the best diligence as to that while I was yet a very young man I had learn'd out of him that it was no Solecism in a Preacher to use ossum for os for saith he an Iron key is better then one made of gold if it will better open the door for that is all the use of the key I had learn'd out of Hierom that a gaudry of phrases and words in a Pulpit is but Signum insipientiae The words of a Preacher saith he ought pungere non palpare to prick the heart not to smooth and coax The work of an Orator is too precarious for a Minister of the Gospel Gregory observed that our Saviour hath not stiled us the sugar but the salt of the Earth and Augustine observeth that though Cyprian in one Epistle shewed much of a florid Orator to shew he could do it yet he never would do so any more to shew he would not The study of words the right placing of them for their better chiming c. I always thought a puerile and pedantick thing fitter for a School boy then a minister of the Gospel Honest Souls when they come to hear the word do not come to see Reeds shaken with the wind of Ostentation and Vain-glory nor yet to see men clothed with the soft rayment of fine expressions and phrases which for the most part like such clothes have least efficacy to warm a Soul or to keep it in any Religious heat they come to hear a Prophet yea more then a Prophet a man that shall reveal the mind and will of God to them To me the most tunable tongues in Pulpits always ring most awke It is beneath the gravity of a Preacher to tickle a wanton Ear. The end of all words is but to convey to our minds the knowledg of things and those are the best words that do that best grandia granditer dicenda I never thought my self further concern'd as to words then to speak intelligibly and so as through no rudeness or indecency of phrase to make Persons nauseate my discourse who had a just Reverence for divine things Words will always follow matter but matter doth not always attend words I bless God I early discerned and avoided this trifling rather desiring to humble that stile which was at my tongues end then to strain my tongue to a dialect which I either thought my People understood not or was beneath the greatness of the subjects of my discourse If any think the portion of Scripture undertaken in these discourses not fit for a Preacher they should do well to consider whether it be not a portion of holy writ and such a portion as the eminentest Divines in all ages and of all persuasions have thought worthy their pains to inquire the sense of Having thus far Apologized for the following discourses I leave them to thy candor and judgment begging Gods blessing upon them to thy Souls advantage April 3. 1683. JOHN COLLINGES The First Chapter of the Song of Solomon paraphrased and turned into English Meeter so as it may be Sung in the Ordinary Tunes in which the English Psalms are sung I. THE Kisses of thy Mouth Dear Lord Let my Soul only have No Earthly thing I do desire No worlds fine things I crave Let me thy Gospel Doctrines have By them O speak to me So by thy Grace that I in them Thy special Love may see II. A Kiss Lord is but a small thing But a Love-token 't is The Least of that is Sweet to me Lord grant me but a kiss One Kiss is sweet but not enough Let me more kisses have My wants are more than one therefore More Kisses I do crave III. Thou hast varieties of Grace My Soul of wants as much As are my wants my dearest Lord O Let thy Loves be such Drunkards are pleas'd with wine but I In it no tast can find O Let me only know that thou To my poor soul art kind IV. The knowledge thou hast given my soul How much thy Loves are worth Above created things is that Alone which draws it forth In breathings after Thee Thy Name Is Ointment poured out Which with its fragrant smell perfumes The places it about V. Therefore the Virgins do thee love The undefiled mind Can satisfaction no where else But in thee only find Every such Virgin will thee love And thee alone desire Thy sweetest Ointments fuel are To feed that sacred fire VI. Lord I should come to thee thou art The term to which I move I should O Lord run after thee In the scent of thy love But I can neither run nor come Unless thou first me draw Either my lusts do me seduce Or Satan doth me aw VII O put forth thine Almighty hand Let power and love constrain My feeble Soul to follow thee And with thee to remain Lay hand O Lord upon my will Then I shall willing be Put strength into my legs and I Shall then run after thee VIII Lord move me first then I shall move And stand no longer still Yea I shall move with strength to do What is thy sacred will I shall not only move but run Make hast and not delay To keep thy precepts if that thou Wilt help me in my way IX It shall be then my meat and drink To do what thou requirest Thou Lord shall then of me receive Whatever thou desirest I shall nor faint nor weary be But persevering run Until the race be finished Which my soul hath begun X. My Lord not I alone but mine Shall also follow thee I shall make known thy ways to all That shall converse with me Sinners by my example shall Be turned to thy Grace When they shall hear how thou to me Hast shewn thy pleasant face XI My Soul melts I did speak but now The King hath answered And me into his Chambers brought Unto his Royal Bed How doth my heart now leap for joy How is my countenance glad My soul can now despond no more It can no more be sad XII In thee O Lord I will be glad Thou art my only joy Thy Loves I will remember when New troubles me annoy The savour of the worlds sweet wines Is a poor transient thing But I shall ne're I trust forget The Love of Christ my King XIII In him all things excelling dwell They 've chosen him their throne The Saints will him sincerely love And will love him alone The more upright the greater love They to the Lord shall bring Who loves them with the greatest love And is the Lord their King XIV You Daughters of Hierusalem The City of my God You who in the same Church with me Have taken your abode Upbrard me not that I am like The Coverings upon Black Kedars Tents I 'm also like Curtains of Solomon XV. I black am from my self but am By Imputation white By th' first birth I am black and dark But by a
knowledge convictions and faith and proceedeth upon the same reason upon which any reasonable creature valueth a greater and more comprehensive good above what is of an inferiour vertue and more insignificant Nor is this other than according to the workings of our Souls in other cases towards Creatures which we have made the objects of our love The good look and smile of an Husband a letter from him a small token be it never so small how welcome and acceptable is it to the Wife The reason lies in her love to her Husbands Person To you that believe saith the Apostle he is precious It is impossible indeed rationally impossible that a Soul should believe take it in what sense you will but it must love the Lord Jesus Christ Take believing as it signifies no more than a firm and steady assent to the proposition of the word revealing Christ to us as he is the eternal Son of God the brightness of his Fathers glory the express image of his Person full of kindness to the Sons of Men pitying them taking a delight in them willing to save them and to communicate of his fulness to them and to this end coming from Heaven to Earth clothing himself with out flesh encompassing himself with creature infirmities then dying upon the Cross that he might purchase us unto himself c. I say it is not possible that a Soul should firmly and steadily assent and agree to these things but he must love Christ But if you take believing in the second sense as it signifieth the Souls receiving of him as its Lord and Saviour its resting and relying upon him and trusting him with all its Spiritual and Eternal Concerns it is impossible but that the Soul should have a love for him above all created Objects and having so it cannot but naturally desire to be mutually beloved and be passionately desirous of some evidences of it and the least evidences of the reciprocations of love on his part who is so exceeding dear in the Eyes of the Soul must needs be exceedingly desirable to and valuable by that Soul This is yet further advantaged from the consideration of the exceeding low Opinion and Estimate which grace teacheth every soul upon whom it hath shined to have and make of it self The proud man valueth nothing but great things from his friend nay he scarcely thinks any thing great enough for him to put any value upon The reason lies in the high opinion which he hath of his own worth and merit but the humble man puts a value upon the least kindness because he hath a low and mean opinion of himself so he looketh upon every thing as more than he could merit or challenge Naaman huffs when the Prophet sends to him to go and wash in the waters of Jordan he expected the Prophet should have come out and stroked him and he thought the Waters of Abana and Parphar were as wholsome as those of Jordan were The Centurion desireth but a good word from Christ when Christ spake of coming to his House Mat. 8. 8. Lord saith he I am not worthy thou shouldst come under my roof The Woman of Canaan knowing her self to be a Dog challengeth no more than Crums Every gracious Soul is sensible that it deserveth nothing but Hell and Wrath this makes the least tokens of Divine love highly valuable in its Eyes who am I said Elizabeth that the Mother of my Lord should come to me who am I saith an humble Soul that the Lord should look upon me that the Sun of righteousness should shine so much as with one healing beam upon my Soul Hence it valueth the least tokens of special love It valueth nothing less than that this proceedeth from its knowledge and spiritual judgment of things that differ It valueth the least of this This proceedeth partly from its knowledge partly from that humility with which it is clothed as with a Garment 7. Lastly This Soul knoweth that Christs Love will not terminate and be bounded with little things The least tokens of distinguishing Love are but the Earnests of a greater bargain they are but the first-fruits to a larger Harvest Those that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God Psal 92. 13. God at first gives the soul but a good hope a glimpse of his glory but it shall go on from faith to faith and strength to strength Are the least tokens of Christs distinguishing Love so valuable so desirable what should then his fullest and largest tokens be the things which God hath prepared for them that love him which Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard nor can it enter into the Heart of man to conceive The Assurance of his Love The Manifestations of himself to his Saints in glory If it be so sweet so desirable to see him in a glass darkly what will it be to see him face to face If his kisses be so desirable what will his imbraces be If the Hem of his Garment be so full of vertue and a touch of that so desirable what is his long white Robe which is the white linnen of his Saints If a good word a good look be so good what will it be to be set as a seal upon his Heart and upon his arm Surely that love will be as strong as death as the coales of that fire which send forth a vehement flame Let this notion of truth and the experience which any of your souls have had of the truth of it kindle in you further flames of desire after the further enjoyments of Christ in this life Imperfect tasts of desirable things use to do so in other things Quo plus sunt potae plus sitiuntur aquae Yet in all created goods there is ordinarily more in expectation than fruition but it is not so in Spiritual things The Apostle prayeth for the Ephesians That they might be able with all Saints to comprehend what is the breadth and length and depth and heighth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that they might be filled with all the fulness of God Eph. 13. 18 19. It is most certain that there are many holy and gracious Souls that want assurance they may live they may die without it but that Soul hath nothing of grace that doth not desire it that doth not thirst and pant after it 2. What will it be to be ever with the Lord what an object of spiritual thirst and desire is a fulness of communion with our Lord in his Fathers House when we shall know as we are known see Face to Face How should this fill all our hearts with desires to be dissolved that we might be with Christ which is best of all The least of Christ is good but that full fruition is best Let this discourse leave some strong pantings in your hearts 1. After the assurance of Gods love 2. After the further manifestations of Christs strength
Loves which are much our duty upon this view of our great Lord and Master 1. Love to him 2 Love to our Neighbours especially those in whom any thing of Christs appears 1. It calls to us for Loves to Christ This in point of gratitude If Saith our Saviour you love them which love you what reward have you Do not even the Publicanes the same Our Love to Christ is but a Love to him who hath Loves for us and indeed this speaketh to all men for Love to him but more especially O Love ye the Lord all you his Saints It is the opinion of great Divines that all the world is beholden to Christ as Mediator that from his Mediation there issueth some good to the worst of men But he hath eminently extended his Love to his Saints he hath loved them with a singular Love If there should be Love wanting in their hearts to Christ they should be of all men and women in the world most inexcusable what could he have done for any of the Sons of Men which he hath not done for them What greater thing could they have asked of him then he hath prevented them in asking O Love you the Lord all you they that believe Do you ask me how you should shew your Love to him The first motions of Love are in the heart Love there is seen in delighting in him breathing after him It next shews itself by the lips Speaking well of him to others defending his interest and concern in the world If we come to more external acts That of David Ps 16. 2. 3. is true here O my Soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord my goodness extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the earth to the excellent on whom is all my delight Our Love to Christ must be seen in our actings in our stations for the honour glory and concern of Christ in the world In our kindness to the poor flock of Christ Christ calls a want of Love to them a want of Love to himself 25. Math. But that brings me to the Second with a short discourse upon which I shall shut up this discourse 2. It calls you for Love to men especially to those in whom you see any thing of Christ The argument for this ariseth from our duty to study a Conformity to Christ he had a kindness for all when he was born good will towards men was proclaimed by the multitude of the Heavenly host Luke 2. 14. There also lyeth an obligation upon usfrom the law of Christ and from this great Example to be kindly affectionate toward all There lyeth also a Precept upon us to do good to all And again saith the Apostle Owe nothing to any but this That you love one another Indeed there is not the same degree of affection nor the same acts of Love due to all as to that we must be ruled by the Word of God but Love is a debt upon us which is due to all men Therefore wrath hatred anger strife malice are 〈◊〉 where reckoned up by the Apostle as the fruits not of the Spirit but of the flesh In a kind Child of God there should be a general love and kindness to all mankind though to be expressed in a Scriptural order as to the degrees and acts of it So it was in Christ 2. But secondly it calls to you for a more Special distinguishing Love to all those in whom you see any thing of Christ Do good to all saith the Apostle but especially to the houshold of Faith The Soul of every Member of Christ should cleave to these with whom he is united not onely by a common nature being the same flesh and blood with him but by a common faith by the ligament of Members of the same body whereof Christ is the head Give me leave to press this the more upon this argument because I find the Apostle St. John pressing it upon the same Topick 1. John 4. 11. If God so loved us we ought also to Love one another v. 12. If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us v. 16. He tells us that God is love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelling in God Every good Christian may see much more in the meanest poorest true Christian to ingage him to Love him or her than Christ could ever see in the highest Saint to oblige or move Christ to love him or her When thou wallowedst in thy blood when thou hadst nothing of the lineament of a Saint in thy Soul not so much as a line of any Spiritual Goodness he passed by thee and it was with him a time of Love as to thy Soul there is not a child of God in the world but there is somthing of holiness and righteousness something of the image and Superscription of Christ to be seen in his Soul something of the Divine nature resplendent in his Soul It may be there is more in some less in others but there is in all some When thou hast a temptation upon thee to aversate thy brother or to turn away thy heart or head or hand from him O remember Christ hath loves and and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in him And that it is he whose heart is full of of Loves for thee who hath commanded thee to Love thy Brother But I have spoken e nough to this first Proposition Sermon X. Canticles 1. 2. For thy Loves are better than Wine IN my last discourse I shewed you that Christ hath Loves kind affections and inclinations to the Children of men and more especially to the Souls of his Saints which he is ready to declare and express yea hath already expressed in acts of kindness and these not of one but various kinds suted to the respective necessities of his people a salve for every Sore a Supply for every want I come now to shew you the quality of his Loves which in my Text is set down positively and comparatively In our translation according to our Idioms or propriety of Speech the positive is to be understood in the comparative particle A thing cannot be called better than another unless it hath some positive absolute goodness in it self but in the Hebrew it is more plainly expressed That saith Are good before Wine It is their way of expressing comparatives It makes no difference in the sense Good before Wine And better than wine are phrases of the same sense In the Explication of the Text I told you that though Wine strictly signifies the juice of the Grape yet by a Synechdoche here it signifyeth all created goods whatsoever can be sweet or profitable or advantageous to us The Proposition is plainly this Prop. The Loves of Christ are good befo e or better than all created comforts and enjoyments whatever I have already shewed you what the Loves of Christ signify viz. His good will his kind affections and inclinations to the Souls of men
