the children of the most high 6ly Faithfull Ministers of the Gospel in an especial manner have an interest in this love The persons that have this right love cannot but esteem of the Ministers of Christ and love them because they are Messengers and Embassadors sent from God for the good of their Souls 2 Cor. 5.20 Now then we are Embassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled unto God Their feet are beautiful because they proclaim the glad tidings of Salvation and are Co-workers with God in the conversion of sinners from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to serve the living God 1 Cor. 3.9 for we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Co-labourers with God now upon these and the like considerations this Evangellic Love flows forth toward the Ministers of Christ and it is manifested three ways 1. by obeying them in the Lord and doing those things which they injoyn from the word of truth as Christ saith He that heareth you heareth me and he that receiveth you receiveth me and he that keepeth my sayings will keep yours also Jo. 15.20 Obedience in these things is a great demonstration of a real and sincere Love 2. It is manifest by the high estimation of them 1 Tim. 5.17 Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour especially they who labour in the word and Doctrine There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maximè principally those who are laborious in preaching the Doctrines of the Gospel it is evident that we do not love that person who we esteem not according to his deserts and degree 3. In allowing them a chearful and competent maintenance according to the capacity of them over whom the Lord hath set them to feed them in the way to life eternal 7ly The objects of the Love are the word of God and his Commandments and this is a certain rule to try thy Love by for if a person should propose this Question to me how may I do to know whether I have a true Evangellic Love which is a fruit of the Spirit of God I would answer by this See if you love the Commandments and the word of God as the Apostle John saith 1 Epist 5.3 By this we know we are the Children of God if we love God and keep his Commandments he that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings Here we may clearly and evidently perceive that a Love to the Commandments doth demonstrate our Love to God and Christ to be real and if it be so then we may conclude that it will never fail as 1 Cor. 13.8 But will indure for ever How did David declare himselfe to be a man after Gods own heart but by this in expressing the greatness of his Love to the law of God as in Psal 119.72.97 vers 163. O how I love thy Law it is my Meditation all the day long I love it above Gold and silver So in Psal 19.10 But how few Davids are there How few are there of his Spirit to be found in the World on the contrary most trample under foot the Law of God and esteem Gold and trash and Lusts above it but yet the true believer and disciple of Christ doth greatly love that holy law and with the Apostle delights in it after the inward man Rom. 7.22 8ly This Love has Souls for its objects As it was the greatness of Christs Love to Souls next to the obedience to his Fathers will which brought him from Heaven to Earth and made him willing to devest himself of his glory and take upon him the form of a Servant Phil. 2.6 7 8. So they who have this Love of Christ wrought in their Souls by the holy Spirit are vehemently carried out with Love and desire after the good of Souls He that in some measure apprehends what a great thing 't is to be saved cannot but desire the Salvation of all others If upon inquiry you find no sensible and real Love to Souls then conclude there is but little of this grace of Love within you The person in whose heart this grace is implanted pants after nothing more than the eternal Salvation of his own Soul and the Souls of his Relations Friends and acquaintance It may be said of them as it is of God 1 Tim. 2.5 They would have all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth What was it that made the Apostles and Servants of Christ in all Ages suffer so much and yet willingly It was these two Principles First their Love to Christ 2 Cor. 5.14 For the Love of Christ constraineth us Secondly their zealous love and desire of the everlasting salvation of Immortal Souls they were willing according to that Scripture to lay down their Lives for the good of the Brethren scil Believers Now see if your Love be such that you earnestly desire the well being of the Souls of those who are about you or related to you 9ly The objects of this Love are all the institutions of Christ O how lovely are his Ordinances to his beloved ones Prayer is Lovely and aimable because it is the Key that unlocks the Gates of Heaven and opens the very Bosome of God so that he is ready to confer plentiful treasures of grace upon this divine Lover hearing of Gods word is delectable to such an one because therein the Love glory and Transcendent excellencys of Christ are displayed and the will of the Father clearly revealed to the Soul and thence the Soul derives finds grace communicated out of the fulness of Christ because it is the means of conveyance the Sacraments are amiable because they are Seals of Heaven by which God makes over himself and all to believers assures them of the stability faithfulness and everlastingness of his Love in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper the believer by Faith beholds Christ broken and bleeding for his Sins and it becomes nourishment to the Soul in it the Soul injoys communion with God Christ and Blessed Saints these Priviledges render the ordinances very lovely delectable to Believers I might run through others as Reading Meditating and holy conferrence which are all very lovely to the Evangellic Lover 10ly and lastly Grace and Holyness these bare so much of God in them that the Apostle calls them the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given to us exceeding great and pretious Promises that by these you might be partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the World through Lust Grace hath a lovely aspect and holyness shines forth like a Beam of Heaven in the Eyes of them whose Hearts are full of Love to Divine objects Grace and Holyness being the Image of God and the way and means through Christ to Heaven and happiness are intirely beloved the Divine Lover is so enamoured with the excellency and true worth of Grace that he esteems it above all terrene
all happiness peace and glory but the wrath of God abideth on him And who can define or conceive the greatness of that Wrath or who can indure it Isa 33.14 Who can dwell with devouring Fire who can lie dow in everlasting flames Therefore Sinner come here is Glory refuse and perish for ever The five Foolish Virgins were shut out of Heaven because they came not to Christ in their Life time for saith Christ I know you not If they had come to Christ before Mat. 25.10.11.12 he had known them at this time also if they had believed in him for as I have shewed coming is believing they would certainly have been saved by him for saith Christ I will in no wise cast out those who come unto me Jo 6.37 6. Reas He invites because this was the end for which he came into the World it was to seek as well as to save them which are lost Luke 19.10 For this very end he devested him-himself of Glory and took upon him a servil condition Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 Not to be only an Example as some fondly conceive but he came to save them and that Sinners believing in him might obtain eternal Life what is the main scope of the Gospel but to hold forth and tender Christ Jesus a Saviour to miserable Sinners and to call after them to believe in and imbrace him Jo. 3.16 For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son there 's the tender of Christ that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting Life observe the words Believe in him Not only believe for that is not faith properly which is not in Christ Act. 20.20 Repentance towards God and faith towards Jesus Christ So that I say this was Christs design that Sinners might come unto him therefore he intreats them and calls after them to accept of him that they may live by him I come now to the application which shall be 1. For Information 2. Reprehension 3. Councel 1. For Information Doth Christ invite sinners to come unto him learn hence the gratious condescention and humility of Christ Here is mercy upon her knees to teach misery to bow It is great condescension if we consider well who he is that ivites as I before manifested he is not a meer-man or an Angel but God blessed for ever not a Creature but the Creator the Heir of all things the possessor of Heaven Earth it is great condescention in a Lord to court his offending Servant to be reconciled a King his rebellious Subjects but this surpasses all examples as it is Storied of Augustus that Ei gratius fuit Nomen Pietatis quam potestatis That the name of Piety was more grateful to him then the name of Potency So much better may it be said of Christ Ei gratius fuit nomen humilitatis Mat. 9.13 quam potestatis Humility more then power Mat. 11.29 Learn of me for I am meek and lowly of Spirit 2. If we further consider who they are he invites not the righteous but Sinners not those who have light Burdens a few Sins as they may conceive abundance of Morality though this is commendable excellent education a sweet and flexible disposition of a noble extraction Wealthy and Honourable but they are the heavy laden ones Mat. 11.5 Luk. 4.18 19 20. the Sick the Poor and needy the Blind the Lame