shew his own Love and kindness to her How much more shall the Lord Jesus do it So that in this reason there are indeed three The first is that infinite fulness of grace that is in him which cannot terminate it self in him without a communication to the creature the Second is the nature of his communication which is such that he loseth nothing by it He saith we will make thee borders of Gold men and women are not so forward to give what they have aliunde from without themselves As what they have from themselves and are no losers by the communication of The term make doth not denote a non praeexistence All the Chains of Gold with which Christ adorneth his Spouse are coaevous with Christ himself given out in the pursuance of an Eternal purpose purchased with the blood of Christ but it signifieth that Christ hath them of his own And then thirdly His exceeding Love to his Spouse causeth the giving of them out It is said of Paul Acts 18. 5. That he was pressed in Spirit and Testified c. Christ is pressedin Spirit with Love to the believing Soul His heart is ravished as he afterward expresseth it in this song Thou â—ast ravished my heart my Sister my Spouse This love is the great and first moving cause of these communications as the loving husband that hath an estate which will bear it and a Wife wherein he greatly delighteth is alwaies giving her such things as he judgeth will be pleasing and acceptable unto her so our blessed Lord having first made his grace acceptable to the Soul and then loving that Soul that hungreth and thirsteth after him with a transcendent love cannot but be daily Satisfying such a Soul with his good things 2. A second Reason of this is the Renewing wants of his Spouse Love doth not giveâ—bare measure but sheweth it self further than in a bare supply of wants Ministring also to the pleasure and delight of the Person beloved but to wants and desires it cannot be wanting the Soul of a Christian through the revival of lusts and corruptions within itself and through the repetition of temptations and in regard of Gods various dispensations to it stands in need of the daily increase of grace Nogood Soul hath so much grace but it still wants A prudent husband though very loving and tender may judg his Wife hath Ornaments enough and therefore may cease to add to her stock though she may not have some particular Ornament because though she hath it not yet she
may not want it and it would be to her of no profitable use only it may be serve for Pride or ostentation but no tender husband with-holds from his Wife what he knoweth her to need But the Child of God never hath so much faith but he seeth cause to cry out Lord help my unbelief he is in daily want of Spiritual strength complaining of weakness and impotency so as supplies of grace are a daily good to gracious Souls and Christ can withhold no such thing from them Desire doth yet more engage the love of a correlate and the more passionate and vehement the desire of the beloved is the more he that loves moveth towards her Satisfaction The Philosopher saith to Love is to will that which is good to another though indeed love rather lyeth in a complacency which one taketh in another of which the willing of good is but a first fruit and an effect good he tells us is that which all desire The nature of good lyes in a Sutableness and conveniency to our needs for the supply of some vacuity or emptiness in us all the effluxes and emanations of divine grace are such suted to some great wants of our Souls and not only so but also to the desires of every gracious man and Woman who is continually crying give give and God cannot be wanting either to supply the necessities or to answer the cravings and importunities of his Peoples Souls He hears the desire of the humble Psal 10. 17. And giveth them their hearts desire Psal 21. 3. Lastly The interest of Gods own honour and glory is concerned in his giving of more grace The loving husband buyeth his Wife Chains and Jewels And fine Clothes and when she hath a good stock he is yet adding to the stock his love to her his desire to Satisfy her desires so far as he is able in all things convenient are the great grounds but yet he hath also some Eye to his own honour and Reputation by it he is taken notice of in the World as one that is able to do such things and also as one to whom his Wife is very dear this blessed Lover first aimeth at his own honour Hereby faith Christ is your Father glorified if you bring forth fruit much fruit of holiness requireth much of the seed of God much grace as the Principle productive of it for without his influence the Soul can do nothing Further grace is necessary to uphold and maintain what grace he hath already bestowed It is also necessary to the production of that much fruit by which God is glorified by his People in the World Grace in its true exercise is a lovely thing in the sight of the World Men that hate the practice of grace in themselves yet love it in another Hence the Apostle 1 Pet. 2. 12. commandeth Christians to have their conversation honest amongst the Gentiles that whereas they speak against them as evil doers they may by their good works which they shall behold glorifie God in the day of their visitation The Children of God are like Stars which shine from a borrowed light God hath all the honour of their well doing The man that walketh piously devoutly humbly in his conversation towards God and in the exercise of justice and righteousness humility and meekness mercy and charity and bounty towards men that is moderate and sober in the use of prosperity and patient in the time of adversity doth by this conversation commend himself to all that part of the World that hath yet any remainder of reason left whose passions have not out-lawed their reason and transformed them into Beasts And look as when the Wife is excellently attired it draweth the Eyes of all after her sets them upon enquiry whose Wife she is the honour redoundeth to the Husband out of whose Purse her Ornaments are known to come So when men see Christians abounding in the fear of the Lord in faith love in meekness sobriety liberality to the Poor love to their Enemies a doing good to all the honour doth not only redound to them but the Name of Christ for their sake is also well spoken of the grace of God in them is commended and magnified I come now to the Application In the first place I cannot but observe from this Text how Christ condesâ—endeth to our weakness that he might make himself and his grace desirable to us Why doth not our Lord speak plainly I will give them more grace I will communicate more of my self unto them He doth so in some other Texts here he clotheth his discourse with metaphors and compareth his grace to things which we much desire and which are very lovely and admirable in our Eyes This is observable there is hardly any thing which while we live in the World is either necessary for our use or delightful to our senses which our fleshly appetite longs for to which Christ some where or other hath not compared himself and the influences of his grace Is Bread necessary I am saith he the bread of life John 6. Is water necessary He compares himself to living water John 4. Yea to a fountain of living water Is meat and drink necessary My flesh saith he is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed Is clothing necessary and fine and rich clothing desirable Come saith he buy of me white rayment that thou mayest be clothed that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear Rev. 3. 18. Is Linnen necessary And fine Linnen desirable Rev. 21. 8. To the bride the Lambs Wife is granted that she should be arayed in fine Linnen clean and white Is Physick sometimes wanting to us The whole saith he speaking of himself need not the Physitian but the sick Is salve necessary sometimes to us I counsel thee saith he Rev. 3. 18. To Anoint thee with Eye-salve Is rest and ease desirable Come saith he to me all you that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest Is Gold and Silver are rows of Silver and Chains of Gold borders of Gold and studs or spots of Silver desirable I Counsel thee saith he to buy of me Gold tryed in the fire that thou mayest be rich and here in my Text thy Cheeks saith he are comely between the rows of Jewels Thy neck with Chains of Gold we will make for thee borders of Gold and studs of Silver Ez. 16. 10 11 12. I clothed thee with bâ—oidered work and shod thee with badgers Skins and I girded thee about with fine Linnen and covered thee with Silk I also decked thee with Ornaments and I put Bracelets upon thy hands and Ear-rings in thine Ears and a beautiful crown upon thine head What is the meaning of all this but I bestowed my love my grace upon thee How doth our blessed Lord humble himself to make himself his favour and grace the object of the most vain and airy Souls desire Observe Secondly that Christs graces are
to the King There 's no Faith in Christ nor pure Love to God and Christ to be got at Athens Flesh and Blood will not convey these things into a Soul Lastly Observe how the whole Trinity is concerned in the dispensations of grace It is the note of the Learned Mercer That the Mystery of the Trinity is here held out to us in the Plural Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I touched upon this before though indeed the works of the Trinity within it self be divided The Father begetteth and is not begotten The Son is begotten but doth not beget The Holy Ghost proceedeth from both and doth neither beget nor is begotten and although to denote the order of working in the holy Trinity Creation is made the work of the Father Redemption the work of the Son and Sanctification the work of the Holy Spirit yet it is most certain that all the works of the Trinity out of it self are individed what one person doth all do All that grace of which the Believer is made partaker floweth from the whole Trinity it is from the Father through the merits of the Son and by the Holy Ghost In the second place Will Christ go on in giving to his Saints more grace Let not then those of little Faith be discouraged Let not those that are strong despise the weak nor those who are weak be discouraged and despond in themselves If the Child of God hath Faith but as a grain of Mustard seed it shall increase If it hath but a stock of grace like the Widdows Meal in the Barrel and Oil in the Cruise yet the Meal shall not fail from the Barrel nor the Oil from the Cruise If the Child of a rich and indulgent Parent be despised by another that hath finer Clothes and richer Ornaments than the Wisdom of its Parent thinks fit at present to allow it it will comfort its self that its Father is able to do as much for it that he wants no love to prompt him to it that it hath a large Inheritance that is made sure unto it Shall not the Child of God thus comfort himself from its hopes of glory though it as yet hath but a small earnest of it from that fulness of grace which is in Christ He shall be holden up saith the Apostle speaking of the weak Brethren for God is able to make him stand Rom. 14. 