certainly a forbidden Relation Love not the world saith the Apostle nor the things of the world yet never were more to be found amongst such who are called Christians Thirdly Marriage doth not alwaies spoil Virginity as it signifies Chastity But an heart equally cleaving and inclining to two men will especially if byast to him who is not the Woman's Husband She that hath one true and proper Husband and yet loveth another equally with him or more than he hath lost her Virgin-heart Ah! how many of these are there amongst Professors they are married to Christ in the face of the Church they were baptized into his Name and are under Vows to be the Lord's But as God said of old concerning Ephraim Their heart is divided and therefore they must be found faulty Ah! How many are there that have divided hearts that halt between two Opinions and are not able to conclude with themselves whether Baal be God and they should serve him or God be God and they shall serve him Nay they halt between two Conversations something there is of Heaven in them but alas how much of the Earth how much of sin folly and vanity how much of contradiction to their Profession where 's a Christian Caleb to be found to walk with God fully Fourthly If we have some that are Virgins yet how few beautiful Virgins where 's the beauty the glory of Professors where 's their former shining out before men Ah! call your Children Ichabods call them Ichabods The Glory is departed in a great measure from England from the Professing Party of England Where 's the former sincerity love to God zeal for God plainness of heart sincerity of conversation brotherly love heavenly walking the World the vanities of the World have spoiled Professors beauty The Sun of a little outward prosperity hath shone upon them how are they tanned But in the next place this discourse offers us a fair opportunity to try our Relation to Christ whether we be the Lambs Wife who shall hereafter follow him whithersoever he goes 1. Are you Spiritual Virgins There are tokens of Spiritual as well as Natural Virginity 1. Purity and Chastity in heart as well as outward appearance Blessed are they saith our Saviour who are pure in heart for they shall see God is not thy heart defiled with sensual affections impetuous passions doth not thy Soul cleave to sin and lust 2. Dost thou live like a Virgin an hidden life doth not the world see all that thou hast of a Spiritual life dost thou not like the Pharisees love to pray standing in the Synagogues and in the corners of the Streets more than with thy doors shut about thee in thy closet livest thou any thing of that life which is hid with Christ in God is it thy only and greatest care to please thy heavenly Father and Christ thy great Lord and Master 3. Where 's thy modesty the Virgin blusheth presently when any thing is reflected upon her Art thou ashamed when thou committest iniquity and thy heart reflects it upon thee or hast thou a Whores fore-head that cannot blush I might instance in many particulars more but these are enough to try thy Spiritual Virginity 2. A second note of the Spouse of Christ arising from this Text is a love to Christ Love is a natural plant and groweth in every Soul but love to Christ is a plant from Heaven heavenly a plant sprung up from the seed of God in the Soul If Christ should from Heaven propo und the fame question to thee which while he was on Earth he propounded to Peter couldst thou answer with him Lord Thou that knowest all things knowest that I love thee This Grace of all others is most discernable for love is of an active nature and will hardly lie hid The pantings of thy heart after him the acquiescence complacency and delight of thy heart in him will easily discover it to thee if thou lookest narrowly The natural man cannot say that his Soul cleaveth to Christ or thirsteth after Christ or taketh any complacency in the Lord Christ Thirdly As God is the fountain of good and blessing to his Creatures and as Christ hath a fair inheritance of a Crown an Heaven an incomprehensible glory which is annexed to the fruition and enjoyment of him so the worst of men may have a kind of love for Christ or rather for what he bringeth along with himself unto the Soul Lastly Therefore Dost thou love Christ for the savour of his good Ointments because his name is an Oil or Ointment poured forth He that loveth Christ meerly for his Heaven and Glory is purely selfish in his love I deny not but Moses had an Eye to the recompence of reward and so hath every honest and gracious heart without doubt Christs beneficence and goodness unto us and the benefit which our Souls have and hope to have from Christ is and ought to be a very great attractive and to draw out our hearts more and more in love to Christ but herein is the purity of the Saints love he discovereth such an excellency in the Lord Jesus Christ that were he never to have an Heaven with him yet his heart would cleave to him infinitely delight in him if thou canst say that thou thus lovest the Lord Jesus it will indeed speak thee to be a Spiritual Virgin a Spouse to the Lord Jesus I shall conclude my discourse upon this verse with a threefold word of Exhortation 1. In the first place methinks from this metaphorical expression of Saints under the notion of Virgins I have here a fair opportunity to plead with Virgins to be Saints Virgins generally have the object of their love to seek Lo here a most deserving object for every young man every young woman that heareth me Methinks the holy Spirit points out this in the Metaphor Therefore do the Virgins love thee Christ here expresseth himself under the notion of some beautiful young man beautified and adorned with all the advantages both of nature and of art So that the Virgins must love him I noted to you before that some would have the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be rather a term of age then either signifying Sex or State oh that I could this day prevail with you who are young men and young women to love the Lord Jesus Christ Youth is an age a time of love full of love but it usually mispends its self upon vain and worthless objects the young man loves his lusts and his pleasures the young woman loveth dancings and foolish sports and vain company and gay and costly attire but how rare is it to find a young man or woman that sincerely loveth the Lord Jesus Christ truly amongst young or old there is hardly one of a thousand but of those that are in the height and heat of their youth hardly one of ten thousand It is too frequent for us to give our marrow to the Devil
and then think to put off God with the bone O desperate folly and presumption offer this now to thy Prince will he accept it canst thou expect Sinner that Christ should freely love thee when thou art grown old who refusedst him when thou wert young canst thou reasonably think that God will be put off with the fag end of thy life dost thou not know how hardly an old sinner is brought to repentance sin is bred and sed in his bones and it will not out art thou aware how acceptable to God the sacrifice of thy youth is under the old law no Sacrifice was admitted that was above three years old Dost not thou remember how kindly God accepted his young Samuel Abijam Josiah Timothy c. who in their youth inclined their hearts unto him doth the good nature and handsome features and sweet perfumes of the young man please thee and is there no excellency in the Graces of him who is full of Grace and Truth is there no savour in Christs Ointments no sweet Odour from his name poured forth O come you that are Virgins behold your Husband an Husband who if you be poor is able to enrich you if you be mean and base is able to honour and to ennoble you who what ever you want is able to supply you O that upon the pouring forth of his name amongst you in this Sermon this day some of your souls this day might be allured to love the Lord Jesus Christ Secondly This notion obligeth all those that be Saints or profess themselves such to approve themselves to be Virgins the holy Spirit hath so called them certainly it should be their great care to answer their name To keep themselves unspotted from the world undefiled in the way free from the pollution of the world through lust I have toldyou that there are many who go for Virgins but are not they are wedded to some filthy lust or other wedded to the world defloured by entertainnig some corrupt dangerous principles or declining to a corrupt conversation we live in a debauched a debauching age you that stand take heed lest you fall 1. If you lose your Virginity you lose your honour The young Womans Virginity is her honour your freedom from idolatry and superstition your soundness in the faith your purity integrity and holiness of life is your honour Hold fast that thou hast saith Christ to the Church of Philadelphia Rev. 3. 11. that no man take thy Crown he who despoileth you of your purity of Doctrine and Worship or who seduceth you to any licentious practices takes away your Crown yea not only your Crown in respect of reputation but your Crown of Glory also John Rev. 14. 1. Saw a Lamb standing upon Mount Sion and with him 144000 having his Fathers name written upon their foreheaas and v. 2. heard a voice from Heaven c. and they the 144000 sang as it were a new Song before the Throne and the four Beasts and the Elders and no man could learn that Song but the 144000. which were redeemed from the Earth v. 4. It followeth These are they which were not defiled with Women for they are Virgins these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth these were redeemed from amongst men being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb and in their mouth was found no guile for they are without sault before the Throne of God not defiled with Women Non polluti idololatriá quae est scortat io spiritualis sed virgines fide spiritu saith Pareus not defiled by idolatry which is a spiritual Adultery but Virgins in Spirit and Faith Secondly Consider if you lose your chastity It will be an hard matter to reconcile you to your first Husband If the Virgin be known to have lost her Virginity it is no easy matter to procure her an Husband of any reputation if the Wife hath lost her Virginity that is her chastity it is an hard matter to reconcile her to her Husband If a man put away his Wife and she go from him shall he return to her again Jer. 3. 1. It is true the mercies of God are above the mercies of men it follows there yet return unto me saith the Lord but it is no easy matter for a lapsed Saint to recover his peace many a Bone must be first broken and if such be saved it must be as through fire It is a dreadful Text which you have Heb. 6. 5 6. O keep your integrity and behave your selves like Virgins live an hidden life more and more to God and Christ more and more reserved from the world learn what this meaneth Our life is hid with Christ in God Be like Virgins careful in nothing save only to please Christ who is your spiritual Husband let your behaviour speak your Virgin-modesty and that you may keep your Virgin State and behaviour 1. Take heed of Books that will principle you to a Spiritual Fornication There are 2 sorts of Books in the world which help much to debauch it 1. Amorous Books full of lascivious Songs and filthy stories 2. Heretical Books The first debauch People as to their bodies the latter as to their faith and immortal Souls 2. Take heed of Whorish Company The Chast Virgin is often spoiled by unchast Society Dinah went abroad into wanton company and was deflowred If she had kept her Fathers house she had probably kept her honour How many Christians are defiled both in Judgment and Practice by keeping company with Papists Quakers Socinians c. Lastly O love the Lord all his Saints for the savour of his Ointments for the sweetness of his Name which is as an Ointment poured forth The best are prone to love Christ only for the Peace of Conscience which they have upon their Justification by his blood and for the Heaven they shall have hereafter for his sake His Glory is exceeding sweet This Love is not to be faulted but I would work my own heart and have you study to work up your hearts to an higher pitch Labour to be like Angels The Angels were never Redeemed with the Blood of Christ never knew what trouble of Conscience meant They have a natural right to Heaven yet they love admire adore Christ they are rational though spiritual Subsistences What maketh them to love Christ but the perfections and excellencies which they see in him Let us study to be like Angels to get up our hearts to such a spiritual pitch as this to love Christ for the excellency of his person for the savour of his good Ointments I shall add no more to this Discourse I have now done with this third Verse Sermon XVI Cant. 1. 4. Draw me we will run after thee The King hath brought me into his Chambers we will be glad and rejoyce in thee we will remember thy Love more than Wine The upright love thee I Have told you that the eight first Verses of this Chapter
their Evils 2. Secondly Friendship speaketh free and ingenuous Love Not the Love of a Child to a Father which is Natural to which he is obliged by a filial duty because of his Fathers care of and provision for him not the Love of a Servant which is purchased by a kind usage and dependance A friend loveth freely The Love of true Friends is ordinarily an inaccountable thing They love one another and can hardly give one another an account of it further than a goodness and excellency a suitableness and likeness which they discern or at least think they see each in other Christs Love to us is free He healeth our backslidings and loveth us freely He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy The reciprocal Love of the believing Soul is not so free and so ingenuous as is his beloveds love to him Yet it is thus far ingenuous that it is not only for that the Soul hath from Christ but for that goodness and excellency which it discerneth in Christ this we had before Because of the Savour of thy good Ointments therefore do the Virgins Love thee 3. Love properly doth not make a friend unless it be mutual and reciprocal Indeed in a large sense a man may be said to be a friend to his Enemy That is to wish well to him and to do him some kind Offices But this is not friendship All Friendship implyeth a reciprocation of Love Christ Loves the believer and every true believer loveth Christ So they are Friends in the strictest and most proper sense Indeed there is a great difference which is well expressed by one of the Casuists thus We will good to him but we do not bestow that good upon him which we will him But he while he willeth good to us also giveth us that good which he willeth and by his loving us maketh us good and lovely But every Child of God truly loveth Christ truly I say that is sincerely though not with that kind or degree of Love with which Christ loveth him Lord saith Peter thou that knowest all things knowest that I Love thee And If any man Loves not the Lord Jesus saith the Apostle let him be Anathema Maranatha 4. Lastly Love of friendship alwaies speaketh Communion betwixt the two Lovers We are bound to Love our Enemies and in every good man there is such a Love even to those that hate them but this is no Love of friendship for the Precept of Love to Enemies obligeth onely against malice and private Revenge and to common Offices of kindness it doth not oblige to intimacy or to any near fellowship and Communion with them We are so far obliged to Love our Enemies as to bear no malice against them to take no private Revenge upon them to be ready to do any acts of kindness for their Souls and any common offices of love But I say we are not by it obliged to make them our intimates nor to keep any fellowship or communion with them But in a Love of friendship there is alwaies Communion or a mutual Communication of the Parties loving each to others Christ gives this account of his love of friendship to his disciples John 15. 15. Henceforth I call you not Servants for the Servant knoweth not what his Lord doth but I have called you Friends for all things I have heard of my Father I have made known to you Christ Communicates himself to believers to such as are his disciples indeed he is in them they in him and he is daily Communicating of his life and strength to them for John 15. 4. Without him they can do nothing They are daily communicating themselves unto him making a secret surrender to him of their hearts their wills their affections Communicating their wants and desires to him by Prayer c. Thus I have justified the notion of Christs Love his friend his Companion to be agreeable to what the Scripture revealeth concerning Christ and the believing Soul This in the first place leadeth us into a just admiration of the Divine Love and condescension Who is this that calleth from Heaven to Earth to the Worms of the Earth and speaketh in this language My Love My Friend My Fellow Is it not he who is the Eternal Son of God God over all blessed for ever he to whom there is none like and besides whom there is no God He whom God calleth his fellow and who thought it no robbery to be equal with the Father And to whom doth he speak Is it not to those who must say to corruption thou art my Mother and to the Worms you are my brethren and my Sisters To those whose Fathers are Amorites and whose Mothers are Hittites who by nature are dead in trespasses and sins unclean Children of unclean Parents Will the Lord Love such Ethioptans as we are by nature Such Enemies as we have shewed our selves by practice Will the Lord make himself a companion to the creature that is but as the dust of his feet What manner of Love and condescension is this For him whom the Eternal Father hath proclaimed to be his Son and that Son in whom he is well pleased in whom the Lord hath set up his rest he whom Kings and Prophets desired to see whom Angels and glorified Saints adore to whom the Father hath given a name above every name he who hath Heaven for his throne the Earth for his footstool and the utmost ends of the Earth for his possession to say to us My Love My Friend My Companion Certainly these terms ought to ravish our hearts and to affect them with in expressible admiration and to whom doth he say thus Is it only to the Glories and beauties of the World To the Emperors Rings Princes and Nobles thereof No he saith thus to every believer even the meanest that treadeth upon the Earth to the most poor distressed afflicted creature to Job that sits upon a dunghill scraping himself with a potsheard to Lazarus that lyeth at the rich mans gate full of sores and begging bread while the Dogs lick his sores to the poorest believer living in the meanest and dirtiest Gottage to those whom the World revileth slighteth scorneth to those who have spit in his face and abused his patience and despised his goodness that have hardened their hearts against him grieved his holy Spirit Yet having repented of these things and being turned to him to these he calleth to these he saith My Love My Friends My Companions He upbraideth them not for their former miscarriages to these he becometh a fellow Prisoner in these he becomes a fellow helper these shall be joint heirs with him Hear O Heavens be astonished O Earth never was Love like this never such matchless Love Let all our Souls swallow up themselves in this gulph of unfathomable Love and while we are sinking let us cry out O the height and depth and length and breadth of the Love of God in Jesus Christ It is a
the third place How should this raise up the hearts of Christians above all discouragements as to hard and difficult duties O saith a Christian This is an hard saying who can hear it a difficult duty how shall I ever perform it how shall I ever get up my heart to it Put to thy hand Christian thou canst do nothing of thy self but thou mayest do all things through Christ that strengtheneth thee what cannot Christ and thou do together I live saith Paul Gal. 2. 20. yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God Remember Christ hath called thee fellow and why Because he is thy fellow helper in duty as well as thy fellow Prisoner and fellow Souldier in all thy sufferings Only do not like a Sluggard lye down and stand still and cry there is a lion in the way Isa 41. 10. Saith God Fear not for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness v. 13. I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand saying unto thee fear not for I will help thee It is Christians great fault they pore upon themselves and discourage themselves from their own natural impotencies and insufficiencies and do not consider that their fruit is found in Christ and all their strength also laid up and found in him and to be derived from him Fourthly Doth Christ say to us My Love And shall not we say to him My Beloved shall not we Love the Lord Jesus Christ and compleat this Love of friendship It is said that when Christ was going with his disciples to Emaus their hearts burn'd within them while they heard him talking by the way Have not your hearts burned within you while you have heard Jesus Christ speaking to you in this dialect My Love My Fellow If you Love them that Love you saith our Lord Matth. 5. What reward have you even the Publicans do so O Love the Lord Jesus Christ all you his Saints for he loveth you and that too with the greatest and most unmeasurable love Is Christ our Companion let us not grudg then to be his Companions and let us behave our selves towards him as towards a Companion and such a Companion This learneth us several things 1. It learneth us what is our constant work and duty viz To Glorify God by doing the work which God hath given us to do by manifesting his name to those whom God hath given us This was Christs work he went up and down doing good saith the Evangelist This was Christs work this should be our work we should be thinking every morning how should I glorify Christ this day How may I shew my self this day a Companion in labour to my great Lord and Master this we cannot do by making our selves Companions of fools nor meer Companions of worldly men but by being the Companions of those that fear the Lord. 2. It learneth us our duty to be couragious valiant in fight striving against sin confident of Victory over all our Spiritual Enemies Of these I have spake before We should also in consideration of this use Christ as our Companion and behave our selves towards him as to our Companion and as to such a Companion as he is I shall direct in that in two or three particulars 1. Be no Companion to Christs Enemies David saith Psal 119. 63. I am a Companion of all them that fear thee Psal 119. 63. Solomon telleth us That a Companion of fools shall be destroyed Prov. 13. 20. Who those fools are you may read 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Revel 21. 8. All such as shall never enter into the Kingdom of God such as shall be destroyed in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone are fools with a witness No Companion to these can shew himself a Companion to Jesus Christ Solomon saith Prov. 28. 7. A Companion of riotous men shameth his Father He that is a Companion an ordinary Company to loose and profane men Drunkards Swearers Blasphemers profane Swearers and cursers and professeth to be a Companion of Christ shameth Christ to whom he pretendeth to be a Companion Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness Eph. 5. 11. If you have see what the same Apostle saith 2 Cor. 6. 14. What fellowship can righteousness and light have with you The Gentleman abhorreth his Mistriss that makes herself a Companion to ever Tapster and Porter 2. Be you much in company with Christ Fellows and lovers use to be so they are never well but when they are so Frequent Communion with God is like the frequent meetings and converses of lovers which ripen things apace for the wedding day The Soul that is much with Christ in Soliloquies and meditations much in Prayer ripeneth apace for glory for the great marriage of the Lamb. Much communion with God hath these two eminent advantages God is by it much indeared to the Soul and the Soul is again reciprocally much endeared to God by it 2. When thou art in communion with Christ be not Idle A man may be in his study and do nothing of moment a Child may truant in the School Domitian may be killing flyes in his Councel-Chamber A Soul may lose that time that it pretends to spend with Christ Spend this hallowed part of your time as Lovers and Companions use to do 1. In imparting your secrets unto Christ Your secret wants doubts fears desires not concealing your most secret thoughts from the Lord. 2. In wooing of your beloved Begging his love and favour crying out to him with the Spouse Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth Draw me and we will run after thee Tell me O thou whom my Soul loveth where thou feedest where thou makest thy flocks to rest at Noon 3. In mutual embraces The embraces of faith and love I held him saith the Spouse and would not let him go Put the hand of faith about the neck of your beloved it is a Chain from which he cannot from which he will not get loose But I have dwelt long enough upon the compellation in the Text my Love or my Fellow I should now come to the matter of my text I have compared thee to a company of Horses in Pharaoh's Chariots But of that hereafter Sermon XLVIII Canticles 1. 9. I have likened thee O my Love to a company of Horses in Pharaoh's Chariots I Am come to the second Proposition I observed from these words I have done with the first raised from the Compellation Prop. Christ hath likened his Spouse to a company of Horses in Pharaoh's Chariots I shall speak to this Proposition in my usual method by way of Explication Confirmation and Application By way of Explication I shall shew you 1. In what sense that term I have likened or I have compared
