he had power to stand and ability to resist all oppositions and temptations but still he was left to a mutable will But our estate of Recovery is another kind of Estate as to our security in it because it depends upon Jesus Christ as I shall shew when I come to speak of that part of the Text The love of God is a fixt love because it is in and through Jesus Christ Apl. For the Application of this point How abundantly well are they provided for that have the love of God for their portion though they have nothing else though they have not a a Friend on Earth yet if they have the God of Heaven to be their Friend if they have God to own and stand by thm they have enough This was Saint Pauls comfort Though no man stood by me yet the Lord stood by me 2 Tim. 4.16.17 Though thou hast no estate nor Friend nor Creature comfort yet in having the love of God thou hast all nay ten thosand times more then all You may judge what a refreshing it was to the Prophet Daniel Dan. 9.23 At the beginning of thy Supplications the Commandment came forth and I am come to shew thee for thou art greatly beloved when Daniel was ready to faint under his Vision in the 10. Chap. 7.8 in the 11. verse O Daniel greatly beloved what greater word could be spoken then this A man greatly beloved of the great God Psal 144.15 Happy is the People that is in such a case yea happy is that People whose God is the Lord. Let our condition be what it will in all other respects yet if we have but this single priviledge there is enough in this alone to make us happy Though we be under reproaches as St. Pauls was yet he be being clear in his Conscience towards God that he had a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards man he trampled on those Reproaches It s a small thing for me to be judged by mans Judgment We pass through good report and ill report If our condition be want what can he want who hath an interest in him in whom is infinite fulness If our condition be Sufferings what suffering can be harsh to them that have the presence and love of God to sweeten them Here is our strength and comfort indeed but if God with hold his love or suspend the manifestation of it where are we Death it self which is the King of Terrors is no terrour to us if we have but the love of God there is enough in that to turn the dark Valley of the shadow of death into a pleasant entry into everlasting glory Psal 23.4 Though I walk through the Valley of the the shadow of death I will fear no evil For thou art with me thy Red and thy Staff they comfort me Why because thou art with me with me why God is with all his Creatures he is every where Yea but with me in thy favour and love and care and tenderness to uphold support and comfort me when none else can comfort me 2. Appl. The next use is by way of examination You see this priviledge is highly great it is no small matter any of us to know in what posture we stand in reference to it It is our great and cheif concern for all depends upon this theefore let me perswade you from hence to examine your interest in the love of God And although the love of God as it is in him is secret and invisible to us yet it discovers its self in its Fruits and Effects so that it may become discoverable There are many hidden Causes but they may be discovered by their effects as we know the nature of a Tree by the Fruit and the nature of a Fountain by the Stream Now if we would know the love of God to us the truest way to discern it is by our love to God Examine your selves by this 1 John 4.19 We love him because he first loved us If thou hast any spark of love to God to his truth to his ways to his ordinances to his People all these are as so many Fruits of his love to thee He loved thee first and that love kindled in thy heart a love to him Love to God is a spark that comes from Heaven But you will say our love to God may be as hidden and difficult a thing for us to discern in regard especially of the deceitfulness of our hearts as the love of God to us is I shall therefore turn you to one place of Scripture Joh. 14.21 He that hath my Comandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self to him He is loved of God that keeps his Commandments that is that makes it his design and endeavour so to do Now consider what love do you find in your hearts towards God his truth and his ways c. and from hence you may reasonably conclude his love to you 2. A second Rule by which we may be helped in discerning whether we have any right or title to the love of God is this What have you received those Mercies from God that are the infallible Pledges of his peculiar love there are no kind of outward Mercies almost but God may and does sometimes bestow those things in anger God answered the People of Israel in many of their rash requests in anger he gave them quailes in anger c. Again these outward Mercies at best if they do not come in anger are but Fruits of Gods common bounty But now what Mercies do you partaâ—â—e of which are infallible Pledges of his special love there are such Mercies there are indeed some Mercies that may be called in a 〈…〉 gâ—â—â—shing Mercies in respect of their 〈◊〉 and conducenâ—â—â—o bring us to partake â—of 〈◊〉 Mercies indeed as the Gospel for instance 〈◊〉 Yet God vouch fafes this to them 〈…〉 by it as the Jews had the sword Psâ—lâ— 147â—19 20. He shewed his word unto 〈◊〉 his Statutes and his Judgements unto Israel He hath not deâ—â—lt so with any Nation and as for his Judgements they have not known themâ— Rom. 9.2 To them were committed the Oracles of God Herein God hath been good to his People above others the body of his professing People Rom. 9.2 Theirs is the Covenant and the giving of the Law and the service of God and the Promises Yet this Mercy though it be a more limited Mercy then ordinary and common Mercies are yet is no such distinguishing Mercy but that we may be Partakers of it and yet not have an interest of Gods peculiar love This sadly appears for alas how many are there that live under the Gospel and yet are so far from reaping that salvation which the Gospel brings that it only heightens their misery and condemnation How many woes did our Saviour denounce against those Cities that enjoyed the Gospel in so great a plenty and yet
about him but all his ways are Righteousness and Judgement Psal 97.2 Manifest your love by a patient submission to all the dispensations of God and by a good construction of all his Providences 4. Manifest your love to God by a chearful undergoing all afflictions in the cause of God It is for your Lord for him that hath done and suffered ten thousand times more for you then possibly you can do for him Manifest your love by a cheerful submission when your Case is clear in doubtful things the Case will be otherwise The Apostles rejoyced that they suffered reproach and dishonour in the Cause of Christ Acts 5.41 5. Manifest your love to God in labouring to bring others to partake of the love of God You that see some ground in your selves to hope that you have an interest in the love of God be actively diligent to help others what you can to get an interest in this love for this is a high testimony of our love to God Peter lovest thou me Feed my Sheep Joh. 21.16 17. you know how our Saviour repeated it three times to shew that he would take this very well at his hands In the last place one word more to them who have good hopes that these great things do belong unto them Labour to keep up a fresh and lively sense of Gods love in your hearts Though the love of God be invariable thus far whom he loves he loves for ever yet the sense of this love is very mutable Be very careful therefore to keep your Evidences clear and unspotted do not blot them by sin David lost the sense of Gods love for a long time by those great lapses of his and though God had pardoned him and did yet love him yet it was a long time before he did recover the sense of it Be diligent in the use of those Ordinances by which the sense of Gods love is most cleared and kept fresh in your hearts Alas those that do the most partake of the love of God may have their ebbings and flowings as to the sense thereof in Joh. 14.21 He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and be that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him If we would have further manifestations of the love of God we must go on in ways of obedience to God Be therefore often Communing with your own hearts and looking into your own Souls and consider your ways c. how matters stand between God and you On the other hand I shall speak one word to them who upon examination find ground to fear that they are rather under Gods displeasure then intitled to his peculiar love that are rather the objects of his wrath then the subjects of his special love Oh think what a woful estate thou art in Oh think what comforts thou by thy negligence and disobedience hast deprived thy self of Think what dangers thou liest open to every moment there is nothing between thee and everlasting misery but a fraile life and the thread of this life how soon God may cut it asunder none knows Think what uncomfortable and an unsafe estate thou art in Do as David in another Case did He would not give sleep to his Eyes nor slumber to his Eye lids till he had provided a place for the Ark of God So do you give all diligence that you may attain reconciliation to God and an interest in this great priviledge that you have heard of this day of the love of God SERMON XII Rom. 8. ult Nor height nor depth c. I now proceed to a third Observation 3. Doct. There is this transendent excellency in the love of God which speaks it an inestimable support to his People in all their distresses that those who have once been made Partakers of this love can by nothing be deprived or dispossessed of it HEre is a large Enumeration of particulars death cannot do it though it can separate from all things here in this World life cannot do it the troubles of life nor the comforts of life I shall not insist on these things further There is this vanity in the best of all our Creature enjoyments that there will be nay there cannot but be a parting with them The rich man that now prides himself in the multitude of his riches in the greatness of his Treasures in the largness of his incomes cannot rationally but think if he does not he does but delude himself that he cannot carry his riches with him into the other World to bribe the Flames of Gods wrath to corrupt the Executioner of Gods Vengeance It was Jobs acknowledgement naked came I out of my mothers Womb and naked shall I return He came into the World without and he must leave all these things behind him when he goes out again Job 1.21 In the 12 of Luke you read of that Gospel Fool when he began to applaud himself in his condition saying Soul thou hast Goods laid up for many years take thine case eat drink and be merry Thou Fool says God to him this night shall thy Soul be required of thee then whose shall those things be that thou hast provided they are thine now but whose shall they be before to morrow there must be a separation from all these things The greatest of men that are that now over top all about them they must ere long be levelled and made equal to their Neighbours There is no difference between the dust of a Nobleman and the meanest person yea Crowns and Scepters which are such dazeling things in the Eyes of the world these ere long must be resigned into the hands of Successours there must be a separation from all these things Nay all these relations that have the greatest indearment in them that can be as the Relations of Husband and Wife and Parent and Child and Pastor and People and Friend and Friend there is a Friend that is nearer then a Brother saith Solomon there must be separation from these there must be there cannot but be so Your Fathers where are they the Prophets do they live for ever Zach. 1.5 observe this general Rule there is no Fixation no stability in any thing but in this only viz. the love of God For the clearing of this observation I shall speak to 2. things 1. Something by way of Explication 2. Something by way of Confirmation 1. By the way of Explication rightly to state the Case concerning the love of God and to set truth its due bounds This I shall do by propounding several distinctions 1. We must distinguish between the common love of God which manifests it self onely in common Mercies in preserving us and providing for us these outward things and the spocial love of God which consists in distinguishing discriminating Mercies Now it is plainly clear that the Apostle cannot speak here of the common love of God because this love may be