4. And from that readiness that is in Christ and his Promise to give to him that hath so that he shall have more abundantly from the Promise of Christ to the Soul whose cheeks are already comely with Rows of Jewels and Chains of Gold that he will make for it Borders of Gold with spots or badges or studs of Silver Let true grace in the Soul be never so faint and weak it is the Seed of God it shall abide yea it shall grow and increase Hypocrisie is alwaies withering the Hypocrite groweth worse and worse his fair shews and appearances daily decay but true grace is alwaies growing Christ is alwaies adding to it And indeed this is one thing which distinguisheth a sincerity and truth of grace from all the counterfeits of it A Child of God is alwaies growing better and better the Lord is adding to his spiritual habits Wicked men and Hypocrites are growing worse and worse In the last place This Notion calls to all the People of God 1. For an admiration of the Love of God towards them what a God do we serve what a Saviour what a Friend what a Beloved hath every Soul whose Soul sincerely loveth the Lord Jesus Christ The Beloved of your Souls is not like anothers Beloved in himself he is not he is the chiefest of ten thousand he is altogether desires He is not to you as anothers Beloved he is unweariable in his acts of grace and dispensations of goodness Are there any Souls here whose iniquities are forgiven whose sins are covered whose Souls are regenerated renewed through the Sanctification of the Spirit might not these Souls go into their Closets with David and sit down and say Who are we O Lord God! and what were our Souls that the Lord should bring us hitherto that God should wash our Souls white in the Blood of the Lamb and give us another Spirit than we had by Nature a new Heart a new Nature that he should make us partakers of the Divine Nature But this was yet a small thing in the sight of God he hath spoken also of his Servants for a great while yet to come he hath spoken of more grace of making for us Borders of Gold with Badges of Silver A faithful man shall abound with blessings The beginnings of saving grace in the Soul in the Justification of the Soul and the first change and renovation of our Natures are blessings of that nature as Eternity will be too short a time to admire the Love of God in and for but will the Lord also add to his Servants stock and increase their heap will he be still making and preparing new Ornaments for them and giving further grace to them till all their wants shall be supplied all their emptinesses filled up what manner of Love is this Let our Souls be swallowed up in the admiration of this Love Let our Souls and all that is within us bless his holy Name 2. How doth this Notion call to us for all manner of holiness Holiness lyeth in two things 1. The mortification of lusts and sinful habits with the eschewing and declining of sinful acts which are the fruit of those trees 2. The exercises of Godliness Let me shortly press both from this notion of out beloved's being preparing still and making for us Chains of Gold and spots of Silver I will begin with the 2d 1. The exercises of our selves unto Godliness in all those positive duties which God requireth of us Whether they may be more internal such as faith hope Love or more external in our more external communion with God in Prayer reading hearing his word receiving his holy Sacrament Or in our conversation before and towards men I shall press these from this notion upon a twofold consideration 1. These exercises are the way to keep Christ still at work making for us these further Ornaments 2. They are the wearing and using of these Ornaments I say first these exercises will keep our Lords hand continually at work so as he will never be weary but be still adding to our Ornaments of grace I have had occasion often in my former discourses to hint to you that although God be ingaged by his covenant and faithfulness to bring the Souls of believers to glory and consequently to give out to them such necessary supplies of grace as shall make them meet for that inheritance yet he is at liberty as to the gradual manifestations of his grace to dispense them according to his own infinite wisdom and his Peoples behaviour toward him And the promises of that
the Soul and it cannot lye hid in the Soul 2. It is from the Ordination of God that grace sendeth forth its smell We may say this of every created Quality which produceth any effect It is from the Law of God in creation laid upon that Plant Gum or Oil known to the Eastern People by this name of Spikenard and the Law of God laid upon Musk and sweet Flowers amongst us that they or any of them send forth a pleasant smell the powerful hand of God in creation hath created such vertues and qualities in these things and God hath ordained that they should emit or send forth their savour and there is a daily influence of the providence of God upon them by which these natural powers and faculties in them are upheld by which they do produce these grateful effects to our senses and daily affect the Air which we suck in by which that gratefulness is conveyed to us The like may be said of grace which is but a savoury sweet smelling quality in the rational creature correspondent to the other savory sweet smelling qualities in vegetative and sensitive creatures It is Gods creation in the Soul and it is from Gods Ordination that it sendeth forth this smell This is true whether by the Sending forth the smell thereof we understand the exercise thereof Or the gratifying the Spiritual senses of others by such exercise Both of them do proceed from the Ordination of God which is the Law of God upon the New creature There is a double Ordination of God in the case The exercise of a believers grace is from a divine Ordination Joh. 15. 16. You have not chosen me but I have chosen you and obtained you that you should go and bring forth fruit We are chosen in him before the foundation of the World that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Eph. 1. 4. Predestinated to be to the praise of his glory v. 11. He hath also ordained the acceptableness of the savour of grace both in his own nostrils and in the nostrils of others those especially that are made partakers of the divine nature And from hence it is that grace and the actings and exercises of it send forth a sweet smell to some And others revile them and speak ill of them As it is in natural things savours which are to some exceedingly grateful and delicious are to other creatures as ingrateful and abominable which proceedeth from a different nature or different qualities in several creatures all which are Originated in the Creation and Ordination of God So it is with grace the exercise of which is a sweet smelling savour in the nostrils of God let me hear thy voice saith the beloved in this song for thy voice is sweet and thy countenance is comely and a sweet smelling savour in the nostrils of such as are made partakers of the same divine nature It is a stench in the nostrils of debaucht and profane men and the lively and vigorous exercise of it is so in the nostrils of Hypocrites all this proceeds from their different nature and the Ordination of God whose Ordination it is That wisdom should be justified of her Children God hath ordained that where habits of grace are they should sprout forth in acts there is a Principle of life in the seed of God as in natural seeds which being committed to a fitting soil sheweth it self Nor is this without the concurrence of a daily providence of God upholding this Spiritual vertue Let us then observe that true grace is neither a dead and insipid thing nor yet an ingrateful thing in its exercise to any that have any acquaintance with God or fellowship in the divine nature The name of grace is an excellent name and every one would be called by it Amongst Christians the name of an ungracious man is a name of such reproach as every one is offended at But alas How dead and insipid a thing must grace be if all had it who would pretend to it in the age wherein God hath cast our lot Men would be thought to have grace in whom we cannot discern one good work They pretend to spikenard but where is the smell thereof Shew me thy saith saith the Apostle by thy works Nay how many are there in the World whose lusts and corruptions send forth an ill savour It is observed in nature that unless the four Elements there are no things but sent out some favour some smell Thence the Philosopher makes a smell the affection of a compounded body all compounded bodies send forth a smell little or much grateful or ingrateful to us The most of men and women send from their conversations some scent some smell abroad in the World but alas The smell of the most is not like the smell of a field of a Soul that the Lord hath blessed with the blessing of his grace but like the smell of Souls which the Lord hath cursed and will curse One man smells of drunkenness another smells of the lusts of uncleanness a third smells of covetousness a fourth of Pride and haughtiness of mind a Fifth of earthly mindedness and covetousness a Sixth of Levity and airiness Another smells of cruelty and unmercifulness another of lyes and perjuries breaking all oaths covenants promises c. These are not the smells of Lebanon but of Topheth God said of old he would not smell in the Israelites assemblies Amos 5. 21. I hate I despise your feast dayes and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies Though you offer me your burnt offerings and your meat offerings I will not accept them neither will I regard the peace offerings of your sat beasts There are some whose smells are such in the nostrils of God with respect to their ordinary conversation that nothing they do or can do will smell sweet in Gods nostrils As some ill Savours are so strong as they drown the sweet smell of any perfumes which the Person hath about him So some sinners smell so odiously so abominably in the nostrils of God that no good act they can do is or can be acceptable to God this was the case of these Israelites They did some good things the keeping of solemn feasts the offering of burnt offerings were things which God had commanded and else where he calleth them a sweet savour But such was the stench the ill savour of the lives of these degenerated Israelites that it had drowned the sweet smell in Gods nostrils which these acts had sent forth had they been done by better men What was the matter v. 5. They sought to Bethel They were Idolaters Jeroboam had set up Calves at Dan and Bethel and thither they went to Worship the true God but by and before the Calves They were full of unrighteousness they turned Judgment to wormwood and left off righteousness v. 7. They trode upon the poor and took from them burdens of wheat v. 11. They were haters of Gods faithful
