to be named He was despised in his common converse with men Luk. 8.20 The Foxes had their holes and the Birds of the Air their nests but Jesus had not where to lay his head He was reviled as one that had a Devil Joh. 10.20 Mark 2.16 Luk. 22.44 and was made as a Friend of Publicans and Sinners In his Agonies in the Garden He sweat drops of Blood though it were such a cold season that one might think would have struck the Blood inward It was a cold time for Peter stood to warm himself Our Sin was the heavy burthen that lay upon him When and after he was Betrayed Betrayed he was by a Friend a Bosome-friend to be Betrayed and that in point of Life and all by an intimate acquaintance goes near the Heart What David said to him that betrayed might Christ say to Judas Had it been an Enemy Psal 11.13 14. I could have born it but it was thou my Companion we took sweet Counsel together and walked together as Friends He was severely handled by Souldiers who batter'd his Ears with Blasphemy as well as tormented his Body when he was on the Cross Mat. 27. v. 39 40. they waged their Heads tell him of what he was accused vers 41 42 43. The great men revile him when usually men that scarce pray all the year long for themselves if they see any infamous Criminal executed they never tell him in a way of scoffing of his Fault or Crime but say God be merciful to his Soul At last Christ cryes out Mat. 27.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me We must warily understand this not as if God had forsaken Christ in respect of Strength for an Angel was sent to strengthen him Luk. 22.33 nor in respect of Essence nor of Complacency but God forsook him as to present comfort in a great measure Imagine you stood as the Devout Women at the Cross and saw this I now come to lay down a few Directions DIRECTIONS 1. Look on and wonder Are these things so 2 Tim. 3.1 Then great is the Mystery of Godliness God manifested in the flesh If it be a Mystery it cannot be fathomed Wonder at what Christ is and at what he doth What he is Prov. 30.4 It was the wise mans Probleme or hard Question What is his name or his Sons name if thou canst tell His Name is called Wonderful Isa 9.6 Wonder that the Divinity did not swallow up the Humanity that the fire and the bush can so well agree together All the Attributes of God are given to Christ all the Works of God spoken of him as of Creation Sanctification Glorification Therefore Christ is God not only by name or secundum divi but God by Nature He was God that he might satisfie he was Man that he might suffer Wonder at what he doth Patereulus says that when the Lacedemonians opposed Attica the Pythian God told them that that Army whose General was taken should conquer Codrus deposita veste regia c. Codrus laying aside his Princely Robes went among his enemies and was slain by them Our King on Maunday Thursday so call'd as some say because of the Command of Love Christ gave his Disciples before his Passion Mandatum novum do vobis I say our King useth to wash the feet of as many poor People as he hath lived years and yet not the less a King for this humble act Our Lord Jesus the King of Kings and Lord of Lords dyed that we might live abased himself that he might exalt us Psalm 126.1 2. When God delivered the Church out of Babylon by Cyrus they were like men that dreamed How much more should we be Astonished at our deliverance from Sin and Satan by Jesus Christ 2. Let Love be attactive of Love Let the Love of Jesus to us make us to Love him I have read of Agilmond King of the Lombards that one day he went a fishing and saw a Babe sprawling in the Water perhaps a base child he took it up and made it his adopted Son and called him Lama and left him his Crown and Kingdom You may easily imagine what delight this Lama took in seeing of King Algilmond whilst he lived and in thinking and speaking of this King after he was dead How excellently doth God express his love to the poor Jews of old Ezek. 16.4 5 6. As for thy Nativity in the day thou wast born thy Navel was not cut neither wast thou washed in water None eye pitied thee to do any of these unto thee to have compassion on thee but thou wast cast out into the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thy own Blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy Blood live And lest this should be soon passed over the Holy Ghost bids them as it were stand and hear it the second time Yoa I said unto thee when thou wast in thy Blood live When Tiberius was in a Village named Spelunca Stones fell from the house where he was Sejanus genu vultu manibusque super Caesarem suspensis opposuit sese satis incidentibus saith Tacitus Sejanus covered the Emperour that if the Stones fell where they were Sejanus might die and not the Emperour which as the Historian observes made the Emperour ever after to love Sejanus though he loved him not before The wrath of God fell from Heaven because of mans sin Christ hath embraced the Sinner and that wrath hath fallen on him that else had crushed us O let us love him let us not be satisfied till we find our hearts burning in love 3. Crucifie Sin that crucified Christ Be the death of those Sins that were the death of Jesus Pride Wrath Covetousness and every abominable thing which the Soul of God hates Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our