and the further grace of God merited It is all given We will saies Christ make for thee The porro esse as well as the esse the aboundings as well as the first breathings and motions of Spiritual life are all from God 4. Lastly He speaketh in the Plural Number We will make This is either spoken Stylo Regio in the stile of a Prince Christ is a great King Or else as it is said Gen. 1. 26. Let us make man to denote the Plurality of Persons in the Divine Being and the concurrence of the whole Trinity in the collation of Grace and more Grace upon believers It is a rule in Divinity omnia opera Trinitatis adextra sunt indivisa All the works of the Trinity out of itself and with relation to the creatures are individed what is the Act of one Person is the work of all three Persons The Father created the Son createth and the Holy Ghost createth So in the works of Providence The Father worketh hitherto and the Son worketh This is eminently true in that noble work of Providence The Collation of special grace John 14. 23. If any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him The Text being thus opened you see to what point in Divinity it leadeth us The Doctrine is this Prop. That Christ is ready to give out more grace more Spiritual Ornaments to the Souls of believers where he seeth the Cheeks of his Saints already comely with Rows of Jewels and their Necks with Chains of Gold he will still be preparing for them Chains of Gold with Spots of Silver To this purpose is the promise Matth. 13. 12. To him that hath shall be given and he shall have in more abundance It was the end of his coming into the World not only that his People might have life but that they might have it more abundantly John 10. 10. And he acteth in the dispensations of his grace according to and in fulfilling of the end of that his coming He giveth out pardoning grace abundantly Isaiah 55. 6 7. He will abundantly pardon even according to and much above the abundings of sin in the creature As sin hath abounded grace shall much more abound Rom. 5. And as sin reneweth so his gracious acts of pardoning are renewed also Sanctifying grace and that indeed is properly the Ornament of a believer he giveth abundantly He fills the Souls of his People with joy and peace in believing that their Souls may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost Rom. 15. 13. He maketh the Souls of his People to abound in loves hence the aboundings in this gracious habit are made the matter of the Apostles prayer 1 Thes 3. 12. They could not grow in grace if he were not alwaies ready to give out more grace for all Acts must proceed from habits and a growth and improvement in gracious Acts must flow from an increase of the power and principle of acting If any one asks the reason of this Liberality of Christ to his Spouse it is not hard to assign it 1. That fulness of Grace and Love which is in him is the great ground and cause of it what makes the loving Husband who knoweth that his Wife is already full stockt with Cloaths and Linnen and Rings and Jewels and other Ornaments that yet he can never go abroad but he must bring her home something to add to her stock in these things but only first he finds that his purse will hold out to it He hath wherewithal to do it 2. His Love and kindness to his Wife is such as constraineth him to it so as he can never think she hath enough and he is still giving to her as if she had nothing Christ is a fountain of fulness the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily and of his fulness saith John we receive grace for grace The full fountain runneth over neither doth he lose any thing by his communication while he giveth grace he is but like unto the Sun which loseth no light by imparting its light to the World Then his Love to his Saints is infinite transcendent he must not be outvyed by his creatures Doth therefore a loving Husband when his Wife hath already a competent wardrobe and a competent number of Ornaments yet add to her stores and so much to supply her wants as to shew his own Love and kindness to her How much more shall the Lord Jesus do it So that in this reason there are indeed three The first is that infinite fulness of grace that is in him which cannot terminate it self in him without a communication to the creature the Second is the nature of his communication which is such that he loseth nothing by it He saith we will make thee borders of Gold men and women are not so forward to give what they have aliunde from without themselves As what they have from themselves and are no losers by the communication of The term make doth not denote a non praeexistence All the Chains of Gold with which Christ adorneth his Spouse are coaevous with Christ himself given out in the pursuance of an Eternal purpose purchased with the blood of Christ but it signifieth that Christ hath them of his own And then thirdly His exceeding Love to his Spouse causeth the giving of them out It is said of Paul Acts 18. 5. That he was pressed in Spirit and Testified c. Christ is pressedin Spirit with Love to the believing Soul His heart is ravished as he afterward expresseth it in this song Thou â—ast ravished my heart my Sister my Spouse This love is the great and first moving cause of these communications as the loving husband that hath an estate which will bear it and a Wife wherein he greatly delighteth is alwaies giving her such things as he judgeth will be pleasing and acceptable unto her so our blessed Lord having first made his grace acceptable to the Soul and then loving that Soul that hungreth and thirsteth after him with a transcendent love cannot but be daily Satisfying such a Soul with his good things 2. A second Reason of this is the Renewing wants of his Spouse Love doth not giveâ—bare measure but sheweth it self further than in a bare supply of wants Ministring also to the pleasure and delight of the Person beloved but to wants and desires it cannot be wanting the Soul of a Christian through the revival of lusts and corruptions within itself and through the repetition of temptations and in regard of Gods various dispensations to it stands in need of the daily increase of grace Nogood Soul hath so much grace but it still wants A prudent husband though very loving and tender may judg his Wife hath Ornaments enough and therefore may cease to add to her stock though she may not have some particular Ornament because though she hath it not yet she
is incomparable and incomprehensible but it is impossible fully to delineate his glory to you yet something we may speak more particularly 2. Therefore Christs Beauty is a Primitive Beauty The Beauty of the most eminent Saint is no more than a derivative Beauty we are clean through Christ's cleanness and we are comely through Christ's comeliness Take the Saint out of Christ he hath nothing in him but blackness ugliness and deformity all his Beauty is derived from Christ he is but like the Star that hath its Light from the Sun being of it self but a thicker part of coelestial matter yea he is in a lower degree than a Star which the Philosopher saith hath some though a very small Light of his own The Child of God of himself is not only dark but darkness You were once darkness saith the Apostle but now you are light in the Lord. But now Christ is not only lightsom but light it self I am the true Light Job 1. 9. Joh. 8. 12. Yea and his Light his Beauty is from himself Consider him as God equal with the Father and coaevous with him all the Divine Perfections were in him The whole Beauty of the Godhead was in Christ Consider him indeed as to his Humane Nature so his Beauty was derivative the Spirit was given to him though not by measure Joh. 3. 34 Col. 1. 19. It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell But consider now the Lord Jesus Christ personally as God and Man and so all his Beauty was Primitive and from himself His Divine Nature being the Fountain of all Perfections and his Humane Nature receiving the fulness of the Godhead from that Nature to which it was joyned in the fellowship of the same Person Now look what difference there is betwixt the Original Light of the Sun and the borrowed Light of a Star betwixt the Primitive Light of the Fire and the Derivative Light of a Taper such a transcendent difference there is between the Beauty of Christ and the Beauty of a Christian 3. Christ's Beauty is an Essential Beauty When I discoursed to you concerning the Beauty of Christians I told you that their Beauty was accidental and adventitious all those gracious dispositions which are found in the Souls of Saints which make them lovely and beautiful either in the Eyes of Christ or of their Brethren are but adventitious qualities and accidents no part of their Essence But Christ's Beauty is Essential to him It is certainly true that there are no accidents in God all that love and goodness and mercy which is in Jesus Christ that slowness to conceive a wrath and readiness to forgive it is all Essential unto him Essentia Divina identificat sibi omnia quae sunt in Divinis say the Schoolmen Christ is from his Essence wise good gracious holy c. Now every ones Reason will easily apprehend a transcendent difference between Essential and Substantial Beauty and Adventitious and Accidental Beauty But 4. Christ's Beauty is a spotless Beauty He is called the Sun of Righteousness The Sun hath no spots in it it is all beautiful all glorious The Saints Beauty is a spotted Beauty or at least a Beauty attended with spots it is like the Beauty of the Moon the Moon is a glorious creature but the Moon hath its spots Take the fairest Saint in the World he hath some blemishes much grace but some corruption much rectitude but some crookedness yea he is in nothing perfect He believeth but crieth out Lord help my unbelief He loveth God this is his Beauty Oh! but he wants some degrees of love he bewails his want of love to God and begs of God to teach him to love him there 's his spot in his Beauty He doth direct his waies towards God there 's his Beauty But he cries out Oh that my waies were directed to keep thy Statutes there 's his spot there 's his deformity But now look upon Christ there was no spot found in him no defect of Beauty no mixture of deformity no guile was found in his mouth no deceit in his heart no crookedness in his actions 5. Christ's Beauty is a never fading Beauty I remember that I told you concerning the Beauty of the Saints that it is a durable Beauty it is never wholly lost and it is true in the Eyes of Christ but what 's the reason because the Providence of God continually upholds that state of Beauty which is once conferred Nor hath God so ordered the upholding of the Saints Beauty but that it may fade and decay as to degrees yea and be wholly lost as to humane Judgment 'T is true the Beauty of Justification can never be lost can never decay but the Beauty of Holiness may Now Holiness is a great part of the Saints Beauty both in the Eyes of God and also of men But Christ's Beauty can never fade the Rose of Sharon cannot wither this is proved from the third thing If Beauty could fail from Christ the Divine Essence might be extinguished 6. In the last place Christs beauty is a communicative Beauty The loveliest face in the World cannot procreate such another the most vertuous ingenuous mind cannot communicate its vertue and ingenuity so as to possess another Soul with it You have many a Child of God that is exceeding beautiful both by justifying and regenerating grace but what they have is to themselves The wisest Virgins can lend no Oil to the foolish if they do there will not be enough for them both But now Christs Beauty is communicative he is in himself comely and he can put his comeliness upon others yea which is more he can communicate without loss to himself as the Fire gives heat to all in the Room and yet hath no less heat in itself or as the Sun inlightneth the Moon and all the Stars yea and all the World and yet hath as much light still as it had before that communication So doth the Lord Jesus Christ he hath communicated Beauty to ten thousand thousand Saints even to all that have lived since Adams fall to this day They were all comely through his comeliness put upon them yet hath he in himself the same Beauty he ever had But I have spoke enough to the opening of this point I come to the application in three or four words 1. In the first place This calleth to all the Children of God for that great duty mentioned Rom. 12. 3. Not to think of himself more highly then he ought to think but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith The want of this Spiritual Sobriety hath been one great cause of the Drunkenness of this later age 1. Professors have been too apt to think of themselves above others forgetting that of the Apostle in that Chap. v. 10. In honour preferring one before another ah how vile have Brethren seemed in one anothers Eyes How ready have the
Children of men Psal 89. I will visit his transgression with a rod and his iniquity with stripes 4. My mercy shall not depart from him as from Saul Psal 89. Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him Nor suffer my faithfulness to fail 1. God covenants that although Solomon should sin yet he would not take his mercy from him The very term of Mercy signifies more than the continuance of the Crown to him for as Tychonius observes David would have understood little mercy for his Son to have enjoyed a temporal Kingdom and lost an eternal inheritance 2. The punishment which God threatens to him in case of sinning was but a Rod. The Rod of Men for if we should allow nothing to Pineda's Criticisme upon the term used Enosh to signify men here which properly signifies a weak old man who cannot lay on strokes hard but chastiseth his Child gently so as the Rod of Men here mentioned should be opposed to the grounded staff mentioned Isaiah 30. 32. which God makes to rest upon others yet certainly the termof a Rod with the adjunct of Men speaks a very gentle chastning with which eternal punishment is no way consistent 3. Add to this That the Holy Ghost the most certain Interpreter of Scripture 1 Cor. 6. 18. Applies the very promise here made to the Children of God I will be a Father unto you and you shall be my Sons and Daughters I say who so considereth these things must certainly conclude that Gods obligation by this Covenant extended further than the continuance of the temporal dominion in his line which is also advantaged by the consideration that Solomon in his life time was chastened with the Rods of Men 1 Kings 11. God stirred up against him Hadad Rezin and Jeroboam He was doubtless chastened of the Lord that he might not be condemned with the world Nor can any reasonably think to avoid the dint of the Argument drawn from these Texts by telling us That a greater than Solomon is understood in them even he of whom Solomon was but a Type For although it be true that divers of the Ancients favoured that notion amongst whom was Augustine Ambrose Tertullian and Theodoret and that some passages in the aforementioned Texts seem to be by the Holy Ghost himself applied to Christ amongst which that eminent part of this Covenant I will be to him a Father c. besides that others seem applicable to no other as where he promiseth to establish his Kingdom for ever yet it is as true that the promise I will be to him a Father as I shewed before is also by the Holy Ghost applied to believers 1 Cor. 6. 18. and those who understand the Hebrew Idiome know that the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth often signify less than Eternity strictly so called and it is as certain that Hierome and divers others of the Ancients apply these Texts literally to Solomon Possibly they compound the business better who considering Solomon as a Type of Christ divide the Covenant made with David betwixt Solomon and Christ thinking that part concerneth Solomon and part concerneth Christ Sure it is that Solomon built the material Temple not Christ and Solomon alone not Christ was in a capacity to forsake the Commandments of God and for the promissory part if we say it concerned Solomon in the letter and Christ in the Mystery and Antitype I think we shall not much err nor will this interpretation at all weaken the strength of our argument I find a 4th Argument for this eminent Person brought from 2 Sam. 12. 24 25. compared with Neb. 13. 26. and 1 Kings 3. 3. from whence De-La Champius observeth 3 things 1. That it is said God loved him 2 Sam. 12. 24. And the Lord loved him Neh. 13. 26. He was beloved of his God 2. In token of this love God gave him his name Jedidiah i. e. beloved of God 3. The Scripture saith he loved the Lord. The consideration of the latter makes the plea vain of those who to avoid the dint of this Argument would interpret Gods love of that general favour which he extends to every Creature distinguished from that by which he elevates the Creature to a participation of the Divine Nature for that love is not so efficacious as to produce a reciprocal love in the Creature to God again we therefore love him because he loved us first which being granted unless we grant God as mutable as man and deny what he hath said that whom he loves he loves to the End We must allow that Solomon notwithstanding his great miscarriages was yet beloved of God and died in a state of Grace Now to these Arguments might further be added as strong presumptions in the case yielding at least some auxiliary strength That no Text speaketh so desperȧtely concerning Solomon that the Scripture 1 Kings 11. 4. speaking of his falling seems to hint it a sin of infirmity in his old age and through the great temptation of his Wives That he did only tolerate Idolatry not make it the Religion of the Nation That he after this as is at least probably and generally concluded wrote in testimony of his repentance the book of Ecclesiastes That he was the Sacred Penman of Scripture These things may much confirm our charitable opinion in the case for although it be true that I know no reason to the contrary but that God who made use of the Son of Perdition to preach his everlasting Gospel might also with consistency enough to the wisdom of his Providence make use of a Child of Perdition to write and ingross what his holy Spirit first dictated nor saith Augustine hath God less consulted his own glory in it for now all the good and glory of the truth revealed in those books will be given to God Beside it is said that Balaams Song is also recorded in Scripture and a piece of holy writ yet considering that no one book of holy writ was wrote by such a withered hand as that of a reprobates and that the Scripture fixeth no such mark upon this great Person who was the Author of three Books there and that one of these Books at least appears let Bellarmine say what he will to be wrote after the days of his Vanity and hath in it evident marks of his nauseating his lusts and former vanities of pleasure love riches c. Nor have there been wanting some who have thought so of the other two Books also viz. the Proverbs and the Canticles And to these if we add that he was an eminent Type of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I say if we lay all these things together we shall I think neither stand in need of the Rabbinical figments who tell us formal stories of Solomons repentance Nor yet of that auxiliary help in which Pineda much triumpheth which Petrus de Castro affords from that Sculpture in leaden Plates wrote in ancient Arabick Characters and