Servants v. 10. They hated him that rebuk d in the gate and abhorred him that spake sprightly v. 12. They afflicted the just They took Bribes and turned aside the poor in the gate from their right These are they of whom God saith I will not smell in your Solemn assemblies To the same purpose God speaks Jer. 6. 20. To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba and the sweet Cane from a far Country Your burnt offerings are not acceptable nor your Sacrifices sweet unto me And Isaiah 2. 11 12 13 14. Look as it is with some very strong natural ill savours they do not only themselves offend our nostrils but they so infect the whole air which should bring the sweeter savour of some other things which we have about us to our nostrils that nothing smells sweet we smell nothing but the Castoreum or other stinking thing so it is with rampant lusts and corruptions with notorious Scandalous sins whether the acts of impiety towards God such are Idolatry c. Or acts of injustice and uncharitableness towards men they send forth such a strong and ill savour in the nostrils of God that the Lord can smell a sweet savour of nothing they do that live in such sins he will not smell in their Solemn assemblies their Sacrifice are abomination to God God cannot away with the calling of their assemblies Ah how many are there whose smells are of this nature 2. Neither are these smells only offensive to God but to the Church of God The Protestant Religion may speak to these Simeons and Levies You have troubled us you have made me to stink amongst Papists and Atheists and God grant that these spots in the assemblies of Protestants in our time cause not the latter part of Jacobs Words to be verifyed upon us That our Enemies gather not together against us and slay us and we be destroyed 2. We may learn from hence That a true Child of God need not set a Trumpet to his own mouth to blazon and proclaim his vertues The Wise man saith Let anothers mouth praise thee and not thy own The Child of God needs not that his own mouth should praise him His Spikenard will send forth the smell thereof and that is alwaies a pleasant smell Good Wine needeth no Bush we say We have a saying That Virgins should be seen and not heard God's Virgins should be so they should be seen acting and exercising their gracious habits not heard admiring themselves for them It is the Pedler that goeth about the Country proclaiming his Pins Points and Laces The rich Merchant though better furnished leaves himself to the report that others shall give of his Warehouse The naughty woman praedicates her own vertues whiles the woman that is truly vertuous trusts her reputation to those who see and observe her to speak of her as they find her You need not write upon a Box of Spikenard This is Spikenard the smell will tell you what it is From what you have heard you may observe That every one is not to be condemned whose Spikenard sends not forth so strong a smell as anothers There is no Child of God but hath his Spikenard his Box of Spikenard his measure of grace but every one hath not the same measure The least of the Believer's Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof But I have shewed you before that in the People of God there are differences in degrees of grace None can lay claim to the name of a Believer or a Child of God but he must have some faith some love some gracious habits and must bring forth some fruits of holiness proportionable to his measure of grace One Christian hath not the like measures of grace as another nor the like influence of heat from the Sun of Righteousness to elicit the smell of those good habits But of the necessity of that I shall speak more under the next Proposition If a Christian's Soul be kept from scandalous and presumptuous sins if he liveth up to those measures of knowledge and light which God hath given him if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we say in the generality of his conversation he walks close with God though in some things his foot slippeth a Christian is not to be condemned if his Spikenard sends forth the smell thereof though larger quantities in others and under more incouraging and glistering circumstances send forth a greater and stronger smell 4. A Christian may hence take some comfort who doth not see his own grace It is the case of many a good Christian yea almost of every good Christian at one time or another he cannot see his own Faith or Love or it may be any other habit of grace with which the Lord hath blessed him Others possibly can see much good much of God in him he can see nothing in himself This often perplexeth a Christian who thinks that he should know himself best But the judgment of others is not alwaies to be despised as no foundation of comfort Grace casts its smell and there may be a time when a Christian's grace and Spiritual life may be more discernable to others than to himself Nay there are several such times times of natural disturbances from Melancholy times of Divine Desertion times of great Temptation In all such times others are better Judges of the People of God's grace and sincerity than themselves are these things cast a mist before their Eyes 5. I shall conclude this Discourse with a word of Exhortation To do what in us lies that our Spikenard may send forth the smell thereof It amounteth to that of our Saviour Let your Light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven I shall press it with two Arguments 1. It is no Spikenard that sendeth forth no smell no pleasant smell James tells us that Faith without works is dead that is it is no true Faith John calleth pretended love to God without love to the Brethren no love Tantum es quantum agis a man is so much and no more a Christian than he acts and liveth like a Christian 2. There is nothing so scandalous in the World so dishonourable to God so dangerous and infignificant to our selves as the name of Saints without the smell of Saints The World expects that things and persons should in some measure answer their names hence it is that the falls and slips of Christians make a greater noise and give a greater offence to the World than the grosser actions of persons who make no pretences to Religion and Godliness For Branches in Christ which bring forth no fruit Christ tells us the Husbandman his Father will cut them off These are they who bring up an evil report upon the waies of God and make them to be abhorred Nor can an empty name be of any significancy to our selves I shall shut up this Discourse with a few Directions 1.
c. or he shall stay as others chuse to read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Between my Breasts this term hath no difficulty The Metaphor is either drawn from Lovers which delight to lodge in each others Arms or else as our own Annotations from Mothers giving suck to their Infants who use to give them their Breasts and to lodge them betwixt their Breasts or from Women who use to wear Posies and sweet smelling things upon or betwixt their Breasts for the words all night are not in the Heb. but put in by our Interpreters The meaning is Christ shall have of me what he pleaseth I will do what I can to get him to stay and make his abode with me Some lay some stress upon the term night as if her sense should be in the time of persecution I will keep my communion with the Lord Jesus Christ close But in regard the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not necessarily import the abode of a night only but a stay for some time I cannot lay any stress upon it Some by the breasts understand the heart Whose place is under the left breast The Hebrews understand by the Spouses breasts the two bars of the Ark or the 2 Cherubims Others the 2 Testaments But in Mammis amoris signum There is nothing else meant then that the Spouse would entertain her beloved with the most cordial affectionate expressions and demonstrations of Love that she might keep him the longer with her Mercer observes That the Spouse had before commended her Spikenard for a sweet smell but she here riseth up higher Though saith she my grace be sweet yet my Christ is more sweet for he is as a bundle of Myrrh c. You have by the Apostle Peter a succinct and plain exposition of this Text To you therefore who believe he is precious The Propositions of the Text are plainly these 1. Prop. That the Lord Jesus Christ is the Church's and the believing Souls beloved 2. Prop. That the Lord Jesus Christ is to his Spouse a hundle of Myrrh 3. Prop. That the Spouse of Christ will be very covetons that Christ shall abide with her 4. Prop. That in order to Christs abiding with the gracious Soul it will allow him a Room betwixt its breasts 1. Prop. That the Lord Jesus Christ is the beloved of the believing Soul I do not intend to dwell upon this Proposition because I spake to what must be the substance of this discourse when I opened the 7th verse where the Spouse had spake the same thing though by another term There she called him O thou whom my Soul loveth Here she calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My beloved I will only note to you two or three things about this term which learned Interpteters have observed before me 1. That the same letters in the Heb. make up David My David Davids name signifieth beloved and Christ himself was Davids Antitype He was the Son of David Matth. 13. 2. David was a type of Christ 3. Christ is called David Hos 3. 