the Distressed the Captivated the Lost these are the Persons that Christ invites 2ly It informs us of the immensity and profundity of the love of Christ Eph. 3.18.19 That you may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the Breadth and Length and Depth and Height 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledg It is unparalled Love beyond expression and beyond conception it is as long as eternity as high as Heaven To love saith the Philosopher Is to wish that which we esteeem good to any one and to the uttermost of our power procure that good unto him This diffinition may truly be applyed to Christ for he desires they may participate of the greatest good scil His Fathers Love and of himself and of eternal rest and happiness and Christ Jesus hath procured all these for Poor Souls if they will but come unto him he invites the unworthy the undeserving that he may shew mercy unto them David did shew great love to the house of Saul when he sent for Mephibosheth to eat bread at his Table but yet nothing comparable to this of Christs calling after Sinners to come and sit down with him in his Kingdom 2 Sam. 9.56 Rev. 3.21 2. Use is of Reprehension to Sinners in General that refuse to come Doth Christ invite thee and wilt thou refuse to come doth he condesend to woo and intreat thee and wilt not thou consent shall he call and wilt thou stop thine Ears shall he be willing to ease thee of thy Burden and wilt thou be unwilling to accept of Rest What shall Mercy intreat Orat. Misericordia tacet miseria and shall misery be Silent Shall the Physitian offer Cordials freely and the Patient refuse and Perish what must the Judge court the guilty condemned Malefactor to accept of a Pardon Orat. Judex silet Reus and shall he obstinately slight it O what stupidity what folly and ingratitude is this to the Lord of glory when he so friendly invites thee dost thou think thy blind excuses will serve thee in the day of Christ like those in Luk. 14.17 18 19 20. But more particularly 1. This is a reproof to those who condemn this invitation and O how many justly fall under this reproof many contemn it because they Imagin they have better provision then Christ can give unto them his Person is contemned by them his tenders of grace Slighted his Ordinances disregarded his name must be rooted out from their Israel they see no necessity of coming to him they have a better foundation to build upon contrary to the great Apostles Doctrine 1 Cor. 3.11 he saith Thus Sinners Imagine Christ is the only Foundation But they can build upon something either within or without them that will support their tottering structure firmer than the Rock of Ages the Lord Jesus therefore they contemn both Christ and coming to him we will not believe in him we will believe in our selves say the deluded Quakers we have somthing within Our Light will save us but what if your Light be darkness so the Papists say for they are nearly allyed we care not for coming for we have enough either of our own works of supererrogation or else in the Church Treasury and if I but open and empty my Bag Luk. 24.25.26 the Pope will fill my Hand with other mens good works and merits sufficient to procure Life for me but O Fools and slow of Heart to believe what
2.5 2dly They are ignorant of him in his offices as King Psal 2.6 as Prophet Mat. 21.11 as Priest Heb. 3.7 3ly They understand not that he is the only and alone way to the Father Jo. 14.6 I am the way the truth and the Life no man cometh to the Father but by me Acts 4.12 for there is Salvation in none other He is the only way to all happiness Peace Comfort and Eternal Life Jo. 3.36 But the benighted Soul being altogether in the Dark as to these things wholly defers coming unto Christ 8. They whose minds are Blinded know not God who is the fountain of all Good if they had but a Spiritual understanding concerning God they would not desire to be long away from Christ and where there is not this divine knowledg the Heart cannot be good For it is Life eternal to know the only true God Jo. 17.3.1 They are ignorant of the infinite holyness and purity of God He is of purer Eyes then to behold evil and he cannot look on Iniquity Hab. 1.13 God cannot look on Sin with any approbation for the least Sin is contrary to his Holyness Those glorious Seraphins we read of Isa 6.3 do adore God in his holyness which when the Prophet Isaiah heard and saw he presently crys out ver 5. I am undone because I am a Man of unclean Lips when he perceived the holyness of God he was made more sensible of his own pollution and what need he had for the Seraphin to bring a coal from the Alter to touch him ver 6. that so his Iniquity might be taken away and his Sin purged So I say did but Men and Women apprehend the holyness of God and that no Sinner or Sinful thing can abide in his presence because he is a consuming Fire to all such Heb. 12.14.29 They would cry out we are undone because we are polluted and defiled O that Christ the Angel of the covenant would come and Sprinkle us with his Blood that we might be cleansed from all our Iniquity purified from all our Sin that we may be holy as our God is holy for who can dwell with devouring Fire or who can dwell in ever lasting burnings Isa 33.14 2ly Of his righteousness Psal 145.17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in his Works There is no unrighteousness with him he will give to every one that which is Right as David confesseth Psal 51.4 That thou mightest be just when thou speakest and clear when thou judgest Sinners are very subject to think God is like themselves Psal 50.21 They think because they are unrighteous therefore he is so to they do not believe that he will render to every man according to his Deeds and that God is so righteous that he will Punish the Least Sin with eternal damnation if the Soul be out of Christ but if God was not thus impartial he could not be righteous for as the Apostle says Rom. 3.6 Is God unrighteous who taketh Vengeance God forbid for then how should God judge the world Now it is the want of the right knowledg of this scil That God is a righteous God and that he will exact the uttermost Farthing either from the Sinner or from Christ the surety which impedes and let them from coming unto Christ 3. The faithfulness of God 2 Tim. 2.13 He abideth faithful God is a faithful God he will fulfil all his promises of mercy to them who receive and believe in Christ 2 Cor. 1.20 For all the promises of God in him are yea and in him are Amen That is they are all certain and true in and through Christ God will fulfil every one of them and also he is Faithful to make good his Threatnings denounced against Sinners who continue strangers to Christ and enemys to the Gospel which invites Sinners to come unto him They will be ready to lay hold upon that Scripture Exod. 34.6.7 The Lord the Lord God gracious and merciful but read not those Words who will by no means clear the guilty which relate to his Justice and Righteousness 4. They do not know that hatred God bares to Sinners whilst they are disobedient to Christ Psal 11.5 They understanding not who are the only persons God loves conclude they are of that number who have an interest in his Love not considering he loves none but those who believe in and except of his Son the Lord Jesus all others are objects of his hatred For he who is Love it self 1 Jo. 4.16 Abhors those who slight his only Son the Son of his love even the Lord of glory 3ly The third Lett or Hindrance from within is the perversness of the will at first when God created man he gave unto him a perfect will and he always willed that which was pleasing unto God but upon his Sinning he quite depraved although de did not loose that faculty now in this depraved state and condition the Will is perverse averse to that which is truely good and willeth evil continually therefore saith Christ Jo. 5.40 Ye will not come unto me that ye may have Life Christ Jesus who is Life Jo. 11.25 makes offers and tenders of Life unto Sinners and promiseth If they come he will in no wise cast them out Jo. 6.37 Yet they obstinately refuse and are ready to cry out we will not have this Man to reign over us Luk. 19.27 Mansit quidem arbitrium hominis liberum à coactione sed tantum ad Malum Wolleb The will of Man doth still remain free from all coaction or compulsion but it is free only to evil not to good Therefore Christ so graciously invites and it is their duty yet they wilfully refuse to come unâ—t him 4ly The vitiosity and irregularity of the affections is another internal impediment Those affections which have good for their object as Love Joy Desire these are fixed upon wrong objects and so they are impeded from coming unto Christ Love which should be fixed upon God Sufficiens perfectum bonum who is the Summum bonum the Supream good the sufficient and perfect good is placed upon the Creature which is but an inferior insufficient and perishing good The Scripture saith Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine Heart and withal thy Strength Deut. 6.5 But God generally hath the least part for if God was chiefly beloved of the Soul Christ would be so too for he that loveth the Father truely loveth the Son sincerely so for joy and delight we are commanded to rejoice in the Lord always Phil. 4.4 We should take complacency and delight in him above all but for the most part their joy and delight is in carnal perishing objects in the Creature more than in the Creator for if the Soul took delight in the Father it must needs take complacency in the Son who is the eternal delight of the Father Pro. 8.30 so the desires of the Soul when they should be after God
