SERMONS On several SUBJECTS SHEWING Gods Love to Mankind Salvation is by Grace Wilderness-Provision God a Strong Hold in Trouble Light is to be improved By J. Lougher Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed by T. S. for Edward Giles Bookseller in Norwich near the Market-place 1685. THE Epistle Dedicatory To my esteemed Christian Friends in and about Southrepps and Alby in Norfolk Dear Friends THe kind Acceptance my former weak endeavours found with you have induced me to this second attempt of the same nature I have contracted the Sum of several Sermons into a narrow compass They were once delivered to your Ears they are now in your Eye the Lord writ them in all your hearts I expect to be variously censured Some will reject them for their plainness as not being suited to the humour and style of this ingenious Age Others will dislike them as not agreeing in some things with their own sentiments My Apology is only this As I have agreat value for the persons and labours of every learned and good man though of a different perswasion from me in things eâtrafundamental so I thank God for it ãâã man can have so mean an esteem of me ãâã my endeavours but I have lower thoughâ both of my self and them For I do ãâã ought to know my self better than otherâ do or can And by this I have learned iâ some measure to esteem others better thaâ my self Worthy Friends if God wiââ please to make the following discourses by his Blessing instrumental to quikeâ and excite any among you to make sure ãâã an interest in the special love of God ãâã seek Salvation by Grace to trust God fââ provision in your wilderness condition ãâã make God your strong hold in a day ãâã trouble and to walk while you havâ Gospel-light I have my chief end in thâ publication I desire the continuance oâ your Prayers to God for me and commend you all in the Perusal of these weaâ meditations to the care and Blessed influences of Jesus Christ For whose sake I am Your Servant in the Gospel JOHN LOVGHER SERMON I. John 1.4.16 God is Love KNowledge is one great accomplishment of the rational creature Of all Knowledge there is none so accomplishing as that which is Divine and Spiritual Of all Divine Knowledge the Knowledge of God and his perfections is the most excellent Of all the perfections of God there is none so sweet and desirable to be known as this of his Love This was the Element in which this Apostle and beloved Disciple St. John lived and it made such impressions upon his heart that he breaths little but love throughout this Epistle and makes known something of what he had experience of in his own Soul and not only declares the love of God but asserts God himself to be love in the Text now before us Which words are a short description of God and a Proposition in themselves and so let us take them Doct. That God is Love 'T is more easie to declare what God is not than what he is hence some chuse to speak of him viâ remotionis they consider the imperfections which are in the creatures and remove them all from God as inconsistent with a Deity Thus they say he is impeccable impassible immortal and the like because to sin to suffer to die are imperfections in the creature This gives a negative discovery of him but falls far short of what he is The holy Scriptures give us the most positive account of him yet not according to his infinite perfections no words can do that but so as is most suitable to his nature and our apprehensions John 4.24 1 John 1.5 Thus we read that God is a Spirit God is Light and God is Love Thus he is twice stiled in this Chapter viz. in the 8th verse of it and in the Text. Quest 1. You will say In what respects may this be spoken of God Ans 1. He is Love essentially Hence he is not only said to be loving but Love in the abstract He is stiled by St. Paul the God of Love 2 Cor. 13.11 but the Text saith God is Love which shews it is essential to his Nature Creatures may be loving God only is Love In creatures it is but an accident or quality in God it is of a natural descent of his substance and being The Apostle saith God is Love Even as the Sun hath but one glorious brightness no colours yet makes all other colours visible So though many things may help our apprehensions of God we call him just when he punisheth true when he performs his promises merciful and loving when he shews pity to them in misery yet God is but one entire perfection Quicquid in Deo Deus est whatsoever is in God is God 2. He is Love causally He is the efficient cause of all that which deserves the name of Love in the World Jam. 1.17 Gal. 5.22 Rom. 1 30. Rom. 8.7 Every good and perfect gift cometh down from above from the Father of Lights If there be any love in our hearts to himself it is the fruit of his Spirit for naturally we are haters of God our carnal minds are enmity against God so St. Paul speaks Love to God is not a Flower that grows in Natures Garden but is a drop issuing from God the Fountain of Love 1 Joh. 4.19 We love him because he loved us first It is a beam darted from that Sun a reflexion of his Love to us The same may be said of true Love to Man naturally we are hateful and hating one another Titus 3.3 as St. Paul saith If there be a cordial affection though but natural it is from God much more true Spiritual Love 3. He is Love objectively He is or ought to be the chief object of our Love As David calls God his joy Psal 43.4 Psal 38. his exceeding joy that is the object of his joy and his hope that is the object of his hope so he is termed Love because he is and should be the chief object of the Christians Love Christ calls his Church his Love Cant. 5.2 in the Canticles because it is the object of his Love Thus God is deservedly the object of the Love of Men and Angels for he is altogether lovely Whatever outward good men set up as the object of their Love it is in God in a more high and transcendent way than can be in all creatures Is it riches they affect we read much of God's riches The Earth is full of thy riches Psa 104.24 Eph. 1.7 Rom. 2.5 Phil. 4.19 says the Psalmist We read in the Scriptures of the riches of his grace the riches of his goodness the riches of his glory the riches of his mercy and the like Is it beauty they are taken with God is more glorious than Angels they cover their faces when they behold his brightness Is it pleasure they set their love upon Psal
