Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
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A26790
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A funeral sermon preached upon the death of the reverend and excellent divine Dr. Thomas Manton who deceas'd the 18th of October 1677 / by William Bates.
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Bates, William, 1625-1699.
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1678
(1678)
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Wing B1109; ESTC R26681
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27,579
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61
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illustriate this by comparing the Price of our Redemption and the Reward The Death of Christ is a universal benefit to all the Saints yet 't is so applied to every Believer for his perfect Redemption as if our Saviour in all his Agonies and Sufferings had no other in his Eye and Heart as if all his Prayers his Tears his Blood were offer'd up to his Father only for that Person The common respect of it the Apostle declares in those admirable words that signify such an excess of God's Love to us He that spared not his own Son but deliver'd him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things But to imagine that the propriety of every Believer is thereby prejudiced is not only false but extreamly injurious to the Merit and Dignity and to the infinite Love of Christ. Therefore the same Apostle tells us The Life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me as if he were the sole Object of Christ's Love the End and Reward of his Sufferings And this appropriating of it to himself is no prejudice to the rights of all others St. John describes himself by that truly glorious Title The Disciple whom Jesus loved Could he speak this of himself without the injury and indignation of the other Disciples Certainly he might For if we consider that incomprehensible Love of Christ exprest to them all at his last Supper after Judas was gone forth As the Father hath loved me so I have loved you We may easily understand that every one of them might justly believe that he was singularly beloved of Christ. They were all received in the Heart though with John they did not all lean on the Breast of their Divine Master Thus in Heaven God is the universal Treasure of all the Saints and the peculiar Portion of every one As by his Essence he equally fills the whole World and every part of it and by his Providence equally regards all and every particular Creature so in Heaven he dispenses the Riches of his Love to all that they cannot desire more if every one of them were if I may so express it the only begotten of the only begotten himself the sole Heir of all the Merits of his Son Every Saint may with the inflamed Spouse break forth in that Triumph of Love My Beloved is mine and I am his Nay the great number of the glorifi'd Saints is so far from lessening their Joy that it unspeakably encreases it The innumerable Company of Angels and the General Assembly of the Church of the First-born next to the happiness of enjoying God are a chief part of Heaven An unfeigned ardent Affection unites that pure society Our Love is now kindled either from a relation in Nature or some visible Excellencies that render a Person worthy of our choice and friendship but in Heaven the Reasons are greater and the degrees of Love incomparably more fervent All Carnal Alliances and Respects cease in that supernatural state The Apostle tells us If I have known Christ after the flesh I know him so no more By the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ he was transported into another World and had communion with him as an Heavenly King without low regards to the temporal Priviledge of conversing with him on Earth The Spiritual relation is more near and permanent than the strictest band of Nature The Saints have all relation to the same Heavenly Father and to Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace and Head of that happy Fraternity The principal motive of Love here is for the inherent Excellencies of a Person Wisdom Holiness Goodness Fidelity are mighty Attractives and produce a more worthy Affection a more intimate Confederacy of Souls than propinquity in Nature David declares that all his delight was in the Excellent But there are allays of this Noble Love here For 1. There are reliques of Frailty in the best Men on Earth some Blemishes that render them less amiable when discovered Here their Graces are mixt Infirmities and but ascending to Glory Accordingly our Love to them must be regular and serene not clouded with Error mistaking defects for amiable qualities But in Heaven the Image of God is compleat by the union of all the glorious Vertues requisite to its perfection Every Saint there exactly agrees with the first Exemplar is transformed according to the primitive beauty of Holiness No spot or wrinkle remains nor any such thing that may cast the least aspect of deformity upon them 2. In the present state the least part of the Saints worth is visible As the Earth is fruitful in Plants and Flowers but its riches are in the Mines of precious Metals the veins of Marble hidden in its bosom True Grace appears in sensible Actions but its Glory is within The sincerity of Aims the purity of Affections the impresses of the Spirit on the Heart the interiour beauties of Holiness are only seen by God Besides such is the humility of eminent Saints that the more they abound in spiritual treasures the less they show As the Heavenly Bodies when in nearest conjunction with the Sun and fullest of light make the least appearance to our sight But all their Excellencies shall then be in view The Glory of God shall be revealed in them And how attractive is the Divine Likeness to an holy Eye How will it ravish the Saints to behold an immortal Loveliness shining in one another Their Love is mutual and reflexive proportionable to the cause of it An equal constant Flame is preserv'd by pure Materials Every one is perfectly amiable and perfectly enamour'd with all Now can we frame a fuller conception of Happiness than such a State of Love wherein whatever is pleasant in Friendship is in perfection and whatever is distastful by Mens folly and weakness is abolish'd The Psalmist breaks out in a Rapture Behold â—…ow good and pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in Unity Love is the Beauty and Strength of Societies the Pleasure of Life How excellent is the Joy of the Blessed when the Prayer of Christ shall be accomplish'd that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us God is absolutely One in his glorious Nature and Will and therefore unalterably happy And their inviolable Union in Love is a Ray of the Essential Unity between the sacred Persons There are no Divisions of Heart and Tongues as in this Babel but the most perfect and sweetest Concord an Eternal Agreement in Tempers and Inclinations There are no envious Comparisons for Love that affectively transforms one into another causes the Glory of every Saint to redound to the Joy of all Every one takes his share in the Felicity of all and adds to it Such is the power of that Celestial Fire wherein they all burn that it melts and mixes Souls