the light of thy Countenance upon me Psal 4. 6. Let others take the ring let her have but the kiss and it is sufficient for her but single influences of Grace will not serve her turn every look of grace is sweet and frequent influences of Grace are necessary for her Secondly Observe How she begs 1. Reverently Let him kiss me Thus we ought to draw nigh to God with Reverence and Godly fear Reverence becomes the great Majesty of Heaven and Earth those that come without it towards God understand not his greatness 2. She begs humbly But a kiss The crumbs that fall from the Lords Table the touch of the Hem of his Garment any thing of Jesus Christ that may but argue distinguishing love 3. She asketh boldly not rudely but boldly Thus we ought to come to the Throne of Grace with an holy boldness the boldness of faith the word is in the future tense and may be translated He shall kiss me or he will kiss me His Majesty requires reverence His promise gives boldness and confidence 4. Lastly she asketh fervently There is a bluntness discernable in the form Let him kiss me which speaketh the Souls fervency Besides the trina repetitio repeating the same thing by three terms denotes as Lud. de Ponte observes flagrantissimum cordis affectum The most flagrant earnest desire of the Spouses heart I have thus far opened to you the Spouses first Petition in which the believing Soul with a Reverent holy humble boldness yet with all possible fervency begs of the Lord Jesus Christ her Spiritual Husband some special distinguishing token of his love more especially a near fellowship with him in his ordinances and the sealing up of his love to her soul in Gospel Doctrines This first petition she presseth with a double Argument 1. The first drawn from the Excellency of his love This she sets out per modum comparationis comparing it with Wine and preferring it before it 2. Comparing the name of Christ with Ointment and that not shut up in a box but poured out Thy name is as an Ointment poured forth v. 3. Her 2d Argument is drawn from her Love to her Beloved in the close of the third v. The Virgins love thee and the cause of this love is expressed to be the savour of his good Ointments Because of the savour c. Let me open the terms by which these Arguments are expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We translate it because thy loves are better than Wine what we translate Loves the Septuagint translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom the Vulg. Lat. and the Arab. Interp. follow Thy Breasts the Syriack translate it Bowels otherwise there is no difference in the Translations Delrio tells us that Alanus an Ancient Interpreter makes these words not the continued speech of the Spouse pressing her Petition by an Argument but the reply of her beloved to her assuring her of his love and that he valued her Breasts above all things That which probably led him into this mistake was his interpreting the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Breasts and not understanding how in any propriety of Speech the Spouse could commend the Breasts of her beloved they being parts from which usually the woman not the man is commended in ordinary Speech but as the whole stream of Interpreters runs another way so this seemeth to be no constraining argument to enforce us to acknowledge such a sudden and a subitam abruptam verborum commutationem as Delrio calls it abrupt change of words as this interpretaâ—ioâ— must necessarily infer For â— Though it be true that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a breast Ezek. 23. 3. v. 21. yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies beloved And loves in the Abstract and so it is translated Ezek. 16. 8. it was a time of love Suppose we should allow more authority to the Septuagint than to our Hebrew Text for which there is no reason yet it is not improper to assert these the words of the Spouse speaking to her beloved for although the God of Nature intending the woman for the Nurse hath provided that sex with larger breasts yet the man hath breasts also and such if you will believe the Philosopher as may have milk in them However he who runs may read the expression figurative Amoris sedes est in corde in uberibus quae cordi adhaerescunt The heart is the seat of love and the Breasts are nigh to the heart and this evidenceth the difference of Interpreters as to the translation of the word as to this Text to be but a word-bate for Ubera tua and Amorestui Thy Breasts or thy loves are much the same thing in signification Neither lastly is this the only Text in Scripture where the breasts of men are mentioned if we should be constrained to that sense Isaiah 60. 16. Thou shalt suck the Breast of Kings so also God is said to bear his People from the Belly and to carry them from the Womb. They are Metaphorical expressions and it is granted on all hands that if our Interpreters with whom concur most modern Interpreters have not hit the literal signification of the word yet they have not missed the sense in translating it Thy Loves By which Interpreters generally understand either the private influences of Grace with which God refresheth the particular Souls of his Saints or The publick ordinances and institutions of the Gospel by which God expresseth his love to his Church in general and every believing Soul in particular 1. Some understand Divine institutions Ordinances are indeed the Breasts at which Christ suckleth his Children those means by and through which he conveyeth the streams of his love to them and there is a great excellency in them David prefers a day in Christ's Courts before a 1000 elsewhere Origen observes that in some copies instead of quia ubera tua c. it was quia loquelae tuae thy Speeches are better than Wine which also excellently suits with the former expression The kisses of his mouth This sense in the general notion of it much pleaseth many Interpreters though something divided in their more particular notions Origen interprets it Dogmata tua thy Doctrines and seems indifferently to understand it of the Doctrine of the Law or of the Gospel The Popish Interpreters reading it Breasts expound it concerning the two Testaments so Genebrard c. Others interpret it more strictly concerning the sweet Doctrine of the Gospel which Saint Peter 1 Pet. 2. 2. compareth unto Milk which as new born Babes we ought to desire and concerning the Apostles and Prophets which were the first Instruments which God made use of to convey that Doctrine to us The sweetness of the Gospel saith Aquinas is meant here by which as with Milk those who are Babes in Christ are nourished Mr. Brightman making this the Speech of the Jewish
and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 desideravit he hath desired Love is nothing else but a willing of good to the object beloved and desire is the eldest Daughter and first fruit of love For the particles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore they shew the cause of the believers loving of the Lord Jesus Christ because of the savour of his good Ointments The excellencies of grace which are in him of which it hath a spiritual sense This whole verse comprehends a second Argument by which the Spouse inforceth her first petition The first was drawn from that high esteem which her soul had of the love and grace of Christ 2. This is drawn from that particular affection which she had for him common to all spiritual Virgins which she shews was not brutish and irrational no it was because he was full of grace which was more precious than the most excellent Ointments and she had received the savour of this grace for his discovery of himself to the world as a Saviour and more specially to her soul as her Saviour was as an Ointment poured forth You may now take the substance of these two verses and so of the Spouses first and great petition thus Oh! That it might please my dearly beloved Saviour who is my Spiritual Bridegroom to shew me some token of special love and to multiply those tokens to me more specially in and by the words of his Mouth in Gospel Doctrines to speak unto my Soul which doth really prefer the tokens of his love and influences of his grace before the most choice of all creature comforts My beloved is full of grace and love which is sweet like good Ointment every discovery of himself is as sweet as Ointment poured forth therefore doth my Soul love him and not my Soul only but the Souls of all those who are not deflowered by the world and by lusts From the words thus opened several propositions of truth may be observed The mercies which the believing Soul thirsts after are spiritual distinguishing mercies The least of Christ a kiss is exceeding precious to a gracious Soul Though the least influences of grace be precious to believers yet they will not be satisfied without the fullest dispensations of grace and most frequent repetitions of it Believers have special thirstings after the Word of God The kisses of his Mouth The thirst of a true believer will not be satisfied without a Spiritual inward communion with Christ in his Ordinances The kisses of his Mouth A gracious Soul will be very bold and earnest with God for this spiritual communion with him The Lord Jesus Christ hath Loves A variety of Grace The Loves of Christ are better than Wine than all created comforts whatsoever The believing Souls knowledge of the Excellencies which are in Christ is the ground of its earnest desire of fellowship and communion with him It is an excellent Argument for a Soul to use with God for the obtaining of favours from him if it can truly say that it preferreth his favour before all created goods The Lord Jesus Christ hath good Ointments which cast a savour The name of Christ is as an Ointment poured forth Virgin Souls love the Lord Jesus Christ for those excelling graces which they discern in him Sermon II. Canticles 1. v. 1. 2 3. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth for his loves are better then Wine Because of the savour c. I Have in my former Exercises opened the Text and named those propositions of Doctrine which are couched in the words or rationally to be deduced from them I come now to the particular handling of them beginning with the first The thirst of a believing Soul is after Spiritual distinguishing mercies Nature teacheth every one to say who will shew us any good Good is a thing that all the creation is enamoured upon God is the fountain of all goodness Every good and perfect gift cometh from above from him who is the father of lights Who being not a debtor to the creature must needs dispense it out freely Hence that goodness of God which is his goodness of Beneficence not only dwelling in him as a piece of his divine perfection But flowing from him as a stream from the fountain of his liberality is properly called Mercy whether it be good to us in respect of its sutableness to our outward and bodily wants or to our more inward and Spiritual necessities Hence the Mercies and savours of God are either Bodily respecting out outward Man or Spiritual respecting our inward man The former such now as life health peace and prosperity riches c. are such as God gives to his Enemies as well as to his Friends he maketh his Sun to rise upon the evil and the good And sendeth rain on the just and unjust Math. 5. 45. Spiritual good things again are either Gifts of common or of Special Grace Gifts of common grace such as knowledge invention memory utterance c. These are indeed Spiritual gifts so called by the Apostle 1 Cor. 12. 1. ch 14. 1. because given out by the Spirit of God and tending to innoble the Spiritual part and they are also called the best gifts 1 Cor. 12. 31. They are so in their kind better than those which only concern the outward man but St. Paul himself mentioneth better than these in the very same Text I shew you a more excellent way Neither are these distinguishing favours but given in common to wicked as well as to good men But now there are Spiritual mercies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so called Not only because they come from the Spirit of Grace and innoble the Spiritual part of man but because they are suted to the greatest necessities of our inward man Such are the grace of Justification Union to and reconciliation with God pardon of Sin and the Senses of that pardon together with all the fruits of the Spirit of regeneration and Sanctification These are the distinguishing favours of God which difference the Child of God from him that is not Now I say these are those favours which the believing Soul thirsteth after and longeth for expressed here under the Metaphor of kisses And properly expressed under that notion Men and women use not to kiss such as they hate but such as they have an affection for It is a civil usage amongst us so to salute strangers indeed but frequency of kisses speaks a distinguishing love and some intimacy of Affection and are not ordinary unless amongst very intimate Friends such as is the Husband and Wife Brethren and Sisters c. But yet a little further When Isay the thirstings of gracious Souls are after such distinguishing tokens of divine love I understand it not Exclusively The Children of God are made up of flesh and blood as well as any others and subject to the same necessities and infirmities
necessitous Creatures it also obtaineth several names and admits of several distinctions and is shewed by several Acts. The Grace of God in the sense I am now speaking to it signifyeth nothing but the free love of God looking upon the Sons of Men with respect to the several necessities of their Souls It s variety ariseth from us and our necessities it is not divided in the fountain only in the stream and thus Grace admits of several distinctions which I shall open to you in a few words that you may rightly understand the various notions of it The most famous distinction of it is into that which doth render the Soul acceptable to God and that which is love and freely given but doth not make the Soul acceptable in Gods sight at least not first acceptable or is not that for which God doth at first accept the Soul The first is that which we call the Grace of Justification which is the free love of God shining upon the Soul imputing to it a righteousness without works and not imputing transgression as the Apostle expoundeth it Rom. 4. 6. 8. the second we call the grace of Regeneration and Sanctification which is the love of God freely shewed to the Soul by which its heart is renewed and changed and filled with new habits and dispositions inclining and inabling it to what God requireth of it This is Grace it is from the power and free love of God though it be not that grace for which God at first accepteth the Soul as the Papists say This Grace of Regeneration and Sanctification is also usually distinguished into Habitual and Actual Habitual Grace is nothing else but the free love of God shining upon the Soul inabling it to will and to choose the things that are good and pleasing to God he giveth to will saith the Apostle and we are made willing in the day of his power saith the Psalmist Actual or acting Grace which is the love of God shewed to the Soul in inabling us to do the things that are good for as it is he that giveth to will so it is he who giveth to do both of his own good pleasure and our Lord told his Disciples John 15. 3. Without me you can do nothing There is another distinction of Grace into Preventing and Subsequent Preventing Grace is that love of God which preventeth and goeth before any good motions or actions of ours according to that of the Prophet I was found of them that sought me not and of those that did not inquire after me This is usually called the first grace Subsequent grace is that love of God which followeth this and is variously manifested to the Souls of Gods People In the first we are meerly passive we only receive it in the other we are active There are other notions of grace but I shall instance only in one more Special grace is the free love of God either concerning the being of a true Christian or 2dly Concerning its well being That grace which concerneth the being of a true Christian which quickneth the Soul which before was a Child of Wrath dead in trespasses and sins is either the Grace of Justification and what concerneth that this is first grace and preventing grace Or 2. The grace of Regeneration by which a new heart is given unto us and we are inclined disposed and inabled to the operations of a spiritual life Or Secondly What concerneth the better being of a Christian in the managing of all the actions and concerns of the spiritual life This again is divided into quickning grace strengthening Grace and consolatory Grace 1. Quickning grace may either signify that love of God by which our Spiritual powers habits and inclinations are drawn out into acts 2. Or that whereby a Soul is made more active and lively and free in the service of God which removes those difficulties that heaviness and deadness and dulness which we often find upon our Souls as to spiritual things For this you read David so often praying in Psal 119. Strengthening grace which is the love of God shewed to the Soul in further inabling it both to its spiritual actions and to the managing of the good fight against the World the Flesh and the Devil the Apostle calleth it a being strengthened with might in the inward Man of this Saint Paul speaketh Phil. 3. 13. I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Consolatory grace which signifieth the love of God shining upon the Soul that is sad and heavy refreshing it either from the view and sense of the truth of its gracious habits or from the sealings of some promise giving the Soul an assurance or full persuasion of the love of God David crieth out when wilt thou comfort me Thus you see the variety of gracious dispensations the love of God is one as it is in him as the fountain but it divideth itself into several streams as it shineth upon divers Souls or the same Soul oft-times in differing circumstances or with respect to divers wants which our Souls have Secondly As there is variety in the dispensations of grace so grace discovers itself in various acts Divines say that the grace of Justification so far as it respecteth the Souls State varieth not Nor is repeated but the acts of grace referring to our justified estate they are repeated God doth not pardon sin before it is committed but repeateth his gracious act in pardoning as the Soul repeateth its transgressions Now this is that which I say in this proposition that the Spouse of Christ the truly gracious Soul is not satisfied with any single dispensation of grace nor with a single act it desires not only the first grace but further grace not only the grace of Justification but the grace of regeneration also not only gracious habits but that it may be excited and quickned to spiritual actions not only that it may do them but that it may do them with some strength and vigour with some life and chearfulness it desires renewed acts of pardon renewed influences of spiritual strength and life Let us but a little see it in the great instance of David the man according to Gods own heart we shall find him speaking to our purpose in several Psalms Psal 19. 13. Cleanse thou me from secret faults there he beggeth for pardoning love will this satisfy this holy man will he think it enough if God pardoneth his Sin see what followeth in that Psalm Keep back thy Servant from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me he must have strengthening as well as pardoning grace he desires to be freed from the commanding as well as from the condemning power of Sins Look into the 51 Psalm a Psalm much spent in petitions for special grace v. 7. He prays for pardon Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than the Snow he speaks in an old Testament phrase
also that they may know that they also shall another day stand righteous before God Nor do I see any reason why they may not go one step further and passionatly desire some strengthning and assisting grace against some particular lusts Some extravagant desires or lusts of the heart of man do not only expose him to the wrath of God in another world but to the wrath of God manifested in this life Such now as the lusts of the flesh drunkenness c. Experience tells us that the pursuit of these ruines mens healths estates reputations whatsoever is desirable to us in this life and concerning such extravagant motions of our affections and passions as have these issues which are contrary to the natural desires of life and health and prosperity in the world I cannot tell any reason but that an hypocrite may sincerly desire of God strength against them But now in this stands the child of God distinguished from all hypocrites In his desire after all grace not this or that kiss but every kiss of Christs mouth every manifestation of the love of God to a soul particularly such manifestations of Gods love as serve not at all to gratify any desires of the flesh whether respecting gain and profit or honour and reputation in the â—â—rld but such as serve to make the soul more holy and spiritual 〈◊〉 like to God more compliant with the will of God in all things the hypocrite desires influences of grace not that he might glorify God but meerly that he might serve a turn Secondly This discourse will let us see The great difference betwixt the desires that are found in the child of God after Grace and those desires which may be found in him after the things of the world The best of Gods people are compositions of soul and body as they have a spiritual part which hath its desires and cravings so they have the cravings of the flesh also their outward necessities justify in them some desires of the things of this life but now these desires are limited If God will be with me saith Jacob and will keep me in the way that I go and will give me bread to eat and rayment to put on so that I come again to my fathers house in peace then shall the Lord be my God Gen. 28. 20 21. Two things saith Agur Prov. 30. 7. have I required of thee deny me not them before I die Remove far from me vanity and lyes give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me The child of God is so far from desiring abundance of the world that he often prayeth against it He would not be full lest as Agur expresseth himself v. 9. he should deny God and say who is the Lord he would not be wholly empty lest being poor he should steal and take the name of God in vain As to grace he is like the horseleaches daughters still crying give give But for the world if he hath food convenient for him he saith to all the world as Esau once to Jacob. I have enough my Brother I have enough keep that thou hast unto thy self No child of God covets all the world His conversation is as to it without covetousness if he hath but Bread to eat and Rayment to put on if he can but make a competent provision for his family and have but something to give to them that want he blesseth God he hath enough but as to grace he may be added as a fifth thing to those four which Solomon Speaks of which never say they have enough Nor indeed do I know two worser evidences against any soul than never to think it hath enough of the world and yet to be satisfyed with any measures of grace I must confess I have been often troubled to see those whom I should otherwise have judged excellent Christians so fond of the enjoyments of this world and so unsatisfyed when the providence of God hath crossed them in those desires and expectations I wish I could see equal pantings in the souls of some who yet would be thought great professors after Christs kisses as I often see in them after the kisses of the world But alas that is impossible that nail would drive out the other Sirs that is a dreadful text which you have 1. John 2. 15. Love not the world neither the things of the world If any man love the world the love of the father is not in him The world is a thing that may be touched with a Saints hands and moderately used for his necessities but it must not be loved it must have no place in the Child of Gods Heart What shall we say then to such Professors as are much more fond of sensual satisfactions to gratify their sensitive appetite than they are of the Grace of God to mortify that appetite to sublimate their affections subjugate their passions to learn them in all Estates to be content to submit their wills unto the will of God How dwelleth the love of Christ in such Souls as are more fond of the worlds kisses than of his But I shall shut up this discourse with a word of Exhortation persuading you to speak after the Spouse in my Text Let him kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth Cease not till you have brought up your hearts to this frame that they cannot be satisfied without something of Christs fulness without some tasts of all the riches of Grace whatsoever I have given you as the reasons of this truth may be used by you as arguments in the case There 's no kiss of Christ no Beam of Grace but hath its lightsomness and glory in it No dispensation of Grace but is suited to some eminent want of the Soul if you discern it not the fault is in your Eyes you do not understand the cases of your own Souls so well as you ought to do it would be no Grace no Love if it were not proportioned to some want in us It will be an hard thing for you to satisfy your Souls in the having any truth of Grace if you find not your Souls thirsting after every manifestation of it There is no influence of Grace but is possible to be obtained There is a fulness of the God-Head in Christ considered as your Mediator and he is therefore full that we might drink abundantly of his fulness but to all these before enlarged upon I shall add two It is an evidence of true Grace to be thirsty after all Grace That Soul loveth not Christ truly that doth not desire that he should love it fully True love is satisfied with nothing less than all of the Beloved and renders the Soul jealous presently if it wants but one good look bestowed upon another Secondly The more thou hast of Grace the more thou wilt doubtless have of Glory I know some question whether there shall be any degrees of glory for my own part I see little