Old man is crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin Sin is onely destroyed by his death had not Christ dyed for us we could no more have killed our Corruptions or been made Saints than the Devils can cease to be Devils and become Angels 4. Come to God as those that expect to be justified no other way but by Christ and his Righteousness In him is God well pleased with Believers The Names given to Christ are in Scripture given to a Christian as Son of God an Heir King yea the name Christ The Apostle saith 1 Cor. 12.12 As many Members make one Body even so is Christ Where it is understood not of Christ personally but mystically for Christians or the Church of Christ Now as Adams sins is imputed to us though he and not we disobeyed so Christs Righteousness is imputed to us though he not we obeyed 2 Cor. 5. last verse Though Adams Sin be imputed to us yet we were not the first sinners nor the involvers of all Mankind
Here all met that some would part Here was Scripture for he read some of Isaiah his Prophesie Here was the Spirit that bad Philip go to him Here was the Preacher for Philip expounds all to him Who throws away a letter of great concern because he cannot read all nor understand all he reads it the oftner takes the more pains calls for help and glad to understand most of it when he cannot understand all If any plead We cannot read A good Woman in Queen Maries time that could not read got a new Testament went from house to house and desired others to read to her and soon got much knowledge Knowledge doth not get into the Soul by the Eye onely but by the Ear. Many understand the mysteries of their Trades that never read Books about them Many can tell what news is going that never look into Gazets or News-letters by hearing and considering I have saith God Hos 8.12 written to them the great things of my Law but they were counted as a strange thing If any say I want time Can you find time to eat to sleep and not to look into the Word of God Some can find time to read vain books that can find none to read Scripture Tho' such are as Politianus that left reading the Scripture Morney de ver Rel. Christ and studied and disputed about such questions as these whether we should write Carthaginenses or Carthaginienses c. As insignificant are all other Studies when men contemn the Word of God 4. If you find Convictions from Gods Word lose them not as you have too often done Cain when terrified in his mind built Cities Saul called for Musick so some run to their profits and pleasures If a man had great Treasure about him and came by a dangerous way where many were robbed and he himself had some time been robbed how would he fear As the Lord liveth thou art the man Thou hast been many times richly laden with good convictions affections and purposes gotten from the Word of God the Cares and Temptations of the world have robbed thee and feek to do it again 5. Remember You that are Believers what Encouragement they had in Scripture you have and by them Josh 1.5 Heb. 13.5 God directeth and comforteth you Hos 12.4 5 6. where he speaks of Jacob Yea he had Power over the Angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication unto him he found him in Bethel and there he spake with us Therefore turn thou to thy God Keep mercy and Judgment wait on thy God continually God by giving Jacob the blessing speaks to us to wait on God But to the Scripture we must add Prayer But of that in the next Chapter CHAP. VI. Of Prayer MEDITATIONS THE great Benefit and Comfort of Prayer we read of often in Scripture and the People of God find often by experience Family Prayer Psal 13.2 and Secret Prayer Acts 10.2 have been minded by the Saints of Old In Secret Prayer it is good to stop sometimes after some Confessions Petitions and Praises that the heart may be more deeply affected with them Never did any Believer pray in vain though sometimes it may seem long before God answer When Corn is sowen Rain comes Snow comes Prost comes and all seems to be lost but stay till the time of Harvest and there is a good Crop so after Prayer Temptations come sad Providences come and yet at last all is well When a Child of God is in Prayer he is not weary of God nor of the duty but weary of himself and the corruption of his nature of Satan and his Temptations but still may say How good is it to draw nigh to God! In Secret Prayer if unsuitable thoughts come of men or business pray about those things as occasion may be so will ye catch the Devil in his own craft He is not so wise but he may be outwitted He hath helped me by his Temptations to matter of Prayer thousands of times against his Will Directions in answer to a Question Q. But what if I have no heart to the work 1. Pray obedientially when you cannot pray comfortably God calls for Prayer wait on him in the face of all discouragements Obedience will make an unpleasant work pleasant 2. Remember that discomposure may quickly end in enlargement Abraham found his Ram on the Mount Gen. 22.13 and that in the Thickets So many find their hearts in Prayer not before and that in the midst of violent Temptations 3. Remember that many Prayers we reckon some of the worst God accounts as some of our best Prayers Great are the rewards for what some think to be dead Prayers We reckon the goodness of Prayer by composure of