Son of man and cursed is he that maketh an arm of flesh his strength that puts his confidence in any Creature In a Word all the Glory that belongs to the Father the Father hath commanded us to give to his Son That all might honour the Son even as they honour the Father John 5.23 That all should honour the Son even as they honour the Father he that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father So much for this Doctrine I shall apply it under the next Doct. 2. That as Jesus Christ is truly God this God is the Saviour of lost Creatures He is a Saviour to all that do partake of Salvation there is no other Saviour but only Jesus Christ The Doctrine of God our Saviour Tit. 2.10 According to the Commandment of God our Savior Tit. 1.3 You have it several times in this Epistle It was under this Name that the Angels as Heralds from Heaven did proclaim his Incarnation He shall save his people from their sins Now a Saviour implies a state of misery it supposeth either some misery that we are under for the present or some danger that we are liable to for the future in both these respects all the Children of men do stand in need of a Savior We are Apostate Creatures have sinned our selves not only into a state of estrangement from God but we have invested our selves with enmity against God Now this Condition must needs be a perishing Condition for if the favour of God be better than life then the anger and displeasure of God is more dreadful than death it self This is the punishment of the damned it is expressed by this as the most significant part of their misery Depart from me ye cursed Mat. 25.4 Ye cursed There is hell enough in that one word leaving out the other as we are under great danger we have need of a Saviour now there is no other Saviour but Jesus Christ He is said to be the Saviour of all men that is of all that are saved Of all men not that every individual person shall be saved or was intended to be saved by the condescention of Christ but he is the Saviour of all men whether Jew or Gentile for Salvation of Old was restrained to the people of the Jews as to the means and we have reason to believe as to the effect for there is no Salvation without Christ other Foundation can no man lay 1 Cor. 3 11. For the opening of this I shall speak briefly to three things 1. From what it is that Christ saves 2. Whom it is that he saves 3. How it that he accomplisheth this work of Salvation 1. From what it is Christ saves He saves in general from every thing that is dreadful every thing that doth endanger the safety and well being of Souls to all Eternity 1. He saves from Satan the worst of Enemies he hath trampled upon Principalities and Powers and led them captive Object But are not the people of God continually molested and disquieted by Satan is not he as a roaring Lyon going up and down seeking whom he may devour or at least whom he may disquiet and disturb Answ I answer He saves indeed from Satan though not as a Tempter yet as a Destroyer he may disturb their peace and disquiet them in their course but he can never bring them back again to himself For greater is he that is in you that he that is in the world Fear not little Children though you have to do with Principalities and Powers with enemies more than your match yet greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world My Father is greater than all he hath you in his hand and he hath committed you to the care of his Son and Jesus Christ is greater than all 2. He saves from the wrath of God the sorest of Judgments To escape the wrath of God is the concern of all fallen Creatures Oh Generation of Vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come There is no wrath like the wrath of God nor any wrath from God like that which is to come and the first intimation of the Gospel wherever it comes warns to flee from the wrath to come Now by this Salvation Christ sets his People free from the wrath of God which is to come That God whom they have made their enemy he makes to be their friend that God whom they have set against them he procures to be for them True the people of God may be under a sense of his wrath and in their sad thoughts may pray as David did Correct me not in thy hot displeasure yet they are free from the wrath of God as a Judge though not from the anger of God as a Father Though God will not condemn them and cast them off yet God may afflict and chastise them and that is their Priviledge Blessed is the man whom thou chastisest and instructest him out of thy Law We stand in need of Afflictions and those afflictions are so far from being an argument of Gods wrath that they are the fruit of his care for and love to us Every Son whom he loves he chastens God cannot be content to see them that he loves go on in a course that is apparently tending to their own ruine and therefore he steps and checks them by many sharp corrections 3. He saves from Afflictions so far as they they may be to their prejudice For a little time if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations 1 Pet. 1.7 For a little time and if need be So sooner nor no longer nor any more of affliction than the state and condition of their Souls need 3. He saves from sin the worst of evils this is the great Tyrant that usurps it over the Souls of all the Children of Adam He saves them from the power of sin he saves them from the guilt of sin though he doth not save them from the very presence of sin it may afflict and disquiet them but it shall not ruine and destroy them 4. He saves from death it self which is the King of Terrors from the sting of Death though not from the Grave and rottenness The nature of Death is altered to all true Believers Christ hath taken away that was at first threatned as a curse so that in substance all that was as a curse is turned into a blessing to all that Christ takes care of So much for the first from what Christ saves Secondly who are the persons whom Christ saves we shall not look upon that Salvation which Christ bought out for the world to be of that vast latitude as to extend to every particular and individual person in the world for that is contrary to the whole strain of the Scriptures Do but consider that in John 3.16 God so loved the world that whosoever believeth in him should not perish Whosoever believeth in him Every Believer and none else but Believers
lived unproffitably under these Instructions I do wish that we all may take warning by their woe But the Pledges of Gods peculiar love are cheifly the Operations of his Spirit upon our hearts Now what convincing Operations have you found upon your hearts in the first workings of the Spirit of God though his work be to comfort yet it begins in Convictions I will send another Comforter and he shall convince the world of sin Joh. 16.8 Are you so convinct of sin as to be brought off from it to have your hearts set against it though you cannot be free from sin yet this is your burthen and your lamentation and you groan under it It is with you as it was with Saint Paul when he cryed out Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death that is of sin that I carry about with me Do you partake of the graces of Gods Spirit the inlightning the quickening the renewing the sanctifying graces thereof Do you find your hearts to be warmly affected with the things of God of Heaven you cannot lightly pass by these things if you are his Are you acquainted with the Supports of Gods Spirit in the midest of your distresses there are none of you but may be in troubles and yet may have many false Supports I grant as natural stourness and common Principles may carry men far But are you acquainted with the comforts of Gods Spirit have they been your support Again hath God not only vouchsafed you the means of grace but hath he taught you to profit by those means and to entertain them in their efficacy plainness and power Does God please not to let you alone in your sins For God to leave us to be peaceable quiet in our sins is a very sore Judgement Lastly do you still find upon every relapse and failing your hearts deeply sensible thereof and affected therewith then may you comfortably say these are the distinguishing Mercies indeed and conclude they are accompanied with his peculiar love 3. What are the secret workings of your hearts towards God what are your designs your thoughts your endeavours ingaged upon is it to pursue the World is it to stop every Door at which danger and trouble may enter or is it to approve your hearts to God and to mind your duty and in a way of well doing to commit your selves to him is this your care this you may know by the secret workings of your Hearts and by a serious Reflection upon all the passages of your Lives 4. What is the measure by which you measure and pass a Judgement upon all kinds of Objects Do those things seem most hateful to you that are loathsome to God and you most careful to shun that which may hinder you from attaining this love of God or a clear sense of this love therefore do you hate sin and vanity and all those things that stand in opposition to this Priviledge do you make this your Rule to value Ordinances at a high rate by because these are of great advantage to you in respect of your Communion with God and the enjoying of his love and favour and do you mourn and lament the removal of these or your being straitened as to these kind of advantages upon the account in reference to the love of God because you cannot have these opportutunities of Communion with him Consider and seriously bring home these things to your own hearts Appl. In the next place I shall only speak to one use more that is by way of Exhortation If it be so then if you find it is thus with you upon your examination that you have indeed warrantable hopes of claiming an interest in the peculiar love of God Then labour to answer this love of God with love to God love in any is engaging love in Superiours is more engaging but love in God is infinitely more who is able to return love for his love There are these five hints I shall leave with you by way of direction 1. Let this love of God be a powerful constraint upon your hearts to do all the duty that God requires Let Gods love thaw your Icy hearts and cause them to melt and flow into every duty Joh. 15.14 Ye are my Friends if ye do whatsoever I command you The love of God is constraining not only to do all but to do all out of love and not to think his Commandments greivous or his Yoke heavy but to serve him with the chearful compliance to his will in all things 1 Joh. 5.3 For this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments and his Commandmenes are not grievous And this is when we account every thing of duty our reward when we look on our work as our ways David saith In keeping of thy Commandments there is great reward Psal 19.7 Mark he doth not say there shall be but there is in it great reward Indeed there is nothing that God commands us if we did but rightly understand our selves but it would be upon its own account excellent and desireable however we may take offence at several duties that God requires because they cross our corrupt nature as mortification self denial and the like yet all these duties are of so high an advantage that an intelligent person if there was nothing of command in them yet would think there is enough in their own excellency to engage us in the performance of them That 's the first hint if we have any ground to hope that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts 2. Manifest your love to God by a through detestation and a careful avoiding of what ever might offend him You that love the Lord hate evil Psal 97.10 The love of God the Apostle saith constrains us 2 Cor. 5. The love of God to us and the love we have to him it lays a holy necessity upon us it not only constrains us to mind our duty more seriously but it wrests sin out of our hearts and hands and engages to oppose every thing that is offensive to God who shews so much of favour and loving kindness to us I charge you saith the Spouse that you wake not my Love till he please Cant. 2.7 She was careful that he should not be dishonoured by others how much more not to be so by her self 3. Manifest your love by a good construction and interpretation of all Gods providences Love thinks no evil Harbour therefore no hard thoughts of God Do not charge him foolishly as it is said of Job in all his sufferings he did not charge God foolishly This is a high expression of a grateful sense of Gods love to us c. Our love of God if we think well of God what ever he doth with us Providence is an uncertain Rule by which to walk in judging of Gods love Gods ways are in the Sanctuary his Paths are in the deep Waters Clouds and thick darkness are round
removed and turned into hatred God shewed a great deal of love to Saul in chusing him out of all the Tribes of Israel to be head over his People and Saul himself was at first very sensible of the goodness and love of God to him in this respect and therefore when Samuel tells him how God 1 Sam. 9.21 had chosen him to be the head of his People Saul answered and said am not I a Benjamite of the smallest of the Tribes of Israel and my Family the least of all the Families of the Tribes of Benjamin Wherefore then speakest thou so to me he thought this was too much kindness to be shewed to such a mean and unworthy person as he was Nay in the beginning of his Reign God did wonderfully honour him both in giving him the hearts of his People it s said God touched the hearts of his People chap. 10.26 and likewise in giving him success against his Enemies Yet after all these favours which were but Fruits of common love Saul for his disobedience was cast of He first rejected God and then God rejected him 1 Joh. 15.23 when Samuel expostulated with Saul and told him he had not executed the Commission he had received from the Lord he had not destroyed all the Amalekites according to the Commandments of God he pleased himself with a fine excuse the People took of the cheif of the things to Sacrifice to the Lord 1 Sam. 15.22 23. Saith Samuel hath the Lord as great delight in burnt Offerings and Sacrifices as in obeying the voyce of the Lord Behold to obey is better then Sacrifice and to hearken then the fall of Rams For Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft and stubborness of iniquity and idolatry Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord he hath also rejected thee from being King Here was first favour from God and then anger but this was but the common favour of God The Apostle doth not speak of this So concerning that case the prosperity of the wicked which hath so much staggered the faith of Gods People and put them to a non plus Why do do the wicked prosper what expostulations do we find not only in David but in many other holy men in Scripture in this Case God may be bountiful to all men but this is but his common love But now if we speak of what love the Apostle speaks of here it is special love which is manifested in distinguishing Mercies in those Gifts and Graces that are without Repentance Rom. 11.29 2. We must distinguish between the peculiar love of God in it self and the appearance and evidence of it to our apprehension This love in it self hath a real constancy though in our apprehensions it may be seemingly uncertain God is ever careful to love his People with this peculiar love really though this love may not always be visible and apparant to us Isa 49.14 read there the complaint of the Church and the Church is as dear to God as the most beloved Wife is to the tenderest Husband She is said to be betrothed to God nay God is said to marry her Hosea 2. yet you see the Church complains And Zion said the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hoth forgotten me Not only forsaken but forgotten not only cast out of doors but quite cast of this was the sense