our works in us and for us Isa 26.12 The property of true Repentance is not only to drop a tear for sin or to lament a little whilst the Soul is under some apprehensions of future Judgement and then in a short time to turn again to folly but it immediately buds and brings forth fruit and so continues to the end Now humility grows on the same Tree which before was heavy laden with Pride now there is Love Meekness Charity exerting and puting forth their several fruits where formerly there was nothing but Envy Hatred Impatiency 1 Cor. 7.11 and Uncharitableness Now the Soul doth not only hate fear and forsake sin but it is constant in bringing forth fruit of obedience to all the known Precepts of God and Christ Jesus Psal 34.14 It departs from sin and doeth good and it seeks peace all the ways that tends to peace 3dly This Repentance may be known by the effects of it in the soul it hath various influences upon the heart and conscience 1. It works a deadly hatred and enmity in the Soul to sin both internal and external sin in it self and in the being of it as well as in the practise of it Rom. 7.15 For what I would that do I not but what I hate that I do here the Apostle had a Combat and was sometimes overcome to do that which he would not but yet he hated it with his whole Soul for he had tasted of the bitterness of sin and therefore could have no Love or likeing for it Psal 119.4 saith the holy prophet I hate every false way and vers 113. I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I Love This goodman had sometime been tutored in the School of repentance and had learned the Lesson of the Rod by which he was Lashed for his transgressions he felt the smart of it and Learned the cause which was Sin and Iniquity therefore now he abhors and detests every vain way therefore you may make tryal by this whether your repentance hath been true for as it is in nature we are apt to hate those things we are sensible have prejudiced or pained us so the Soul cannot but hate Sin which it now finds and is sensible that it is wronged by it Pro. 8.26 2ly A timidity and fearfulness of falling into Sin any more or to be insnared by the devices of Satan This effect Godly sorrow and repentance had upon the Corinthians 2 Cor. 7.11 For behold this self same thing that ye sorrowed after a Godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you what indignation yea what fear The Soul now is so fearful of Sin when grace is active that it is afraid to look upon temptations therefore it crys out with David Turn away mine Eyes from beholding vanity When the Soul hath been scorched with a sence of Gods wrath and displeasure for Sins and Iniquitys perpetrated and committed against him it is made afraid of Sin when before like the silly Child it could play with the fire of Sin till it had burned it self and brought griefs and wounds upon the Soul the Soul is so terrified at the sight of Sin that it flys from the very appearance of Evil 1 Thes 5.2 3ly It works a watchfulness in the Soul against all Sin for the future 2 Cor. 7.11 For behold this self same thing that ye sorrowed after a Godly Sorrow what carefulness it wrought in you The word signifies a careful Studiousness with great intensness of mind O how careful and watchful is the Soul now Magna animi intentio desiderium Phil. Mel. lest it be caught in the Devils Trap again it is very mindful of that duty Christ injoyned his disciples to be found in Mat. 13.33 Take ye heâ—d watch and pray vers 37. what I say unto you I say unto all Watch. The true repentant lays a charge and command upon every faculty of the Soul and every member of the Body to stand upon their particular guard because of the Enemys continual assaults 4ly Fixed resolusions and covenanting with God to keep his Law in violably as far forth as the Soul is assisted by the blessed spirit David saith I have sworn and I will perform it Ezra 9.4 5 6. to 15. that I will keep thy righteous judgments in the 9. Chap. of Ezra Ezra and the People were assembled together and they confessed and bewailed their sins and transgressions in the bitterness of their Souls and in the 10. Chap. They are covenanting with God vers 3. Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God They were ready to covenant with God to put away all their abominations and to keep his righteous judgments The like we find in the 9. of Nehem. They had kept a sollemn Fast and the Levites confessed Gods goodness and their wickedness in departing from the Living God vers 38. And because of this we make a sure covenant and write it and our Princes Levites and Priests Seal unto it What effect this true Godly sorrow had upon them in general where it is right it hath the same upon every one in particular the Soul that hath smarted by Sin and sincerely lamented over it and repented for it O what resolves what ingagements what sollemn promises doth it make that it will not live in Sin but will walk in the paths of Gods commandments and keep his precepts to the end This is the resolved purpose I say of every individual person that hath evangelically repented of his transgressions 5ly Another effect is a constant Love to and sincere desires after holyness 2 Cor. 7.11 what vehement desire saith the Apostle hath this Godly sorrow wrought in you a desire after holyness after more grace the Soul pants after it because it loves it there is Sacra fames non auri sed sanctimoniae a greedy and a vehement appetite not after Gold but after Grace and Sanctity 2 Pet. 1.4 Heb. 12.14 Exod. 15.11 now it clearly perceives that holyness is a most excellent thing a beam of the Son of Righteousness a Ray of Glory the Finger-work of the divine Spirit the very Image of the Eternal being the nature and essence of the glorious Jehovah the meet quallification of those who expect a fruition of the beatificial vision Where this hath gotten possession there is peace exhaltation tryumphing in God and Christ therefore the Soul loves it with a permanent and fixed Love shee greatly Loves it and also the means that tend to the obtaining of so great and glorious a good The Soul Loves the Spirit because he is the efficient the word of God which is the instrument Psal 119.9 6thly and Lastly Peace of conscience by the application of the Blood of Jesus Christ now there is a sweet and pleasant calmness in the Soul when before there was nothing but continual preturbations one wave tossing and rolling upon the neck of another scil Trouble and vexation of Spirit Where Lusts domineer and corruptions prevail there
the things of the World for if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him Here the divine Apostle gives a reason which withal proves that these two are not consistent for as Christ said Luk 16.13 You cannot serve God and Mammon one will have the preheminence and where this true evangellick Love is there the Love to the World is but flat and cold 2ly And possitively what are the true adequate and constant objects of this Evangellick Love in general all spiritual divine holy objects to which our Love is commanded or required by the Holy Word of God there is nothing which the believer apprehends to be truely divine but the Soul Loves entirely fervently and constantly for these objects are sutable to the State of a Believer he can perceive a greater excellence in them then in any other therefore the Soul is carried forth to love them above all others but more particularly and yet succinctly 1. God is the object of this Evangellic Love he is the chief and supream good therefore supreamly to be beloved even with all the heart with all the Soul and with all the strength Mat. 22.37 The Soul that is come to Christ by believing in him loves God not only as a Creator but as a reconciled Father in and through Christ 2 Cor. 5.19 Now it looks upon it self as oblieg'd and bound to love God who hath manifested such Love Joh. 3.16 as to give his only begotten Son that whoever believes should not perish but have everlasting life if God out of his infinite love had not been willing to give his Son to die for Sinners Christ would not have been willing to come and give himself for and to those who are his The Father out of his Love elected some to be Heirs of God and Co-heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 Now the consideration of these things doth inflame the heart with Love to God as the Apostle saith 1 Joh. 4.19 We love him because he first loved us The fruits and effects of the Love of God shed abroad in the Soul makes it now to love God with an impartial and superlative Love Modus diligendi Deum est sine modo Bern. it Loves God as one saith the measure of loving him should be without measure 2ly Christ Jesus is the object of this Love O how the Believer loves Christ the Soul is so fired with Love to the Lord Jesus that it knows not how to express it words are too mean actions too low and the Soul thinks all too little to express and manifest its Love unto the Lord Jesus When the Believer considers Christ in the transcendent excellency of his person that he is God blessed for ever that he is the Eternal Son of God beloved of him adored of Angels then he says with the Spouse Cant. 5.10 My beloved is the chiefest among ten thousand and as it is in the 16. vers He is altogether lovely Further when he considers the extremity infiniteness and ignominy of the Passion and Suffering Christ underwent for him and that he should express his Love at so dear a rate to one altogether indeserving it doth so inflame the Soul that it vehemently longs to get above the clouds into the bosom of Jesus and that it may drink of the celestial Fountain and Springs of life Rev. 7.17 Moreover when it considers what Christ hath purchased and what he