thoughts by affections but God by self-loathing and seeing nothing in our selves and duties but all in Christ Let us cry earnestly to our God Pagans have cryed aloud to their Gods 1 Kings 18.26 They cut themselves and leapt upon the Altars which they made If any say I know not how to pray in Secret I never yet did it I know not what to say Go to God and say so It is a good Confession Lord here I am come I would pray but know not what to say It may be given you in that hour what to confess and pray for and that with great melting of heart Ask the Experience of the people of God Love them but of that in the following Chapter CHAP. VII Of Love to Mankind MEDITATIONS LEt Brotherly Love continue Heb. 13.1 is in many mens mouths but in few mens hearts If we enquire who is our Brother Not the man nearly related or the man of the same perswasion or opinion onely but chiefly all of the Houshold of Faith How many men of several Parties are as Jews and Samaritans that have no dealing one with another We must love the Saints as rich so poor ones ignorant as well as learned the weak as well as the strong We must love the ungodly yea our Enemies Love is to be shewn in forgiving injuries in supplying necessities If any hate us we must love them if they deferve bad of us they and we also deferve worse of God yet God feedeth them cloatheth them Mat. 5.45 and shews them mercy If God will use them as his Rod to chastise us we must be content Who knows what wrath will do or where it will end It is storied of Pope Stephen that he so hated Pope Formosus that he caused his Body to be taken out of the Grave and cut off those Fingers that had blessed the Clergy and so made void all his Canons and Ordinances And he that came after him took measures somewhat like so that at last saith Platina Nihil enim aliud hi Pontifices cogitabant quam nomen dignitatem Majorum suorum extinguere and yet all these men were Infallible all the while Let Husbands and Wives resolve that their contentions shall not
contrivances against them 3. Take a Prospect of all the happy consequences of sanctified Afflictions 1. Rom. 5.4 5. They work Patience and Patience Experience c. They bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness 2. They make us look to God for comfort seeing none can be found in Creatures Micah 7.5 6 7. Trust ye not in a Friend put not confidence in a Guide keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lyeth in thy bosom For the Son dishonoureth the Father the Daughter riseth against her Mother the Daughter-in-law against her Mother-in-law a mans enemies are the men of his own house This was a sad case but how much good came of it Therefore I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my Salvation Trust not in an Enemy or a Stranger one would think to be good counsel yea but trust not in a Friend But what if that Friend be an intimate one No put not confidence in a guide But my Wife is my second Self shut the door of thy lips from her that lyeth in thy bosom But if I am a Father I hope I shall have comfort in my Children whom I so much love and of whose Education I am so tender No the Son dishonoureth the Father but saith the Mother Daughters are more flexible and I may have Comfort in them No the Daughter riseth against the Mother well if my Children be bad I hope to please my self in Children in Law Sons Wives No The Daughter-in-law riseth against the Mother-in-law If the case be this then I will say some take comfort in Servants or any one in the house that loves me No there is no Comfort there For a mans Enemies are them of his own House What follows Therefore I will look unto the Lord Therefore wherefore because he could not comfortably look to any other Away to Prayer to Meditation to Reading When any say they can take Comfort in nothing in their Houses No have you no Bibles there 3. Afflictions make us call to mind our own faults do others wrong abuse us have not we done the like to some men in time past Solomon disswades from fretting if we hear our Servants Curse us from this consideraon Eccl. 7.21 22. Thou thy self knowest that in time past thou hast cursed others I have heard of a man that beat his Father and drew him by the hair of his head towards the street when he came to the Threshold Stay Son said the old man drag me no farther for so far I dragged my Father and here I left him I have had the Story from the Inhabitants of that Town it being a place where Providence hath often called me 4. Afflictions make us also to desire Heaven A man in a Journey if the way be bad if the weather be bad if his Horse be bad and if his Body be out of order he more desires to be at his Journeys end than otherwise he would do When the Saints come there they shall have their reward Josephus saith that when Caius Caligula caused Agrippa to be brought out of Prison that was committed there by Tiberius he gave him a Chain of Gold that weighed as much as his Chain of Iron and preferr'd him Now the heavier the Chain of Iron was the better for him the greater was his Chain of Gold The righteous man will bless God for ever for all his trouble when the wicked man shall for ever curse the time in which he enjoyed Prosperity 5. Afflictions put us on Prayer David was a man of great troubles and therefore much given to Prayer and God delivered and his Prayers