she had of her own Case But God answered that Objection with many comfortable and gracious promises in the verse following Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her Womb yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee I might bring a whole Cloud of Witnesses to prove this truth that the love of God is real and constant when in our apprehensions it seems to be uncertain and that he then loves us when he seems to have taken off his love from us Psal 77.7 8. Will the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favour able no more is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his promise fail for ever more hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender Mercies Selah Shut them up that there is no hope of future Mercies I said this is my Infirmity but I will remember the years of the right band of the most High This was the Fruit of his deliberation when he had recollected his thoughts this was my weakness it was not so with God Gods love is certain and constant It is many times with gracious Souls that are beloved of God with a peculiar love as it was with Hagar she wept and lamented she looked on her self and Child as hopeless till the Angel opened her Eyes to see the Well Gen. 21.16 And she went and sate her down over against him a good way off as it were a Bow shot For she said let me not see the death of the Child And she sate over against him and lift up her voyce and wept And God heard the voyce of the Lad and the Angel of God called to Hagar out of Heaven and said unto Her what aileth thee Hagar fear not for God bath heard the voice of the Lad where he is 19. verse God opened her Eyes and she saw a Wall of Water and she went and filled the Bottle with Water and gave the Lad to drink Her Bottle was spent her hope was quite gone but God opened her Eyes So it is said of the Prophet 2 Kings 6.15 when he saw such a multitude that came against him and his Master And when the Servants of the man of God was risen early and gone forth behold an Host compassed the City both with Horses and Chariots And his Servants said unto him alas my Master how shall we do And he answered fear not for they that be with us are more then they that be with them And Elisha prayed and said Lord I pray thee open his Eyes that he may see And the Lord opened the Eyes of the young man and he saw and behold the Mountain was full of Horses and Chariots round about Elisha This Eye is the Eye of Faith now when this Eye of Faith is dim objections are raised but when God opens this Eye this dispels all these Objections How ever the love of God is constant though to our sense and apprehension it may many times be over clouded and dark in Isa 50.10 you read of Children of light walking in the darkness those to whom comfort was their right and priviledge they who had a real Title to it yet those Children of light sate in darkness This is the Case of many gracious Souls I add this to the former as it is the distinguishing love of God the Apostle speaks of in the Text so it is the distinguisthing love of God as to its reallity not to its visibility 3. We must distinguish between the love of God in its self and various degrees of this love I grant not only in appearance but
grace God undertakes for both Now the fulness and unchangableness of these decrees argue the love of God to be unchangeable As God hath intended some to glory as the end he intended by grace as the means to bring them to that end 2 Thes 2.13.14 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you Brethren Beloved of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit belief of the Truth whereunto he called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ That is the glory purchased by our Lord Jesus Christ And if this love of God flows from his electing decree it must needs be everlasting because God cannot be frustrated in his decre 4. Arg. The fulness of that care that God takes of his People though they may be tempted and assaulted and meeâ— with sore buffettings yet he will not let them be tempted above what they are able 1 Cor. 1.13 and when they are the forest beset with difficulties and under the greatest fears and sad thoughts yet even then God hath the same care of them that he had of St. Paul 2 Cor. 12.9 my grace is sufficient for thee That one expression that we have 1 Pet. 1.5 is enongh to clear this truth Who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation you read in the verse before of Gods reserving of Heaven for them and in this verse of God's preserving of them for it Though they may meet with many Rubs and Interruptions in the way to Heaven yet they are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation they shall not fall short of glory God doth still love them and they shall find the Fruit of this love to be everlasting happiness His grace is omnipotent grace and therefore it is that our Saviour comforts his Disciples with this consideration Joh. 10.29 My Father is greater then all and none can pluck you out of his hands Now if God takes such care of his People to preserve them then there is no fear of their falling short of his glory 5. Arg. Lastly The many assurances that God hath given his People of his everlasting love to them He hath given them his word he tells them whom he loves he loves to the end Joh. 13.1 he hath told them I well never leave you nor forsake you Heb. 13.5 Nay he hath given them not only his word but his promise which is more than a solemn word Jer 32.40 And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from then to do them good Nay he hath not only given them his promise but his promise confirmed with an Oath Heb. 6.17.18 Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of promise the immutability of his Counsel and confirmed it by an Oath That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong Consolation c. Nay he hath confirmed his Oath with a Seal he hath given us his hand and Seal and he hath given his People the first Fruits of the Spirit whereby they are Sealed up to the day of Redemption So that you see the love of God hath this transcendent excellency in it that it is everlasting There is nothing that enemies can do to put a period to it and there are all things in God that might give us an assurance of theeverlastingness thereof Vse Now to make some Application of this point in a few words First This may inform us of the folly of them who fix upon any thing on this side God There is no everlastingness no fixation no stability in any thing but in God only I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandments are exceeding broad Alas all other things are but as Clouds that are passing away they are not why should we set our hearts upon things that are not they are not because they continue not In fixing our hearts and hopes and in building our expectations on any thing befides God and placing our comforts on any thing besides the love of God as we highly dishonour God so we highly wrong our own Souls Hereby we highly dishonour God because we prefer the Cistern before the Fountain yea we rather chuse to build on the Sand then upon the Rock of Ages we think our selves better in the hands of Creatures then in the hands of the Almighty and infinitely gracious God And we wrong our selves because we bring our selves under an absolute necessity of being frustrated and disappointed though we may be as industrious as the laborious Bee to wander from this to the other part of the world to go to this and that Flower yet we are sure to meet with nothing but disappointment but God is a sure refuge his love is stable and secure to our Souls Nay we do whtat we can to put God far from us when we fly from him and make the world our comfort We bid as it were God to depart from us We tell him we can do well enough without him we can do well enough with other things besides him we say as they did depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy love Job 21.14 2. It may inform us how such Discourses as this is may cause our hearts to burn within us as it is said of his Disciples who were going to Emaus Christ appeared to them and they knew him not but afterwards when he had left them then they recollected their thoughts and said How did our hearts burn within us whilst he spake unto us that God should love such as we are and that with an everlasting love and so as that nothing should be able to take off his love from us not our sins not our provocations this is a wonder Though these may be as so many Clouds to darken his love yet this is a priviledge peculiar to all true and sincere Believers Now since God doth love us so wonderfully how should this cause our hearts to burn within us To burn with the Fire of Repentance to purge away the dross of our sins that ever we should be so foolish unwise and disingenious to requite so good a God who hath so loved us And with the Fire of love to love God and to do what we can in acknowledging such love in him to us And with the Fire of Zeal for him that hath shewed so much of kindness to and care of and over us 2. Vse The next use is by way of Exhortation and in that I shall speak to two sorts of persons First To them who find themselves as yet Strangers to this love of God Let me speak to them Oh do but think how sad a condition you are at present labour to affect throughly your hearts with the sadness of this condition though you may have never so much of other Mercies yet if you have not
natural constitution are but one step from hell and everlasting flames and between us and it there is nothing but a brittle and uncertain life What astonshing love is this God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son 3. John 16. 1 John 3.5 Now how disingenuous and unworthy is it in us to slight and undervalue these high discoveries of love Again Consider what a mercy it is not only that heaven is become possible but also that God vouchsafes us this priviledge to discover the excellency of heaven to us with means for the obtaining of heaven and his blessing upon the means that by all we might be made meet to partake of this Inheritance These are mercies that God doth not vouchsafe to all men 147 Psal 19 20. He hath not dealt so with other nations Farther not only is this inheritance possible and a discovery made of it and means afforded for the obtaining it But God gives us also many incouragements to make use of these means this Inheritance is not only purchased but proffered and tendered if we are willing to accept and do not refuse it God will bestow it Nay God doth not only proffer it but he importunes our acceptance of it how often doth Christ perswade and perswade with a great deal of importunity that you would accept of this Inheritance I have stretched out my band all the long to a gainsaying people Farther the terms upon which he encourageth us are only upon the account of free-grace Who ever will let him take of the waters of life freely Come buy wine and milk without money and without price 55. Isaiah God only requires us to bring a sense of our wants and what a most unworthy requital is this of the love and kindness of God to undervalue this Inheritance 2. We hereby render our selves so far as we undervalue these mercies so far uncapable of partaking of them It was said of the Jews they thrust away the kingdom of heaven from them 13. Acts 46. That is as Beza upon the place observes their carriage and contempt did declare them unworthy 22. Matth. Christ sent forth his messengers to invite to the wedding seast The Guests were indeed Invited but they all made light of it What was the Issue The king sent his servants to call in other guests God will first bring us to prize these mercies before he vouchsafe them 3. They who slight these mercies bring themselves under an absolute necessity of perishing 2. Heb. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation If we refuse this inheritance we undo our selves for ever Quest But what kind of neglect is it that doth deprive us of this Inheritance Answ When the neglect is total and we prefer the world so much above it that we only mind the things thereof As that rich man 12. Luke minded his barns his In-comes but his soul he cared not for vers 19 20 21. So when we prefer any thing above it 10. Matt. 37. He that loveth father or mother more then me is not worthy of me This was Esaus great sin his profaneness his selling his birth-right for a mess of pottage and when we so neglect it that we are not wiling to undergo any thing for it or deny our selves any thing in order to it we are rendered all together uncapable of this Inheritance There are other neglects through weakness and they are such as the people of God are incident unto as sins of infirmities As when they do not pray with that fervency and strive with that earnestness for that kingdom of heaven which is set before them as becomes the excellency of these things Now this kind of carriage may give us cause of shame and trouble but doth not cut off our right That is the second Consider what we slight and what we do in undervaluing these mercies 3. Consider for what it is that we so much undervalue this glorious Inheritance No man doth slight this but it is in order to the securing of other enjoyments Now what enjoyments are there like these If there were any better then these then this practice were Justifiable Nay if there were any enjoyments equally as good as these then these neglects were excusable but in as much as none are to be compared with these this is that bespeaks these neglects though but in part without excuse Now what should tempt us to a neglect of these glorious things can we expect to meet with that in sin or in Creature and outward comforts can we expect that the world should be so sweet as to countervail the loss of them Our ease our safety I might instance in all outward things alass these things are but vain while they do continue and it is but for a moment that they can continue and there can be nothing of satisfaction found in them they are but such mercies as God bestows upon the worst of men and they are useless in our straits and therefore why should these clog us in our pursuits after greater matters Vse of Direction What shall we do that we may shake off that sluggishness and get above that dullness of Spirit that is usually in us in our pursuit after matters that do so highly concern us 1. Direct Consider how much it is your duty and concernment to bestow your utmost earnestness there It was the commendation of John Baptists hearers 11. Matth. from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force So it is our Saviours advise strive to enter in at the strait gate Striving denotes our utmost earnestness it is not endeavours alone nor is it earnestness for a time but it must be a constant earnestness a fixed course in pursuing this glorious Inheritance 2. Direction Be much in the great duty of Meditation there are many advantages in it It gives all kind of truths a free passage into our hearts Therefore by Meditation we should be often taking a view of this glorious Inheritance as Moses went up to the top of Pisgah and from thence took a view of the promised Land so we should often by Meditation take a view of all those excellencies It was the advice of a Learned writer concerning meetness for eternity Says he if you would be serious in preparing for Eternity do but spend one quarter of an hour every day in considering what Eternity is If you would be more lively and vigorous in your prayers and endeavours be frequent in considering what it is you strive for Again Meditation is admirable not only to imprint the excellency of this Inheritance upon our hearts but also to preserve those apprehensions that we have of this glorious Inheritance already Now that this may inflame our souls with love to God in that God hath not only made provision for us in this life but for Eternity and such a glorious Inheritance as this is we should be often