5 c. 2. As the word it self is a term of Love so the Affix makes it to be Vox Fidei the Language of Faith My Beloved The believing Soul fiducially applies Christ and cries with Thomas My Lord My God The natural man upon the common Illumination of the Gospel may discern Christ a lovely Object but the Believer only can call him My Beloved Faith only gives an Interest in Christ 3. I noted to you that the word also signifies a near natural Relation as that of an Uncle or Aunt c. Christ is near akin to the believing Soul he is flesh of their flesh and bone of their bone he took flesh that he might take part with them he loves them as natural Relations but by nature he is not akin to them he is the Well-beloved of God they are Children of wrath but by the Grace of Redemption they are of kin The Kindred arose from the Marriage of the Divine Nature to the Humane Nature and from their marriage to him in Justification Both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all one wherefore he is not ashamed to call them Brethren But I shall conclude all I shall say to this Proposition with that of the Apostle If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha I proceed to the second Prop. 2. That the Lord Jesus Christ is to his Spouse a bundle of Myrrh I shall speak to this Proposition 1. By Explication of the term and Confirmation 2. By Application Qu. 1. In what sense is Christ to his Spouse a bundle of Myrrh I noted to you four things concerning Myrrh and two concerning a bundle of Myrrh I shall pursue them alittle and by them give you the sense of the Proposition 1. I told you Myrrh true Myrrh was an exceeding scarce thing and therefore very precious and of great value it grows but in some Countries few have it it is the best thing of the Country a Present for a Prince I proved this Christ is of great value to a poor Soul 1. Not easily procured 2. When procured of inflnite worth He is the Gist of God and God giveth as a King No man comes to the Son but he whom the Father draws In the Country where Myrrh grew but few got it In a Country where Christ is Preached but few get a portion in him One of a City and two of a Tribe God brings to Sion Judas sate under the Myrrh-tree and yet got no Myrrh Many are called but few are chosen If they did not make their Incision into the Myrrh-tree and that in a seasonable time of the year too even the inhabitants of Arabia got no Myrrh Even those that live where Christ is preacht without laying hold upon him and receiving the drops of his blood and that in a seasonable time too in the acceptable time as the Holy Ghost terms it while he may be sound as the Prophet Isaiah speaketh they get no part in Christ The foolish Virgins may come when the Door is shut And our Saviour saith Many shall seek and shall not enter 2. Myrrh when procured was of high value Especially a great quantity a bundle of Myrrh So is Christ Witness the Apostle who counts all things dross and dung that he may win Christ who desires to have nothing but Christ to know nothing but Christ to be nothing but interested in Christ Nay let the Evidence of the thing witness By his name alone we can be saved Acts 4. 12. By him we have remission of sins justification peace with God indeed all spiritual blessings Eph. 1. 3. He is All in all Thus you see in the first sense he is a bundle of Myrrh 2. I told you Myrrh was very medicinal of this the Scripture speaks nothing but Dioscorides and Pliny and other Naturalists tell us large stories of its usefulness They tell us
incision into the tree 2. They set something to receive it The incision is made already The Souldiers made that when they pierced thy Saviours side There is nothing left for thee to do but to open thy heart to receive those influences of grace which freely drop from a crucified Christ yea God must do that too The truth is thou hast nothing to do more then to go up to the mountain of Myrrh to wait upon God in his Ordinances to sit under Gospel dispensations and to look up to Heaven for further grace Only remember the full Soul loaths the Hony-Comb the full dish receives not the most precious liquor and while thy Soul is full of the love of the World and love of lusts it receives no Myrrh while it is full of the love of pleasures wantonness froth and idleness it is like the riven dish that holds nothing But to come to a conclusion Is Christ to the Believers as a bundle of Myrrh Then hear me O you Children of the most high I will urge but two things upon you as an improvement of this Notion 1. Vse him as a bundle of Myrrh I will press this in three things 1. Be often taking the savour of him The woman that hath a rare smelling flower or perfume wears it in her bosom she suffers not the first to dye in her Garden nor the latter to evaporate in her cabinet but she is often smelling of it Oh that the Children of God would make as much use of Christ that they would not let his sweetness in a Gospel ordinance evaporate into the Air nor the sweetness of his mediatory actions revealed in the Gospel die in sheets of Paper but that they would study the Scriptures meditate on the Word think over Gospel Sermons when they have heard them Oh that they would wear the remembrance of Christs actions upon their hearts every day how sweet would it be to their Souls How pleasant to their thoughts the lazy student loseth the sweetness of those thousand notions that are in his Books because he never reads his Books nor spends time in studying them The negligent Christian loseth much of that infinite sweetness that his Soul might have by reflecting upon the Gospel story and Gospel truths for want of meditating upon them 2. Be exceeding careful to preserve the influences of Christ upon your Souls and your experiences of his love Shall the woman bind up her sweet flowers in a posy and the Lady carefully tye up her perfumes in bags and glasses that they might not lose their scent and she the sweetness of them And shall a Christian possessed of the sweet influences of grace possessed of the presence of Jesus Christ do nothing to preserve it Say with the Spouse here he shall lodge all night betwixt my breasts do as the Spouse Cant. 3. When she had found him whom her Soul loved she held him she would not let him go till she had carried him to her Mothers house to the house of her that conceived her Bind up your experiences of the Love of Christ in so many bundles and do what in you lyes to preserve his influences in the Vigour of them would you know how you might preserve them There is no better way then for you to keep up in your Souls an high value and esteem of them it is ordinarily for want of love that the Beloved withdraws himself 3. You are communicative of your sweet perfumes The Lady cannot wear her strong perfumes but others whom she cometh near will partake of her sweetness It is of the Nature of the perfume to season the whole Air. She will hardly have a perfume bat out of a desire to have it taken notice of she will be holding it to the Nostrils of others Oh that you who are possessed of the Lord Jesus Christ this bundle of Myrrh would be as communicative of that also That you would be commending Christ as the Woman of Samaria did John 4. to your Neighbours Kindred Children Friends Acquaintance that they also might follow after him in the savour of his precious ointments This is a piece of Christians duty When thou art converted saith our Saviour to Peter strengthen thy Brethren Thus to do good and to distribute forget not for with such service God is well pleased But to come to a conclusion 2. Is Christ to the believers a bundle of Myrrh Let not them be as bundles of Nettles to him The Bundle of Myrrh gives a pleasant smell cheereth the senses The bundle of Nettles Pricketh and offendeth and grieveth the Nostrils It is the Apostles exhortation Eph. 4. 30. Grieve not the holy Spirit by which you are sealed to the day of redemption The Exhortation is to holiness of Conversation The Argument is from the love of Christ to you The love of God constraineth saith the Apostle There are many arguments to press holiness from none so ingenuous none so constraining to an ingenuous Soul as the sweetness of Jesus Christ to it It breaks the heart of an ingenuous Child to remember its frowardness to an indulgent Father and a tender Mother Love worketh much upon a good Nature Study this Argument and the force of it upon your Souls to make you perfect holiness in the Lords fear Sermon LV. Cant. 1. 13. He shall lye all night betwixt my Breasts I Have united the bundle of Myrrh in my Text that I might give you the fuller smell thereof Christ is the Posie of his Saints we must now find him a convenient place the Text assigns him a Posies place about or betwixt the breasts not upon her shoulders as if he were her burthen nor behind her back where she could not view him but in her breast where she may be alwaies pleasing her senses with him The Psalmist Psal 16. 8. says I have set the Lord alwaies before me he is at my right hand therefore I shall not be moved De Ponte notes that the believing Soul in the time of spiritual Combate setteth Christ at her right hand but in the time of Peace she lodgeth him betwixt her breasts It was an old usage saith Atheneus to anoint the breast with Myrrh because of its vertue to strengthen the heart here our Spouse placeth her bundle of Myrrh Not to trouble you with the strained fancies of Interpreters concerning the Spouse's breasts In mammis signum amoris the place betwixt the breasts is near to the heart and the seat of the beloved Object it is the beloved Husband and the Beloved Babe that is allowed to lodge betwixt the breasts She might have said he shall lodge near my heart but she rather chuseth to say betwixt my breasts which are an outward part nigh to the heart intimating that she would not only bear Christ upon her heart but express her love by living to Christ in her outward conversation But not to overstrain the Metaphor she doth not say he shall come but he shall lodge or lodge all