our God is towards him a consuming Fire We are in that state as Stubble dry Stubble he is a consuming Fire But the Apostle tells us 2. Cor. 5. 19. That God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself God in Christ is Love toward poor Creatures There are Loves in him Let me a little open the Term. I desire you to take notice of Two things 1. That it is Spoken in the Abstract 2. In the plural number not Love but Loves First Love in the strict and proper Notion of it signifieth the Persons or the Creatures Propension and Inclination to some Object and its Complacency in it And in this Abstract and purer Notion of it it agreeth to the Divine Being and Christ is the Subject of Love There is in the eternal Son of God strong Propensions and Inclinations to do good to the Sons of men To love the Philosopher saith is Velle bonum to will good to another There is in Christ a Propension a strong Inclination to will good to the Sons of Men He hath a Complacency in some of the Sons of Men. Love is a Term that signifies Affections and all our Affections are but the motions of our Wills towards their Objects We say there are no Affections in God That is true But there is something in the Divine Being which is proportionable to what in us we call Affectiions In us Affections are extravagant Motions mutable Passions there are no such things in God In us somthing out of our selves draws out our Love There is no such Passions and Affections in God But if we consider Love in its pure Nature as it is the kind motion of the VVill to an Object so Christ is Love and he hath Loves that is there is in him pure and admirable Propensions and Inclinations of his Will to do good to the Children of Men especially to some particular Souls amongst the Sons of Men. These indeed are not kindled in the Divine Being from any thing in us or out of itself as Flames of Love in the Creature usually are Yet even in Creatures Love oftentimes is an inaccountable thing but in God it is always so he sheweth Mercy because he will shew Mercy and loveth freely That 's the first thing But Secondly The word is plural not Love but Loves God is one and his Love is one Christs Love is one in himself but as the River that went out of Eden to water the Garden of Paradise Gen. 2. 10. was one in its Original and Source but from thence it was parted and became into four Heads So that Oâ—eness of the Divine Propension and Inclination to do good to poor Creatures being out of the Divine Being it divides itself into many Heads and as the Sea which is one in itself yet as it passeth by several Lands and washeth upon various Shoaâ—s receives several Names and so admits of a plural number so the Love of Christ which in him is but one Good-will to poor Creatures yet as it sheweth itself in Serving the necessities of various Souls or the various necessities of the same Soul so it becomes Loves and admits of plurality there is in Christ pardoning Love and an healing Love a strengthening Love and a comforting Love therefore the Spouse saith Thy Loves There is but One Love in Christ but it becomes many when it washeth upon various Shoars and toucheth our diverse wants Thirdly The plural Number speaketh the Dimensions of that Love which is in Christ or rather the want of Dâ—rensions in it The plural number hath no bounds the singular is bounded by Unity but the plural hath no bounds if you be to express Millions of Millions of Millions 't is all still but the plural number Loves reacheth infiniteness When the Spouse saith Thy Loves it is as much as thine infinite unmeasurable Love Christ hath not only a good Will a kind Inclination and Propension to the Sons of Men but an infinite unmeasurable unfathomable Propension and Inclination to do good to the Souls of his Saints The Apostle prayeth for the Ephesians Eph. 3. 17 18. That Christ might dwell in their Hearts by Faith that they being rooted and grounded in Love might be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the bredth and length and depth and beighth and to know the Love of Christ which passeth knowledge heighth and depth and length and bredth are the boundaries of our knowledge but the Love of Christ passeth knowledge Fourthly Love signifies some Specialties of Affection A good man hath Love for many Women but Love's only for the Wife of his Bosom Loves signifie both a common and a singular and special Love Christ hath a Philanthropy or common Love for all the Sons of Men but he hath an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a special Love and Kindness for some Joseph caused all his Brethren to have a Mess set them but for Benjamin a double Mess God gave Esau the Mountains of Edom. There was Love but Jacob had the Blessing Esau had his Love Jacob had his Loves That the Gospel is preached to every Creature is from Christs Love but that any by the Gospel are made New creatures this is from his Loves It is kindness to them that they have the Gospel but a far greater kindness a kindness of another nature to the Soul that it is inabled to receive the Gospel and is turned into the likness of it 5. Loves may signify the Effects and indications of Love and indeed Terms of Affection applyed unto God do very ordinarily in Scripture signify this Et affectum effectum Both the Motion of the Divine Will within itself and the effect of it upon the Creature So it is true that Christ hath Loves his Good-Will to poor Creatures doth not exhaust itself in one or another Emanation in one or another Stream but in various Emanations in a multitude of Streams and thus you see there are two things in the Proposition asserted 1st That in the Lord Jesus Christ there is an infinite unmeasurable Good-Will to the Childr of Men 〈…〉 such of them as are by Faith united to him 2dly That this Good-will of Christ toward them declareth itself in a great variety of Indications and Effects Suted to their various necessities It is not a Love that evaporates in Air as the Love of some impotent persons whose Love towards us terminates within their own Souls These are the two Points I have to prove and they are of exceeding easy demonstration to those who believe the History of the Gospel or the Matter and Propositions of the whole Word of God Solomon tells us of Christ under the notion of Wisdom the Apostle calls Christ The VVisdom of God 1. Cor. 1. 24. that before ever the Earth was when there were no Depths nor Fountains abounding with VVater when God prepared the Heavens and set a compass upon the face of the Deep when he established the Clouds Prov. 8. 24. 25. 31. He was Rejoycing
there praying to be delivered from those that are unreasonable upon many accounts but eminently in this that they hate do all the despight mischief they can to him who is full of Loves to them We shall sometimes find in men and women a strange aversion from such as truly Love them they cannot get up their hearts to love a man or woman that Loves them but it is very brutish very unreasonable for any of us to hate and malign and to seek to destroy one that Loves us Such brutes are all those that are Enemies to Christ and his Gospel Christ hath Loves for us these Loves are declared in his Gospel that declareth God in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their sins the publication of the Gospel is a great act of this Love the faithful Ministers of the Gospel are the Messengers to publish this Love what an unreasonable thing it is now for men to make them the But of their malice I remember when the Jews cryed out concerning Christ Crucify him Crucify him and Pilate asked them why What evil hath he done They like a company of unreasonable bruits could give him no answer but still they cryed out the more Crucify him Crucify him Doth not the same brutish cry hold up even at this day in some wretches mouths They can give no reasonable account why they should oppose the publication of the Love of Christ to poor lost Sinners yet they do it with a rage reaching up to Heaven This is now to be unreasonable men why should you persecute him who loveth you Yet verily as St. Paul said of himself The more he loved the Galathians the less he was beloved of them So it feareth with Christ and all that hath relation to him the more faithful the Minister of Christ is in preaching the Gospel the more diligent and zealous he is to gain Souls to Christ the most hated he is and the reason is because it thus fared with Christ Joh. 15. 18. If the world hateth you you know it hated me before it hated you But Oh let this reconcile your hearts unto Christ That he hath Loves No ingenuous man but will repay Love for Love He who repayeth hatred for Love is of the Devil eminently he doth Evil without a provocation because he Loves to do Evil. Secondly What an Invitation doth this Notion afford to the most miserable forlorn Souls to Kiss the Son to receive and close with the Lord Jesus Christ Whilest our Lord was upon the Earth he told the people That when he was lifted up he should draw all men after him Alas that this word All in that Text must be englished by Many Christ is lifted up upon the Cross and therein he hath shewed us that he hath Loves Infinite Loves For Greater Love than this hath no man shewn than that a man lay down his Life for his Friends Yet this is greater Love while we were Enemies he dyed for us Yet how few are drawn after him How few can be persuaded to accept him as their Lord and Saviour What is the reason one man is drawn after his sensual Appetites after his Lusts and those draw quite from Christ Men cannot be his Disciples except they deny themselves mortify their Members Others are drawn after the World and are not at leasure to come to Christ and besides the friendship of the World is enmity with God! Others have some thoughts of coming to Christ but they are afraid Christ should not receive them I shall have occasion to Speak to the 2 d sort when I come to the next Proposition to shew you that Christs Loves are better then Wine Indeed both to the first and Second I might Speak as Saul once to his Courtyers will the Son of Jesse give you Vine-Yards c. Can the World can your Lusts give you Peace of Conscience and joy in the holy Ghost Will they bring you to the favour of God and to eternal Life But they are onely the 3 d Sort whom I would here Speak to Is there a Soul here that is almost persuaded to be a Christian A Christian not in Name but in Deed and is afraid Christ should not be willing to receive it Hear what God saith 2 Cor. 6. 17. Come out from amongst them and be you separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you Observe what I have bin discoursing Christ hath Loves an Inclination and Propension to do good to the Sons of Men He hath declared it in a variety of gracious Acts from before the Foundation of the World It encouraged the Servants of Benhadad to go to Ahab to beg their Masters Life that they had heard that the Kings of Israel were merciful Kings Let this be an incouragement to you to come to Christ to hear that Christ is a merciful High Priest who casteth away none that cometh unto him Certainly it would incourage the greatest malefactor to go to a Prince to beg his pardon and to thâ—oâ— himself into the arms of his grace and mercy if he could but be persuaded that the Prince were full of Love and had a particular propension and inclination of kindness to the family from which he derived This you have heard particularly made good to you concerning Christ You that have been the greatest trangressors the oldest Sinners yet return and come I remember when Isaac told Esau that Jacob had come before him and got the blessing he replyed Father thou hast many blessings bless me also It may be you may be thinking so in your hearts such and such persons they have obtained the blessing they had not been so vile so prosane as I have been O but yet remember the Lord Jesus Christ hath many blessings not Love but Loves come unto him and he shall bless thee also When thy thoughts are overwhelm'd in the thoughts of thy sins sink them again into the thoughts of Christs Loves thou wilt find that is as great a depth as the other is Yea thou will find the same difference as betwixt the Shore and the main Sea Near the Shore the Mariner may find it several fathom water enough to drown a man But off at Sea he finds himself out of the soundings all the lines he hath will find no bottom So a Soul in the thoughts of his sins may find himself beyond his depth he is drowned in the thoughts of them Ah but yet there is a Sounding his Sins are not Infinite so there is a sounding but if he lancheth his thoughts into the depths of Gods grace and Christs Loves there is no soundings let therefore no Soul be discouraged from coming unto Christ Fourthly Hath Christ Loves How sutable a Saviour hath God provided for poor sinful creatures The Apostle to the Hebrews Heb. 7. 26. having said of Christ v. 25. That he is able to the uttermost to Save them that come unto God by him addeth For such an
diligent in the use of means to have its desires accomplished that Soul shall be made fat That Souls desires shall be accomplished tho it may see it falls short of its duty in the use of means and tho it may be God is not pleased to give the Soul the sensible manifestations of its love so that its desire is deferred and while it is so differred the heart is pained and it meets with some trouble and uneasiness through the not accomplishing of its desires to its sense yet it shall be made fat The hope of the righteous saith Solomon shall be gladness so the desire of such a Soul the diligent Soul shall be satisfaction This is according to the words of our Saviour Mat. 5. 6. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled Thus much I have thought fit to add in this place in answer to that question which we sometimes meet with Whether the desire of grace be grace A true resolution of it is of mighty use sometimes to Souls under melancholick distempers or in an hour of temptation to relieve them where they both want sensible manifestations and a just view of the sincerity of their own actions I shall shut up this discourse with a word of exhortation 1. To all to look to their desires their pretended desires after Christ and his loves That of the Apostle 1 Cor. 16. 22. is a dreadful Curse If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha accursed till the Lord come Love is the complacency of the Soul in an object the first fruit of its desire None hath a true complacency in an object but he desireth an union with it in such a degree as he is capable of Hence every one that liveth under the preaching of the Gospel and hath heard of Christ will pretend to desire him But one desires him from a knowledge by hearsay of the goodness of his loves another desires him from a knowledge of faith a setled persuasion of it wrought in his heart by the Spirit of God and some tasts and experience of it you have heard that the desires of the Soul which arise from a knowledge of report and hearsay are weak and faint and cold and lazy and will speak nothing of good for the Soul that hath them you have heard the other desires are strong and intense vehement and fervent active and diligent Nothing more relieveth a Soul sometimes than to find in itself that though it wanteth a strength to perform yet to will is present with it tho it cannot yet rejoice and delight in the apprehension of his loves yet for these are its desires Nothing more killeth and destroyeth a Soul than to trust to desires of grace as indications of it which indeed are not so O therefore look to your desires after Christ See that they proceed from knowledge and experience For experience indeed it dependeth upon Divine influence and breathing upon the Soul and the holy Spirit of God like the wind breatheth where it pleaseth But see that your knowledge of the goodness of these loves be a knowledge of faith not a meer knowledge from report and hearsay as we may know many things of which we believe nothing that is we know such things are written reported talkt of rake heed this be not all the knowledge your Souls have of the loves of Christ I have shewed you that the Knowledge of Faith is a knowledge of persuasion of the excellency of the loves of Christ in themselves for I am not now discoursing of the persuasion that you have a particular interest in them a firm setled constant persuasion of the Soul that the love of Christ is the most desirable good in Heaven or Earth better then Wine yea better than life itself This is the work of the Spirit of God in the Soul A man can by no study persuade himself of this we can by no art no words no arguments of ours persuade Souls of this All that you can do or which we can advise you to do in this case in the use of such means to the use of which God hath promised his blessing or in the use of which God ordinarily concurreth with his blessing These means are reducible to a few heads 1. His Word 2. His Sacrament 3. Prayer 4. A reformed holy life and Conversation 1. The Word is the great means he hath given you it in writing that you may exercise your selves in it by reading he hath appointed the Ordinance of Preaching that you may receive it by your ears neither reading nor hearing will beget in your Souls such a knowledge of Christs love as will be productive of this knowledge which I call the knowledge of faith but they are both means means within our own power and with the use of which God useth to concur and in the neglect of which noâ—e can expect that the holy Spirit of God should work such a knowledge of the excellency of Christ and his loves as will be productive of these desires after them The Word of God is therefore called the Word of faith not only because it containeth the substance of what we are to believe but because it is that with the use of which God ordinarily concurreth in giving the Soul a power to believe therefore the Apostle tells us That faith cometh by hearing If you would know Christ and his loves read hear the Word of God and that in a conscientious manner but I have had occasion to speak of this under a former proposition 2. The holy Sacrament is another means at least for a further knowledge of Christ and his loves I am not of their minds who think that the Lords Supper is a means for conveighing the first knowledge of faith concerning Christ and his Loves to the Soul if it had Christ doubtless would have given it in commission to his Apostles not only to go and preach to and Baptize all Nations but also to Administer the Supper to them which he did not if any will say both Sacraments are intended I shall not contend but the Apostles practice expoundeth our Saviours precept who baptized none till they believed and made a profession of their true faith in Christ the Sacrament is not a means for ignorant persons and unbelievers to come to the first knowledge of Faith but an excellent means in order to the getting a further knowledge of Faith that is a confirmation of their Faith in the love of Christ 3. A third means is Prayer He gives his holy Spirit in all the manifestations of it to those that ask him 4. The last I mentioned was a reformed holy life and Conversation None know the loves of Christ more fully and effectually then those Souls who walk with him most closely You know the promise of Christs manifestation of himself is to those that love him and keep his commandments but of these things I have before