nothing but anger against us as when God opens a window into our breasts and thereby gives us a full view and prospect of our own wretchedness when he reveals to us our guilt andat the same time conceals his own love oh what a dreadful condition is the soul then in where ever it goes the curse of the Law and the cry of its own sins pursue it My sin is ever before me says David Psal 51.3 and how does Job bemoan himself Chap. 13.23 24 25. How many are mine iniquities and sins c. Wherefore hidest thou thy face from me and holdest me for thine enemy c. and vers 26. thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth So Job 6.2 3 4. Oh that my grief were throughly weighed c. The arrows of the Almighty are within me the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit the terrours of God do set themselves in aray against me His afflictions in outward respects were neither few nor small his estate was gone his relations gone his health gone but all these were small matters in comparison of the withdrawings of God Had God smiled upon his soul he could better have endured his frownings upon all his outward comforts could he but have discerned God to be his friend he could more chearfully have born all his other tryals but that which occasion'd all his pathetical moans was Gods hiding his face 2. How far is it that God does hide his face at any time from his people 1. Negatively God will never totally nor finally hide his face from them 't is his promise Heb. 13.5 He hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee and if he hath said it it is not for us to question it The Disciples of Pythagoras had their Master in so great Reverence that an ipse dixit he hath said it was enough to them they thought it presumption in them to question what they had received from him now though this was too much arrogance in men either to give or take such an autoritativeness yet when God speaks he who is truth it self he who can do all things but cannot lie 't is not for us to doubt or question 2. Positively Though God may hide his face from his people yet will he not turn it from them he never ceases to love them though he does not always manifest it he retains towards them the love of a father even when he discovers the anger of a Judge Isa 54.7 8 10. for a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy redeemer The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my peace be removed So Isa 57.16 17 18. Many times 't is in respect of outward comforts only God hides his face to let them know the excellency of spiritual comforts sometimes not only in respect of spiritual comforts but graces also that his people may know their dependance upon him but still God regards their safety 3. The reasons why God deals thus with his people 't is not from any delight he takes in their sorrows nor from any pleasure he hath in their troubles But 1. 'T is to chastise them for their fins every sin is a forsaking God and consequently a provoking God to forsake us did not we by our disobediences withdraw our selves from him God would not withdraw himself from us That the Sun is overclouded 't is from those vapours which the earth it self sends up but there are some sins especially branded in Scripture as the causes of this calamity 1. Spiritual Idolatry when our hearts wander from him after strange loves the great thing God requires is our hearts if we deny them to him no wonder if he hide his face from us When we set up creatures in Gods throne and give that to them which is only due to him this is high disloyalty and provokes his jealousie Deut. 31.17 18. Deut. 32.17 20 21. God will admit no rivals have no partners in our hearts he that hateth not all in comparison of him is not accounted aright to love him for this sin God sometimes gives the soul a kind of divorce 2. Obstinacy and stubborness against all Counsels and instructions because I have purged thee and thou wouldst not be purged c. Ezek. 24.13 because the people of Israel would none of Gods Counsels he leaves them to their own Psal 81.11 12. 3. Lukewarmness in Gods service this was the sin for which God threatned the Church of Ephesus Revel 2.4 5. the Church of Laodicea Revel 3.15 16. 't is not enough that we serve God but we must serve him with all our might and with all our strength 4. A willing connivance at any known sin either in our selves or in others so far as concerns us thus in the Church of Pergamus Revel 2.14 in the Church of Thyatira Revel 2.20 5. A disesteem of his love and the pledges thereof when Israel once loathed their Mannah they did not long enjoy it when they slighted Sabbaths and spiritual opportunities God sends a famine of this spiritual food Amos 8.5 compared with verses 11 12. 6. Unfruitfulness under the means of grace for his sin God threatned his Ancient people to remove his Gospel from them they brought not forth the fruits of it Matth. 21.43 2. To carry on the designs and purposes of his own grace towards them God hides his face for a time that he may not hide it for ever he does not now spare them that he may for ever spare them But more particularly 1. God hides his face sometimes that he may recover his people to a due esteem of his favour The spouse flagged in her affections towards Christ his withdrawings raise up her desires 2. That they may be more wary and cautious in shuning whatever might renew these breaches again and consequently enjoy his favour more fully and more constantly The burnt child dreads the fire 4. The uncomfortableness of this condition 1. Proportionably to the withdrawings of God there will be a damp uon all our comforts If the sun be set all the stars in the firmament cannot make day if God hide his face it must needs be night with the poor soul Thus with David Psal 30.7 Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled 2. Accordingly there will be a decay in all our graces those plants which while the sun is near thrive and flourish in the winter season seem to die and wither the soul of man is but a barren foil in respect of all spiritual good while God who is the spiritual husbandman is tilling and dressing and taking pains with it 't is then fruitful but when God withdraws all decays John 15.2 Jerem. 23.3 3. There will
comparison of thee we cannot own him as God unless we thus set him uppermost in our thoughts do you account him your riches your treasure your happiness Do you prize his favour above the applause of men are you contented to be reproached by others if you may be owned by him do you value his ways above the most profitable imployments in the world do you think your time never so well spent and improved as when bestowed upon his service Psalm 84.10 do you account his encouragements above all earthly allurements and that all the world can proffer are poor contemptible things to him that understands the inheritance of the Saints in light do you look upon his Cross as your Crown thus did Moses Heb. 11.25 2. What are your affections towards God do you love him above all this is the great Command Deut. 6.5 that is our God which we most love it is said of the Epicureans they made their bellies their gods Phil. 3.19 2. Tim. 3.4 That they were lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God do you so love God as to loath whatever stands in opposition to God Psalm 97.10 so as â—o loath whatever stands in competition with him 1 John 2.15 do you so fear him as not to fear to displease others in pleasing of him thus Dan. 3. from ver 13 to ver 19. Dan. 6.10 do you delight in him despise all things in comparison of him thus did Paul Phil. 3.8 do you prize all things in reference to him are his withdrawings of all things the most sadning 3. What are your carriages toward God do you fully devote your self to his service in all that you have or are 2 Cor. 8.5 do you quietly submit and rest well contented with his disposals in all things are you ever pressing after more of God Phil. 3.14 4. What is your conformity to Christ 1 Joh. 2.6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself to walk even as he also walked and of all patterns of holiness none is like that we have in Christ 1. His self denial this is the highest instance we have in Scripture We read of the self denial of Abraham in two things 1. leaving his Country 2. Beieg ready to sacrifice his Son though a Son of many prayers oo his part and of many promises from God Of the self-denial of Moses but the self-denial of Christ doth infinitely exceed all instances besides The glory he left was such as no Creature was capable of The misery he underwent such as no meet Creature was able to have undergone his whole life was a life of self denial his entrance into the world his continuance in it and his passage out of it all of them high acts of self-denial The persons for whom he denied himself were such as could not deserve that kindness no nor desire it that could not requite it but in whom was every thing that might have hindered it and yet this person that denied himself was one that stood upon even ground with God the Father Phil. 〈◊〉 .6 2. The life of Christ was a pure undefiled life the lives of the best of men have been chequered with blemishes their best and fairest copies have not been without blots but it is said of Christ he was without spot 1. Pet. 1.19 1 Pet. 2.22 there were many things in Christ at which many were offended the Scribes and Phariseeâ— at his conversing with sinners the Disciples themselves sometimes were offended at the sererity of his Doctrine but the cause of these offences was in them not in him The admirable exemplariness of his life appears In that under the sorest of afflictions he never discovered the least of impatience his Name was reproached his person contemned his very Soul grieved yet did he not express so much as one hard thought of God The highest favours could not make him less humble The strongest temptations could not allure him from his faithfulness Mat. 4. The greatest oppositions could not slacken his diligence or make him remiss In one word his obedience was so full that he left nothing unfinished of all that God required from him John 17.4 3. A most active and useful life in reference to God in serving him in reference to man in saving-poor lost Souls Consider his zeal to God John 2.17 his melting compassions towards the Souls of poor sinners his invitations encouragements sad resentments of denials and obstinate refusals his stooping to the meanest offices in order to his peoples good John 13. his preferring doing good to the world before enjoying all the good of it his unwearied laboriousness in seeking and saving them that were lost the more conformable you are to the life of Christ the clearer is your title to those Promises which the Covenant contains which is established with poor Creatures in and through Christ 3. Doct. A serious improvement of this peculiar interest which all sincere Believers have in the Lord as their God is sufficient for their support and encouragement under the sorest of outward distresses that can befal them in this world A clear instance of this we have in David here when his Companions whose distresses were less than his had such a damp on their hearts and were exceedingly dispirited David was still and quiet and the great Antidote he made use of was he encouraged himself in the Lord his God he doth not break out into complaints either against God or against them but betakes himself to God for Counsel what was to be done in such a case as his was ver 7. and that which kept his spirit in so sedate and calm a temper was he encouraged himself viz. he improved this priviledge to his support and comfort this was a course he had often experimented Psal 18.2 Ps 27.1 Psa 46. throughout this was his judgment in the case as to others Psal 112.7.8 Two things will make this more evidently appear 1. This interest in the Lord as our God though it is an unspeakable priviledge and sufficient for our safety yet this singly is not sufficient for our actual present comfort unless it be cleared improved that 't is a great and unspeakable priviledge hath been demonstrated in the explication of it that 't is sufficient for our safety appears 1. Because this interest is indissoluble God doth if I may so speak play fast and lose with his people his affections towards them are no fickle no wavering affections he is not off and on with them but where once he sets his heart nothing can take it off John 13.1 Rom. 8.38 39. thousands of calamities may dissolve our relation to all Creature-comforts but nothing can dissolve it to God 2. While this relation continues there can be no diminution of his love and care affections are very strong in all those relations wherein God describes the relation he himself stands in to his people that of a Lord a Father a Husband If God he for us who can be against us