were turned into Praises If any say I have prayed long and yet the trouble is not over Long How long Thy Life is not long How long did the Jews pray and wait for Deliverance from the Babylonish Captivity Even seventy years Continue in Prayer and you know not how soon God may appear Whilst I mention Afflictions let me call on all sorts of men to prepare for national Calamities they may be such as God speaks of Deut. 28.34 So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see Where then will be the Cups Cards Musick of vain men I speak to you from God as Moses to Pharaoh Exod. 10.3 How long refusest thou to humble thy self before me Jer. 6.4 We may cry as the Prophet Jeremy Wo unto us for the day goeth away the shadows of the evening are stretched out The day of peace the day of the enjoyment of Gospel Priviledges seems to draw to a close when that judgment may be executed Jer. 20.25 Wherefore I gave them Statutes that were not good and judgments whereby they could not live I humbly conceive he speaketh not of the ceremonial Law that he appointed but of Idolatrous Commands from men vers 23. I lifted up my hand also to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the Heathen c. I gave them statutes that were not good not as if God gave them by command but only by his Providence If any say if that be the worst of it we care not If Popery prevail we will never be Non-conformists Go Judas take thy thirty pieces of Silver and thy ease and treasures shall do thee as much good as that Money did him which he purchased by betraying his Lord. The Wicked that now receive their good things shall be tormented and the Righteous that receive their evil things shall be comforted Luke 16.25 But of this in the next Chapter CHAP. XI Of Heaven and Hell MEDITATIONS OUT of many Tribulations shall the Righteous enter into the Kingdom of God Acts 14.22 Lo this is the happy condition of every Man that hath minded the Duties we have before considered In Heaven they enjoy a compleating of gracious Principles there they have what here they groaned for prayed for a perfect and uninterrupted Love to God and Enjoyment of Him The Love the Soul hath now to Christ is so powerful that he may say with the Spouse I am sick of Love and yet that Love if compared to that in Heaven is but as a drop of Water to a Fountain Yet if now you ask the Christian which he loves most God or the World his Love is so strange that it is such a Question as if you should ask Which were better or which he most loved a piece of Gold or a clod of Earth There is also in Heaven Converse with the best Company Mat. 8.11 Many shall come from the East and from the West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God What would we now give for an hours sight of Paul David or other Saints in Heaven or Converse with them Remember if we have wicked unkind Relations with whom we now dwell in a little time we shall be with them above We are now pleased not only to see a King but his Lords
SOME PRISON MEDITATIONS AND DIRECTIONS On several Subjects Viz. On The Fall of Man On The Sufferings of Christ On Repentance and Faith On Reproof and Counsel On The Holy Scriptures On Prayer On Love to Mankind On Sincerity On The Vanity of the World On The Benefit of Afflictions On Heaven and Hell By SAMVEL YOVNG Minister of the Gospel Jer. 33.1 3. Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the second time while he was yet shut up in the Court of the Prison saying Call unto me and I will answer thee and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not Luther's Song Col. Men. Credens tribulatur Tribusatus invocat Invocans auditur Auditus laudat LONDON Printed by J. A. for Tho. Cockeril at the three Leggs in the Poultrey over against the Stocks-Market 1684. To all that are serious in the Profession of Religion whether Conformists or Nonconformists Ministers or People My Brethren THe Eternal God having spread open the everlasting arms of Mercy and embraced you hath made you so like himself as that you have such a hatred to sin as sin and love to holiness as holiness that cannot be quenched Hence it is that you being such God-like Creatures are often in â—angs because of a distracted world whose Lives are a delectable Frenzy or a continued fit of madness To you do I call that being Converted you would often speak of the chief things in Religion such as are contained in this Book to a vain world that Many may be by you turned unto Righteousness I foresee that several Questions will by several men be made concerning the Author and the Book As Q. What Opinion is the Author of A. I Answer He is of this Opinion that to love God with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the soul and with all the strength and to love his neighbour as himself is more than all whole Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices Mar. 12.33 He disowneth all those Names which have occasioned so many heats and heart-burnings among us and wisheth they were as little known among the Saints on Earth as they are among the Saints in Heaven He is an impartial enquirer after Truth without regard to interest or parties he is of all your Religions to whom he writes and yet of none of them of all so as to mind the great things you plead for as Love to God Christ and Souls c. above all of none so as to be tyed to