of relation hath taken to him that of a Father to let us know there is in his gracious nature something analogous or proportionable to the heart and bowels of Earthly Parents to their Children and accordingly our Saviour argues that if any of our Children ask of us bread we will not give them a Stone nor a Scorpion instead of Fish and thence concludeth that if we being evil know how to give good things to our Children much more will our Heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him You many of you know the heart of a Father To which of you would it not be a great argument to draw you out to any acts by which you could manifest your loves to a Child for your Child to come and beg your love to it telling you that it valueth your love above all things in the world that it had rather have your love your heart towards it than have all the estate you can give it Shall there not be something in the heart of God proportionated to this affection in your hearts Is it possible that a Child of God should come to God and in sincerity say to him Father I beg some tokens of thy special distinguishing love to my Soul thou that knowest all things knowest that I love thee and that my Soul doth value thy loves above all that the world affords and Gods heart should not yearn and his bowels melt towards such a Soul God must say of the voice of such a Soul as Isaac sometimes said It is the voice of my Son Jacob None but a Child can speak such a language 4. Finally No arguments can be of more force to use with God than such wherein the Interest of his own glory is concerned The Glory of God being his own great end which he pursueth in all his actions he useth a great argument to God that saith unto him Father glorify thy self So gracious is God that he gives us leave to fetch arguments from our selves our own wants and the misery we are in which arguments affect God as he is a God full of pity and tender compassion But those arguments which we can fetch from the Interest of his own glory seem to have a greater force as complying with what is the Lords great and chiefest end He that sets an high value and estimate upon the love of Christ giveth God a great deal of Glory preferring him to all things in the world for God cannot be more glorified by the Creature than to be in heart esteemed above and preferred to the whole Creation So as that Soul that goeth to God with this argument doth in effect say Father my Soul hath glorified thee upon the Earth and doth give thee the glory of being the most excellent object and more desirable than all the world besides Now therefore glorify thy self in manifesting of thy love to me that I may further exalt thee in thy rich and free Grace I now come to the application By way of Instruction first we may observe That the meanest Child of God is furnished with a better argument to encourage his hopes in his addresses to the throne of Grace than the greatest and proudest Sinner in the world hath There are arguments which Sinners may use from the infiniteness and freeness of the divine bounty and goodness from their relation to God as his Creatures from the greatness of their misery c. and they may obtain something from God upon these pleas from that infinite goodness and compassion that is in the Divine Nature but no unregenerate man can use this argument which hath in it a much greater force On the other side there is no the meanest child of God not the meanest believer that is in the world but hath this argument to use with God Other arguments may be of avail with God for the obtaining some good things of this life this is of force for the obtaining those of highest consequence relating to the internal and eternal happiness of the Soul Secondly This offers us a great incouragement to examine our selves upon this point Whether we have a due estimate of the loves of Christ Whether we can truly say to our blessed Lord That his loves are better than Wine and that we value them not only above all sensual satisfactions which the profane scandalous Sinner doeth not but above all sensible satisfactions which no unregenerate carnal man doth I remember when our Saviour examined Peter about his love to him he propounded to him this question Joh. 21. 15. Simon Peter lovest thou me more than these I do know that many Interpreters by these in that Text understand his other Disciples standing by There was a time when Peter preferred himself as to his love towards his Master to all the other Disciples Tho saith he all should deny thee yet I would not deny thee Peter since that time was humbled our Saviour had a mind that his humility should be manifested and therefore say some he propoundeth that question to him but I remember Bernard in one of his Sermons upon the Canticles puts another sense upon the words Lovest thou me more than thou lovest these and so it may be referred either to the company with whom he was or to the diversion of fishing they were employed in or to the great draught of fish which they had taken I do but allude to the text who so truly loveth the Lord Jesus Christ if all the persons and things in the world were before him must be able to say I love Christ more than these Admit his friends and nearest relations to be in his Eye all the pleasant and delectable things in the world all the Crowns and Scepters and honours in the world all the Gold and Silver and Houses and Lands in the world in his Eye He must be able to say I love the Lord Jesus Christ more than these yea if his own life be set before him not to be enjoyed without the loss of Christs love he must be able to say that he loves Christ more than that Mat. 10. 37. He that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth Son or Daughter more than me is not worthy of me Lu. 14. 26. If any man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple But I have formerly given you some directions how to try your selves whether the loves of Christ in the apprehension of your Souls are good before Wine and shall therefore add no more on this argument In the third place This notion may be of great use to relieve Christians doubting whether they have any one good Argument to use with God in their applications to him 2. Whether any of their Prayers have at any time pierced the Heavens and been accepted of God A good Christian is often doubting whether
former Proposition where I told you it signified a powerful gracious influence of the Holy Spirit upon the Soul persuading alluring and commanding the Soul's Obedience It is an act both sweet and powerful Sweet for God draws with the Cords of Love as he speaks Jer. 31. 3. yet powerful for the Soul is made willing the will is not forced but melted renewed and changed and contrariwise inclined to what was before its inclination So as my meaning is that when God hath once by the sweet and powerful influence of his Spirit upon the Soul of a man allured persuaded and commanded the Soul to its duty then it will run after him The only question to be spoken to is what is meant by Running When I opened the Text I told you of several things imported by this term I shall now more largely discourse them 1. Running implieth willingness to the motion It implieth motion and so is opposed to lying or siâ—ting still It is a saying of Augustine Certum est nos velle quum volumus agere quum agimur It is saith he certain that we will when we are made willing that we act when we are acted sed ille facit ut velimus it is God that maketh us to be willing He giveth to will and to do Men may run that are not originally willing it is a mischief that they fear which makes them run but yet even then they move willingly though it be a danger imminent upon them which maketh them so willing But this motion is a much sweeter motion they are made willing first and then they move out of choice willingly until the Soul be renewed and changed it moveth not at all toward God it may move to natural actions from that principle of natural life of which it is possessed It may move to moral actions from that principle of life which every reasonable Soul is possessed of But it moveth not to any truly spiritual actions because it wanteth a principle of Spiritual life But this being infused in regeneration to will being given unto it it moveth in the ways of God and that from a principle within itself You saith the Apostle Eph. 2. 1. hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins It moveth not as a meer Machine or Instrument from the power and force of a forreign agent but as a living creature from itself and a principle within itself Yet not without a divine influence look as it is in natural motions though they flow from a a principle of life in a man yet they are not without an influence of more ordinary common providence upholding our natural faculties hence the Apostle saith of God in him we live move and have our being So it is as to our Spiritual motions the Soul moveth from the principles of Spiritual life infused into it from the principles of the new creature but yet not without the influence of the Spirit of Grace upon it upholding those habits of Grace which are infused into the Soul and exciting it to and assisting of it in Spiritual actions Without me saith Christ you can do nothing he doth not say without me you cannot do much or you cannot do great things but you can do nothing But yet to will is present with the Soul yea and to do though it hath no strength to do what it would And as the Soul hath need of a daily influence of Grace in its ordinary course of Spiritual action so it hath need of more special and powerful influences when it meets with a work more difficult for saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3. 5. We are not sufficient to think one good thought as of our selves for now our sufficiency is from God This is now Gratia co-operans co-operating Grace in the exercises of which we are not mcerly passive as in the reception of the first Grace as it was with the Israelites in their journey towards Canaan Numb 9. 17. 18. c. They kept pace with the Cloud and with the Pillar of fire when the Cloud moved they moved when the Cloud stood still they stood still At the Commandment of the Lord they journied and at the Commandment of the Lord they pitched as long as the Cloud abode upon the Tabernacle they rested in their Tents And when the Cloud tarried long upon the Tabernacle many days then they journied not So it is with such as are Israelites indeed in their spiritual motions toward the new Hierusalem the City of God If the Grace of God assists not they move not and according to the degree of its influence they move more or less But yet they move and willingly move though not without the co-operating and assisting Grace of God 2. Secondly Running implyeth strength in the motion thus it is opposed to creeping or walking saintly The weak man may creep and go slowly but he cannot run When the Lord draweth the Soul will not only move towards God and that freely and willingly but it will move strongly it will find strength against sin and strength unto duties Job 17. 9. The righteous man will hold on in his way and he that is of clean hanas shall grow stronger and stronger God commandeth that we should love h m with all our strength Luk. 10. 27. When the Lord draweth the Soul then it runneth with all its strength loveth God with a love that is stronger than the Grave then it believeth with a strong saith and obeyeth with a perfect heart While God was present with Sampson though they tied his Hair to a Beam and shut up the Gates of the City he could carry away Beam and Gates though he had no more then the jaw-bone of an Ass he could with it slay a thousand men when God was departed from him he could not get out of his Enemies hands though he had no such opposition when a Soul finds the power and presence of Divine Grace though it hath strong corruptions and meet with strong Temptations yet they are all nothing to it it easily over all becomes more than Conqueror Peter at one time at the command of Christ walks to him upon the Sea at another time wanting the same special assistance is overcome by a silly Maid in the High Priests Hall the opposite Temptation was much the same in both cases viz. from the sear of his life which was in as apparent danger from the Sea as from the Enemies in the Hall of the High Priest 3. Running argues speed so it is opposed to walking a foot-pace or step by step When the Soul is by God drawn unto him and wants not his co-operating Grace drawing him after him it will not only move towards God and that with strength and courage but it will move with nimbleness and readiness As it is with the body sometimes though it hath its usual strength and be able to work as usually yet it is seized with a torpor and laziness there is a dulness and inactivity upon it So it
is with the Soul its Spiritual distemper many times is not so much a weakness as a spiritual deadness dulness and inactivity so as it wants a promptness and readiness to its duty It cannot say with David My heart is ready O God my heart is ready I will pray and sing Praise Running argues the absence of this ill temper If the Lord draweth the Soul it will not only serve him but it will serve him with a ready mind and free Spirit praise and duty will wait for God in the Soul it will not only walk but run the ways of Gods Commandments David hath an expression to this purpose Psal 119. 60. I made hast and delayed not to keep thy Commandments Every Soul that loves God keepeth the Commandments of God it is the test of our love to God He that hath my commandments and keepeth them saith Christ John 14 21. he it is that loveth me But there is a great deal of difference in mens keeping and fulfilling the commandments of God The meanest weakest Christian doth in his measure keep the Lords commandments all the commandments of God Psal 119. 6. Then saith David shall I not be ashamed when I have a respect to all thy Commandments He that hath the least of saving Grace sets the law of the Lord in his Eye and makes the word of God a light to his feet and a Lanthorn to his paths and hath a reverence and regard to all the commandments of God and To will is present with him he would walk perfectly with God but in many things he doth offend through weakness and in many things through a dulness and heaviness which sometimes doth affect and afflict his Soul he doth not only want a strength to perform but he wants a life and quickness of Spirit in what he doth but now if the Lord draweth the Soul makes hast and delayeth not to keep the Commandments of God Jacob himself had forgot the vow which he had made unto God when he fled from the face of his Brother Esau God draweth him saith unto him Gen. 35. 1. Arise go up to Bethel make there an Altar to God c. then Jacob made hast and delayed not v. 2. When there is a suspension of this drawing Grace in its co-operating and concurring influences the Soul moves heavily like Pharaohs Chariots when the Wheels are taken off it hath a view of its duty and lieth under convictions as to it and it may be finds strength enough to the performance of it but wants a readiness of mind and is ready when it hath a monition to duty from such as wish well to it to say as he said to Paul Go thy way when I am at leisure I will send for thee Or tomorrow or at such or such a time I will do it as the young man in the Gospel whom Christ bid follow him said suffer me first to go and bury my dead So sometimes the Soul is ready to say suffer me first to go and do such or such a thing So the Soul is ready to delay and put off good motions but when the Lord draweth then it maketh hast and delayeth not to keep his Commandments It longeth for times of duty It is glad when they say unto it Come let us go up to the House of the Lord it sayeth when shall I come and appear before God There is a time when the Soul saith when will the Sabbath come the hour of Prayer come that I may appear before God and pour out my Soul before him This is now when God draweth hard when the Spirit of God cometh upon the Soul in a more than ordinary influence and there is a time when the Soul saith when will the Sabbath he gone the hour of duty be run out This is when the Lord doth not draw in such a manner The believing Soul like the flowers opens or shuts as the Sun of righteousness shineth more or less upon it Let me again allude to that Text Psal 65. 1. Praise watteth for God in Zion Praise is a rent due from our Souls to God we farm much mercy from the great Landlord of all good Praise is all the rent we pay Now look as it is in the world a bad tenant never hath his rent ready so it is with a bad Man he lives upon mercy and it may be hath liberal portions of mercy but God never hears of him to pay his acknowledgments A good Tenant if the times be good hath alwaies his rent ready for his Landlord so as his rent waiteth for his Landlord but if the times be bad even the best Tenants though they have an heart to pay their rent yet may not have it to pay their Landlords may wait for their rents so it is with the best Souls If the Sun of righteousness shines out clearly upon them and the Spirit of Grace draweth powerfully Praise waiteth for God in their Souls If not God may wait for his Praises Hence David so often prayeth Quicken me according to thy word Psal 119. 25. Quicken me in thy way v. 37. Quicken me in thy righteousness v. 40. I have now opened the term Run The Proposition opened lies thus before you That the Soul of a Christian once drawn not only by the motives and arguments of the Gospel improved by the gifts of Gods Minister but by the secret and powerful influence of the Spirit of God upon it doth no longer lie still as the Soul dead in sin nor move from a forreign power put forth upon it but from an inward principle within itself and that not weakly and impotently but with might and strength and that not dully and heavily but with life freedom speed and chearfulness after God in the way of its duty keeping the Commandments of God with its whole heart being first made willing it willeth being first set on work it worketh yet not of itself meerly nor principally I live saith the Apostle yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God I can do all things saith the same Apostle to the Philippians through Christ that strengtheneth me and without me you can do nothing saith Christ to his Disciples Joh. 14. 3. The truth of this further appears from Gods Peoples promises of running upon Gods drawing in that excellent 119 Psal you shall find many passages of this tendency v. 32. I will run the ways of thy Commandments when thou shalt inlarge myheart 33 Teach me O Lord the way of thy Statutes and I shall keep it unto the end v. 34. Give me understanding and I shall keep thy Law yea I shall observe it with my whole heart v. 35. Make me to go in the paths of thy Commandments v. 36. Incline my heart to thy testimonies The inlarging of the heart his prayer for giving him understanding making him to go in the paths of Gods Commandments c. are but all several phrases
Soul in which it is shed abroad through the Holy Ghost but it also constraineth others at least to some inquiries after it The Fathers kindness to one Child maketh every Child more studious to please him and the Masters kindness to one Servant encourageth others to their duty We have not perfect single Hearts to act meerly in compliance with a preeâ—pt even Moses himself had an eye to the recompence of reward Nor are we only incourag'd from the prospect of a futur recompence but we must also be encouraged from some promises or hopes of present assistance Solomon tells us The Sluggard saith there is a Lion in the way We are prone to fancy Lions where indeed there are none The way of holiness is a plain and lightsome way no rough nor dark way God hath said Waysaring men though fools shall not err therein but we know not how to adventure and indeed there are Lions and Mountains in the way The roaring Lion is in the way who goeth about continually seeking whom may he devour we have Mountains of Lusts and Corruptions as well as of Worldly Temptations that are in our way Christ hath told us that his Yoke is easie his burden is light We cannot understand it Is it an easie thing to deny our selves to take up the Cross and to follow Christ To keep a steady even pace with God The very Thoughts of the difficulty of a Christians life make many to turn away from it looking upon the Yoke of Christ as a Yoke which no Flesh and Blood is able to bear But now the effects of Divine Grace upon one Soul here incourageth many others We are like Travellers going toward the City of God we meet with Rivers over which we must pass the River seems deep and the Stream seems to run swift here our Hearts fail but as it is with earthly Travellers in such a case if one ventures through and gets safe on shore then many follow So when we see some that were under our discouragments from entring upon the ways of God yet through Grace got into them and finding them easie and pleasant this is a great encouragement to others I have known some who have long stumbled at this Stone Better never to know the way of Righteousness never to enter into a course of Profession than having entred into it to fall Back that I shall do I shall never be able to hold on in a course of Duty I shall never conquer such Corruptions c. Now when God draweth but one Soul others are incouraged to run Psal 40. v. 1 2 3. I waited saith David patiently for the Lord he inclined to me and heard my cry He brought me up also out of an horrible Pit out of the miry Clay and set my seet up-a Rock and established my goings and he hath put a new Song into my Mouth even praise unto our God Many shall see it and fear and trust in the Lord. One blessed Martyr is upheld by God and Burns chearfully his ashes set many others on fire From hence it is that the conversation of Christians is a Winning conversation and Christians are persuaded to walk that others may be won by them There is nothing unlovely in the effects of special Grace Serenity and peace of Conscience contentation in all Estates Justice and Charity towards men they are all the effects of Grace and exceeding lovely in the Eyes of all reasonable Creatures 2. A second ground of this lyes in that Charity or good will toward men which is the steady effect of this grace whosoever is taught of God to love God is also taught to love men all men with a love of good will though the Saints only with a love of complacency or delight Two things in pursuit of this will be found the effects of true Saving grace in every Soul that hath been made partaker of it 1. First Such a Soul will reveal the grace that it hath received 2. It will excite and quicken others to look after their share in the same grace 1. First A gracious Soul is alwayes communicative Grace in the Soul is like new Wine in the Bottle which must have vent see David Psal 66. 16. Come and hear all you that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my Soul I cried unto him with my Mouth and he was extolled by my Tongue Christ when he healed the lame Man in the Gospel bid him that he should tell no Man of it yet he must go and publish it He never when he heals a Soul saith to it Tell no Man of it nay he saith the quite contrary When thou art converted saith he to Peter Strengthen thy Brethren Luk. 22. 32. Such a Soul cannot hold its peace Job could not eat his bodily morsels alone but much less can the Soul eat his Spiritual Morsels and let none know of it If the Woman in the parable could not find her lost Groat but she must call in her Neighbours and spend it upon them how shall a Man that discerns his lost Soul to be found his lost Peace and strength and liveliness to be recovered not call his Neighbours and tell them what God hath done for him Sorrow and joy both fill the Heart both pain it the communication of either unto others in some degree easeth it There are in the World Mysteries of other knowledge which Men have and do very studiously conceal because the more are made partakers of them the worse it is for those who got the first knowledge they get the less but it is otherwise as to Grace that is an inexhaustible Fountain all may have their fill of the Fountain of Living Waters and the Soul that makes first discovery of it to another loseth nothing by the discovery If Abraham knoweth any thing of the mind of God he will teach his Family therefore God will not hide from Abraham what he intends to do to Sodom Several reasons might be given why grace will not lye hid in the Soul Such a Soul apprehends it self under some Obligation of duty that of Christ to Peter when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren must not be understood as a special and particular precept 2. The Joy of that Soul that hath any evidence that it hath tasted of of this grace is such as cannot be concealed little Streams may be circumscribed by the Banks of the River but great falls and flows of Water will overflow them We cannot bite in great passions Nor can a greater joy fill the Soul than that which ariseth from the sense of God's special love either in the first Collation of it upon or the returns of it unto the Soul 3. Again this Soul knoweth That much of God's praise ariseth from his Peoples telling of his wondrous works you shall in Scripture observe it as a constant piece of God's Peoples thanksgiving and what we are often called to for Now the good report which a pious Soul