accept Life upon Gospel-terms This is evident in his weeping over Jerusalem saying Luk. 19 42. If thou at least in this thy day hadst known the things that belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine Eyes So that every mans destruction is of himself Hos 13.9 Joh. 5.40 Heb. 2.3 because men will not come to Christ that they might have Life but refuse him that speaks from Heaven and neglect great Salvation This is written in legible Characters that he that runs may read the Love of God towards degenerate fallen Man That 's the second declaration of it 3. Let us look upon Man in his actual and effectual Recovery and Restitution and here we shall see yet further and more eminent manifestations of God's Love unto those that are his own in the World He hath declared greatly his Love to all Mankind yet much higher Love is in him to all true Christians 'T is said Christ looked upon the young man in the Gospel Matth. 19. and loved him We also find it recorded that he loved Martha and Mary Lazarus Of this last they went to Jesus and said Behold he whom thou lovest is sick and this was such John 11.3 5 36. as others observed it For Jesus weeping at his grave they said Behold how he loved him And I doubt not but it was a far higher and more endeared Love than what he had for the young man who it 's evident loved the World more than Christ and esteemed earthly Treasure above heavenly To make this Love of God more apparent let us consider the Properties thereof This Love is great comprehensive free distinguishing excellent satisfying and everlasting 1. It is a great and transcendent Love which God hath declared unto his People God who is rich in mercy Eph. 2.4 saith Saint Paul for the great love wherewith he loved us He is a great God and his Love is like himself a great Love 'T is great above humane expressions yet some can speak great words When St. Paul was in his Visions he was caught up into Heaven 2 Cor. 12. and heard things unutterable We read of joy unspeakable 1 Pet. 1.8 such is the Love of God to his Servants the best and greatest words are too weak to declare it yea it 's greater than the largest apprehensions of Men and Angels can reach This Love of God is like the Peace of God Phil. 4.7 which St. Paul saith passeth all understanding Hence we find that the four dimensions by which men take an estimate of corporeal greatness are given to this Love We read of the breadth and length Eph. 3.18 19. and height and depth of this Love the very same which are ascribed to God to declare the greatness of his perfection which is said to be as high as Heaven Job 11.7 8 9. deeper than Hell longer than the Earth and broader than the Sea But I would speak of it comparatively and so amplifie the greatness of this Love The Love of one creature to another is very great That between David and Jonathan was great 2 Sam. 1.26 and wonderful even passing the Love of Women either of one Woman to another or of an affectionate Mother to her only Son or of a loving Wife to her dearest Husband But what is David's Love or the Love of all creatures to God's Love The one is but finite the other infinite Compare it with the Love of good men unto God some have had great affections this way as David I love thee dearly Psal 18.1 says he O Lord my strength But here is a vast disproportion If all the Love that ever have been now is and ever shall be in all the Saints were in one mans heart it would be a great Love to God yet far short of that in God to them Let us compare it with the Love of God to other objects he loves all his creatures as such yet Man above all inferiour creatures The Angels by Creation had more Love than Man and he loves Christ yet more than all Now his Love to his People is greater than all these except the last and though Christ is the more adaequate object of God's Love and so hath higher measures of it than Believers are capable of yet he loves them with the same Love for quality and kind that he loves Christ with This we learn from Christ himself in his solemn Prayer That the Love wherewith his Father hath loved him may be in them And again Joh. 17.23 26. That the world may know that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me Every Beam of Light is of the same kind with that in the Sun every drop of Water is the same for quality with that in the Ocean and so every drop of that Love which falls upon Believers is the same for kind and nature with what the Father bears to his Son Oh the transcendent greatness of his Love Who is not amazed at it 2. It is a comprehensive Love it includes all the kinds or acts of Love whatsoever The Sun is so glorious a Light because in the light thereof all other lights are contained in an eminent