people as they are peculiarly his Therefore David begs Psal 106.4 5. Shew me the good of thy chosen that I may rejoyce in the gladness of thy Nation that I may glory with thine inheritance God hath favour for others but he hath a special favour for his Now this is the great Priviledge of all sincere Believers besides the general love God hath to all Creatures these he looks upon as his Jewels as his darlings as his delight as persons whom he singles out as special Objects of his favour That 's the first 2. Noth withstanding this peculiar love of God to sincere Believers yet they may nevertheless be sorely afflicted the Apostle reckons up here many smart Afflictions in the verses before you read of Tribulation and distress and persocution famine nakedness perils sword life death Angels Principallities powers Now while the Apostle asserts so expresly that none of these shall be able to spearate from the love of God he strongly implies that those that are the people of God those that are the real objects of his love may yet be liable to all these they are not exempted from any of these They may be persecuted and yet are beloved of God they may be exercised with wants with nakedness and undergo cruel usages from men yet beloved of God under great Affliction and yet under great Affection from God The disting uishing love of God makes no distinction in these outward things Eccles 9.1 2. No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before him all things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner as he that sweareth as he that feareth an Oath Their Afflictions may be as great nay exceed the afflictions of others as you may see Psal 37. and Psal 73 both those Psalmes are upon that subject as to the troubles of this life the most sincere Servants of God may have a deeper share and portion in them than they that do not own God in sincerity In this world you shall have trouble They that will live Godly in Christ shall suffer persecutition c. These are the predictions for the future and if you look back to the experience of former Ages the flaming bush hath been an Embleme of the state of Gods Church while the Church is here the Bush was flaming and burning and yet not consumed You see then it is the Priviledge of sincere Believers that they have an interest in the special love of God and you see also notwithstanding the peculiar love of God to them they are liable to many smart afflictions Thirdly Whatever their afflictions are though they may be above and grearer than others yet notwithstanding they have supports above others even the love of God you may see that this along hath been their great support their relation to and their interest in the Lord as you may read in 1 Sam. 30.6 when David was once stript of no less than his all his Wives his Cihildren his Substance his Cattle all were carried a way Captive yet he incouraged himself in the Lord his God Nay this is the Promise that God hath made to his Psalm 89.31 32 33 34. speaking of them them that are his in Covenant If they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments Then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail My Covenant will I not break nor aleer the thing that is gone out of my lips I will chastise them they shall know what it is to provoke me to offend me yet I will have a kindness for them when it is the foulest weather with the people of God here below God by his Providences doth ordinarily make it clear above when the world doth most frown God doth usually most smile when his people are condemened of men he then vouchsafeth them the clearest evidences of their acceptance with him 2 Cor. 4.8 9. We are afflicted on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsuken cast down but not destroyed still they had some relief in God and God did let them then especially find it when they did most need it this is usually the time wherein God manifests more of tenderness to his people than at other seasons it is promised Hosea 2.14 I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably to her A wilderness that is a desert a place full of full of wants of straits and difficulties but that shall be a time and place of Gods love to be manifested The Apostle found this also true As our afflictions abound so our consolations do much more abound upon this account it is that afflictions when they are sanctified and we are supported under them and do make a right use of them they are frequently mentioned is Scripture as choice blessings as eminent favours Thus this Doctrine is cleared Whatever Comforts a gracious Soul may go without what Calamities it may undergo yet it hath this unspeakable support the love of God this love is a peculiar love and it doth not exempt from Afflictions but it doth admirably sweeten those Afflictions that the Servants of God do meet with For the Use of this Point this Informs us of the necessity of an eye of Faith to enable us to make a right Judgment both of Persons and Things Sense and Reason are incompetent Judges of things Invisible because these are above Sense above the reach of Reason many of them we are apt to think when God strips his people of their estates of Creature comforts of Friends of neer Relations that when these are gone all is gone with them no no they have the love of God then as our Saviour said I have meat that ye know not of so they have comforts and refreshments that others know not of Strangers cannot intermeddle with their joy these are out of the reach of all kind of enemies 2. Doct. This peculiar love of God is such a mercy that nothing but the want of it can make any of us miserable This I ground upon the Text The scope of the Apostle in this place is to comfort the people of God against all the discouragements that this life is liable to and capable of Now the Argument he alledges to this purpose is no more than this Nothing can separate you says he from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus and in as much adds nothing more but this he thought he had spoke enough in that one word hence I gather it is a mercy so highly considerable that nothing but the want of this can make any of us miserable All the miseries and calamities in the world that can come upon us
cannot make us miserable if we may but enjoy this one thing the love of God it is as if the Apostle had said I reckon that such Afflcitions may separate you from the comforts of this world but let what affliction will or can come upon you they cannot separate you from these refreshments this one singular Priviledge the Apostle opposeth to all those kinds of calamities that he had mentioned before though it is true every particular calamity is not mentioned amongst these yet the greatest and worst are and the rest are included in them If God should enlarge Satans Commission against us as he did once against Job and deliver all we have into his hands and power and if Satan should never fail in executing the utmost of that power that God gives him should God deal thus with us yet there is enough in the love of God to sweeten all Psalm 63.3 Thy loving kindness is better than life So our Translation reads it but in the hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prae vitis that is better than lives The meaning of this is as a Learned Expositor glosses upon the Text than any kind of life better than life with any kind of advantages that may render it more sweet and pleasant to us it is better than lives now life you know is of all outward mercies the highest for all other things are perfectly insignificant to us without life Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life But thy loving kindness is better life So in Psalm 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee David did not say he had nothing in the world for he had a Kingdom a Crown he had a great deal of worldly honours and greatness but these were not the things he looked at he could pass by these he eyed Communion with God and the favour of God was more than all Psalm 4.6 7. There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine did encrease Now how often did this holy man solace himself upon this account his interest in the favour of God Psalm 16.5 6. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup thou maintainest my Lot The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage There was nothing that this holy man made his boast of but only of God and you find him often making him his glory and truly well might David be of this maind well might he despise all worldly greatness in comparison of God for could he have added Kingdome to Kingdom and world to world all had been nothing in comparison of him That excellent description of God in Isaiah 40.12 is highly magnificent and very helpful to raise up our thoughts to consider the greatness of God Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out Heaven with a span c. But now to prove this truth farther I shall alledge these six Reasons 1. Reas There is nothing but the love of God can make us happy and therefore there is nothing but the want of this love that can make us miserable for misery consists in the want of some good or the enduring of some evil Now nothing I say can make us happy but the love of God It is not Honours for not many Noble are called it is not Greatness for Greatness and goodness do not always go together a man may be a Great man and withal a great sinner yea a miserable man It is said of Naaman that he was a Great man but withal he was a Leper and that spoil'd all It is not Riches can do it Mans life consists not in the abundance of the things of this world Besides you read of an infamous rich man Luke 12. he was boasting of his barnes and granaries and projecting how he might pull them down and make new kind of store-houses for the reception of his incoms When alas that night his Soul should be required of him And in Luke 16. you read of one faring deliciously every day but both of these were in a very sad condition as to their Souls you remember the Parables It is not Friends Children or Relations they cannot make us happy we find those that have been under the displeasure of God to abound in all these no less than twelve Dukes proceeded from the Loyns of profance Esau In a word it is not Creatures below us that can make us happy for happiness is mans perfection and Creatures below us are below perfection nor equal with us nay nor above all Creatures above us are finite but the desires of our hearts are infinite and that which hath its bounds can never satisfie boundless desires and where desires are not satisfied there can be no happiness But although God should give us so much of the world as our own hearts can desire or wish yet if he hide his face or stand at a distance from us there is enough in the want of that single mercy to make us altogether miserable therefore as Job speaks of Wisedom the same wa may say of the love of God Job 28.12 13 14. But where is wisdom found and where is the place of understanding Man knoweth not the price thereof neither is it found in the land of the living The depth saith it is not in me and the Seasaith it is not in me verse 15. Gold shall not be given for it neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof 2. Reas The love of God is such a mercy that it is abundantly sufficient to make up the want of all other mercies and to sweeten the sourest of all kind of Afflictions that can befal us God in his giving himself gives us more than all other comforts what we have not in the stream yet if we have it in the fountain it is more fresh and more delightful says Bernard Lord where can I be well without thee and where can I be ill if may enjoy thee Thy favour is better than life True we may be impatiently desirous of this and that Creature-comforts and as froward in those desires as Rachel was when she quarrelled with Jacob for Children Give me Children or else I die we cannot live without this and that comfort we cannot subsist without God humor us Gen. 30.1 But as Elkanah said to Hannah so may we say to our sullenest and most impatient desires Am not I better to thee than ten sons Is not God better to us than all If God should deny us this or that or take away this or that Creature-comfort is not God better to us than all 3. Reas Thirdly the love of God in its full perfection is the very happiness of Heaven it self and so much as we