treated in Gods Chambers 2. But Secondly There being no merit in any thing we do or suffer at Gods command why should we think God obliged thus to reward the highest degrees of faith or holiness What if God will hear one believers prayers sooner then anothers what if he will give one such Soul more peace then another who shall say unto him what doest thou or why am I thus and others are otherwise we certainly ought to allow the freest and most sovereign agent what priviledge we every one claim for our selves with reference to our Children Servants Friends whiles every of us receives more then we deserve what reason have we to repine because others have more then we 4. I beseech you consider whether this fruit floweth not from a root of Pride Why should my Eye be evil because anothers is good Why should I repine because God is kinder as I think to another Soul then to me if I did not secretly think that I had deserved as much and as well as those if not better The humble Soul looks upon itself as meriting nothing and therefore prizeth every influence of Divine love The Dogs eat the crums said the poor Woman I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof saith the Centurion therefore speak the word only Now if this be thy root of thy complaint be assured there is not a more bitter one in all the wilderness of nature There is no Soul at further distance from obtaining at the hand of God then that Soul that challengeth God as a debtor to his Creature if thy Soul saith as Haman to whom should the King more delight to honour then me thou art like enough to meet with as great disappointment as he did God sets himself to pull down the Soul that exalts itself above measure God will keep Souls swell'd with this tumor with Thorns in their flesh for their buffetings it is enough if they find his grace sufficient for them 5. If it doth not argue this yet it speaketh a discontent at and dissatisfaction with Gods methods in the conduct and government of thy Soul in order to that end to which he hath appointed thee This frame of spirit is sinful enough it is indeed a branch that groweth out of the root of pride Gods general promise is that he will with-hold no good thing from them that live uprightly and that all things shall work together for the good of them that love God but we must leave the judgment of good to the wisdom of God who knoweth what is good for us while we repine at Gods dispensations we either shew our distrust and unbelief in these promises or assume the judgment of good to our selves paramount to the judgment of God No sin more provokes God then this of murmuring and repining It was the great sin of the Israelites which at last provoked God to swear in his wrath they should never enter into his rest Let us therefore learn thankfully to acknowledge what grace we have received and with silence and patience to wait for what further manifestations of it we desire and judge our Souls to stand in need of 2. Hath the King of glory whom we serve Chambers wherein he treateth the Souls of his Subjects not only Mansions but Chambers further degrees of gracious influxes manifestations Let us then learn from hence That no man serves God in any degrees of service for nothing some indeed shall have greater degrees of reward then others none shall serve him for nothing there is a reward for every righteous Soul He that serveth God in truth and sincerity though with a great deal of weakness and imperfection though he comes into his Service at the last hour yet he shall have his penny he shall have Heaven and Glory If any will come in to Gods Service in the morning and work in the heat of the day and labour for God more abundantly he shall not lose his reward nay he shall be rewarded according to his work as there are degrees of active working Grace so there are degrees of manifestative love and this by the way 1. It is a great encouragement to those that are young to turn into the ways of the Lord betimes Josiah and Timothy and Enoch were all of them such as began early to walk with God Of Josiah it is said Chron. 2. 34. That when he was but eight years old he began to seek after the God of David his Father what special favour he had from God his story will tell you he was early taken into the Chambers of glory and while he was upon the Earth God treated him in his Chambers he would not in his days bring the intended evil upon Judah Enoch walked with God the Text saith he was not for God took him Timothy was a great Favourite used as a great instrument for God and doubtless these three and so those others who have early given up themselves to God and continued to the end will hereafter be found in some degrees of glory above others 2. It is a great incouragement to men and women to put out themselves mightily for God to love the Lord according to the tenour of the first and great Commandment with all their Soul and all their strength all their might God hath degrees of love to reward degrees of holiness service though possibly there may be some rare instances wherein the wisdom of God as unsearchable is to be adored and not to be found out and we may see some who appear to us more exemplary in holiness then others yet clouded under darker dispensations walking in the dark and seeing no light yet ordinarily it is otherwise those who walk most in the light of holiness have more of the light of Gods countenance enjoy most peace and have most manifestations of Gods special love and this now lets us see what a difference there is betwixt the service of God and the service of the Devil or the service of the world many a one serves the world and gets little and those that make themselves least drudges to it get most of it he that serves the Devil in serving corruption the more he toils in that service the more torment he hath But the more a man serves God the more peace the more inward rest and sweetness he hath 3. This discourse may give some relief to such Christians whose hearts are right with God but yet their attainments are not proportionable to others The King hath not brought them into his Chambers indeed the fault of this may be in our selves and where it is so we have reason to blame our selves and to sit down in silence and endeavour for the time to come to mend our pace in the ways of holiness there are Stairs by which Christians usually ascend into these Chambers come up I mean into this near degree of communion with God if we will not do what in us lies to
is full either of such as are excessive drinkers of Wine or Merchants for it but how thin is it of such as have any remembrance of Christs love who as the Apostle tells us died to redeem us from our vain conversation 1 Pet. 1. 18. For we were not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold from our vain conversation but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish who can be said to remember Christs love more then Wine that lives in those sins which crucified him who was the Lord of life Yet is not this the course of the most Men and Women who never think of their dying Saviour to restrain them in their drunkennesses debaucheries in their greatest excesses of Riot Nay how many are there that seldom take the love of Christ into their thoughts the love of their cups and of their Harlots hath made Christs loves to be utterly forgotten by their Souls for how can they say that they remember Christs loves above their lusts that will not quench one lust for his sake they in whom the remembrance of Christs death will not extinguish one vile affection one spark of pleasing lust will not the most of men and women yea such in whose ears the loves of Christ are published every Lords day be found perishing for preferring the very lees and dregs of Wine before the loves of Christ I mean for preferring the basest and most sordid kind of pleasures and satisfactions of the flesh for such are those pleasures which are no more than the gratifying of the sensitive appetite 2. Do not most mens discourses and practice betray them to remember Wine I mean their profitable things before the loves of Christ How much is the world and the things of the world the discourse of all companies upon all occasions how few are the discourses concerning Christ and what he hath done for us an hours discourse of Christs loves in a Pulpit upon the Lords day is thought proportionable to six days discourse about our earthly occasions do we not even grudge the Lord a seventh part of our time for the remembrances of his loves the Lords day is a day to call to remembrance Christs loves It was the day of his resurrection by which he compleated mans redemption the Ministers work is to help us in our remembrance of his loves We have besides our attendance upon the publick ministry a private duty this day incumbent upon us viz. To remember him who died for our sins and rose again for our justification I beseech you consider whether your remembrings of Christs loves upon the Sabbath day bear any proportion to your remembrance of your worldly interests other days I mean not for the proportion of time spent in the one and the other God hath indulged our infirmity in that he hath set apart a seventh day only to himself but examine this whether you remember the loves of Christ on the Lords day as you remember your worldly concerns on any of the other six days do the loves of Christ come into your thoughts as much on the week day as the world comes into your thoughts on the Lords days I sear there is none of us all can say that in this thing our hearts are clean I hope I speak to many who remember the loves of Christ and will never suffer his dying love to go off their thoughts But when we come to these comparative examinations to enquire whether we remember his loves more then we remember our sensual or sensible objects ah how short do we come of the duty of Christians yea of what our selves will own and consess to be our duty Happy is that man that doth not condemn himself even in the thing which he alloweth to be his duty But I had rather spend my time in persuading my self and you to our duty which according to my explication of the text and this propositionwill lye much in two things 1. In a full and perfect remembrance of the Loves of Christ 2. In a remembrance of them proportionable to that degree of goodness and excellency in them I say first in a Scriptual remembrance a full and perfect remembrance of the Loves of Christ I am afraid that we satisfy our selves too much in a Notional formal remembrance of Christs Loves and so please our selves in hearing the Gospel read opened and applyed to our Souls in a formal keeping of the Lords day the day which God hath set apart for us to call to our minds all the acts of our redemption compleated in his resurrection some Churches aware of Peoples awkness to this Spiritual duty have thought fit to appoint other days for a more solemn remembrance of his incarnation and death Nor have I any thing to say against any Christians that will set apart any Special times to remember any Loves of Christ though I do not know that Christ hath left any power to his Church to impose particular times of this nature But alas this is the least part of our duty in the remembrance of his Love We may have a day to remember it in we have such a day every week we may have helps to remember it by The holy Scriptures the Ministers of the Gospel that Preach Christ to their People are such helps But if in these days if with these helps we do not set our selves to meditate of the Loves of Christ to turn our thoughts from other things to the contemplation of and meditation upon the Love of a Christ incarnate the Love of a Christ dying and riseing again from the dead if we do not study to get our hearts affected suitably to such Love with love faith hope c. we do not so live as a People that remember Christ died for our Sins declining whatsoever is contrary to his will and Law in the Gospel do what in us lyeth to promove his honour Glory we are so far from Satisfying our Duty by this formal remembrance of his Love that we are the greatest forgetters of his Love The Jews who never owned him as their Redeemer the Heathen who never heard of his name nor of what he was or did for Sinners can in no propriety of Speech be said to forget his Loves The Christian only the loose Christian the formal Christian he who hears every day of the dying Love of Christ yet goes on to defy him to crucify him afresh and to put him to open shame or he who every Lords day hears the sound of the Loves of Christ and reads of it yet never meditates upon it never suffers his soul by contemplation to pierce into the heights or sound the depths of it whose heart is never truly affected with it so as he hath any Love kindled in his soul towards Christ no breathings after him who exerciseth no faith no hope in him he that lives not in his measure up to it leaving his vain conversation worshiping God in the Spirit
rejoycing in him living up in a close obedience to his Law this is the man that forgetteth the Loves of Christ But yet if there be a Soul that hath experienced the Loves of Christ in a particular application to it self that hath given it self a liberty to the flesh and walked in a contrary course to what the Law of Christ requireth this Soul yet more forgets his Loves because he had a deeper impression of them upon his heart the Love of Christ made an impression only upon the others Ears but it hath entred into this man's Soul He is the greatest forgetter of his Love You shall observe in holy Writ that all sin is exprest under the notion of forgetting God Psal 50. 22. and in a multitude of other Texts and this not only because a forgetting of God is the cause of all the Violations of his Law which we could not violate if we remembred God as we ought to do but because indeed all sin in God's account is an actual ' forgetting of him God accounts us to know to remember no more than we are affected with and live up unto Therefore Christians let us make it our business not only to call to mind the Loves of Christ but to remember them in that sense which God calleth a remembrance of them 2. Let us not satisfie our selves with a bare remembrance of his Loves but labour to remember them more than Wine more than the most sweet and pleasant the most gainful and profitable things which this world affords Think that you hear Christ speaking in your Ears in the language in which he once spake to Peter setting all the pleasant and gainful things in the world before you and then saying to you Christians Love you me more than these Let me shew you the reasonableness of this 1. Consider if thou canst not say so Thou dost not answer the Loves of Christ in any degree I am now speaking to such as are Christians not in name and profession only but in deed and in truth Such a one may suppose all the fallen Angels under Christ's Eye even those Legions in the Air and in the bottomless Pit Creatures in their Original more perfect and glorious than man but fallen from their first Integrity and think he heareth Christ saying to him Poor Soul I have loved thee more than all these I died not for these I died for thee I took not upon me the Nature of Angels but the Nature of the seed of Abraham 2. He may suppose all the Heathen Nations under Christ's Eye The great Emperours of Turkey Persia China and other parts of the world with the millions of Souls under their jurisdiction and think that he heareth Christ again saying to him Poor Soul I have loved thee more than these Thou hearest my Gospel Read and Preached every Lord's Day hast thou not seen hast thou not heard These great Nations of the world and all the great Rulers of them never heard the joyful sound I was never Preached in their Streets they were never wooed never intreated to come to me that they might have life I have loved thee more than these Further yet thou mayest fancy all the prophane men all the sensual and carnal men all Hypocrites all unregenerate men whose hearts are yet locked up under unbelief under Christ's and thy Eye and suppose that thou hearest thy great Lord and Saviour saying to thee Poor Christian I have loved thee more than all these They are yet wallowing in their native blood as thou wert before I passed by thee in my time of love and said unto thee live they are yet Children of wrath in an hourly danger of having it come upon them to the utmost I have plucked thee out of Sodom Thy heart by nature was as hard as theirs as much prejudiced against thy own salvation I have made thee to differ I have loved thee more than all these May I rise one step higher to commend the Love of Christ to thy remembrance thou mayest fancy all that glory which Christ had with his Father from before the beginning of the world all the blessed company of Heaven all the riches of Christ's glory and felicity before his and thy Eye and fancy that thou hearest Christ say to thee My poor creature I have in a sense and for a time loved thee more than these I left my Father's Throne and right Hand him whom I was alwaies before brought up with him I left all to come down from Heaven to Earth to take thy flesh to be born of a Virgin and to be laid in a Manger to live a poor and contemned life in the world to die a shameful and ignominious death and all this to purchase for thee Eternal Life and Salvation and to redeem thee from thy vain conversation Have I not loved thee more than these What doth the Apostle say less than this when he saith 2 Cor. 8. 9. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor that you through his poverty might be made rich In what degree then canst thou be said to answer the Loves of Christ if when there is set before thee no more than the pleasures of sin which are but for a season the profits and enjoyments of this life which thou canst have no more than a Lease for Life of if thou canst not say Yea Lord thou that knowest all things knowest that I remember thy Love more than these Either this intoxicating Wine of sinful lusts and pleasures how gratifying soever they be to my fleshly appetite or this pleasant and gainful Wine of worldly Riches Estate Honour Preferment c. Oh that Christians would think of this 2. The second Consideration is yet more dreadful viz. He is not worthy of the Loves of Christ who doth not remember them more than Wine What Christ sometimes said of Love is as true concerning this remembrance of his Loves which is an act of Love Matth. 10. 37. He that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth Son dâ— Daughter more than me is not worthy of me And what he saith there of natural Relations is doubtless as true concerning sensible Enjoyments in this world Riches and Honours c. which are objects of your love much beneath reasonable creatures in nearest relation to uâ— It is certainly as true That man or woman that remembers any sensible Enjoyment and is more affected with it than the Loves of Christ is not worthy of his Loves Certainly nothing more becometh us who pretend to be creatures endued with reason than to value things according to their measure and their true and just valuation You will say he is not worthy of a Jewel of great price that valueth a Pebble before it And by the way this will be enough to convince us all that we are saved by Grace and have what Love we have from Christ freely