manner Thus it is in this Love of God to his People there are all acts of Love in it there is amor benevolentiae the Love of good will there is amor miserecordiae a Love of pity and compassion Isa 63.9 In his love and in his pity he redeemed them This Love inclines him to succour them in misery and to help them in trouble There is also amor amicitiae the Love of friendship which he manifesteth to them as they come to close with him in the Covenant I entred into Covenant with thee Ezek. 16.8 saith the Lord to Israel and thou becamest mine and this was the time of Love This is reconciling Love which is nothing but a redintegration or renewing of broken friendship between God and us Sin makes the breach and God's Love makes it up Hence comes Abraham a Heathen and an Enemy to be called the Friend of God James 2. Rom. 5.8 10. Herein has God commended his Love that his People when Enemies were reconciled by the death of his Son Into such friendship hath this Love brought them as the secrets of God are revealed to them Shall I hide from Abraham says God Gen. 17.17 the thing that I will do Thus Christ called his Disciples Friends For Joh. 15.15 says he Whatsoever I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you There is also amor beneficentiae the Love of Beneficience his heart opens his hand to do them good even beyond all the good of this World He loves them therefore he gives his Son for them 1 John 4.9 and to them and into them that he may live in them and they live through him It is this Love that gives them the remission of their sins He hath loved them
Rev. 1.6 and washed them from their sins in his own blood 'T is this Love that confers Adopting grace Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed 1 John 3.1 upon us that we should be called the Sons of God It is this Love that moves him to comfort them He hath loved us saies St. Paul and given us everlasting consolation 2 Thes 2.16 If not alwaies the sense of comfort yet firm and sure grounds of strong and durable consolation Once more There is also amor complacentiae a Love of complacency and delight God hath in his People which is the highest act or degree of Love All his delight is in his Saints Psal 16.3 that are in the earth His Truth his Worship and his People are all he hath any great delight in here in this World To a contrite Christian that trembles at his word Isa 66.2 he looks with an eye of greater complacency than to Heaven and Earth That 's the second property 3. It is free Love Absolutely perfectly free I will Love them freely Hos 14.4 saith God by the Prophet Hosea If he did not love freely he could not love at all such vile Creatures as we are There is no cause of his Love but his Love The Lord did not set his Love upon Israel because they were more in number than any other People Deut. 77.8 but because he loved them Free it is in every sense and respect There was no want of us or of our services For he is alsufficient and what want can be to him that is infinitâ to whom there can be nothing added The Sea though a vast Ocean yet becauââ finite is capable of addition and diâânution but what can be added to innity which comprehends all things wiââ in it self Isa 40.15 17. Behold he taketh up the Isles as very little thing the Nations before him ãâã as a drop of a bucket as the small dust of ãâã ballance All Nations are counted to his as nothing less than nothing and vanitâ His Love therefore is not a love of inâgence but of redundance flowing oâ freely Also it was without purchase ãâã merit on his Peoples part and in thâ sense free They have not enough to pââchase the least outward mercy much lâââ special Love it 's bestowed gratis wiââout money and without price Even thâ merit and blood of Christ did not pââchase the Love of Benevolence but thâ Love was the cause of Christ's comiââ and of all he did and suffered Rom. 5.8 God coâmended his love to us because when we wâââ sinners Christ died for us saith St. Pâââ We have demerit enough to draw ãâã the wrath and hatred of God but nothing to be an attractive of his Love It is fâââ also because given without grudgiââ God loves his people with all his heaââ and with all his soul Jer. 31.41 and he upbraids not Free also it is because without constraint None could impose upon God in this matter he could have withheld it and denied it for ever and none could compel him to set his love upon them In a word It is free Love because it can receive no compensation from them who are the objects of it Can a man be profitable to the Almighty Job 22.3 as a man may be profitable unto himself This the Lord foresaw and yet loves them 4. It is a very peculiar distinguishing Love This is declared in those saving mercies he bestows upon them and denies to others though they to whom they are denied fall under the same external circumstances if not greater sometimes with those to whom they are given A full instance of this we have in Jacob and Esau Was not Esau Jacob's Brother Mal. 1.2 saith the Lord yet I have loved Jacob and I have hated Esau Not that God who is Love did or could hate the person of Esau abstractly considered he loves the person he made and hates the sin he never made He is said to hate the workers of iniquity but it is for their works sake But here in the Prophet it is to be taken for a less degree of love which is often called hated in the Scriptures Gen. 29.31 'T is said Jaââ hated Leah it 's meant comparatively ãâã loved her with a less degree of love thâ Rachel Luk. 14.26 So it is said He that hateth not Fâther and