is doing now for his Elect and Redeemed ones that he hath procured Pardon Reconciliation with God Grace and Glory Life and eternal Bliss for those who were sometimes dead in Trespasses and Sins 2 Tim. 4.8 1 Pet. 5.4 Eph. 2.5 and that he continues interceeding by the vertue of his Blood and Merits that all his may have these blessings confered upon them and at last be crowned with a Diadem of Righteousness and Glory O the consideration of these things doth so incendiate the Soul with the flames of Divine Love that many waters cannot quench it neither can floods drown it Cant. 8.7 nay Afflictions Persecutions or Death cannot seperate this Soul from the Love of Christ When the Believer looks upon Christ in his Offices and in that near Relation between them this doth still elevate and heighten his Love so that the Soul is full and as it were immerged and swallowed up with Love to Christ who is the Head and the all of Believers Col. 3.11 3ly This Divine Evangelick Love hath for its object the holy Spirit he who is the alone Author is now become the Object the Spirit is he who infuseth and operateth this grace in the Soul Gal. 5.22 The Fruit of the Spirit is Love now seeing this is a Fruit of the Spirit it has reflex actings so that it leads the Soul to love affectionately and intirely the holy Spirit knowing that except he cooperates nothing can profit the Soul and that if he work not Joh. 16.15 there will be no exception of grace it is he which leads and guides into the way of all truth which is the alone way of Salvation he teacheth the Soul to know God and Christ and to know it self he fills the heart with Divine blessings which make the Believer greatly to admire and love him Try your Love by these objects see whether Carnal or Divine objects have the Supremacy in your affections for these are infallible ways to try your Love by and to discern a true Evangelic Love from all others whatsoever 4ly Holy Angels are greatly beloved of Believers because they are to be their Companions to Eternity and bear part in that Celestial quire where they shall sing eternal Hallelujahs to their God and Father in the Kingdom that cannot be shaken Heb. 12.28 and further because they are a Life-guard to them here and Ministring Spirits sent forth for the good of all those who are Heirs of Salvation Heb. 1.14 5ly All Saints as such are the objects of this Divine Love without any distinction or difference Because they perceive their Fathers Image shine forth in such therefore that which is so amiable in them doth attract and draw their affection to it The Apostle John in several places puts this down as a Character by which we may prove our Love if it be right nay the only way to know whether we Love God or no 1 Joh. 4.20 If a man say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a Lyar for he who loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen David saith Psal 16.2 3. O my Soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord my goodness extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the Earth and to the excellent ones in whom is all my delight Here this holy man declares that the Saints were excellent in his eye and all the delight of his Soul but why were they so but because they were Saints they were holy ones born from above and
mellifluous Streams of that Nectorean Eloquence which flows from the lips of well skilled Orators but Tractates are not Veriores quia disertiores more true because more eloquent for as one said there is ambitiosum eloquentiae mendacium and I would not seem to affect words more than matter or to catch at the shaddow and let the substance go and I hope thou art one that puts a more inestimable appretiation upon plain and simple verity then upon painted figments and elaborate trifles which if it be so then I have some humble confidence that in the perusal of these my mean endeavors thy expectation shall not meet with a total frustration or thy labour prove nulla opera moliri to be in vain My grand design in the publishing this work is the exaltation and advancement of the Lord Jesus that lapsed and miserable mankind may be alliciated and induced to have precious valuations and inextinguishable Ceraphic love to the Lord of Glory the knowledge of whom is life eternal Joh. 17.3 1 Joh. 4.7 Joh. 14.6 Rom. 9.5 1 Cor. 3.23 love to whom is a sure character of a Heaven-born Soul faith in whom is the infallible way to glory and whose to be is no meaner then to be the Almighties Now this glorious one is he that makes free tenders of himself to perishing sinners condescends so as to invite the infirm laboring and heavy laden to come unto him who alone give rest The Subject on which I have fixed doth sufficiently demonstrate Christs abundant willingness to receive and ease poor wounded and oppressed Mortals And who is there that has not an absolute necessity of accepting such offers of Peace and Mercy are not all by actual sin wounded by original sin contaminated and polluted by multiplied transgressions intolerably laden did any escape that primitive lapse of our first Parents no none that was or is or shall be who are acted meerly by a rational Soul The serious consideration of which should prevail with all to seek out for cure for their wounds medicines for their maladies rest for their burdened Souls all which and infinitely more the Lord Jesus is willing to confer What more delectable than Divine imbraces what more excellent than celestial knowledge what more desirable than rest and comfort for the weary and disconsolate Soul all which is to be found in Christ and he that seeks unto him shall certainly obtain for he is the Divine Treasurer who has all necessaries to communicate and he is a full Fountain of living waters Col. 2.2 which flows freely to all thirsty Souls Therefore if thou art not yet come unto Christ let me perswade thee no longer to make demurs and let me be Christs Ambassador to call thee home unto him I know thou canst have no reasonable argument that should deter thee Acts 4.12 Gal. 3.10.13 1 Thes 1.10 1 Cor. 2.14 I know thou hast a Soul to save from the curse of the Law and eternal wrath then come unto Christ for it is he alone can save thee from the Curse and everlasting Vengeance I know by Nature thou wantest Divine knowledge come to Christ Mat. 11.27 and he will teach thee the knowledge of the Almighty And surely if Robert King of Naples did so much prise human learning as to say Chariores sibi literas regno esse it was dearer to him than his Kingdom how much more then should'st thou and I esteem the true knowledge of the Eternal Jehovah that Divine learning Joh. 17.3 which begins with the prelibation and ends in the fruition of eternal life thou wantest grace to enrich and beautifie thy Soul and to make thee meet for glory why it is out of his fulness thou must receive if ever grace for grace Joh. 1.16 There is not any thing which may conduce to thy everlasting benefit but Christ has rich supplies and is ready to extend to all indigent and humble mendicants and seeing thou mayst have for asking and receive for coming let this Treatise lead thee by the hand to the Lord Jesus for Christ sayes come and thy miseries if thou consultest thy Soul say go or thou art undone it may be that through some stratagems of Satan thou art prevented from getting into Christ therefore I have here laid open thirty two of them and I think the most subtlest of his Arguments and Baits and I have also in a weak measure laboured though in brief to invalidate and discover the danger of them Other obstructions which are from our selves whilst we continue in an unconverted State likewise some from the world thou shalt here find them manifested and removed but I could not be so large for the removal of them quite out of the way as I at first intended because my volumn grew bigger then I expected therefore I was forced to contract in some things and in fine to draw up those things which I thought largely to handle into a very narrow compass But Reader pardon my abruptness for I design'd this piece for a common good that the meanest sort might be able as well as willing if any be so to purchase it and this I would further intreat of thee if thou pleasest to spend thy labour read with an unprejudiced and impartial mind with a design to profit if thou hast not already made such a proficiency as some perswade themselves that thou needest no further instruction do not read it as too many go to hear Sermons to wit that they may judge of them not thinking that they are to be judged by them but do thou peruse it I beseech thee in the name of Christ with a respect to the good of thine immortal Soul and although thou may'st find some things which are in other Authors yet know that I have used those arguments for the confirmation of that great truth necessary to be known and absolutely needful to be believed to wit the Divinity of the Lord Jesus And it may be my Book may fall into the hands of some who never yet read so much of his Eternal Deity I know this truth has too many opposers but we must not let the Truth go because of opposition but as it was said of the Romans Victi multo fortius nesistant being conquered the more valiantly they resisted so if thou hast been overcome in pleading for this fundamental point the more earnestly contend for the faith of it now as the Apostle exhorts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jude 3. vers There are two many who are called Christians that are yet unable to confirm what they profess to believe Therefore that providence may order that this book may be helpful both to thy understanding of and also establishment in that glorious Truth and likewise be a means to bring thy Soul to close with Jesus Christ and that the eternal God may have the glory of all shall be the perpetual prayers of Tâ—y Souls servant in the Lord John Hopwood BLESSED REST for the BURDENED