precious and eternal Memory And I shall consider him both in the quality of his Office as he was an Embassadour of Christ declaring his Mind and representing his Authority and in the holiness of his Person shewing forth the Graces and Vertues of his Divine Master God had furnish'd him with a rare union of those parts that are requisite to form a Minister of his Word A clear Judgment rich Fancy strong Memory and happy Elocution met in him and were excellently improved by his diligent study The Preaching of the Word is the principal part of the Minister's duty most essential to his Calling and most necessary to the Church For this end chiefly the several Orders in the Ministerial Office were instituted and upon our Saviour's triumphant ascent and reception into Heaven an abundant effusion of the Spirit in Graces and Abilities descended upon Men. Now in the performing this Work he was of that conspicuous Eminence that none could detract from him but from ignorance or envy He was endowed with extraordinary knowledg in the Scriptures those holy Oracles from whence all Spiritual Light is derived And in his preaching gave such a perspicuous account of the order and dependance of Divine Truths and with that felicity applied the Scriptures to confirm them that every Subject by his management was cultivated and improved His Discourses were so clear and convincing that none without offering voluntary violence to Conscience could resist their Evidence And from hence they were effectual not only to inspire a sudden Flame and raise a short Commotion in the Affections but to make a lasting Change in the Life For in the humane Soul such is the composition of its faculties that till the Understanding be rectified in its Apprehensions and Estimations the Will is never induc'd to make an entire firm choice of what is necessary for the obtaining perfect Happiness A sincere persevering Conversion is effected by weighty Reasons that sink and settle in the Heart His Doctrine was uncorrupt and pure the Truth according to Godliness He was far from a guilty vile intention to prostitute that sacred Ordinance for the acquiring any private secular advantage Neither did he entertain his Hearers with impertinent Subtilties empty Notions intricate Disputes dry and barren without productive Vertue But as one that always had before his Eyes the great End of the Ministry the Glory of God and the Salvation of Men his Sermons were directed to open their eyes that they might see their wretched condition as Sinners to hasten their flight from the Wrath to come to make them humbly thankfully and entirely receive Christ as their Prince and all-sufficient Saviour And to build up the converted in their most holy Faith and more excellent Love that is the fulfilling of the Law In short to make true Christians eminent in Knowledg and universal Obedience As the matter of his Sermons was designed for the good of Souls so his way of expression was proper to that end Words are the vehicle of the heavenly Light As the Divine Wisdom was incarnate to reveal the Eternal Counsels of God to the World so Spiritual Wisdom in the mind must be clothed with words to make it sensible to others And in this he had a singular Talent His Stile was not exquisitely studied not consisting of harmonious Periods but far distant from vulgar meanness His Expression was natural and free clear and strong quick and powerful without any spice of folly and always suitable to the Simplicity and Majesty of Divine Truths His Sermons afforded substantial food with delight so that a fastidious mind could not disrelish them He abhorr'd a vain ostentation of Wit in handling Sacred things so venerable and grave and of eternal consequence Indeed what is more unbecoming a Minister of Christ than to waste the spirits of his Brain as a Spider does his bowels to spin a web only to catch Flyes to get vain applause by foolish pleasing the ignorant And what cruelty is it to the Souls of Men 'T is recorded as an instance of Nero's savage temper that in a general Famine when many perish'd by hunger he ordered a Ship should come from Egypt the Granary of Italy laden with Sand for the use of Wrestlers In such extremity to provide only for delight that there might be spectacles on the Theatre when the City of Rome was a spectacle of such misery as to melt the heart of any but of Nero was most barbarous Cruelty But 't is Cruelty of an heavier imputation for a Minister to prepare his Sermons to please the foolish curiosity of Fancy with flashy Conceits nay such light Vanities that would scarce be endured in a Scene whiles hungry Souls languish for want of solid nourishment His fervour and earnestness in Preaching was such as might soften and make pliant the most stubborn obdurate spirits I am not speaking of one whose talent was only in voice that labours in the Pulpit as if the end of Preaching were for the exercise of the Body and not for the profit of Souls But this Man of God was inflam'd vvith an holy Zeal and from thence such ardent expressions broke forth as were capable to procure attention and consent in his Hearers He spake as one that had a living Faith within him of Divine Truths From this union of Zeal with his Knowledg he was excellently qualified to convince and convert Souls The sound of words only strikes the Ear but the Mind reasons with the Mind and the Heart speaks to the Heart His unparallel'd Assiduity in Preaching declar'd him very sensible of those dear and strong Obligations that lie upon Ministers to be very diligent in that blessed Work What a powerful Motive our Saviour urged upon St. Peter As thou lovest me feed my Sheep feed my Lambs And can any feed too much when none can love enough Can any Pains be sufficient for the salvation of Souls for which the Son of God did not esteem his Blood too costly a price Is not incessant unwearied industry requisite to advance the work of Grace in them to perfection In this the work of a Minister has its peculiar disadvantage that whereas an Artificer how curious and difficult soever his work be yet has this encouragement that what is begun with Art and Care he finds in the same state wherein 't was left A Painter that designs an exact Piece draws many Lines often touches it with his Pencil to give it life and beauty and though unfinish'd 't is not spoild by his intermission A Sculptor that carves a Statue though his labour be hard from the resistance of the matter yet his work remains firm and durable But the Heart of Man is of a strange temper hard as Marble not easily receptive of heavenly impressions yet fluid as Water those impressions are easily defac'd in it 't is expos'd to so many temptations that induce an oblivion of eternal things that without frequent excitations to