Mother c. yea and his own liââ also cannot be Christ's Disciple In othââ Scriptures we are commanded to lovâ these relations and to preserve our live and therefore 't is to be understood of lower degree of love In comparison ãâã our love to Christ our love to thing here below should be rather a kind ãâã hatred than love Thus God loved Jacââ with such a transcendent peculiar dâââ stinguishing Love as in comparisoââ he is said to hate Esau His Lovâ to Jacob was manifested in bestowing peculiar favours upon him wheââ Esau had only common mercies Hâ could say I have enough but Jacob said I have all God passed a gracious decreââ and purpose upon Jacob which he diâ not upon Esau Rom. 9.11 12 13. as St. Paul testifies Thâ Children not being yet born neither having done good or evil that the purpose of God according to Election might stand he said The elder shall serve the younger ãâã it is written Jacob have I loved but Esaââ have I hated Gen. 28.22 13. God appeared to Jacob and established his Covenant with him this he did not to or with Esau Gen. 32.28 Hos 12.4 He made Jacob a Prince with himself and gave him by prayers tears to overcome him Of a wrestling Jacob he became a prevailing Israel this he gave not to Esau And though Esau had another name given him yet it was a worse Edom which signifies red because of his red hairy complexion as some think or because of the red Pottage he desired and for it sold his birth-right as others judge But this signifies not so well as Esau which imports protection But Jacob is yet much more excellent In a word Jacob had a very gracious and savoury spirit We read when his Brother asked him who his Children were he answered These are the Children whom the Lord hath graciously given thy Servant We find no such favoury expressions fall from Esau What distinguishing love is there in all these passages which will appear yet more fully if we consider that Esau was upon even ground with Jacob in outward priviledges and in some above him Rom. 9.10 They both descended from the same Parents both under the Seal of the Covenant Circumcision both had Education in the same Family and herein Esau excelled that he was the first-born Gen. 25. and the beloved Son of his good Father Isaâ yet saith the Lord Jacob have I loved ãâã Esau have I hated O what wonderful âââculiar distinguishing love is here Tââ is the Love of God to all his People two
that lie in the same womb brougâ up in the same family the one taken ãâã other left the one beloved the othââ not 5. It is an excellent and precious Loââ even to admiration How excellent ãâã precious as it is in the Margin of yââ Bibles is thy loving kindness Psal 36.7 O God! Sâââ the Psalmist Some think he speaks ãâã Gods general loving kindness and if ãâã then the argument is the stronger Hâ much more excellent is his love to ãâã own people When a man does well ãâã commend him if he does eminently ãâã extol him but if his actions be supâââ eminent then we admire him Such the love of God not only good as Daâ saith Thy loving kindness is good ãâã excellent yea even to wonderment Hâ excellent is thy loving kindness O God! Coâpare it with other things that men esteââ precious and we shall see this true Wâââ is one of the most excellent creatures God yet the experience the Spoââ had of this love of God caused her to ãâã Thy love is better than Wine Cant. 1. The love of Christ manifested in his Ordinances is as a feast of fat things Isa 25.6 as Wine on the lees well refined Let but their Souls enjoy communion with him and they have a more abundant sweetness than in the choicest pleasures of this World Psal 104.15 Prov. 30.6 7. Wine makes glad the natural heart of man therefore it is said Give Wine to them that are of a heavy heart But the Love of God shed abroad into the heart makes glad even the very Soul of man Wine may âââvive and restore the natural Spirits but this love restoreth the Soul and makes believers forget terrors of conscience and âgonies of Spirit remember their miseââ no more What should I speak of Wine which is but one help to nature Life is ââe most excellent good in nature and ââe most desirable mercy When God ââlls Baruch that he will give him his life or a prey he implies Jer. 45. that it is the âeatest outward good and therefore made the matter of a promise He knew the worth of it who said Job 2.4 Skin for Skin ând all a man hath will he give for his life âet the Psalmist declares the loving kindâess of God to be better than life Psal 63.3 These words are variously read Some thus Melior est quam virorum Thy loving kindness is better than the love of men Their favour many times is a snare and sometimes a mischief Gods Love is alwaies beneficial yea 't is beatifical Suââ vitas say others who understand it ãâã the conditions of life men choose tââ themselves As we commonly say sucâ live a Husbandmans life a Scholars life or a Souldiers life Take which of theââ lives you please or take them together and all of the like nature that you can adâââ to them and the love of God is betteâ than all those lives with all their accommodations Take it as most usually it is for mans natural life which is the beâââ and most excellent natural good so wâââ read To him that is joyned to all thâ living there is hope For a living Dog is beâter than a dead Lion We read also thaâ the Philosopher preferred the least Flââ upon this account Eccles 9.4 that it hath life to thââ Sun which though far more glorious yââ it is inanimate and without life Bââ notwithstanding all this the loving kindness of