will give thee Rest which implys all spiritual blessings both for time and Eternity Why Christ invites 2ly Possitively 1. In Obedience to his Fathers Will as he was Mediator for although he was in the form of God yet he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 2.6.7 empty himself disrepute himself and took upon him the form of a Servant therefore Christ saith so frequently I come not to do my own will in reguard of his Man-hood but the will of him that sent me Jo. 5.30 Jo. 6.38 I came down from Heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me In the 39.40 He declares what is the Fathers will even the Salvation of poor Sinners the Father he wills and the Son he wills the eternal well-being of poor Sinners therefore he cloathed himself with a body of Flesh to the end he might declare and fulfil his Fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 2.14 good pleasure towards poor perishing Creatures For allthough he was a Son yet he learned Obedience Heb. 5.8 Therefore he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10.7 behold I come to do thy will O God Heb. 10.7 2. Reason Why Christ thus condescends to invite poor Sinners to come unto him may be taken from his tender love and compassion to poor Souls Christ Jesus is full of tenderness and love as he manifested when he was grieved for their unbelief for faith is the leading grace as I shewed before which carrieth the Soul to Christ in Mat. 14.14 We read Christ was moved with compassion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his bowels did yearn towards the multitude and then it was only bodily food they needed but Oh how much more doth Christ commiserate and pitty poor distressed Souls that is a kind of a pathetick expression of Christ in Jo. 5.40 Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life As if Christ should have said you my Friends my Country-men Jo. 11.25 you are all morally dead but I am the resurrection and the Life And he that believeth in me though he were dead yet should he live You are lost ones but I came to seek and to save that which was lost Luke 19.10 you are miserable Sinners but I a merciful Saviour Heb. 2.17 Therefore come unto me believe in me and ye shall have Life and have it more abundantly all that Christ Jesus did and suffered was from a principle of love to poor Souls Jo. 10.10 We commonly say Magnes Amoris Amor Love is the Loadstone of Love but now here was no such Argument in the Sinner for instead of Love here he found hatred instead of Friends deadly enemies therefore Christ did all from his Love and Pity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he saw the Sinners Misery Ezek. 16. Therefore is moved with mercy so Christ did when he foresaw the destruction of Jerusalem Luk. 19.41.42 He beheld the City and wept over it saying if thou hadst known even then at least in this thy day the things which belong to thy Peace but now they are hid from thine Eyes Christ had been here inviting with much love and kindness but they refused and slighted his invitation we see here when Christs words and Doctrine will not prevail with hard-hearted Sinners he is so full of compassion notwithstanding that his Soul mourns in secret for their Pride Folly and Unbelief Illis compatitur a quibus patitur Ang. Jer. 13.17 when gratious intreatys will not bring the Sinner home he himself will send tears sighs and groans after him thus we see Christ invites because he is full of tenderness and love to poor Souls O Sinner then retard not but love thy self and come to Christ 3. Reason Because he knows the worth and excellency of their Souls the excellency of the Soul did consist at first in its conformity to the Creator in wisdom and true holyness but upon Sinning the Soul lost its pristine Beauty and primitive excellency only this remains scil the faculty and capability of being restored and renewed again The worth of the Soul transcends all sublimary things Mat. 16.26 What is a Man profited if he gain not a City not a Kingdom not some parts of 〈◊〉 but the whole World and loose his own Soul Now because Christ knows this therefore he invites them to come unto him that they may not lose a Jewel of so high value that there is no exchange for it see Psal 49.7.8 None can by any means redeem his Brother nor give to God a Ransome for him He gives the Reason in the 8. v. For the Redemption of the Soul is precious and it ceaseth for ever Well may he say the redemption of the Soul is precious for no less then the precious blood of Christ who was God-man will redeem it 1 Pet. 1.19 and it ceaseth forever as to its deliverance by any Creature so Christ seems to intimate in my Text and in v. 29. I have reguard to the better part even to the Soul I will give you rest for your Soul and indeed that is the happiest and most glorious rest 4. Reas Because he knows it will prove in vain to go or seek to any other he alone can bear their Burden and ease them of their Labour and weary Travel Men cannot help Angels which excel in strength cannot succour in Soul-distresses Isa 45.22 à quibus vulnetatur illis medetur look unto me and be ye saved saith Christ he who was wounded by thee is the only Physitian for thee Jo. 14.16 I am the way the truth and the Life He is the direct way to Salvation Glory God has made him to be Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption If thou wantest Wisdom thou must go to Christ for he is the Teacher come from God 1 Cor. 1.30 Jo. 3.2 Col. 1.19 If Righteousness we must seek to Christ and so for all mercies For it hath pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell He has ability to save and willingness too come unto me saith Christ why For there is no other name given under Heaven whereby you can be saved Act. 4.12 All Power is given unto me saith Christ Jo. 17.2 I have power to kill and power to make a live therefore Sinner be perswaded to return come unto me and find rest I can ease thee from the yoke of Bondage and I can make thee free with the Priviledg of the Sons of God 5. Reas Because he knows the weight of Glory the Sinner will lose and the greatness of the misery he involves himself into if he refuse It is not a temporal but eternal not a light but a weight of Glory that the refusing Sinner will fall short of He knows the misery is great the Burthen intollerable the Flames inextinguishable the Fire eternal that will be the portion of those who refuse to come Jo. 3.36 He that believeth not the Son shall not see Life which implies
of Gods grace and love in bestowing freely what the Sinner findes he needeth and what God requireth from him scil Faith in Christ Jesus Eph. 2.8 By grace ye are saved through faith and that not of your Selves it is the gift of God The Sinner wants Faith which is a supernatural of the Blessed Spirit Gal. 5.22 for without Faith there is no apprehending of Christ now God is pleased in his abundant mercy to confer this and all other graces upon the Sinner to the praise of the glory of his grace Eph. 1.6 3. To declare to man his own deplorable state and condition and that he may see what he has made himself by Sin he can do nothing in his lapsed fallen estate which conduceth to his eternal well being without me saith Christ ye can do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing Jo. 15.5 He doth not say ye can do no great thing without me but nihil nothing 4. That poor Creatures who are lost and undone by reason of Sin and who are imbecilitated and weakened through iniquity so that they cannot come themselves to Christ being convinced of the duty incumbent and the necessity of having this grace might more earnestly seek unto God for it and having obtained it highly esteem this Jewel for no Faith no Christ and no Christ no Salvation Jo. 3.36 5. This is to exalt the Lord Jesus in the estimation of miserable Sinners for being perswaded of the absolute necessity of this duty without which they cannot come unto the Father it will make Christ more desirable Jo. 14.6 I am the way the truth and the Life no man cometh unto the Father but by me i. e. By believing in Christ Jesus that is the only way to be reconciled to God and to obtain mercy from him For without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 or be any way grateful to him for God is so far from manifesting his Love to sinners whilst they remain strangers to Christ as that he rather hates them for God taketh complacency and delight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chiefly in his Son Christ Jesus who is the eternal delight of the Father and may I speak with reference Prov. 8.30 and as I humbly presume congruent to the Analogy of Faith that God the Father takes delight or complacency in none neither Angels nor men except considered as elected in Christ because the finiteness of the Creature renders it not an adequate object for the delight of an infinite God or that he should fix his Love upon a Finite being when he is infinite and eternal for God loves not the Creature for it self for any intrinsick worth or excellency in it but for himself and so far as he hath ordained it for his glory there can be no additional felicity unto God the Creating of the Creature adds nothing to him neither doth the perishing of it detract any thing from him for he hath the same fulness and perfect object for his delight now as from all eternity scil his Son Jesus in whom he is well pleased For he is God blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 So that if we desire to be