any of your controverted modes of Discipline he is a mourner over all your parties that God and one another are no more loved but a furious Contender for none Q. Why in the following Meditations and Directions are Books Quoted and not Chapter and Page A. Because I have been for above two years from my Study The Observations are my own in the diligent perusing and reading over all the Authors I have named And now I call on you that know God and are known of him that you love one another If your heads must differ resolve that your hearts shall unite Are you such as frequent the Liturgy Call on them that worship with you not to mock God when they profess to come before him with an humble lowly penitent and obedient heart when they say to God Pitifully behold the sorrows of our hearts Perswade them when they bring their Children to Baptism not to make it only a matter of custome to give the Child a Name c. Choose no ignorant or scandalous God-fathers or God-mothers that never mind their own Souls and therefore in vain promise to mind the Souls of your Children Remember what a weighty matter it is to give up your Children to the Lord What cryes should there be at the throne of Grace what pains should you take as they grow up that they may indeed be his Those that go with you to the Lords Table as you have opportunity perswade them that their words be right when they say The thoughts of our sins are grievous the burthen of them is intolerable and when they resign themselves to God to do it unfeignedly You that frequent private Assemblies chiefly or only Love them that hate you Pray for them that are in Authority let all men by your good Conversations which they shall behold glorifie God in the day of visitation 1 Pet. 2.12 In whatsoever dress your Religion is cloathed whether in a more plain or curious one Love one another Perhaps a Prison may in time make many of you to fall into one anothers Arms and weep bitterly for your former Animosities Remember Ridley and Hooper The same Spirit seems to be among you that once was between Cox of England Fuller's Church-Hiâ—â— and Knox of Scotland when at Frankfort the extream zeal of one for the Liturgie and of the other against it made them fall into preternatural heats I am ashamed to write the whole but cover all with that of the holy Ghost concerning the great send between Paul and Barnabas Act 15 39. that sharp was the contention between them I cannot but take notice however That the Common-prayer-man was the sharpest I would ask them that have not yet learned Pauls directions when contentions were in the Church of God about little things in Religion as Meats Drinks and Holy-days Rom. 14.22 Hast thou Faith have it to thy self before God Let every man be perswaded in his own mind What if Origen Augustine and many of the Ancient Fathers and Holy Martyrs were now alive would they have them silenced for ever and cast out of the Church because they had some Principles that rendred them uncapable to subscribe and swear as some expect When there is an Uniformity in the Stature of all mens Bodies in the feature of all faces in the found of all Voices then and not 'till then may we expect an Uniformity in the Opinions and so practices of the People of God Our Divisions are the great stumbling-block to a Prophane world who if we perswade them to live soberly righteously and godly tell us You are not of one mind though our answer be ready Neither are Physicians nor Lawyers yet that man would not be himself that should say if my Body and my Estate be in never so great danger I will hearken to none of them Great have been the Controversies of late years on foot about Succession if any man should therfore say Government is needless 't is fatal to the world how soon might he be answer'd If any man should say because one man accounts a house of one figure best and another of another figure I will therefore dwell in no House Because one thinks Cloaths of one colour and fashion best and another of another I will therefore put on no Apparel because one man loves such a dish that another cares not for therefore I will eat nothing he were Distracted Let such mind the things wherein we agree and then if they mistake in the things
into Misery So though Christs Righteousness be imputed to us yet we are not therefore Saviours or Mediators We are often commanded to be sanctifyed but not to be Justified for Justification is Gods own work without us The Grace of Christ that is the efficient cause of our Sanctification and is the essential cause the matter and form of our Justification And therefore when God is said to reward men according to their works it shews the order of following not the Cause Vno Scripturae exemplo ista quaestio elucescit Calv. Inst lib. 3. cap. 19. saith Calvin One example in Scripture shall make it clear Gen. 15.5 The Promise made to Abram in Uncircumcision in Gen. 22.16 17. is there made again on his Offering up of Isaac By my self have I sworn because thou hast done this thing I will multiply thy Seed as the Stars of the Heavens Now his Obedience was not the Cause of that blessing for Abraham had it before but was an occasion of renewing it at that time God rewarded his good works and so will ours with Blessings promised before the good works were done Heaven is an Inheritance of Children Obj. If good