God is a more excellent gooâ better than life it self for it brings neârer to God In thy favour is life saiâ David even eternal life It is this Loââ that makes life desirable and pleasant Psal 30.5 ãâã is not worth the while to live in tââ World only to enjoy sensual pleasures and worldly profits which are but for a season and perish in the using Now Quod efficit tale magis est tale that which makes life delightful must needs be more pleasant it self This was it which made David the more thankful to God for restoring his health and sparing his life even because of the Love of God with which his life was crowned Psal 103.2 4. Bless the Lord O my Soul saith he and forget not all his benefits who redeemed my life from destruction and crowned me with loving kindness and tender mercies In a word natural life is not so far good but it may be apprehended sub ratione mali as an evil and this not only by Achitophel Judas and all such who destroy their own lives but even by very holy men as Elijah Job Jonah and others who have petitioned the Lord very earnestly either through slavish fear or pressing afflictions or sinful impatience that they might die that God would take away their lives and the like expressions I am weary of my life Gen. 27.46 says Rebeccah because of the Daughters of Heth. If Jacob take a Wife of them what good will my life do me But none ever was known to put up such prayers or make such complaints touching the Love of God None ever said thus or to thâ effect Lord take away thy Love froâ me or Lord I am weary of thy loviâ kindness and if such and such crosses bâfal me what good shall thy Love do mâ No no the Saints know that this is thâ life of their lives the joy of their heart their greatest comfort at all times aââ their only support in evil times Thaâ the fifth 6. The Love of God is a satisfyââ Love it is satisfying both to God aââ good men To God who is said to rââ in his Love Zeph. 3.17 he stays himself upon ãâã Love being every way self-sufficient ãâã is said to be well pleased in his Son Mat. 3.17 ãâã center acquiesce or rest in him God ãâã also said to rest in his Sabbaths and to reââ in his Church and People Of Sion ãâã hath said Psal 132.13 14. This is my rest for ever yet ââtimately he doth rest in his Love this ãâã fully satisfying to his heart There is nâ thing external that he can rest in eithââ he must rest in his Love or be left witâout any hope of rest which cannot poââsibly befall him It is also that whiââ gives all good men full satisfaction at aââ times and in all things though thâ have all outward things they can desirââ yet if he withdraws but the sense of ãâã Love they are troubled disquieted Cant. 3. Cant. 5. and cannot rest as you see in the Spouse But when they enjoy this they can say they have enough they are satisfied John 14.8 Shew us the Father said they and it sufficeth It supplies all wants it fills up all conditions Let them have the clear apprehensions and sensible fruitions of this Love and this will give them better content and satisfaction than all the World can do in the want thereof Isa 55.2 Here men are spending their money for what which is not bread
all to seek for a part and interest in the peculiar love of God His common love is not enough to make us happy He gives it that we might be tempted to look after his special love The time will come when there will be an end of all the common love of Goâ thatâs no everlasting love it continââ at longest but while life lasteth if âmiss of this peculiar love we have lâââ all the common love and for want ãâã Covenant-love must lye down under ãâã infinite hatred and displeasure of God ãâã and ever Oh tremble and bâfraid of neglecting to secure your partââ the distinguishing love of God! Knoâ that this love is not a sealed fountain bâ is free to all that will believe in Christ ãâã obey the Gospel whatever their sins havâ been Let none despair of having thâ part herein This cuts off all endeavouâ after it Let this text settle good thoughâ of God in every ones heart He thâ judged God a hard Master Matth. 25. hid his taleââ I know no better antidote against despoâdency than this text Come in and acceââ of this love in the way of the Gospel ãâã will pardon all thy sins it is given ãâã notwithstanding all the vileness of thâ creature This Great and excellent loââ may be had freely O beg cry mightiâââ give the Lord no rest till you have ãâã interest in it When one heard of the lovâ that was between two very intimaââ friends he cried out O utinam tertius essenââ O that I were a third that I might shaââ with them in their great love You have heard of the great love of God to believers Be in a flame and burn with desires to share in this love of God Every one is ambitious of the love of great ones Many seek the Rulers favour Proc. 29.26 though sometimes it proves a snare if not a mischief But behold here is a Ruler whose favour was never sought in vain if sought in time and which alwayes proves beneficial yea beatifical What will the love of Friends and Relations profit us what will the love of all the World advantage us without this excellent satisfying comprehensive and eternal love of God Luther is reported to say God should not put him off with these things And if all the honour the King put upon Haman could not content him without Mordecai's bow much less should expressions of common love from God satisfy our Souls but we should dayly put up Davids request Remember us O Lord with the favour thou bearest unto thy people Psal 100.4 That 's the first Exhortation 