him I remember what the Jews said for their Centurion He hath loved our Nation and built us a Synagogue this I am sure of Christ hath loved mankind he hath purchased salvation for some of them O my Soul if thou beest forgotten of God yet love him who would so far humble himself as to pity dust and ashes 2. Hence secondly No wonder if there be some love to Christ appearing in those who have no share nor interest in him It hath been the assertion of some that Common grace and special grace differ not specifically but gradually I think the assertion amongst understanding men but a contest of Logical terms I no way doubt of the truth of this That an unbeliever may love Christ in a sense But the Love of the Child of God vastly differs being an infused habit and of another species Whatsoever is presented to us under the Notion of good whether so really or apparently is plainly the proper object of our love Now such may Christ appear even to an unbeliever who is far from having tasted how good the Lord is hence even in a carnal man there may be desires after Christ good wishes to the interest of Christ upon the Earth yea and he may do much for the Service of Christ either from a general Notion of Christs excellency or 2dly which I should have mentioned before from a supposal that he hath as good a share and interest in Christ as any other though in this possibly he may be mistaken And this is very useful for us to consider that we may not build too great confidences from such desires which we find in our Souls or any such external actions without a due inquiry after their Principle But enough of this I come to the positive part of the Proposition 2. That there is a peculiar excellency in Christ which the believing Soul sees and savours and is not discernable to others My beloved saith the Spouse is a Cluster of Camphire unto me They said to her in 5th of this Song v. 9. What is thy beloved more then another beloved O thou fairest amongst women what is thy beloved more then anothers beloved that thou so strictly chargest us She answers v. 10. My beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest of ten thousand c. For the opening of this I will propound two questions 1. What are those peculiar excellencies which the believer sees in Christ more then another sees 2. How comes the believing Soul to be more eagle eyed then his neighbour To the first 1. The believer sees further into the heighths and depths of redeeming love in the general then another man doth The heighth of redeeming love is too great for a reasonable man to take the Astronomer is lost at taking the heighth of this Star we must be strengthned with might by the Spirit in the inward man Christ must dwell in our hearts by saith and we must be rooted and grounded in love before we shall be able with all Saints to comprehend what is the breadth length and depth and heighth and know the Love of Christ which passeth knowledge The unbeliever living under the light of the Gospel is like the blind man whose Eyes Christ hath once touched and he seeth something of he excellency of Christ but alas he seeth men like trees Christ must touch him again before he sees things clearly the believer seeth Christ as another thing to what the unbeliever seeth 2. The believer discerns a particular respect of Christ to his Soul Ah this this is it which makes Christ as a Cluster of Camphire it is sweet to a rational Soul to see a Saviour Buâ— infinitly sweet for it to see him as its Saviour to cry out my Lord my God Propriety in a good sweetens it infinitly unto a Soul the believer sees Christ as his Christ his Saviour It is sweet to poor Creatures who are so far enlightened as to see the World lyeth in darkness to know that he is the true light enlightning all that come into the World but infinitly more sweet to the Soul when it sees that he hath enlightened it in particular A good woman to a reasonable man is pâ—etious and he loves her quatenus good and vertuous but if she becomes his Wife that strangely indears her to him and shews her a peculiar excellency in him 'T is sweet to a reasonable man that is enlightened to see that all the Sons of Adam are by nature under misery to see that Christ came to Redeem them from this misery and Curse but how sweet must it be for this Soul to apprehend that he hath redeemed it in particular from this misery I shall not need to enlarge further upon this which in so plain Doth any ask Qu. 2. Whence it is that the believing Soul seeth such a peculiar sweetness and excellency in Christ I answer 1. From that special illumination which attends regeneration There is a Common illumination and there is a special illumination the Common illumination is the work of Gods Spirit concurring with the Preaching of the Gospel inabling men to understand and give some general assent to what is there revealed but when the Lord comes to deal savingly with the Soul it opens the Eyes of the Soul to a fuller clearer and more certain sight of Gospel mysteries 1 Cor. 2. 10. God revealeth to his Saints by his Spirit those things which the Princes of the World though they heard the Gospel never knew what things Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor can it enter into the heart to conceive A Commonly enlightned Soul upon the Preaching of the Gospel may see the same things that a believer sees that Christ died c. But it sees them not so fully and clearly as upon special saving illuminations when the Spirit dealeth with the Soul as it were by demonstration and gives it to see a Christ crucified as it were before its Eyes There are two things especially which the Soul upon conversion doth doubtless see after a quite other manner then it saw them before conversion 1. The sinfulness and mischief of sin A man meerly reasonable may see the ugliness and sinfulness of some sins such as are contrary to the light of nature c. A man Commonly enlightned may see more of the sinfulness and danger both of these and of other sins but when the Spirit of God cometh savingly to work in the Soul it seeth the sinfulness and danger even of these sins after another manner sin then becomes exceeding sinful Rom. 7. 13. It then thinks it sees Hell fire before it and is dropping into it and so hath a clearer sight of the danger of it 2. The excellency of Christ is doubtless seen by it too after another manner Of this there needs no greater evidence than the Souls strange workings of affections towards him its groanings after him longings for an interest in him c. 2. This proceeds also from the Souls
from expressing exuberant affection to it lest the Child by it take advantage to go on in courses of disobedience Christ dearly loves many a poor Soul that hath its wanton tricks and is full of failings but he will not say to such a Soul Behold thou art fair my Love I will add but one thing more 4. Lastly Possibly Christ hath spoke and spoke it to thee often Behold thou art fair my Love Behold thou art fair but thou hast not heard him I have already told you that many of God's People are very deaf of that Ear. I was about to say there is no better sign of a gracious Soul than not to be too ready to hear such messages of peace God sometimes speaks so as the Soul cannot but hear when he pleaseth to set the Broad Seal of his Spirit unto the poor Soul this indeed is an audible voice and distinguishable enough But God in every Sermon speaks to the Believer Thou art fair my Love thou art fair We never Preach those great Truths of God That whosoever believes shall be saved and whosoever is justified by Faith hath peace with God and such like but God to every Believer that hears us speak Thou art fair my Love thou art fair But alas not one of many hath an Ear to hear no not those who truly believe It is in this case as with Samuel 1 Sam. 3. 4 5. Samuel was young and had not been used to the voice of God God calls him once away he goes to Eli the Lord calls a second time Samuel runs to Eli again and so a third time till Eli instructed and assured him it was the voice of God Till the Spirit of God brings the voice of God in the Gospel to the Ear to the inward Ear of a Christian he will not understand God speaking peace to him when indeed he doth speak it In very deed it is for want of Spiritual Logick The Word of God hath the Proposition He that believes is fair Though a man hath been a Thief a Drunkard a Covetous person c. yet if he be washed if he be justified if he be sanctified in the Name of our God and through the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ he is fair Thus much is plain in the Word 1 Cor. 6. 11. But now when the Soul should come to assume But I am washed I am justified I am sanctified there it fails and these may be the Reasons of a gracious Soul's complaint in this case But I have spoke enough to the first of the five Circumstances which I mentioned I proceed now to a second The Spouse had been admiring Christ comparing him to a bundle of Myrrh to a cluster of Camphire or Copher Now Christ adds Behold thou art fair my Love Behold thou art fair Obs High out-goings of a Soul toward Christ are ordinarily productive of great returns of the Love of Christ upon the Soul Duty in us is not the Father of Grace for who hath given first unto God and it shall be repaid to him again but extraordinary influences of Grace are commonly the wages of great duty It is very seldom that any Soul lets Christ know that he is exceeding dear to it but by the next Post the Soul shall know that it is very dear to Christ Doth God hear Ephraim bemoaning himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God c. Ephraim shall presently hear God saying Is Ephraim my dear Son Is he a pleasant Child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. Is the Spouse sick of love Cant. 5. 8. Doth she indeed think her Beloved the chiefest amongst ten thousand c. She shall presently hear him saying Thou art beautiful O my Love as Tirzah c. Turn away thine Eyes from me c. ch 6. v. 4 5. I might instance in many Texts of Scripture but I forbear Will you know the reason of this Take it 1. Negatively 2. Positively 1. Negatively It is not because there 's any merit in duty Christ is no Merchant of Grace he gives it but he sells it not Indeed it is a contradiction to speak of meritorious duty if it be duty it is the payment of a debt on our part and can be no purchase-mony The compass of that Commandment Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy Soul and with all thy strength is of an exceeding latitude there 's no finishing of it by any creature in this life It was from the jejune Interpretation that the Pharisees of old and the Papists of late have put upon the Law of God that they ever dreamt that man was able to perform it much less do any thing of supererogation The foundation-stone of man's Salvation is laid in Grace and the top-stone is Grace too To the whole Building you must cry Grace Grace But Positively 2. It is from the overflowings of Divine Grace in him who is our Fountain-head the Lord Jesus Christ The Eye that weeps for its sin till it can weep no more doth not by its tears make it self an Handkerchief to dry its Eyes but a tender-hearted Saviour moved from his own bowels cannot but afford it one and say unto it why weepest thou The Soul that for Christs sake parts with Father Mother Children Brethren Sisters all doth not by this purchase to it self peace of Conscience or eternal life Alas what proportion is there betwixt things temporal and such as are Spiritual and eternal But he who hath both these to give gives them upon the Souls performing its duty in this particular Matth. 19. 29. The Soul that casts up many a long look to the Lord Jesus Christ and earnestly wisheth for his presence with it and valueth it above the World and seeks for it more then for Gold or hid treasure doth not by this earn Christs Love to it but Christ from the fulness of his grace makes choice of this Soul to reveal himself unto The Prophet Isaiah Ch. 30. v. 18. hath such an expression as this The Lord will wait that he may be gracious unto you Christ is a fountain of Grace a full fountain now when the fountain is brim full of water the water waiteth for an opportunity to diffuse it self it may be there is a bank that hinders the full river that it cannot diffuse its water the water therefore works secretly and softens the bank first till a breach be made and then it emptieth it self by it Christ is a sea a full sea of Grace but sinful man casts up a bank against this sea a bank of unbelief A bank of stone hardning his heart a bank of earth favouring an earthly mind a bank of mud delights in sensual lusts and