is in ability so is his love more or less bountiful It is said of Abashuerus he gave gifts becoming his magnificence so God gives gifts to his People suitable to his greatness becoming his Magnificence Jesus Christ is called the gift of God and what gift could God give greater John 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever beleiveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life He had but one only begotten Son and he gave him Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but deliverd him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things This is such a pledge of Gods bounty and evidence of his liberality that we need not doubt of the goodness of God in other things since God has given so high an instance as this God will give grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Psal 84.7 4. The love of God is the most firm and constant love alas we are poor mutable Creatures but God is an unchangable God whom he loves he loves to the end and that end is without end Therefore the loving kindness of God is said to be better then life Psal 63.3 and it is better then life upon this account because it lasts longer then life yea then all that in life we are made Partakers of for if a man live in God he lives better then in all other enjoyments whatsoever 5. The love of God is an Omnipotent love it is such as is able to effect his good pleasure to them that are the objects of his love Friends may wish us well but can do no more in some Cases but there is no blessing needful there is nothing that may be helpful to us but God is able to vouchsafe it in him dwells infinite fulness and power Thus you see from these five Reasons that this peculiar love of God is such a mercy that nothing but the want of this can make any of us miserable Application First If it be so that nothing can make that person miserable that enjoys the love of God then certainly God is no hard Master nor does he deal rigorously with his People when he suffers them to be afflicted Though he lets them meet with some troubles and calamities and many of them very smart ones too yet all this cannot be accounted harsh dealing because nothing can make them miserable that are in the love of God They may be under sufferings as the Apostles speaks 2 Cor. 4.8 They may be under straits and difficulties but in all these they are not forsaken we are troubled on every side but not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair Cast down but not cast off afflicted but not unhappy I say this may silence all those Cavils and hard thoughts that our corrupt Natures are apt to entertain concerning God especially in his providential dealings with his People 2. Inference is this If the love of God be such an eminent priviledge How dreadful then is their Case that are under the hatred of God What ever hath been said concerning the love God the greatest word that can be spoken of it is the infiniteness thereof that it is an infinite love Now the infiniteness of Gods hatred makes that as terrible and dreadful as the other is desireable infiniteness in God as it plainly demonstrates God to be on the one hand the best Friend so on the other hand the worst of Enemies and as it speaks his love to be the most desirable portion so of all kind of evils his hatred to be the most formidable 3. Inference is this Take notice of the folly and madness of those Persons that can be patient and quiet under the displeasure of God and can content themselves without seeking reconciliation to him and being received into favour with God Is not this the Case of many is not this the Cafe of many of us It would be well for us if we would put this question home to our own Souls you see nothing can make us miserable but only the want of Gods love the Apostle thought he had spoke enough in this one word to bear up their Spirits against the fear of all those Calamities which at that time were threatned as Persecution Famine Sword Nakedness Perils of all kinds But what shall bear up those who have no share in it since there is nothing can make us happy but this love of God there is nothing can make us miscrable but the want of it it is folly and madness in us not so much as to regard this love Why do you spend your money for that that is not Bread hearken to me saith God and your Souls shall live Isa 55.2.3 4. Inference This Doctrine of admirable advantage to the People of God under their greatest losses for whatever they may loose they cannot loose their interest in the love of God not from any excellency in themselves but the I have given you an account of that in that it is singularness of Gods grace and bounty to them and his care for them and their welfare SERMON XI Rom. 8. ult Neither height c. I Shall now go on to the 6. and last Reason of this Doctrine That this peculiar Love of God is such a mercy that nothing but the want of this can make any of us miserable Because of the admirable fruits and effects of this love in the many benefits we receive from thence it is from the love of God that we receive every mercy that we enjoy if it be but common Mercies we receive them from the love of God It is true the difficulty of this Case is to know whether common mercies are the Fruit of special love That they are from the love and goodness of God it 's clear Matth. 5.45 God caused his Sun to shine upon the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust These mercies are common mercies and that they are from common bounty that is unquestionable for as God is the Fountain of all good so the love of God is the only Motive to incline him to do good to his Creatures there is nothing in them to move him to do them good but it is his own goodness that moves him to it he is the giver and bestower of every good and perfect gift the Father of Lights Now whether you speak of common or special Mercies all are the expressions of his love common to some peculiar to others as for common mercies they are not common to his People There is a vast difference between the mercies that God vouchsafeth to his People and those he vouchsafeth to others the mercies the People of God enjoy are the special Fruits and benefits of his special love and it is that upon which we ground our hopes of mercy for the future 2. It is the love of God that makes every mercy to be
indeed a mercy to us The absence of Gods love is enough to blast all our choicest blessings God may give us abundance of these outward blessings but what are these unless he gives us his love with them God answered the defires of the People of Israel they must have dainties and be fed with Qualies but with all he sent leanness into their Souls they had those sweet dainties with bitter Sauce So it is said again of some of the People of Israel Psal 69.22 Their Table became a snare before them which is quoted again in Rom. 11.9 Alas while we remain under the displeasure of God though out of his common bounty he may give us never so many comforts yet these are but like the waters of Marah there is nothing but bitternes in them God may feed us perhaps very plentifully with outward enjoyments even to fatness but this fatness will be but to destruction and slaughter As they cryed out to the Prophet 2 Kings 4.40 Death is in the Pot so death is in all our enjoyments if we have not the love of God with them But when we can read an Inscription of love in every comfort and the light of Gods countenance shining through every mercy this sets Mercies at a higher rate Herein is the great difference between the People of God and others they may enjoy the same Mercies but the same Mercies are a Blessing to the one and a Curse to the other they may partake of the same outward Priviledges but not with the same inward Sweetness The same Cloud that was a light to the Israelites was darknes to the Aegyptians The same Ark that was for safety to the Israelites was for destruction to the Philistines The same Red Sea that was a Wall of safety to the Israelites was a Floud to overthrow their Enemies The People of God have the same Mercies that others have but God gives them grace to make a right use of them for spiritual ends and advantages and so to them they better Mercies God doth not onely give to them Talents but hearts to improve them Titus 1.15 To the pure all things are pure c. Mark let them be what things they will all is pure to them but to the impure and defiled all things are defiled 3. It is the love of God that is not unly the Fountain of all good and makes every thing to be indeed good but this love makes all the evils that we meet with to be good to us it makes burthens light yokes easie Sometimes it does so literally as in the Case of the three Children God so love them that he took away the heat of the Fire that not so much as a Hair of their Heads was singed or their Garments scorcht But in a spiritual Compensation god is never wanting to his People Those suffering Martyrs in Queen Maries days some of them found those scorching Flames as so many Beds of Roses so full were they of comfort from the sense of Gods love to them they were above the sense of any kind of trouble or torture though in it self it could not be thought little Nay the love God hath a singular ingred iency into Calamities in the afflictions of his People it hath singular Efficacy to take away the bitterness of Afflictions How to some did the love of God make their shame glorious and their dolorous Afflictions to be delightful it is said of the Apostles that they went away from the Counsel rejoycing that they were thought worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ Rejoycing that they were graced with Reproaches they looked upon these as their Crowns and their glory What is said concerning the Phylosophers Stone whether it be fabulous or ont I will discourse that it turns all into Gold that it toucheth The same may be applied to the love of God it puts good into eveny evil thing If we can be but made Partakers of his love it is such a most excellent priviledge that nothing then can hurt us or make us miserable True our own unbelief and weakness may keep us off from the comfort of this love many times but this is a certain Rule Every thing hath only so much of good in it as it hath of Gods love in it if Gods love be in our Afflictions then this puts Sweetness into our Afflictions and that partly by the Addition of some good by them and partly by abstracting of some evil namely of our minds from outward things and by setting them upon higher objects 4. An other effect of this love of God is this it makes us good in our selves it is the love of God that is the only Fountain of all the grace that any heart of us here hath had wrought in it Who made the oh man to differ or what hast thou that thou hast not received What thou hast received it is of grace not of debt it is the love of God that does not only lay the Foundation of grace but that does carry out the Superstructure of grace he that is the beginner the Author he is the increaser of all good nay he likewise preserves it God from his love to his People takes care to preserve that grace he hath wrought in them Indeed if God did not take care to preserve grace where it is once wrought it would then soon dye and vanish and come to nothing grace in us and the working of it at first is no less then a Miracle because our hearts are so uncapacitated so full of perverse Principles for the Reception of this work at first and the preserving of it when it is wrought is as miraculous that grace should be kept alive in us it is as much as a spark of Fire to be kept alive in a whole Ocean of Water That weak grace when it is in conjunction with so many strong Corruptions and those having such aides and assistances from without the Worlds and the Devils temptations that grace should yet live it is the Lords doings and it is marvelous in our Eyes In the 1 Pet. 1.5 it is said of the sincere People of God that they are kept by the power of God through Faith unto salvation not by any power of their own but by the Power of God and it is no less then a Mighty Power of God that can keep them I say it is the love of God that does begin and increase and preserve grace and excites and and conserves and establisheth it it is a good thing to have the heart stablished with Grace it is God must quicken it grace in us would other wise be but a heavy and dull thing if God should not by the Gales of his Spirit blow up those Sparks that are in the hearts of his People Thus I have gone over the Doctrinal part you see the peculiar love that God bears to all sincere Believers is a priviledge so vastly great that those that do partake of this priviledge nothing can make
them miserable For this one single priviledge the Apostle opposeth against the all Calamities that this life is capable of as Persocution Famine Sword Nakedness and the like Applic. There are only 2. things that I shall speak to by way of Information 1. If it be so that the love of God is enough to Counterballance ballance to Counterpoyse all the Calamities that this life is capable off Then this may inform us That the love of God is the highest and most transcendent Priviledge that man is capable of What ever delight or comfort we find in any Creature enjoyment they have this double vanity in them and the love of God is above them 1. They are Scant 2. They are short First They are Scant they cannot supply all our wants but in middest of all these thought Sufficiencies our Souls will be in many wants without the love of God These are particular good things and are only suitable to particular Persons Cases and Indigencies but the love of God is an universal good If we look upon the dangers that we lye open to the love of God if we have an interest in that sets us on a Rock that is higher then all Waves and will shelter us from all Storms it opens a Treasury of Mercy that is sufficient to supply all wants It is an ordinary saying the Kings presence makes the Court so I may say of the presence of the King of glory where ever he is there is comfort and happiness and where can his presence more properly be said to be then where his love is The God is an universal good I think I need not stand to clear that hath been cleared by the Heathen Therefore the names that many of the antient Phylosophers gave God was that he is a God of truth and he is an universal good and as God is so in himself so his love makes him thus to uâ—â— He is all good in the want of all outward good and how vast and unlimited so ever our desires may be yet there is enough in God to fill every corner of our hearts Psal 81.10 Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Come with high expectations raised and enlarged desires what then I will fill them saith God Do but look upon those demensions concerning the love of God in Christ Jesus mentioned in the Eph. 3.18.19 It is a love that passeth knowledge indeed there is a seeming contradition in the words That ye may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is th breadth and length and depth and heighth And to know the love of Christ which passeth Knowledge Know that that can never be known We may know that experimentally that can never known Comprehensively There is height and depth and length and breadth and all these beyond all kind of Measure and therefore the most experience Christians when they have spoken of the love of God instead of expressions have made use of Admirations 1 Joh. 3.1 Behold what manner of love that Father hath bestowed is pon us that we should be called the Sons of God it was such a manner of love that he was unable to express it and none is able to understand it nor to comprehend it But let our Case be what it will in having his favour we have all we want if God takes away our comforts we have those comforts when they are removed though not formally yet equivalently or else how can those seeming Contradictions be