2. Let none abuse this text and truth unto presumption It is too common âor men to go on in a state of sin and ways of wickedness and yet rest on this that God is love God is meâciful Christ died for sinners and thâ like But such as walk after the imaginâtions of their own hearts adding druâkenness to thirst and yet say they shaââ have peace they doubt not but God lovâ them as well as the best of them all thâ is Spider-like to suck poison from tââ sweetest Flower in the Garden of ãâã Scriptures and the wrath of God wâââ smoke against such Deut. 29.19 20 21. and the curses wââten in the Book of God will come upââ them he will blot out their names froâ under heaven and will separate theââ unto evil This is to abuse the love ãâã God and to provoke even the God ãâã love himself to anger and love abuseâ turns to fury The sweetest Wine makeâ the sharpest Vinegar and this sweet lovâ of God wronged and affronted is thââsting of Hell the emphasis and accent ãâã the misery of such as live and dye unââ the guilt thereof Rom. 6.1 2. Shall we sin saith ãâã Paul that grace may abound God forbââ we cannot with abhorrency enough entertain such notions This is to have on eye evil because Gods is good to tuââ the love of God into lasciviousness therâfore let us all beware thereof Let aââ that share in this love make suitable improvement thereof This lies in imitation and in contemplation We should abour to be like God in this and imitate him though we cannot equalize him He is Love to us let us be love to him Oh love the Lord all ye his Saints Psal 31.19 All our services without this are worth noâhing Love is the fulfilling of the Law ând of the Gospel too without it our services are burdensom to our selves and unacceptable to God Love makes hard âhings easy to us and small things grateâul to him This makes what we do so âleasing because it is so suitable God is ãâã Spirit therefore he is so well pleased with such as worship him in Spirit as being most agreeable to his nature The âike may be said here God is love and requires to be served in love for it is the perfection of all graces and duties He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him Can we have a higher or more noble pattern than love it self What text in all the Bible can read us a more full lecture of love than this Let us study to write it out into our hearts and pray for the fulfilling of that promise Deut. 30.6 I will circumcise your heart to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your Soul c. Were it once engraven on our hearts it would be legible in our lives and walkings This Apostle John tell us that love is both the Old Commandment and the New urging love upon a new motive even the love of God and Christ to us Joh. 13.34 A New Commandment give I unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another Oh that this example might prevail upon us not to live in the neglect of love to God or man but to abound therein as he hath given us precept and president for it Let the impression of Gods love be such upon our hearts as to revive the decayed love amongst his People that it may once again be said as anciently it was See how the Christians love one another 1. Let our love run out to all men for Gods love doth so Which had such an influence upon Mr. Fox that he never denied any one that begged of him for Gods sake And let us not forget to love our Enemies for this is to imitate God who commended his love to his people that when they were sinners enemies ungodly Christ died for them Be ye therefore followers of God as dear Children and walk in love as he hath loved you 2. We should contemplate this infinite love of God solace our selves in the Meditation of this love It is the sweetest of the Divine Attributes St. Paul saith Now abideth faith hope and charity but the greatest of these is charity Let me say There are many glorious attributes of God his Power Wisdom Justice and Love but
and their labour for that which satisfieth not Verily there is more solid satisfaction in the enjoyment of this Love than the quintescence of all earthly contentments if extracted are able to afford As to other things that of Solomon is true Eccles 1.8 The Eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the Ear with hearing nor yet the heart with enjoying but they who share in this Love of God may well sit down and rest themselves saying Psal 16.6 The lines are fallen to us in pleasant places yea we have a goodly heritage Eccl. 5.10 The Scripture assures us That he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with increase But he that has a part and lot in this Love may say as the good old Patriarch did in another case It is enough Gen. 45 48. that my Son Joseph is yet alive so it is enough that I enjoy the Love ãâã God may a Christian say I rest wheââ God resteth I am satisfied where he ãâã ultimately satisfied even in his own Lovâ and I can desire no more I hunger aââ thirst after no other thing Better is ãâã dinner of green herbs with God's Lovâ than a stalled Ox Pro. 15.17 and his hatred therewitâ 7. The Love of God to his own is aââ everlasting love it is a love that reach ãâã from one eternity unto another Tââ Psalmist says thus Psal 90.2 From everlasting ãâã everlasting thou art God Let me say Froâ everlasting to everlasting God is Loveâ and that not in his Nature and Essenââ only but in his works and manifestation to all true Believers 1. It is from eveâlasting it is no novel thing of yesteâday but an ancient love as ancient as thâ Ancient of days The Lord appeared