beloved of the Father or to have any manifestation of it to us we must go unto Christ in a way of Duty that he may confer and bestow those graces by which we may come unto him in a way of Mercy scil Repentance and Faith for as Christ has purchased Salvation so has he also the means by which we may obtain it and apply it to our own Souls as the Apostle saith 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 who loved me and gave himself for me By that Faith which Christ had purchased and his Spirit had wrought the Apostle did live I come now to the uses and application that may be made of this Doctrine 1. Information 2. Examination 3. Exhortation 1. It informs us of a great and indispensable duty for as I have before declared this receiving of looking coming unto and believing in Christ is a duty relating to all who expect salvation and are desirous to be eased of their Burthens which otherwise would press them down into everlasting misery it is by coming to Christ and believing in him that the Soul comes to be exonerated and eased from all its heavy loads of Sin and guilt it is a duty and a work that must be done Jo. 6.29 This is the work of God that ye believe in him whom he hath sent scil His Son Jesus Christ 2ly Learn hence the erronious falsity of those opinions that direct the Sinner some other way to seek for ease and help when it is only to be found in the Lord Jesus as Christ saith If ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your Sins Jo. 8.24 There is no other remedy for the wounded Soul but coming to the Blood of Christ no other Saviour for the lost Sinner but the Lord Jesus no other refuge for the persued Malefactor to sanctuary in but the name of the Lord Jesus Rom. 10.13 and there is none other that can bare away his burthens of guilt Levit. 16.22 into the Land of separation but the Scape-goat scil the Lord Jesus therefore they do but deceive and delude poor Sinners who direct them to any other for ease or comfort 3ly Learn hence that believing which is the right coming unto Christ is not meritorious because it is a Duty We are under a command of believing in Christ 1 Jo. 3 23. now that which is injoyned as a duty to do cannot be meritorious when done for the name of Duty doth casheir and cut off the very Sinnews and Strength of Merit Luk. 17.9.10 When we have done all we must say not complementingly we are unprofitable Servants for here is the Reason we have done but that which was our duty to do It is a duty to come and believe in Christ but our believing doth not merit or deserve that he should accept of us Believing in Christ is the work of the Spirit of God it is not by a mans own Power that he imbraceth him 2ly Use of Examination to know whether you are come unto Christ and indeed this is the Life of all for as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 13.5 Examin your selves whither you be in the Faith prove your selves know you not your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you except you he Reprobates Here I shall propose this question how shall I know whether I am come to Christ Jesus or no I am satisfied that it is my Duty to come and that if I do not come I am undone and lost to all eternity I answer first If thou art come unto Christ the Father hath drawn thee Jo. 6.44 No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him Now the Father draws by his election and so gives
them unto Christ vers 37.39 All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me Eph. 1.4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World so 1 Pet. 1.2 God hath elected and made choice of thee if thou art come to Christ Jer. 31.3 I have loved thee with an everlasting love therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee Gods Love was fixed from all Eternity and he manifests it in time unto the Soul in drawing it unto Christ Jo. 6.37 All that the Father hath given him shall come unto him God hath chosen them and given them to his Son therefore he draws them to him Sinners are not able to move hand nor foot Zyon-ward unless God draws them they cannot come unto Christ 2ly If thou art come unto Christ the holy Spirit hath been at work upon thy Soul 1. To illuminate and inlighten thy understanding 2. Convince thy Conscience 3. Incline thy will 4. Sanctify thy affections 5. Work grace in the inward Man 1. The Spirit doth inlighten the understanding By nature Man is darkness Eph. 5.8 Therefore he must be turned from darkness to light Act. 26.18 And this is done by the Spirit of God he opens the Sinners Eyes that he may know himself Know thy self descended from Heaven it is said concerning the Prodigal Luk. 15.17 When he came to himself then he thought of returning home to his Father not before so it must be with every Sinner he must come to himself to know what he is before he will come to Christ if thou art come to the Lord Jesus thou hast been made to see thy miserable and deplorable condition by nature that thou art a Child of wrath Eph. 2.3 subject and obnoctious to the wrath of God deservest nothing but wrath and it were justice in God to execute wrath upon thee even for thy natural pollution and defilement much more for that contracted filth and impurity in thy conversation that thou art lost and shalt perish for ever without a Redeemer a Jesus to save thee that thou art an enemy to God Rom. 5.10 and needest reconciliation with him through the Blood of Christ that thou art unregenerate and without regeneration no seeing the Kingdom of God Jo. 3.3 miserable all over nothing but Wounds and Bruises and Putrifying Sores miserable because in thy flesh Rom. 7.18 dwelleth no good thing Sin Raigning Satan Captivating at his will the World allureing and perswading and thou art without strength or ability to resist and overcome these and many more I might number up are the evils which in Puris naturalibus in thy Natural condition make it deplorable therefore the holy Spirit brings thee first to know thy self before thou comest unto Christ 2ly To know and understand the Scriptures is another effect of the Spirit upon the understanding of those who are come to and have closed with the Lord Jesus As it is said Luk. 24.45 He opened their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures Therein all things concerning Christ are revealed Jo. 5.39 Search the Scriptures for in them ye think to have eternal Life i. e. the knowledge of eternal Life and they are they which testify of me Now the Spirit doth open the Eye of the understanding that it may in the glass of the Scriptures see those things clearly which are necessary to Salvation to wit repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Act. 20.21 it declares the mind and will of God fully and directs poor Sinners who are stung in the Wilderness to look up to the BrazenSerpent scil the Lord Jesus Jo. 3.14 it declares that there is Salvation in none other I do not here say Act. 4.12 that the Spirit teaches all to read the Scriptures who are adult and grown into a capacity of exercising their Reason for there are many who I am perswaded have closed with Christ Luther Tertullian and others were converted from Papism and Gentilism by being brought to understand the Scriptures that could not read the Scriptures but this I assert that the understanding is inlightened by the Spirit to discern the things of God and Christ when preached or read to them out of the holy Scriptures for without a right understanding of the Scriptures there can be no apprehending the right way of Salvation All the Phylosophers of old with all their profound Learning Arts Sciences did not know Christ so consequently they were ignorant of the way of Salvation because Christ is the only way 3ly Thou art brought to understand and know thy duty in a great measure thy duty towards God thy duty towards thy Neighbour and thy duty towards thy self 1. Towards God that thou oughtest to Love him for himself to Love him as thy Creator and as a bountiful Benefactor to thee to Love him primarily superlatively and above all as the Text saith Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Mind and with all thy Strength Deut. 6.5 To love him fervently and permanently if thou art not come to Christ besure there is none of this sincere love in thee for as God loves not the Sinner but as chosen in Christ Eph. 1.4 so the Sinner can never love God as he ought but in and through Christ and as God sees no lovelyness in the Sinner considered out of Christ so the Sinner perceives no amiableneness in God but in the Face of Jesus Christ for God is a consuming fire to Sinners if they be seperate from Christ so that I say Heb. 12. ult thou art taught to love God as an infinite good 2. To fear him not with a Bondage Slavish fear Rom. 8.15 but with a Filial and Holy fear such a fear as becometh Gods Children a reverential fear a fearing to displease him such a fear Christ Jesus had in his humiliation state Heb. 5.7.8 and such a fear have all his members who are come unto him and are implanted in him 3. Taught to serve him before thou wast the Servant of Sin and Satan but now the Servant of the living God Rom. 6. now thou desirest and indeavourest to obey him constantly as to the time fervently faithfully as to the manner and universally as to the Practice of them in all holy dutys as it was said of Zachary and Elizabeth They walked in all the Commandments of God Luk. 1.6 So it is thy care and Study to obey him in all things he requires from thee 4. Thou art taught to glorify God as being the chief end of thy Creation For he hath made all things for himself Psal 16.4 Thou indeavourest to glorify thy Soul and Body which are his according to that command 1 Cor. 6.20 Glorify God in your Bodys and in your Spirits which are Gods Thus Christ Jesus did as he saith Jo. 17.4 I have glorified thee on Earth so he saith of his Disciples Jo 15.8 Herein is my Father glorified that ye bare much Fruit so