reduplications of words and phrases are usual The Hebr. is very full of them they are of several uses I shall note such of them as may be properly applied to this Text. 1. Sometimes the doubling of a word or phrase denotes the certainty of the thing or action Gen. 15. 13. Know of a surety thy seed shall be a stranger c. In the Heb. it is knowing thou mayest know And thus frequently in the new Testament verily verily denotes the exceeding certainty of the Proposition spoken and thus it may do in this Text thou art fair my Love thou art fair That is thou art certainly very fair 2. Sometimes it is to note the exceeding earnestness and intention of him who speaketh Bis dictum magis dicitur Thus it is often used in Scripture Gen. 14. 10. The valley of Siddim was full of slimepits so we translate it in the Hebr. A valley of pits of pits So in many Texts other Writers amongst whom Julius Scaliger c. much Commend this form of speaking as having in it a great kind of force and vehemency according to this usage the sense is thou art exceeding sair my Love which comporteth with what he had said before v. 8. where he had called the Spouse thou sairest amongst Women Christ hath his delight amongst the Sons of men He takes no such delight in the Angels as in believers 3. Repetitions thirdly of the same word or phrase in Scripture sometimes note a distribution And so the sense may be this thou art fair my Love thou art fair Thou art justified by my grace and so thou art fair thou art Sanctified in my name so thou art fair thou art fair without and thou art fair within thou art fair in this part and fair in that part fair in every part 4. Lastly to mention no more Repetltions are often used by Orators not only to express a vehemency of intention in him that speaketh and the certainty of the thing that is spoken but to beget a vehemency and earnestness of attention in him that heareth and Interpreters of holy Writ do assign this as one reason of the use of them in several places of Scripture when the Holy-Ghost designeth earnestly to inculcate the thing spoken and to beget in us a belief of it hence now we may learn these things which I will but name and conclude what I have to say from the consideration of the Circumstances of the first Proposition of the Text. 1. The beauty of a believing Soul is unquestionable it is not in a complement that Christ saith the believing Soul is beautiful it is not a seeming beauty but a certain beauty 2. The beauty which grace gives the Soul is an eminent beauty not an ordinary but an eminent beauty The phrase is doubled to denote eminency 3. The Beauty of a believing Soul is a manifold beauty A beauty in every part 4. It is the will of the Lord Jesus Christ that a believing Soul should know and believe it self to be a beauteous Soul A Gracious Soul may debase it self too much and often err as much in having too mean thoughts of it self as the hypocrite doth in having too high thoughts of himself thinking of himself above what be ought to think But I intend not to enlarge a discourse upon these things having spoken to them or at least to some of them before thus much is sufficient to have noted concerning the Circumstances I proceed to the second part of the Text Thou hast Doves Eyes The Proposition of this Text is plain enough The true Spouse of Christ hath Doves Eyes I before observed to you that some read it thy Eyes are like the Eyes of a Dove others thy Eyes are as a pair of Doves but as the difference is not much so I see no reason to deviate from our English translation For the explication and confirmation of the Proposition for I will join both together we will enquire these three things 1. Qu. Why Our Saviour in commending his Spouse begins with her Eyes and only Commends her for them 2. Qu. What is here meant by the Spouses Eyes 3. Qu. Why the Spouse is said to have the Eyes of Doves rather then of any other creature 1. Qu. Why doth our Saviour here Commend the Spouse only for her Eyes 1. The general account which Interpreters give of it is this That it is a Synechdoche and by a figure according to which a considerable part is often put for the whole our Saviour doth here speak his whole Spouse to be like a Dove like a Doves Eye Indeed we are commanded to be harmless as Doves Matth. 10. 16. And the Church is called Gods Turtle Dove Psal 74. 19. And David wisheth that he had the wings of a Dove Psal 55. 6. The shape of a Dove was that shape which the Spirit of God chose when it descended upon Christ And the coming in of the Gentiles to Christ is set out by the flockings of Doves to the Windows Isa 60. 8. And the Eye of all the members is the most considerable as to beauty a good Eye much commendeth an ill complexion and a bad Eye much blemisheth any other Symmetry of parts And this may be allowed for one reason But 2. The Soul doth much discover it self at the Eye It is the casement at which it shews it self many of the Vertues and Vices of the mind are read in the Eye wantonness discovers it self at the Eye hence you read in Scripture of Eyes full of adultery 2. Pet. 2. 14. So doth rage pride malice envy and many other vices and as the evil so the good dispositions and vertues of the Soul are much discovered by the Eye too so that indeed when our Saviour commendeth his Spouse for her Eyes he commendeth her whole Soul and it is but a proof of what he had before said Thou art fair my beloved thou art fair Thou hast Doves Eyes proves that 2. Qu. What is here meant by the Spouses Eyes After such a resolution as I gave to the first question this might seem needless if Interpreters had not led me the way who are in doubt whether our Saviours design here be to commend those bodily parts of his Spouse or some inward parts called Eyes by a Metaphor the difference is not much for supposing him to resemble the Eyes of her body to Doves Eyes the reason is because of those gracious dispositions in her Soul which by her Eyes discover themselves and are like the natural inclinations of Doves if he speaks of the Eyes of her mind and his meaning be that his Spouses understanding which is the Eye of the Soul is like a Doves Eyes the thing is much the same Unquestionably that which our Saviour here designs to Commend believers for is the gracious dispositions of their Souls discovered in their outward conversation much resembling the natural dispositions and behaviours of Doves But the chief thing we have to enquire into for
followers of Paul been to despise the followers of Cephas and those that followed Apollo to despise those that followed Paul How subject have we been to contemn those not of our own form though possibly better Scholars in Christs School then we for Scholarship in Religion is not to be judged by forms in the Church Certainly it had been much better for those self conceited Christians that looking upon their own beauty have so scorned others as low legal Christians to have thought with themselves Ah! but what is my Beauty to Christs Beauty And why do I despise who my self have not attained 2. A 2d sort of professors have erred by thinking of themselves above the measure of faith given to them I know nothing hath contributed so much to the miserable distempers of our Church as this that our professors have looked their faces in a multitiplying glass there they have beheld their parts above what indeed they were yea and their graces too But alas Friends Suppose them what you would have them there is no cause of glorying for if thou hast received it why doest thou glory as if thou hadst not received And let the parts and graces that make thee beautiful be what they will certainly they are short of Christs still who is thy great Example 3. But most abominable are those who dream that they are as holy as Christ as perfect as he is yea that they are Christed and Godded They may be Devilled and Sathanized with pride and self conceit but certainly when the Saint is grown to the highest pitch Christ must be higher by the head and shoulders Did these poor worms ever drink of that cup of which he drank Or were they ever baptized with the Baptism wherewith he was baptized If not how come they to sit at his right hand were they the onely begotten Sons of God full of grace and truth How then come they if they were not so to be sharers with him in his glory Away then with this blasphemous pride and if thou O thou worm of the Earth knowest not how to difference Christs Beauty from thine go to the Sun and Moon and Stars and consider if the imperfect twinkling light of the latter bear any Proportion to the triumphing light of the former go and learn how the heat of thy hand made hot by the Fire can possibly be proportionable to the heat of the Fire which gave thy hand what heat it hath But no more of this It is a thing not fit to be named amongst Christians This is the first Use In the 2d place Let this Caution you against that which the Apostle Jude complains of Jude 