to ãâã of old Jer. 31.1 says Jeremiah the Prophet sayinâ I have loved thee with an everlasting loââ And when Christ prayed that the Fathââ would grant his requests about the unioââ he desired between himself and Believerâ and between Believers each with otheâ his end was that the World might knoâ that the Father had loved them Jo. 17. as ãâã loved him How was that even frââ everlasting For says he thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world that is from everlasting The love of his Saints unto him is but of yesterday if their life and love had began together but many are long in the World before they have any affections towards him Every one give him not the kindness of youth but too many may with grief of heart lament as that excellent man Saint Austin is said to have done Nimis serò te amavi Domine Lord it was too late when I loved thee But his love to them was as early as eternity it self 2. It is also unto everlasting it is of the same nature with himself unchangable Joh. 13.1 Having loved his own which were in the World he loved them unto the end Psal 103.17 His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him It must needs be so for it is supported by everlasting Pillars viz. the merit of Christ Dan. 9.24 in whom is everlasting Righteousness the New Covenant which is durable even an everlasting Covenant The Power of God Isa 55.3 Isa 26.4 Isa 9.6 in whom is everlasting strength The relation between God and them he is their everlasting Father The way in which all good men deâââe to walk is of the same nature Lâââ me saith David Psal 139.24 in the way everlasting The love of creature quickly fades and fails at the furtheâ their loves and their lives perish together it may be before death 2 Sam. 13.15 'T is said of Aânon that after he had defiled his Sister the hatred wherewith he hated her was morâ than the love wherewith he loved her but ãâã death Rom. 8.35 39. Isa 54. their love dies with them bââ death cannot separate from the Love oâ God and Christ The Mountains shall ãâã part and the Hills be removed not onlâ natural but even those metaphoricââ Mountains of desertion temptation anâ corruption shall be removed which may and often do take away the sensible manâ festations of this Love from Believers but the Love abides for ever God's kindness shall never depart nor the Covenanâ of his Peace be dissolved He may sharply rebuke and chasten them yet dearly and constantly love them Rev. 3.19 Whom the Loââ loves he rebukes and chastens He has said He will visit their iniquity with a rod Psal 98.32 33. anâ their transgression with stripes yet he addâ my loving kindness will I not take from theâ nor suffer my faithfulness to fail Amongââ men it is true Pro. 13.24 He that spareth the Rod hâteth the Child but he that loveth him châsteneth him betimes The Rod of afflictioâ is the fruit of God's affection and thââ affection will not suffer him to do any thing but what he knows is for their good It is good for me says David Psa 119. that I was afflicted So Israel went into captivity for their good You thought evil says Joseph Gen. 50.20 but God meant it unto good Even our Lord Jesus Christ who was the Son of his Father's love yet under the sense of his Fathers displeasure Much more may Believers expect this Joh. 11.3 He whom thou lovest is sick said they to Christ when Lazarus lay sick So when God suffered Enemies to carry Israel captive says the Prophet Thou hast given the dearly beloved of thy Soul into the hands of their Enemies Jer. 12.7 Great affections and great afflictions are not inconsistent Men may be under temporal dispensations of outward mercies yet be in their sins and so under the hatred of God Thus on the other hand men may lie under great and many troubles and yet be the objects of God's eternal Love as Job and many others have found by their experience Eccles 9.2 He will not have us know love or hatred by what is before us but rather by what is within us not by our outward condition but by our inward disposition by his holy operations in us and upon us If these be in us we are the objects of his Love and if once so it is ever so he does not love and thâ afterwards hate but his Love is eveâlasting like himself yea it is himself fââ God is love Now follows the practicâ Application of this Truth Vse 1. If things be thus That God hââ declared such Love to the Sons of Meââ and to his own Then here we may talâ up matter of Admiration Job 7.17 and say Loââ What is man that thou shouldest magnââ him and set thy heart upon him Taââ Man in his Constitution and so he prâceeds from nothing take him in compâtition with God Isa 40.15 and so he is less thââ nothing and vanity take him in his degâneration and so he is worse