rechnicled Psal 68.5 where God hath promised to be a Father to the Fatherless and a Husband to the Widdow To be Fatherless and yet to have a Father is a Contradiction to be a Widdow and yet to have a Husband They shall have these virtually in God they shall have the comfort of these God in the ordinary way of his providence comforts refresheth his People by these ordained things but yet as God gives these outward things so he makes them refreshing to us for these cannot do it alone Man lives not by Bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Now as God in the ordinary course of Providence refresheth his People by these helps so he can without these helps refresh his People immediately by himself That is the first out Creature comforts are Scant they will serve in some Cases but not in all but the love of God is of that universal extent that it reacheth every Case 2. There is this vanity in all our Creature comforts they are but short They may be refreshing for a while but they do not continue it is not long that they can continue All Flesh is Grass and the glory thereof as the Flower of the Field the Grass withereth and the Flower fadeth but the word of the Lord endures for ever So we may say of all our Earthly enjoyments Psal 119.96 I have seen an end of all perfections I have lookt upon all the desireable things in this world and I have seen an end of them that is all these perfections But thy Commandments the comforts and priviledges built upon the Word of God these are exceeding broad Alas as to all our Creature enjoyments in this world we are in a double capacity of loosing the possession of them They are Mortal and may die before us How many are there that have out lived their comforts and all that hath been dear to them in this world Again we are mortal and we may dye before them But the love of God is an everlasting love Everlastingness being added to any thing it puts an infinite value upon it Therefore the Joyes of Heaven are so transcendently glorious because they are everlasting If there were any probability of an end to be put to those Joyes it would dash all the glory of Heaven and Heaven it self would be no longer Heaven to the People of God as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 15.19 concerning the discoveries of Heaven the Prophecies of an other world and the priviledges of the Godspel say he If we had hope in Christ in this world only we were of all persons the most miserable Did they not enjoy some thing of God here yes but they had hopes of a full enjoyment of God for ever Alas to fall short of these hopes and to be kept out of these enjoyments these frustrations times beyond what the disappointments that carnal worldlings would meet with in their disappointmets On the other side the Torments of Hell are therefore so dreadful because they are everlasting for it there were but any probabiltiy of a release from those Torments there would in a manner be no knid of Hell to what now it is if once there were any hopes that the Worm would dye and the Fire go out Everlasting adds a great deal of weight to any thing and makes it highly transcendent The State of Innocency was far short of our State of Recovery because that was a mutable State Man was left to the freedom of his will
in reallity God may withdraw his love many degrees understand it of the effects of this love for the afflictions admits not of more or less we may be separated from this love of God some degrees but we are never separated from it totally or all together God may less love us in the sence above noted but not cease to love us there may be some little intermission though there is no total cessation that canot be God hath promised Heb. 13.5 I will never leave thee nor forsake thee There is a great many Negations in the original no less then five in that one place I will not I will not I will not I will not I will not Now for the clearing of this let me speak to some particulars because all depends upon this this is the main thing in this point 1. God may withdraw the manifestation of his love in Temporal blessings when he doth not in Spiritual We are apt to judge of Gods love to us by these outward comforts and when these are removed we are then apt to think that Gods love is restrained as Gideon argues in Judges 6.10.13 when they were oppressed so much for the Midianites And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him the Lord is with thee the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us and where are all his Miracles that our Fathers told us of saying did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt but now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites This was by reason of their oppression and outward troubles God may withdraw the manifestation of his love as to Temporals But as God may bestow temporal mercies in anger so he may remove these favours For example when the People of Israel were so nice and dainty that they must be fed with Curiosities God answered their desires Psal 106.15 but with all he sent leaness into their Souls They had better have been without these comforts then to have had them on these Terms So God may love and doth love his People when he doth not mainfest his love in temporal blessings 2. God may suspend the manifestation of his love in spiritual Comforts when he doth not suspend his love in spiritual Graces This is a higher degree For Example when God sends his Spirit to Convince a poor Sous to humble it to wound it thereby to prepare it for mercy there is little of comfort visible now in this John 16.8 this is the Method wherein God promiseth his spirit to be a Comforter first to convince of sin then to comfort First to humble and then to exalt After these wounds and bruises and castings down these distresses of Spirit into which the Soul is brought then to bind up and comfort There is at present seen little of love all this while and yet there is a great deal of this reallove because all this while God is preparing the Soul for mercy and that comfort that at present it feels the want of You know in the exercise of Repentance and humility and a contrite and a broken Spirit the Soul is not so sensible of the love of God but the love of God then appears though not in Spiritual comforts yet in Spiritual graces and after in reviving and quickening them 3. God sometimes suspends the manifestations of his love in the very graces of his People but then it is not in these Graces that concern the safe being of his People but in these graces that concern their well being Gods People may be safe when they are not in such a chearful and flourishing condition For example God may leave his People so far as thattheir Faith to wit of evidence may be in the dark their hope may be over-clonded their joy may be eclipsed it may be sad with them in respect of these kinds of graces at present But as to their other graces that concern their safety as humility and dependance on God and some actings of Faith these God keeps alive all this while Again all the withdrawings of Gods love from his People the gradual withdrawings as they are but gradual and partial so they are but temporary and for a little time Isa 54.7.8 For a small moment have I for saken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee In a little wrath I hid my Face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer It was not total it was but for a moment it was not final but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee The darkest night with the People of God shall have a bright morning Light is sown for the Righteous and Joy for the upright in heart Though it be as seed that is cast into the ground all the comforts of Gods People may seem to be as Seed cast into the ground which first dies before it lives yet there will be a Resurrection it is but for a little time that God deals so that God withdraws thus gradually from his People and that in these two respects 1. In respect of Gods withdrawing from others he withdraws from them so as never to return I mean those that are not his People the wicked Depart from me and so depart from me as everlastingly to depart from me Depart from me into everlasting burnings this is a departing without returning 2. It is but for a little time in respect of what the People of God themselves deserve For there is not the least departure of ours from God but it deserves an everlasting departure on Gods side from us For us to leave him to cast off his yoke to own any other Master but him deserves that he should utterly leave us Lastly all these withdrawings and darknings these gradual withdrawings of Gods love tends very much to the advantage of his People If God withdraw his love in temporal blessings it is that he may manifest more of his love in Spiritual Mercies If God take away from us a Creature comfort he by this kind of Rod shews us the necessity of living above our comforts and of living only upon himself They are admirable designs that God hath in these kind of seeming expressions of his displeasure against us He therein expresseth very much of love to us his designs are gratious partly to wean us from this world by shewing us the vanity of it and partly in giving us more of himself and to let us see the need we stand in of him and partly that we may have greater experience of his goodness in his comforting supports under the greatest burdens that can befal us Had not the People of God such losses and crosses and tryals in Creature comforts they could never have tasted so much sweetness in the promises nor in the supports of the spirit nor in the comforts of Gods presence but by Gods withdrawing the gradual withdrawings of God as to his
this Mercy the single want of this is enough to imbitter the largest confluence of all your Creature enjoyments It is this alone that can bear up our Spirits while we live and comfort our hearts when we dye and it will go with us after death and beyond the Grave To want this is to want that which no orher enjoyent can make up indeed if we have the love of God there is egough of the enjoyment of that to comensate the want of all things else Oh therefore labour first to be sensible of your condition and to get your hearts affected with it and then stand no longer capitulating with God but accept of Mercy and that thankfully upon the terms that God offers Mercy Is God willing to bestow his love upon you and is it such a love that nothing can deprive you of it when you once have it and is it a mercy that may be purchased on such easie terms And are you unwilling to accept it Oh! It is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation Do not stand off longer make no terms raise no objections but come up to the terms which God requires If it be to the cutting off a right hand or plucking out a right Eye And bless God that yo may be accepted on such an account Go to God and plead his Sons blood and plead his Mercy and though there is nothing in you to procure his love yet make use of these things that may help you Do not give over the use of means but wait upon God in his Ordinances that they may bring you over to partake of this love of God 2. Exhor To them whom God hath blessed with this love I shall speak one word to them If God hath bestowed on you this great favour to own you to love you to love you in and through Jesus Christ you have cause to be thankful For God to love you Truly it is a distinguishing mercy such a mercy as God doth not vouchfafe to all It is a free mercy a mercy that God never bestows upon any account but only upon the account of his free grace Now be thankful therefore if you partake of the love of God it is a mercy that but few fo his Creatures do partake of and it is a mercy that any do partake of it That God should set his love upon fallen man and pass by fallen Angels That God should set his love upon Creatures it is much but that he he should set his love upon apostate Cratures upon Creatures that are so much below him and upon sinful Creatures that so much provokt him what cause of thankfulness have we that do partake of this love but be careful that you are upon a sure Foundation As to this examine what is your love to God his truth his ways and ordinances Again this mercy is the sum of all mercies If God loves us as one speaks then himself is our God then all in God is ours that is for our support and comfort and refreshment In the next place be careful to preserve this love be careful of doing any thing that may cause God to withdraw any measure of his love from you and make use of all kinds of means and helps whereby you may have this love cleared excited and quickened and upon every withdrawing of the love of God be careful to recover it Resolve as David did Psal 132.3 4 5. Surely I will not come into the Tabernacle of my house nor go up into my Bed I will not give sleep to my Eyes nor slumber to my Eye lids until I find out a place for the Lord a habitation for the Mighty God of Jacob. Here was a great deal of earnestness So do you resolve never to be at rest nor quiet until you have recovered what yo have lost We find that God does upon several accounts withdraw the manifestation of his love from his People Sometimes to chastise them for their sins this was Davids Case and if this be yours then make Davids practice your patern Be humble for your sins return to God beg his Spirit to secure you against future Relapses Sometimes God doth it to try them As this was the Case of job and if this be your Case Do as Job did when God seems to cast you off follow God and do not you cast off him God it may be is trying your desires to see whether you are willing to part with him or no when he seems most in your apprehensions to be neglectful of you do you then labour to stir up Strongest after desires him Somtimes he withddraws his love when his people do not value it As it was with the Spouse Christ withdrew when the Spouse was in Bed and he knockt and she was willing to arise If this be your Case do you as the Spouse did be willing to rise and seek him till you find him Lastly Be careful to improve this love of God but how shall we do that If you are sure this priviledge belongs to you then live up to this priviledge live in contempt of things of this world And make use of all those things that may quicken you in ways of obedience God would not only have his People to serve him but to serve him with chearfulness and because his People of Israel would not serve him with chearfulness in the enjoyment of all things therefore he gave them up to serve their Enemies in nakedness and hunger and in the want of all things Therefore be careful to make thankful returns of obedience to God through the whole course of you Lives and labour to bring others to partake of those dainties and refreshments that you have experienced the sweetness But let me leave this with you Beware you be not over hasty in thinking you are intituled to this priviledge when indeed you are not this is a great delusion among Professors there are many Professors are yet rotten at the bottom therefore look to your hearts And if you have found upon examination that you have good grounds to hope that you belong to God and have an interest in his love then live up to this Mercy SERMON XIII Rom. 8. ult Doct. 4. The principal Groun and assurance which we have of the stabiltiy and certainty of the love of God to his People is because it is in and through Christ THe love of God therefore most evividently appears to be sure and everlasting because it is built on so sure and everlasting Foundation This Doctrine consists of two Parts 1. What ever God hath of love to any of his People it is only upon the account of Christ 2. That this love of God through Christ to his People doth therefore appear to be certain and unchangeable permanent and lasting because it is in and through Christ What ever God hath of love to any of his People it is only upon the account of Christ Look upon common Mercies that God preserves you that God