that he will not pass by the least Sin without full satisfaction to his justice or else in equity he will punish every Sinner with infinite punishment till then I say the Soul doth not so much regard coming to Christ that it may be made partaker of his righteousness when the Sinner is made to see Gods righteousness then he flys to the Horns of the Alter scil to lay hold of Christs righteousness tendered to Poor Sinners in the Gospel 6ly I might add further that the Spirit doth inlighten the understanding to discern the Love Pity and mercy of God in Christ and his readiness and willingness to accept of those who come unto him in and through his Son Jo. 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting Life God is ready to give and be reconciled Psal 86.5 But there is no coming unto him but by Christ Jo. 14.6 these considerations do incourage the Poor Soul to come to Christ because God is full of Pitty and faithfulness to forgive 1 Jo. 1.9 7ly The Spirit inlightens the mind in the knowledg of Christ 1. What he is 2 What he hath done 3. What he is doing in the behalf of Poor Sinners 1. What he is I have declared in the beginning of this Book that he is God blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 the true God and eternal life 1 Jo. 5.20 that he is the eternal delight of the Father the Glory of Angels admired by Saints and the Saviour of poor lost Sinners that he is God-man in two distinct natures and one person for ever as he was Man he suffered but as he was God-Man he satisfied infinite Justice by laying down an infinite price for infinite transgressions It was the blood of him that was God as well as Man that was effused and poured forth for our sins Acts 20.28 1 Job 3.16 2dly What he hath done for lost sinners he who was in the form of God took upon him the form of a Servant Phil. 2.6 7. he put himself into a capacity to fulfil all righteousness and to undergo all misery for our iniquities that he might save us from the wrath of God wch will consume all those who believe not in Christ he hath compleated the work of Redemption for we are made compleat in him Col. 2.10 In short he hath fulfilled the whole Law in way of obedience he suffered the penalty due unto those whom he redeemed he was made a Curse for them Gal. 3.13 that they might obtain the blessing even life for evermore he died that they might live for by dying he conquered Death and brought life and immortality to light he broke through the Prison of the grave and by his own power brought Salvation and ascended on high and lead captivity captive that he might give gifts unto men Eph. 4.8 3. He is now sitting at the right hand of God till his Enemies be made his foot-stool Psal 110.1 and his Saints crowned and glorified with him in his Kingdom he prayed for them when he was here on earth Joh. 17. but now he is interceding at the right hand of God in the behalf of his redeemed ones 1 Joh. 2.1 These things and many more the spirit reveals unto them that are come to Jesus Christ Christ is the head of the Body his Church Eph. 1.22.23 And gave him to be the head over all things to the Church which is his Body the fulness of him who filleth all in all * Sicut vita ex solo capite in omnia membra propagatur sic ex un◠Christo in omnia membra spiritus ipsius spargitur non autem ex uno membro in aliud Ursin de doc Chris pa. 249. for as life from the head alone is propagated into all the Members so from one Christ his spirit is poured out into all his Members but not from one member into another as the Head is sons omnis vitae the fountain of all life so Christ is the fountain from which his Members derive continual supplies Now seeing Christ and Believers are so nearly related as to be one spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 he the Head and they the Members there must needs be an intimacy and knowledge of each other for as Christ saith Job 10.14 I am the good Shepheard I know my Sheep and am known of mine so I say if thou art come unto Christ the Spirit hath revealed Christ Jesus to thee he hath enlightned thy understanding to know in some measure what he is what he hath done and what he is doing for thy Soul 2dly If thou art come to Christ thy conscience hath been convinced by the holy spirit it is his work to convince a person of sin Joh. 16.8 and when he is come to wit the holy Spirit he shall convince the world of sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is beyond the power of man to convince the conscience it is proper to the holy Ghost 1. Then he hath convinced thee of thy original sin which is the source and spring from which all other sins flow it is not Fons vitae the fountain of life but Fons corruptionis Mortis of corruption and death from this spring flows forth the bitter waters of Meribah which prove destructive to Mankind the whole man being vitiated and corrupted by original sin which made the Apostle say I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7.18 he calls it The Law in his Members Vers 23. The Body of Death ver 24. Thus he was convinced of his Original sin and therefore he saith We are all the children of Wrath by Nature Eph. 2.3 which Scriptures are fully and excellently declared to be meant of Original sin by that worthy Minister of Christ Mr. Anthony Burgess in his Doctrine of Original sin The Prophet David confesseth it Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in Iniquity and in sin did my Mother conceive me he was convinced of his pollution even in the very womb and so art thou if the Spirit hath been effectually at work in thy Soul from the heart naturally proceeds no good thing but thence come Thefts evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications false Witness Blasphemy Mat. 15.1.9 All which defile and pollute a Man 2. Thou art convinced of the evil of thy actual sins thy manifold transgressions and violations of the Law of God those sins which thy hand thy heart thy tongue thy ear and eye have been imployed in as David was convinced of his Murther and Adultery which the 51. Psal declares Paul of his Persecution injuriousness and blasphemy 1 Tim. 1.13 Peter of denying his Lord and Master Mat. 26.74 75. Thou art now convinced that Sin is exceeding sinful Rom. 17.13 and that thy great work and business in thy unconverted state was to Sin against God 3ly Thou art convinced that every Sin doth contaminate and defile thy Soul Psal 19. Cleanse thou me
Canaan and the Glory of the new Jerusalem she takes a survey of those blessed immunities eternal felicitys and that Immortal glory the Saints shall be invironed and invested with when they come to injoy Christ who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all and in all Col. 3.11 and from the blessed Prospect of these things Faith makes a return and descent into the Soul implets and fills it with divine joy even to the supream confines of it it tells such storys of the Love of God and Christ and the blessed Spirit to the believer that it doth conflagate and inflame the Soul and makes it rejoice perpetually in the Lord according to that exhortation of the Apostle rejoyce in the Lord always May I speak with reverence Faith penetrates into the very Bosome of the Almighty and sees there is Love Peace and reconciliation for the believing Soul it looks into the records of Heaven and can read Thy Sins are forgiven and thy Iniquitys are blotted out It can look into the Lambs book of Life and read the name of the believer imprinted there this makes the Soul exalt and triumph with Songs of praise what made Paul and Silas Sing and Rejoyce when their Feet was incastriated their Bodys with Stripes vulnerated Act. 16.22 23 24 25. in an interior obscure Prison denyed the solace of that which nature is very ambitious of scil their Eyes to behold the Sun but this a lively Faith which devocated and fetched down new comfort to their Souls Faith when Active makes the Soul rejoyce in God and Christ and in divine and spiritual objects 2ly Peace is another effect of that Faith which is wrought by the Spirit of God as in that forequoted place Rom. 15.13 The God of Peace fill you with all joy and Peace in believing Peace of Conscience from sound principles is a happy priviledge and great blessing To be under the racks of a disquieted and tormented Conscience O what a mercy is it to injoy peace and a Calm within the Soul when there is nothing but tempests and tumults abroad what a comfortable condition is this God hath made a promise of Peace to believers Isa 26.3 I will keep him in Peace whose mind is Staid upon me because he trusteth in me Christ gives his Peace to Believers as he did to his Disciples Jo. 14.27 My Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you The Believer is at Peace with the Law of God because it is satisfied by the Death of Christ at peace with God the Father because he is well pleased in his Son to be reconciled to poor Sinners he is at peace with himself because his Sins are pardoned but he is never at peace again with Sin or Satan because they are Enemys to this true Peace which believers do partake of The believers peace is not remaining in Sin but it is a peace from Sin from the guilt and power of it 3ly In those who are come unto Christ the Spirit hath wrought the grace of Love for as the Apostle saith 1 Jo. 4.8 He that Loveth not knoweth not God for God is Love This is the great Gospel-grace as the Apostle Paul calls it 1 Cor 13.13 Jo. 13.35 Now there abideth Faith Hope and Love