effects of this light which shined from heaven upon Saul set down in the 4th 5th and 6th verses of this 9th Chap. of the Acts which will be found upon others also in some measure upon whom Christ this true Light shines savingly 1. It is a humbling light This was the first effect it had upon Saul verse 4. He fell to the earth not only prostrate in his body but doubtless his heart was low laid in the dust even at the foot of Christ Hath the light we received had this blessed effect upon us to humble us for the pride of our heart Doth it puff us up and make us proud conceited of our selves despisers of others This light is the work of the Prince of darkness transforming himself into an Angel of light The light from heaven brought Saul into a posture of humility who before thought scorn to be controuled and will have the same effect upon our hearts 2. It made Saul inquisitive after Christ verse 5. He said Who art thou Lord By which question he acknowledgeth his own ignorance and mistake and begs information and instruction in the knowledge of Christ Such operation will the light that comes indeed from Heaven have upon us It will make us full of enquiries after Christ Such as these Who art thou Lord How shall I know thee Where shall I find thee How shall I come to be acquainted with thee O thou blessed Lord Jesus How may I get some experimental knowledge of thee in the vertues of thy death in the power of thy resurrection in the influences of thy grace and Spirit in the comforts of thy love and covenant 3. It caused Saul to submit himself to Christ his will to Christs commands verse 6. He said Lord what wilt thou have me to do As if he had said I have gone formerly to men to know what service they would command me but now I bow my self to thy most holy pleasure Lord What wilt thou have me to do Speak Lord and give me what commands thou pleasest and I am ready through thy grace to comply with them Make and propound thy own terms I will submit to them A man may have great natural light and acquired knowledge in Arts and Sciences in Tongues and Languages and these are so far from causing his heart to submit to Christs will that he will be ready to stand upon his own Terms But if it be from heaven it will cause a man to strike sail to Christ absolutely and presently as we see here in Saul Are we able to say Speak Lord for thy Servants hear Write thy own terms declare thy pleasure what thou wilt have us to do or suffer our wills and interests are swallowed up in thine We will no longer be our own to do the wills of the flesh and of the mind or to be captives to Satan at his will but we would be melted into thy holy will and improve our utmost strength and designs for thy service This is a light darted into thy Soul from heaven this is a sure evidence it is Christ that is thy saving light when it thus makes thee humble before him inquisitive after him and submitting thy self unto him 2. Christ the true saving light is warming and enlivening Such is the Sun to the earth It heats and quickens the creatures Such is the Lord Christ to the Church to the hearts of those that are his indeed The Lord God is a Sun Psal 84.11 which several expound of Christ It is he alone that heats our Chill Spirits He quickens those dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2.1 But now because there are false heats some will yet enquire how we may know the heat and quickening we have to be from Christ For answer briefly 1. If it be a heat from the Lord it will warm us throughout inwardly as well as outwardly Artificial heat is only external but this heats within and without it warms every part as well as any one The fire within me burst out saith David Psal 39.3 It made Paul truly zealous for God It made the disciplies hearts to burn within them Luke 24.32 The Ark was pitched within and without This heat Christ gives will make us not only abstain from sin our of respect to men and our credit with them but to abhor and hate every false way out of a deep respect to God The Sun warms every part of the body God and Christ can pierce deeper than the Sun 2. This true light warms intensely as well as throughly I mean it heats more and more unto perfection It makes us fervent boiling hot in Spirit not like Jehu zealous only in pretence and growing colder as his own ends were attained but still pressing more and more after the mark still more of God more of Christ The heart was never so much for sin and self but now it is as intense upon God 3. If the light we have and the heat and quickening from it be from Christ then it is communicative The Sun communicates his light and heat his beams and lustre to others so it will be here A man will not be all for himself There is no Minister truly enlivened by the Lord but he will say O that all my people were savingly enlightned and quickned by Jesus Christ Come let us go up to the house of the Lord and let us walk in the light of the Lord. There is no Christian thus wrought upon but will be ready to say as the Woman of Samaria did John 4.29 Come see a man that told me all that ever I did Or as David Come and I will tell you what the Lord hath done for my Soul Thus as the Sun brings the creatures it produceth to their perfection so doth Christ much more finish his good work he hath begun to its perfect growth and maturity This is the light and heat of the Lord. 4. If it be attractive and drawing lifting up the affections and drawing away the corruptions of the heart it is from Christ The light and heat of the Sun doth attract and elevate the vapours and fogs from the earth So Christ the Sun of righteousness doth 1. Draw up the affections of Souls to himself When I am lifted up saith Christ I will draw all men unto me John 12.32 No man can come to me except the father draw him saies Christ John 6.44 Draw us saith the Spouse we will run after thee Cant. 1.4 He will draw up our love our joy and our desires unto him our sorrow our hatred and all our affections We shall love as he loves and grieve where he grieves and hate what he hates and joy in what he rejoiceth in He carries away our hearts from whatever was the unlawful object of our love and makes us willing in the day of his power Psal 110.3 2. He draws away our corruptions by the forcible heats of his holy Spirit There will soon be some showers of sorrow and grief that we should so