16. Having mens persons in admiration Under the former branch of Application I took notice of one great cause of the sad miscarriages of professors in our age I shall here touch upon another It is This having mens persons in admiration Christians have had such a one in their Eye whom they have looked upon as an holy and eminent person full of Spiritual Beauty and him they have followed over hedge and ditch never looking at Christ all the way It is good to behold the workings of Grace upon those who are made the subjects of it but to what end What that we might admire them and follow them no but that we might admire God in them and that Grace of Christ by which they are so holy so humble so meek so eminent in any Grace I am afraid many have made another use of Professors seeming Beauty in these times and the Lord hath let them see that their Beauty was vain and their appearing Favour deceitful Certainly Brethren if that which you have heard be true Christ alone is to be admired by you he is the chiefest of ten thousand Do you hear any one saying such a Minister such a Christian is fair O! he or she is fair they have Doves Eyes look thou up to Heaven and say Nay my dear Saviour thou art fair these are derivative Beauties thine is a primitive Beauty the Beauty of these is but an accidental adventitious Beauty thine is an essential substantial Beauty these are mixed Beauties thine is a perfect Beauty We have hearts that are exceeding carnal Men are very prone to admire their fellows rather for Outward Advantages than for Spiritual Perfections more for outward parts than for Grace and when they take notice of Grace in any to admire them rather than Christ for the Grace of God bestowed upon them The Woman Luk. 11. 27. was guilty of the first that hearing Christ speak lift up her voice and said Blessed is the Womb that bare thee and the Paps which thou hast sucked Christ reforms her wish v. 28. yea rather Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it The Corinthians were guilty of the second who much admired those amongst them that had parts and extraordinary gifts The Apostle endeavours to reform that 1 Cor. 12. 31. I shew unto you a more excellent way that was Grace Grace is better than all the gifts in the World Christians are also subject to a third Errour where they see or at least think they see eminent Grace in any they are prone to admire them and follow them But Christians I shew unto you a more excellent object do you see eminent grace in any admire Christ in them and the eminency of Grace in Christ who hath given them such a proportion But let Christ still be greater in the Throne than the greatest Saint upon the Earth admire him and follow him But that will be a third branch of Application What you have heard methinks should send you all away filled with the admiration of Christ panting with desires after Christ and filled with the love of him 1. I say first Filled with the admiration of Christ Have you at any time seen an eminent Christian abounding with love to God zeal for him clothed with humility buried in self-denial adorned with any Graces which have made him acceptable to all with whom he hath conversed and have you admired such a one how he could abridge himself of the sweets and contentments of this life and satisfie himself with being any thing or nothing so he might but attain to the Resurrection of the Dead win Christ be found in him and win others to him and will you not admire that Fountain from whence all these streams are derived Is he a reasonable creature that gazeth upon a twinkling Star and admires the lustre of it and looks upon the Sun without any admiration at all Oh! admire Christ to whom all created Perfections are no more than so many drops of Water to the Ocean so many grains of Sand to a Mountain so many slender Beams to the body of Light in the Sun 2. Shall not this send you away panting after Union and the seal of Union with Christ Man as a sensual creature desires corporeal Beauty and 't is hard for him to see it
and from formality 300. it is the Christians Ornament 725 726. Arguments to persuade it 726 727. Horses why believers are compared to them to a company of them in Pharaohs Charrets 701 702 703 704. I. JEsuits Notion of Grace 269 270. Influence of God upon our natural and upon our Spiritual acts how different 763 764 765. Joy the Nature of it 398 399. The special Nature of Spiritual Joy 399 400. Christ the peculiar object of the believers Joy 404 405 406. The reasonableness of rejoicing in Christ 407 408 409. K. KIsses various used as various Indications 41 42. Kisses of Christs mouth what 44. 45. Knowledge the various degrees of it 178 179. The Kings sitting at his Table what it signifieth 761 762. What we are to do that we may keep Christ sitting at his Table 772 773. L. LEast tokens of Christs distinguishing love what 67 68. desirable to believers and why 69 70 71. all persuaded to value them 75 76. Looking on the Spouses blackness how far our duty how our sin 524 525 526 527 528. Vnkind lookings upon the Spouse because she is black reproved 529 530. Love to Christ in what seen 443 444. by what it may be discovered 450 451 452 601 602 603. How far it may be in an unbeliever 813 814. Love to Christ persuaded from his love to us 157 158 159 160. Loves of Christ what 148 149. proved better then wine 162 163 164. Love of God to man whether more commended from the Doctrine of Common or special grace 282 283 284. M. MErcies of several sorts distinguishing mercies what 58 59. Ministers of the Gospel how necessary 662 663. Murmurings for God's inequal distributions of special grace unreasonable why 386 387 388 389. Myrrh the several acceptations of it 777 778. A bundle of Myrrh what 778 779. Why Christ is compared to it 781 782 783. N. NAme of Christ what 54 216 217 218. How sweet 212 213 214. Whence its sweetness is 219 220. Neck of the Spouse what it signifieth 719. O. OYL its sacred and civil use 51 52 53. the met aphorical sense of it 52 53. pouring forth what it imports 54. Ordinance of the ministry how necessary 662 663. Ordinances the Beams and Rafters of Christs house 890 891. how properly so called 892. Why compared to Beams of Cedar 903 904. their beauty power durableness 900. what to conclude from hence 905. Ornaments of believers what 726. Excess in other Ornaments dissuaded 727 728. P. PErfection of Christians threefold 481 482. Pleasant what it signifies 861. How Christ is not only fair but pleasant 861 862 863. What rendreth him so 865 866. Prayer rightly ordered what 146 147 148. it is a mean of our communion with God 140 141 142. Sometimes presently answered 345 346 347. What Prayers usually meet with such answers 348 349. Prayers of faith what 349 350 351. what to be done when we have not a present answer of our Prayers 368 369 370. Prayers heard a cause of joy and rejoycing in Christ 410 411. How to discern an answer of Prayer 420. 421 422. Special Presence of God what 375 376 377. Presumption no saith 296. R. REsisting divine grace how far there may be or not be 258 259 the great danger of such resistance 308 309 310. Rejoycing in Christ our duty how to be discerned 413 414. Persuaded by Arguments 416 417. Remembrance of Christ and his loves what it importeth 424 425 426 427. Why our duty 428. Who come short of it 429 430 431 432. The duty persuaded 433 434. Directed 435 436. Repetitions of Christs Love to Souls why used 823 824. Why not to all Souls alike 825 826. Returns of Prayer sometimes very quick 345 346. In what cases usually 348 349. Rows of Jewels and Chains about the Spouse what they signify 719 720. Running after Christ what it implies 242 243 244. 318 319 320. Many run not 327 328. S. SCripture rule compared with other rules 675 676. Scandal and sin the two great objects of believers fears 627 628. The Nature and difference of Scandals 628 629. why to be feared 630 631. Shepherds Tents what they signify 670 671. By what Shepherds Tents we are to feed our kids 673 674. How to know the true Shepherds Tents 680 681 682 683. Smell of grace what and whence 752 753. How to be promoved 759 760. Smells of wicked men what 754 755. Solomon what he was 18 19. whether he sinned in marrying Pharaohs Daughter 19 20. whether his Apostacy was total and final Opinions and Arguments on either side 21 22 23 24. That it was not total nor final proved 22 23 24. In what order he wrote his books 27. Song of Solomon of Divine Authority Objections answered 28 29 30. The Nature of the Song 32. Why called the Song of Songs Spirit how it teacheth and how by it we have communion with God 108 109 110 111. Special favours of God what 172 173. Sweetness of Christ to a Believer 785 786 787 788 789. T. TIme for mercy set how to know God's set time 353 354 355. V. VAriety of Divine Grace 81 82. Valuing of Christ's Loves an excellent Argument when it can be used in truth in our Applications to God 188 189. None but Believers can use it 193 194 195. Means to bring our Souls to a due value of Christ 196 197. Vineyard what the Church's Vineyard is 580 581. What the particular Christian's Vineyard is 578. How Both are to be kept 581. Not duly keeping our own Vineyards the cause of our blackness 585. Tht due keeping them persâ—aded 587 588 589. Virgins who 55 223. Why Believers so called 223 224 225. Whence it is that they love Christ 445 446. Upright who 439 440 441. Those who are so love Christ they cannot but love him why 445 446. Unity persuaded 713 714. In what 895 896. Means to it 897 898. W. VVAnts of men what the principal 162 163 164. Willingness to a communion with God if true how to be judged 141 142. Arguments to persuade it 143 144. Wine in no notion to be compared with the Loves of Christ 165 166 167. How to know whether we do not prefer Wine to the Loves of Christ 170 171 172. Word of God its several parts 95. Communion with God in it three waies 94. Why desirable 97 98 99. Those who despise it reflected on 101 102 103. In what sense the Word of God is as the Beams and Rafters of the Church 893. The Beauty Power and Duration of the Word 904. Worldly Imployment a cause of the Spouses blackness why 571 572. Worship the Nature of it several Propositions about it 564 565. The sinfulness of corruptions in it 567 568 569. FINIS V. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth Of thy mouth Kisses pl. For thy loves are better then Wine V. 3. Because of the savour of thy good Ointments thy name is as an ointment poured forth Therefore do the Virgins love thee V.