these three but the greatest of these is Love This is the distinguishing grace by which we are known to be Christs Disciples it declares our Divine original That we are Born from above 1 Jo. 4.7 it manifests our near union and communion with God 1 Jo. 4.16 God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him But I shall speak to this Query how may one know that the grace of Love is wrought by the Spirit in the Soul The Resolution of which may be known by these two means scil the propertys and objects of it 1. As to the propertys of it it is Divine for the Spirit of God is the Author of it Gal. 5.22 it descends from above Jam. 1.17 Every good gift and every perfect gifts is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights Now Love is one of these good perfect gifts 1 Jo. 4.7 for there is not any thing in the new Creature which is not the Finger-work of God all grace flows from him through Christ by his holy Spirit into the Soul Love is a grace that is Immortal for when Faith is turned into fruition and hope into possession this divine Love Remains 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 13.8 Love never faileth It is a Seed that never dies a fire that once being kindled never more will be extinguished it transformes the Soul into the very Image of God and makes it most like unto its maker it is Divine in that it Loves Joys and takes complacency in pure holy and divine objects it is not Like Carnal Love which findes nothing but the perishing Creature to diligate and delight in but it seeks better and more durable objects because it is of a Divine original 1 Jo. 4.7 Love is from God Therefore there are reflex acts towards the Author and giver of it 2ly This Love is sublime it is high and lofty although not puffed up with vain pride because it scorns to fix its felicity in a vain Perishing world the base things of this World are not objects noble enough for this excellent grace it is of a noble extraction and therefore Loves and delights in Divine and noble objects David who was a Man after Gods own Heart was full of this Divine and sublime Love therefore we have him often expressing his Love to God to the Law far above Gold or Silver or the perishing trash of a sinful World Psal 119.72 The Law of thy mouth is better to me then thousands of Gold and Silver The beauty of this inferior World is but deformity and blackness compared with the Splendor and glory of those divine objects which this Love is fixed upon the Honours and Riches of this World are but Dung and Dross to the Soul who hath this sublime Love Phil. 3.8 Ye doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dogs-meat that I may win Christ What made the Apostle thus to trample upon these terrene things and so to stain the glory of those things which are most excellent in the Eyes of most men why his Heart overflowed with this divine sublime and seraphick Love this is the true nature of evangelick Love it Loves the World and the things of it with a World-like Love which is cold indifferent and mutable the Heart that flows with this Love ever ebbs and runs low to the things of this world because it looks upon them as not worthy of its Love 3ly It Loves superlatively all divine things it doth not only Love in a high degree but in
the highest even with all the Heart with all the Mind and with all the Strength God and Christ are to be beloved beyond all measure as one saith the right manner of Loving God is Modus diligendi deum est ut diligatur quantum potest diligi Bern. that he may be beloved as much as he can be beloved This evangellick Love seats it self in the most superlative place of the Soul there is no comparison between this Love and the Love of the Creature 4ly This Love is sincere Grace be with all those who Love the Lord Jesus in Sincerity Eph. 6.24 If there is not Sincerity at the Root besure the Fruit is corrupt Hypocrisie is the distruction of many but Sincerity Integrity and Uprightness preserveth the Soul wherefore were Noah Job and others counted Perfect it was not because they were Perfect in their obedience but because their Love was Sincere this makes the Scripture give such an excellent Charactor of them Sincerity is as it were the Salt which seasons every duty and a Sincere Love although but weak in the actings is that which savours of a right Gospel Spirit 5ly It is a fervent Love Rom. 12.11 Fervent in Spirit Serving the Lord. It is true that this Love may not always Seraphin like be in a bright burning flame but yet where once it is wrought by the Spirit it never after is quite extinguished for when it flames not it does burn and when it burns not clearly there are some scintilla's and Sparks which keep it from quite going out and when the Cinders of Corruption are blown away it kindles up into a flame again Let one who hath this fervent Love through invigilancy fall into Sin or neglect duty it cools and damps the fire of his affection for a time but let him come again to the ordinances and by Faith Drink a draught of the warm Blood of Christ and by Prayer blow up the heat of his affections it will prove but like the Water the Smith Casts upon the fire which seemingly Puts it out but when he hath blown a while it flames more violently I say not this to incourage any to make tryal by Sin but if it be so with any that now find their Love but cold which formerly was fervent they may see the cause be wise to improve and apply the Remedy this Love I say is Ardent Love which warms the heart for it is a ray from the Sun of righteousness which sets the Soul all in a Divine feaver 6thly This Love is total I mean it is with the whole heart God hates a divided Heart or as the Hebrew hath it a Heart and a Heart one as it were for God and another for the World and Sin but God will have the whole or none therefore it is said Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God Mat. 22.37 Deut. 6.5 with all thy Heart with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind See here how many Times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all is expressed as God is of an indivisible essence so he would not have that which is his due to be divided now the true Saint is very well content that God should have all he would have none to be Copartner with God and Christ but desires that his Love and affections may wholly be fixed and set upon the right objects when God saith to the person who hath this Love my Son give me thy heart he is ready to respond and say Lord here am I take the whole of my heart nay take the all of my all let me be but thine and that for ever 7thly and lastly It is a constant and permanent Love as Christ said unto his Disciples Jo. 15.9 Continue ye in my love so may I say to you See that this love abide and continue in you For if your Love be of an Evangellick nature it is a permanent Love 1 Cor. 13.8 Love never faileth Christ spake of some whose Love should fail them but that which is durable ends in Salvation Mat. 24.12.13 Because Iniquity shall abound the Love of many shall wax cold but he that indures to the end the same shall be saved He whose Love keeps warm and abideth shall certainly obtain Salvation as the love of God towards his People is an everlasting love Jer. 31.3 So he expects that their love should be a permanent love God hates those who draw back Heb. 10.38 but it is the nature of this love to press forward to increase and aspire till it comes unto the Center from whence it came He that hath this love maintains it in adversity as well as prosperity when the Clouds do darken the Face of God as well as when the Sun-shine of this love beams forth upon the Soul many of the Saints have experienced this they have found their love hottest when their afflictions have been heavyest when most shaken by the World they have been most confirmed in their love to God and Christ I come now to the objects of this spiritual evangelick love and I shall speak of them first negatively shewing what are not the objects of this love 2ly possitively what they are 1. Negatively what are not the objects 1. Not Sin neither in ones self or in another The Soul that hath this Divine love in it cannot but hate all Sin Psal 119.101 and 104. I have refrained my feet from every evil way v. 104. I hate every false way v. 113. I hate vain thoughts but thy law do I love As God is said to be of purer Eies then to behold Iniquity so the Saints are of purer Hearts then to love Iniquity Sin hath brought bitterness to their souls therefore they now abhor it they have no love or liking at all for Sin it doth not fix upon Iniquity as a delectable and lovely object but hates and flees from all base lusts which seek to insnare the Soul 2ly It is not fixed upon Satan for although no Creature mearly as a Creature is to be the object of our hatred because it declares something of the wisdom and power of the Creator in giving existence and being to such a Creature yet Satan in his Sinful lapsed State and condition as an Enemy to God Christ and the well being of our immortal Souls ought to be the object of our hatred 1 Pet. 5.8 For he goes about like a Roaring lyon seeking whom he may devour He makes it his great imployment to effect the ruin of poor Souls therefore he is become the object of hatred 3ly It is not placed upon this teâ—rene dying and perishing world love to God and Christ in that measure and degree as it should be cannot consist with an eager and earnest love of the world Jam. 4.4 Ye Adulterers and Adulteresses know ye not that the Friendship of the World is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a Friend of the World is the Enemy of God This is further manifest in 1 Jo. 2.15 Love not the World neither