supplies you and provides for you do you think there is any thing of worth or desert in you that you enjoy so much of health and so many outward comforts it is not upon your own account that God is thus bountiful and yet we find it was so much the folly of the People of Israel that they were ready to attribute all the Kindness of God to something or other in themslves and tehrefore it is that God himself is so often their Remembrancer and Monitour to put them in mind and to correct those mistakes about his choosing them to be his peculiar People whom he owned above all the People in the World Besides they were apt to think that there was something in them that might incline God to this kindness no says God in Deut. 7,7 8. The Lord did not set his love upon you nor chuse you because ye were more in number then any People but because the Lord loved you c. You may delude your selves with these fancies but because the Lord loved you he chose you and he loved you because he loved you His love had no motive but what was from himself no motive but only his own loving kindness and goodness Ezek 36.22.23 Thereofe say unto the House of Israel thus saith the Lord God when he promised great Mercies to them I do not this for your sakes oh House of Israel but for my Holy Names sake c. The kindnessess that God speaks of there are highly great and yet not any of them were upon the account of any thing in them And this it is really with us now as in some few instances 1. Gods electing love which is the first born of all Mercies and the first link of that golden Chain which you have in this very Chapt. 28.29 whom he did foreknow he also did pâ—edestinat c. This electing love it hath its first rise from the absolute will of God This is not the absolute purchase of Christs merits yet this is through Christ in some sense Eph. 1.4 According as he hath chosen us in him that is in Christ as in the verse before we are chosen in him it is not said for him so that all the kindness that God hath for us even this which seems to be an Act of the highest Freedom and the most eminent expression of Gods rich grace That he should chuse and and pick out some and select them from the common multitude of mankind and to set them apart as special objects of his favour though this was from the absolute will of God was in and through Christ if you ask how I answer we are chosen in him not as the Foundation of our election but because we are chosen in him for his Members as He is our head That this first love of God had some reference to Christ though not as the onely procuring Cause yet as the consummating Cause to accomplish is abundantly evident through the Scripture we are elected in him that is that he should perfect this blessed and gracious decree of God upon us Eph. 3.11 According to the Eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. What purpose was this it was a purpose to save some to set his Heart and love upon some his electing love was thus far in Christ 2. The love of Conversion is in and through Christ Eph. 2.10 We are his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works c. And though God is the sufficient Cause of all the grace we partake of yet Christ is the meritorious Cause it is the gift of God and yet withal it is the purpose of Christ it is God alone that bestows grace and it is for the sake of Christ alone that he doth bestow it compare those two places James 1.17 you read that God is the Father of Lights But it comes all from God in and through Christ John 10.10 I am come that they might have Life and that they might have it more abundantly God is willing to give it but it is in and through Christ that he gives it 3. Again to instance in the love of God in Justification it is God alone forgives sin and our Saviour herein appears to be equal with the Father because he hath committed all power into his hand power to forgive sins Now as God onely can forgive sin so it is onely for the sake of his Son that he doth forgive it Eph. 4.32 Even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you If God hath forgiven you it is not for your own sakes but for the sake of Christ do you forgive one another pass by injuries forgive offences make this your pattern which is the highest pattern that ever was or can be Col. 1.14 In whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of sins We have Redemption and Forgiveness but all come streaming down in the Blood of Christ In a word to sum up all the several Acts of Gods distinguishing love they are all in and through Christ and therefore you read that Doxology Eph. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all Spiritual blessings in Christ He hath blessed us with the choicest blessings but all these are in and through Christ I shall now give you some Arguments to prove it and I shall only mention three First Because God neither can nor does love us as we are in our selves Matt. 3.17 And loe a Voyce from Heaven saying this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased It is not spoken of Gods love to him in a common respect but of something peculiar to him and there is this double limitation as Interpreters note this is the Son of mine whom I eminently love and this is that Son of mine for whose sake I love the Sons of men all do acknowledge that this love is a confined and limited love that is spoken of here but yet they explain it thus My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased That is in whom I am eminently pleased and for whose sake I am pleased with them whose cause he undertakes As that Oyl that was powered on Aarons head descended to the Skirts of his Garment so that love that God hath to Jesus Christ descends to all his inferiour Members John 17.23 26. I in them and they in me that they may be made perfect in one c. These are high Expressions and such as exceed the capacity of all mortal men that God should love us with the same love wherewith he loved his Son The most sober sense by Interpreters given of these words is this That God in and through Christ loves his People for his sake with the same kind of love though not with the some degree of love Eph. 1.6 We are accepted in the Beloved if God accepts of us or smiles upon us it is in and through Christ Eph. 1.5 6. Having predestinated us to the adoption of Children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his Will Secondly God is so far from loving us as we are in our selves that he loaths us for we are Enemies to him and God is no Enemy to us There be two notable Expressions in Eph. 2.12 At that time ye were without Christ what follows then being Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel c. If you are without Christ you are without all good for he is the Fountain of all good Nay it is said of the very Elect themselves 3. verse of that Chapter And were by nature Children of wrath even as others Ye were Children of wrath though now you are Children of love you were as others equal with others as to original corruption and guilt original sin admits of no Magis nor Minus it is not in one less and in an other more but it is alike in all As to our natural state we are in the same Rank and posture with others we are at the same distance from God as the worst of men that are in the World Now consider in our natural state how great a contrariety and unsuitableness there is between the holy God and us in our unholy estate he is light and in him there is no darkness at all we are darkness and in us there is no light at all in him there is nothing of evil in us there is nothing of good and what Communion can there be between such as are so perfectly contrary While we remain out of Christ our imbred corruptions have made such a breach between God and us which is ever widening and growing greater though it was great at first yet it is growing greater and God is become our Enemy and we are estranged from the life of God by reason of the Multiplication of our actual sins renewed continually and therefore God cannot love us as we are in our selves nay he hates us and accounts us Enemies and he tells al such what they must expect from him if you walk contrary to me I also will walk contrary to you Lev. 26. If you do carry it as Enemies to me I will carry it as an Enemy to you Do you provoke the Lord to anger are you stronger then he are you a fit Match for the great God Can your hearts endure and your hands be made strong in the day that I shall deal with you Thirdly Such is the love that God hath to Christ that how loath some soever we be in our selves all is over lookt if we are in him though we are unrighteous but yet if we be in Christ he accounts us righteous 2 Cor. 5. Vlt. He hath made him sin for us who knew no sin that we might be the Righteousness of God in him He was made sin how by imputation and we are made the righteousness of God how by way of imputation too our sins are charged upon him and his righteousness is imputed unto us though we are of our selves Vnrighteous yet by him we are made Righteous therefore this is the Apostles advice if you would take the most compendious way to answer all your doubts and fears and the speediest course to be above all objections the way is this Examine your selves whether you be in the Faith know ye not your own selves how that Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates 2 Cor. 5 3. Now Christs being in us and our being in him are Terms equivalent And if you can but clear this that Christ is in you all is well and safe and comfortable with you but if Christ be not in you you are in a state of Reprobation which is a most sad dreadful and desolate condition and thus I have cleared the first part of the Observation 2. Partic. Because all the love that God hath to us is in and through Jesus Christ therefore this love of God is certain and unchangeable it is indeed such an Argument as answers all Objections we find our Saviour himself making use of this Argument in the like Case John 14.12 Because I live you shall live also Be not disheartened cast down and despondent if I live and that is sure and certain so surely shall you live if the head be above water the Members cannot be drowned though they be under water if it go well with me it cannot go much amiss with you Indeed this would be a diminishing of the love of God to his Son if his love to him did not extend to all that do bdlong to him But where the force of this Argument lyeth shall be discovered in these Particulars First Because all that are Christs are made conformable to him God loves his Son because he is the express Image and brightness of his own person Now all that belong to Christ have the Image of Christ upon them and they partake of the same Spirit 2 Corinth 1.21 He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit Whatever there is of grace or goodness or any spiritual Excellency in us cannot be the first Motive of Gods love but where God hath given such pledges of love they are evidences and an assurance of his further love Secondly As God hath a love to his Son he must needs have a love to all Believers because of that near Relation that they stand in to him they are Members of Christ Bone of his Bone and Flesh of Flesh Consider those Emblems by which the union between Christ and Believers are set forth in Scripture he is said to be the Vine and they the branches in this Vine a Head and they the Members under this Head a Husband and they the Spouse God hath such an indeared love to his Son that he cannot but have love to all those that are so near and dear unto him what can be nearer then to be a part of Christ that is a high expression that you have in Eph. 1. 23. they are said to be the fulness of Christ the fulness of him that filleth all in all They are his body if God loves his Son who is the Head of this body he must have a love to the Members also they are his body and the fulness of him that filleth all in all that is all the Elect of God as they are gathered in so the body of Christ grows more compleat and full Thirdly Because of Christs ingaging on their behalf as their Mediatour and surety this will appear in that Covenant of Redemption that past between the Father and the Son as it is at large described Isa 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his Soul an offering for sin he shall see his Seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand Observe it here are the Articles and Conditions of this Covenant of Redemption the Covenant of grace is one thing and the Covenant of Redemption is an other the Covenant of grace is that that passeth