promises The only thing that I can fancy why a Christian should make a doubt here is because they may be consequent to the removal of some bodily distempers whose influence upon the mind might cause those troubles that weakness or dulness such as Melancholy c. But hath God no hand in bringing or removing such bodily causes if he hath as certainly there is no evil in our bodies more than in our Cities which he hath not done why may not God both afflict us as to our spirits by sending such distempers upon our bodies and also remove the former which are the effect by the removal of the latter which he hath made to be the cause So that admit these things consequent to the removal of some bodily distemper yet they are the effect of God and may be and ought to be looked upon as the answer of our prayers 3. The greatest difficulty of judgment in this case is as to those things which are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things which concern this life which God giveth to the righteous as well as the wicked to the sinner crying unto him as well as unto his Children How a Christian shall discern that God when he gives him in these mercies gives them in as a God of Truth and Faithfulness remembring his promise to his Servants nor indeed is this Judgment very easie to the most discerning Christian Something I shall say in the case whether what will be satisfactory or no I cannot tell 1. If they have been given in after prayer made with a Spirit indifferent not too importunate I mean for the receiving of them we may hope well We may observe in Scripture that sometimes common good things have been wrung out of the hands of God by too much impatience and importunity which have never proved blessings Such were the Quails Num. 11. 31 32 33. the Text saith while the flesh was yet between their teeth e're it was chewed the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the People Such was the first King given to the Israelites even Saul the Prophet saith Hosea 13. 11. I gave thee a King in mine anger But when a Christian begs of God any good thing without too much impatience and importunity with an indifferency of Spirit resigning up himself to the will of God as to the receiving of it and God after such a prayer gives in the mercy I know not why we should not conclude it an answer of prayer This I think was the case of Hannah 1 Sam. 1. She was indeed grieved and troubled because God had denied to her the blessing of a Child in this trouble she prays in a solemn manner we read not of any anger in her Spirit against God any impatience or sinful importunity but she prays as a Woman of a troubled Spirit the Lord gives her a Child it was but a mercy of a common nature wicked Women have Children as well as others but it is given in after a solemn prayer she looks upon the Child as begged of God For this Child saith she I prayed and the Lord hath given me my Petition which I asked of him 2. I shall add but one thing more viz. When together with the good thing there is an heart given to the person to improve and make use of it for the honour and glory of God James lets us know that God never gives us in mercies in answer to our prayers and as evidences of his love and faithfulness that we might consume them upon our lusts when he tells those to whom he wrote James 4 5. You ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts when God giveth us in an outward mercy if he giveth it us in performance of his promise and in token of his love and favour he together with it gives in an heart inclined and ready to make use of it for the honour and glory of his name This is also exemplified in the case of Hannah in the text before-mentioned 1 Sam. 1. 27 28. For this Child saith she I prayed the Lord hath given me my Petition which I asked of him therefore also I have lent him to the Lord as long as he liveth he shall be lent unto the Lord. In the margent of your larger Bibles you will see it may be read He whom I have obtained by Petition shall be returned to the Lord. You have another no less famous instance of it in David Psal 116. v. 1. I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and supplications The Lord hath heard his voice v. 1. He had inclined his ear unto him v. 2. The Lord had dealt graciously with him v. 7. He had delivered his Soul from death his Eyes from tears and his feet from falling Now mark the product of this He loved the Lord because of it v. 2. He resolveth to call upon the Lord so long as he lived v. 9. To walk before the Lord in the land of the living v. 13. To take the cup of salvation and to call upon the name of the Lord. v. 14. To pay his vows v. 16. To be the Lords Servant v. 17. To offer the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving c. Now where upon prayer for a more common mercy suppose life health riches success in business we find that the Lord hath given us both the thing which we asked of God and an heart to honour God with it and to make a due improvement of it we have there no reason to doubt but that it is given us in answer to our prayers and in testification of his faithfulness and love towards us This now is of great concern to us in order to our gladness and joy in him upon the receiving an answer of our prayers for how shall we rejoice in him upon any such occasion unless we discern our good things coming from him This I think is enough to have spoken to this question and upon this whole argument I shall now proceed as God gives me opportunity to the other effect this mercy had upon the Spouse We will remember thy loves more than Wine But of this hereafter Sermon XXIX Cant. 1. 4. We will remember thy Loves more than Wine YOU heard in my last discourse the first effect that the Beloveds favour shewed to his Spouse in the quick return he made to her prayers and the royal favour he had bestowed upon her in bringing her into his Chambers admitting her to some more special and intimate degrees of communion with himself had upon her it put gladness into her heart and brought her up to an exulting and rejoycing in him Joy is but a passion cito fit cito perit that doth not last alwaies it is like a Land-flood that is sometimes up but will in a short time abate Ordinary Joys do so But the Spouse resolves to keep up here and to this end she saith She will remember the Loves of Christ and give them a
memorial suited to their excellency We will saith she remember them more than Wine or which is the same in the Hebrew dialect Before Wine I shall immediately close with the Proposition Prop. The Soul that hath once received the grace of Christ will remember his Loves more than Wine In the handling of it I shall keep to my usual method of Explication Confirmation and Application In the Explication I shall inquire what is here meant by Christ's Loves 2. What is meant by Wine 3. What by Remembring the Loves of Christ more than Wine We met with the same word v. 2. the Septuagint translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and according to them the Vulgar Latine Vbera tua thy Breasts that which causeth the different reading is the cognation of that word which signifieth Love with that which signifieth a Breast the difference is only in the points the matter is not hard to compound for those that will have it translated Breasts agree in the sense thy Loves all the difference is we contend the word in its original signification primarily so signifieth they say it so signifieth only in a figure By Christ's Loves she doubtless meaneth the manifestation of his Love which she calleth Loves because of the variety of them But of these I have had occasion heretofore once and again to discourse The term Wine I have also before opened We all know that in its primary literal signification it signifieth the Juice of the Grape certainly this is much too low a signification for this place It hath besides this a figurative sense in Scripture and so it is either taken Synecdochically Thus Bread and Wine in Scripture doth often signifie all things necessary for our food and subsistence or Metaphorically for whatsoever is sweet and delicate and this I take to be the genuine sense of the words We will remember thy Loves more than all wordly enjoyments how necessary or pleasant soever I am aware of some other senses which some Interpreters put upon this phrase but I take them to be forced and strained This seems without more adoe to be the plain and unconstrained sense of the words But having before opened these two terms that which I have principally to attend is the opening of that term Remember 1. Remembring properly signifieth a reflex act of our understanding by which the former impressions which we have received either of notions or things is revived and brought again to our minds and thoughts whatsoever we receive either by our exterior senses or by our common sense or any other way maketh an impression upon us now this impression through the coming in of a variety of other objects is apt to wear out and die in our Souls when the thoughts or notion of them revives and is repeated upon our Souls then are we said to remember the things In this sense it is a meer natural Act. 2. It is an usual observation of Divines that words of sense used in holy Writ do not signifie the bare acts of those senses which are expressed by them but those affections which are excited by such acts in our Souls and those effects which those acts do ordinarily produce in our actions and conversation And so this term Remember is often used in holy Writ When Solomon calls to the young man to Remember his Creator in the daies of his youth he intendeth not only the act of his memory and understanding that he should call to mind that he had a Creator and what a one he was but that he should rÄ—member to love him and to fear and obey him to pay him the homage that was due to him Eccles 12. 1. When the people of God in Scripture prayed that the Lord would remember his tender mercies Psal 25. 6. And David prays that the Lord would remember him and all his afflictions Psal 132. 1. and that the Lord would remember his Word unto his Servant He prays that the Lord would shew him the goodness that he had promised and suit his dispensations of providence to his afflicted state in proportionable succours So when God's People promise to remember him the promise is not of a bare act of the memory and understanding but of the several powers and faculties of the Soul usually set on work by such a notion and remembrance of things of that nature so as the remembrance of the Loves of Christ signifieth several things 1. The keeping the expressions and manifestations of his Love upon our thoughts or retrieving the thoughts of it if they have slipt us or the impressions of it have been in any measure worn out Thus remembring is opposed to forgetting To the practice of any duty incumbent upon us is not only required our notion or knowledge of the thing as our duty but the presence of it in our thoughts at the time when it is to be done by us for let us know it never so well if we do not think of it in the season when it is to be performed we shall not do it Now saith the Spouse We will remember thy Loves that is we will keep a fresh scent and impression of them the savour of what thou hast done for my Soul shall not go off my Soul This is the duty of every good man and woman it is in it self an homage to God God hath given us a power of remembring and thus we give unto God the homage of that power of our Souls Our memory is as the chest of our Souls which God hath given us not only to lock up worldly things or notions in but to lock up in them spiritual notions and impressions Two waies we serve God with our memories 1. When we use them to retain spiritual notions to keep up the Knowledge of God and the things of God in us 2. When we use them as repositories for the works of God for the retaining in our minds what God hath done for us 2. As it is in it self an homage to God the homage of that power in us which we call the memory so it is the Mother of all our other homage we must remember a thing past before we can be afresh affected with it before in the sense of it we can do any thing which such a dispensation calleth to us for 2. It implies a meditation and pondering upon the Loves of Christ David promiseth unto God not only a meditation of his Law and Word his Statutes and Precepts Psal 119. 148. 15 but also of his Works Psal 77. 12. 143. 5. The Works of God are either more publick and general or more private and personal There are Works of God without us such are his Works of Creation and Providence works of Go d upon us and within us such are all his works of special grace They are either such as are abâ—ding in their effects at least or transient the latter are the objects properly of our memories the other are the objects of our contemplation and