works justifie not what need is there to press after them Take Luthers answer This is just as if we should say Money Justifies not therefore throw it away our Hands justifie us not therefore cut them off Luthers Comment on the Epist Gala. We must attribute saith he to every thing its proper Work and Office A Woman may not wear a Mans Apparel nor a Man a Womans The Sun shineth by day and the Moon by night So he Gal. 4.7 Wherefore thou art no more a Servant but a Son and if a Son then an Heir of God by Christ An Heir is not Agent but Patient hath all by Birth not by Labour no more than to be born The Promise being of Grace is sure to all the seed It was not sure to Adam he had his Treasure in his own hand and so lost it but we have ours in the hand of Christ Justification and Sanctification are not separated though they be distinguished He that is justified will be holy Tit. 2.14 and zealous of good works The Objection that we are enemies to good works is in vain King Henry the Eighth in his Book against Luther de Septem Sacramentis for which Book the Pope gave him the Title of Defender of the Faith chargeth our Reformers with pleading for all manner of Sins from this Doctrine but how true the world now knows If any of the Church of England are offended I beseech them to read the Homilies about these matters and Bishop Downhams large Folio of Justification and they will find my opinion not different from the old Protestants thô I confess different from the Opinion of some of the late new Protestants both Conformists and Non-conformists 5. If you are through Christ related unto God give Christ the Glory and take to your selves the comfort of this relation We are said to be of his Flesh and Bone Eph. 5.31 32. to be married to Christ Now if the Husband be beyond Sea thousands of miles from the Wife yet they are one So is God and a Believer Joh. 17.21 though God be in Heaven and he upon the earth Remember Christians what Christ hath done for you He hath paid your debts that you could never do If a woman were in debt Thousands of Pounds and by working hard every day should pay Six-pence now and then yet she could never all her life time pay the Sum But if a Rich Man come and pay down the whole and take the woman to wife he doth that in a day which she could never have done in her life time Christ hath done that in a little time that we had been doing of to eternity He satisfied Divine Justice The Dignity of the person makes the Sufferings of such great value Give God the glory that you hear of Christ that you believe in him pity and pray for the poor Jews whose eyes are not yet opened They have not been a Church nor Nation for Sixteen Hundred years past When they were under the Babylonish Captivity it was but Seventy years and they had Prophets to Comfort them but now none comes from God to them which Consideration hath converted some of them Schamaria and Jacob two great Jews by Luther I know no Consideration in my little Converse with them that so convinceth them that they have not been the Church of God for so long time Eleazer Bargisha a Converted Jew in his vain hopes of the Jewish Messiah hath discovered many of their vain Dreams and Dr. Addison in his Hist of the Jews Stir up thine Affections O Christian let thy Heart burn within thee in the Consideration of the Excellencies of Christ Muse a little on these following Scriptures Heb. 1.2 God hath spoken to us by his Son whom he appointed Heir of all things Great Heirs are desired in Marriage will not this do Once again Colos 2.3 In him are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge We delight in men of Wisdom though where they know one thing they are ignorant of many Now Christ is the Wisdom of God will not this do I will try once more and a threefold Cord is not soon broken Rev. 19.12 His eyes were as a flame of fire and on his Head were many Crowns and he hath a name given that no man knoweth but himself In him is wonderful Majesty Dignity and Excellencies incomprehensible by Creatures Cant. 2.5 This is my Beloved may a Believer say I am sick of Love God takes more kindly our Love to Christ than he doth the Love of Angels they see him in his Glory and cannot but love him but we meet with many Oppositions and Temptations For the Perswasion of the Love of Christ to our Souls we should press after it thô as our English Divines of the Synod of Dort say Suf. Brit. that which many find by sad Experience this Satisfaction in a Christian is sometimes vivida sometimes languida and sometimes as nulla sometimes lively sometimes weak and sometimes even as none Remember all the Saints in Heaven and Earth are Redeemed by Christ Col. 1.20 And having made Peace through the Blood of his Cross by him to Reconcile all things to himself by him whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven All the Saints that went to Glory before our Lord came in the flesh were bought by him As a man may be said to buy that which he hath not yet paid for Lands Goods Cloaths whilst there is a Satisfactory Promise made and Security given So Christ bought them in the Covenant between the Father and him that he should in the fulness of time shed his blood for them When Christ came into the World the way to come to him was Repentance and Faith the Apostles preached it and of these in the next Chapter CHAP.