world so sweet and pleasant to their thoughts as to think of Jesus of Nazareth him that was incarnate of the Virgin that died upon the cross for sinners all their contemplations and meditations of him are exceeding sweet and their hearts exercised about them melt in them 4. They love whatsoever bears the image and superscription of Christ The Gospel that gives them the history of Christ and revealeth to them his will the ordinances of Christ in which the loves of Christ are set forth represented opened applied to the Souls of people The members of Christ even every Soul in which they can but see aliquid Christâ— as Bucer speaks any thing of the features of Christ This is enough to have spoken for the explication of the Proposition For the proof of it 1. Look into the Word of God see if you can find an instance either of an upright man who did not love Christ or of an bypocrite or unregenerate man that did love him Abraham believed and it was imputed to him for righteousness he was one that walked with God and was perfect that is upright he loved Christ Our Lord saith of him Abraham saw my day and rejoyced Simon and Anna and Peter and Mary Magdâ—lene all were upright Persons they all loved Christ On the other side there is not so much as one instance of an unjustified unregenerate Soul that had any real love for Christ no not when they saw him here in the flesh It is said of the young Pharisee who came to our Saviour Mat. 19. that when Christ saw him he loved him but he had no love for Christ for when he bid him go sell all that he had and he should have treasures in Heaven it is said he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions Judas followed Christ and so did the Capernaites but Judas carried the bag and the Capernaites followed him for the loaves None of them loved Christ in sincerity and truth We need no other instances then what our own age affordeth us But we need no Scripture in this case Reason will evince the necessary truth of this Proposition if we consider that all love is founded either 1. In the apprehended goodness and excellency of the object beloved Or 2. In some similitude and likeness c. Or â—loweth 3. From some instinct of which we can give no very just account I will begin with the last first 1. Love to another often proceeds from some inaccountable instinct we see this very ordinary amongst us the heart of a woman cleaveth to a man or of a man to a woman â—o the heart of one friend is knit to another and we are able to give our selves no great account of it the man loveth the woman to whom he had a former aversion and the woman loveth and chuseth the man for her Husband that she did never think of and they can give themselves no account of the change which they find in themselves this is undoubtedly a providential instinct or influence of which we can give no account The Souls love to Christ also floweth from an instinct of God an influence of special grace for certainly if we must be taught of God to love one another to love the brethren whom we have seen and daily do see and much that is lovely in them we have much more need to be taught of God to love Christ whom we have not seen and whose excellency and amiableness is only matter of faith to us Hence it appeareth that no unrenewed no unsanctified heart none but the upright Soul can possibly love the Lord Jesus Christ for this love is no natural habit no man by nature loveth Christ nor is it any acquired habit but an infused habit and indeed a piece of regeneration 2. Love to an object is founded in an apprehension of some goodness and excellency in that object we cannot love any object that appeareth to us evil or unlovely Now none but the renewed and regenerate Soul can possibly see any goodness and excellency in Christ for it is spiritually discerned besides the reason of love in us to any object is not so much the abstracted goodness and excellency of the object as its relative goodness unto us now none but the Soul that is justified and regenerate Soul hath in any thing tasted of the love of God or hath found him in any degree good as to it 3. Lastly Whereas love is founded in likeness in some similitude of nature or disposition and qualities there is such a dissimilitude between a natural man whether he be one that is profane and flagitious or meerly moral and formal and hypocriticaâ— that this Soul cannot love the Lord Jesus Christ who is holy and harmless and separate from sinners and the very same reasons make it necessary for every Soul to love Christ for every such Soul is renewed and regenerate and taught of God to love the Lord Jesus Christ every such Soul is beloved of him and under some apprehensions and experience of the love of God in Christ unto it every such Soul finally hath the Image of God renewed in it in righteousness and holiness and by grace wrought up into a conformity to Christ and the more upright the Soul is the more is the image of God renewed in it the more it hath tasted the special love of Christ the more it hath received of the potent influences of Divine Grace hence it must needs love Christ more I now come to the application In the first place This may let us know That Christ is a most excelling object and the non-adherence of our hearts to him is a piece of the natural crookedness and defection of the Soul of man The goodness or excellency of an object is not to be determined from a vulgar judgment Learning is an excellent thing the foolish ignorant person doth not so judge it nor look after it this detracts nothing from the excellency of it Wise men value it It hath no enemies but the ignorant man Now the judgment of the best and wiser part of the world their value and prizing of it is enough to commend it though fools hate knowledge So the upright mans loving Christ is a sufficient evidence of the transcendent goodness and excellency that is in him tho the loose and profane man the formal hypocritical man hath no love at all for him There are thousands in the world in the Christian world whose conversations testify that they can see no beauty no excellency in Christ at all to them he grows up as a root out of a dry ground in their Eyes he hath no beauty no comeliness at all They stand and admire what sweetness Gods people have in their meditations and contemplations of him what is that sometimes makes them so sick of love for him so breaking with longings after him as holy David expresseth it The business is not what fools judge of Wisdom in the mean time Wisdom is
justified of her Children It is enough that the upright love him The upright men are the best men in the world But you will say were there such a beauty such an excellency in Christ why should not every rational man enquire after him and love him The answer is easy Because his beauty his excellency is not obvious to the Eye of sense or to the Eye of reason working from its own principles but only to the Eye of faith that of reason working upon revealed principles The goodness excellency of Christ considered as Mediator doth not lie in a suitableness to our bodily wants no nor to the wants of our Souls considered only as rational and spiritual Beings but in his suitableness to our Souls considered as lapsed and fallen from the happy state wherein they were at first created and by that fall exposed to the wrath of God here and hereafter Now this is revealed only in Holy Writ and is to be discerned only by the Eye of faith So as those who do not by a firm and steady assent agree to the revelation of the word cannot possibly see any excellency in Christ as a Saviour and Mediator between God and Man Secondly Every gracious Soul is from this Proposition justified in all their pangs of love for and toward Christ and in all their actions and sufferings in evidence of this love That there is such a thing as a spiritual love sickness is evident to all those who know any thing of the ways of God with the Soul or the motions of the Soul toward God Let persons of atheistical and profane hearts mock so long as they please no Soul that I know of expresseth more of this nature then his who is stiled by God the man according to Gods own heart Psal 119. 20. My heart breaketh with the longings which it hath to thy judgments at all times Psal 42. 1. As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God my Soul thirsteth for God for the living God Psal 63. 1. My Soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee Our Saviour I am sure blesseth those who hunger and thirst after Righteousness Mat. 5. what work would the unhallowed wits of our Age have made with such metaphors as these in their Books of drollery c. they are all expressive of those pangs of love that sometimes affect good Christians in the several states of their Souls and besides these more inward motions the Souls of good Christians cannot but express their love by a zeal for his glory a love to his institutions a regard to all his commandments and durst not do many things as to which their Neighbours find no difficulty because they love the Lord Jesus Christ who hath said If you love me keep my Commandments For Christ that they may shew their love by their obedience unto him they are ready to suffer the loss of all things yea and do count them but dung that they may win Christ for this the men of the world mock them let them mock on The upright love him I remember in the story of David we read 2 Sam. 6. 20. That Michal his Wife the Daughter of Saul mocked him for his dancing before the Ark in a linnen Ephod How glorious saith she was the King of Israel to day who uncovered himself to day in the Eyes of the handmaids of his Servants as one of the vain fellows shamelesly uncovereth himself The holy man gives her a very smart answer saith he It was before the Lord which chose me before thy Father to appoint me to be a ruler over the people of the Lord over Israel therefore will I play before the Lord. And I will yet be more vile then thus c. Whiles carnal men mock at the secret sighings and groanings of Gods people at their frequency and strictness at in or to religious duties and call it all whining and canting and what comes next to the end of their lewd Tongues the Child of God is justified in this that the upright love Christ and all these their expressions of love are for and towards him who hath chosen their Souls to Eternal life and the use of all means which he hath made necessary in order to that Salvation and who for ought yet appeareth hath passed over the Souls of these Scoffers and left them to perish in their gainsayings When ch 5. of this Song the Spouse chargeth the Daughters of Hierusalem that if they found her beloved they should tell him she was sick of love They reply What is thy beloved more then another beloved O thou fairest among Women what is thy beloved more then another beloved that thou dost so charge us Cant. 5. 8. 9. See into what an elogy of her beloved she breaks out to the end of that Chap. My beloved saith she is white and reddy the chiefest of ten thousand c. when the men of the world see a gracious Soul panting sighting and breathing after Christ they are ready to speak to the same sense tho in ruder language what is the beloved of this Soul more then anothers beloved what makes these people so full of prayers and tears so full of duty so fond of the ordinances of Christ This justifies such Souls in all their pantings after Christ in all the passions of their Souls for him The upright love him Thirdly From hence Christians may take measures of themselves and make up a judgment of their Souls whether they be upright Souls yea or no very much lieth upon this many are the promises that in Holy Writ we shall find made to upright Souls Perfection of degrees is our mark but what in this life we cannot attain unto all perfection we are capable of is uprightness this may be attained we are therefore highly concerned to inquire upon our uprightness By this we shall know it The Soul that truly loveth Christ that is an upright Soul so as that which we have to examine is the truth of our love to Christ This inquiry also is considerable in respect of the Apostolical Anathema 1 Cor. 16. 22. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha It is a great point how a Christian shall certainly know his spiritual state he shall know it by his uprightness how shall he know his uprightness that is to be known by his love to Christ But will some say is not this as hard to be discerned as any thing else I answer surely no. If it be no hard thing for a man to know whether he loves such a woman or a woman to know that she loveth such a man or for any to know they love such a friend such a companion why should it be so hard for a Soul to know whether it loveth Christ or no love will work much in the same manner towards all its objects and though the visibility and sensibility of some objects may draw out
keep my Commandments No Soul can so much as pretend to a love to Christ that makes no conscience of keeping the Commandments of Christ 9. The Soul lastly that hath a love for Christ will suffer any thing for his sake it will rather suffer the loss of all things then the loss of Christs favour By these and such like questions and notes as these it will be no hard matter for a Soul to judge of its love to Christ and by that it will be able to judge and determine concerning its uprightness In the last place doth every Soul that is upright love Christ and are the degrees of the Souls uprightness according to the degrees of the Souls love How do we then all stand concerned to love Christ In order to it 1. The Soul must be dispossest of other loves inconsistent and incompetent with the love of Christ Such is the love of all lust of any thing that is contrary to the will of God Such is the excessive and immoderate love of the world Love not the world nor the things that are in the world saith John 1. Joh. 2. 25. If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him in like manner we may say If any man love the world the love of Jesus Christ is not in him 2. Do what in thee lies to persuade thy self of the suitableness of Christ to the staâ—e and needs of thy Soul we love nothing but what appeareth good that is some way suitable to and convenient for us All we can do as to this is to read the Scriptures which alone give a true account of the state of Souls To hear them opened and applied to our consciences by able and faithful Ministers to meditate upon what we read and hear Christ must appear to our Souls an amiable object before we can love him 3. Lastly Pray for the Spirit of Grace both effectually to discover Christs loveliness to you and also to draw out your hearts to love him if we must be taught of God to love our Brethren whom we have seen we must much more be taught of God to love Jesus Christ whom we have not seen Those that think man hath a power in his own will to love God do not consider that we have not a power in and of our selves as we often find upon experience to love a creature whom yet it were our great interest to love O pray pray without ceasing that you may love the Lord Jesus Christ remember that the upright love him there is no upright Soul in the World but loves him 2. Thus thou shalt shew thy self to be upright Nothing more discovereth an upright heart then a sincere Love to Christ Now of how great moment it is for a Christian to discern his uprightness I need not tell you I shall conclude with a bare naming of some Scriptures containing promises made to uprightness leaving them to you at your leisure to meditate upon them Psal 7. 10. The Lord saveth the upright in heart Gods Righteousness belongeth to the upright in heart Psal 36. 10. The End of the upright man is Peace Psal 37. v. 37. Gladness belongeth to the upright in heart Psal 97. v. 11. The Generation of the upright shall be blessed Psal 112. v. 2. Light shall arise upon them in obscurity v. 4. They shall dwell in Gods presence Psal 140. 13. They shall dwell in the land Prov. 2. 21. The way of the Lord is strength unto them Prov. 10. 29. The integrity of the upright shall guide him Prov. 11. 3. His Righteousness shall deliver him v. 6. The upright in the way are the Lords delight v. 20. Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way but wickedness overthroweth the Sinner Prov. 13 6. Sermon XXXI Cant. 1. 5. I am black but comely O you Daughter of Hierusalem as the tâ—nts of Kedar as the Curtaines of Solomon v. 6. Look not upon me because I am black because the Sun hath looked upon me my Mothers Children were angry with me they made me the keeper of the Vineyards but my own Vineyard I have not kept IT is the Spouse in this excellent Song of Love that yet Speaks Twice we have heard her Speaking to her Beloved Once Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth begging some distinguishing token of his Special love Her heart suggesting to her that her beloved was far more ready to imbrace her then she was to run after him She spake a Second time Draw me and we will run after thee begging the sweet and powerfull influences of divine grace Here now she interrupteth her applications to her beloved with an Apostrophe to her companions whom she here calleth The Daughters of Hierusalem The verse contains a modest apology which the maketh for her self In which are considerable 1. The persons to whom she maketh it here stiled The Daughters of Jerusalem 2. The Apology it self I am black saith she as the tents of Kedar as the Curtains of Solomon c. In the latter is considerable 1. The thing which she apologizeth for That is her Blackness which she confesseth I am black saith she and illustrateth as the teints of Kedar c. 2. The arguments of her Apology or head from whence it is drawn They are four or five 1. The mixture of comeliness with her blackness I am black but comely 2. The Influence of heaven upon her The Sun saith she hath looked upon me 3. The oppositions she had met with on earth My mothers children were angry with me 4. Her worldly diversions and imployments They made me the Keeper of the Vineyards 5. Her own neglect But my own I have not kept Finally She pleadeth with them that they would not look upon her because she was black But what needed this Apology who faulted the Spouses blackness who questioned her comeliness This is not expressed in the letter of the Text but easily understood Patet quod dett axer ant ei nigredinem improper antes It is apparent saith Bernard that they did detract from her charging her with blackness Neither did the true Church of Christ nor any truely believing Soul ever want those that reproached them The man according to Gods own heart heard some telling him There was no help for him in God We must therefore Suppose our Spouse to have heard some saying to her to this purpose Canst thou think that Christ who is the fairest of ten thousand should kiss the with the kisses of his mouth Thee That art by nature an Ethiopian and by thy renewing actuall Sins hast made thy self much more black and ugly Surely when the King of glory humbleth himself to make love to his Subjects he will chuse one much fairer then thou art Did Aaron and Miriam wonder at reproach Moses because he had married an Ethiopian Num. 12. 1. And should not Christ be the wonderment of the whole creation if he should love one so black as thou art
footsteps of the flock 2. Feed thy Kids by the Shepherds Tents O thou whom my Soul loveth or hath loved The Chaldee Paraphrast would have us believe that this seventh verse was Moses his Petition to God when he was about to die for direction from him how the People should be governed when he should be gone and how they should dwell amongst the Heathen whose laws would be more grievous to the sincere part of them then the Sun is to the Traveller at noon day and asking why she should live amongst the Edomites and Moabites who made Idols the companions of the true God and v. 8. the same Paraphrast makes this to be the Lords answer telling his Prophet Moses that if they would not live under the power of the Heathen they must walk in his Commandments and be obedient to the guides he had set over them But doubtless this is a strained sense proceeding from the overgreat fondness of that Interpreter to apply all that is said in this Song to the Jewish Church There are others who according to their different notions of these betwixt whom this Dialogue is instituted carry these words in other senses you know the sense which I have all along followed is that of those and they are the most and the best who make it a Dialogue betwixt the believing Soul or the Church and the Lord Jesus Christ It is then the believing Soul that speaks in this language of a lover O thou whom my Soul loveth Christ is the primary object of the believers love a believer loveth him and none else in a degree to be compared with him or with a love any thing like that love wherewith she loveth him But if she loveth him must she tell him so Modesty maketh the Virgin ordinarily to conceal her passion sinful modesty oft-times maketh her that is a spiritual Virgin to conceal her love to Christ She that may while she is doubting her own sincerity conceal her love to Christ will not conceal it when she lives in any view of it and can say with Peter Lord thou that knowest all things knowest that I love thee Nor when she is to use it as an argument to obtain any favour from him Nor when she is doubting of his love to her how unreasonably soever Nor is the Virgin that is too modest to publish her love to the world so modest as not to own it to him whom she hath resolved upon and chosen for her Husband Bernard hath I think too critical a note upon these words mark saith he she doth not say whom I love but whom my Soul loveth Spiritualem designans dilectionem intimating a spiritual love But yet it is well noted by the learned Mercer that the phrase signifieth more then if she had said Omy Beloved it is as much as if she had said In quem omnes meos affectus effudi saith Beza upon whom I have bestowed my whole heart Tell me where thou feedest where thou makest thy flocks to rest at Noon Thus she expresseth the thing that she would have under a metaphorical expression the sense of which we are to enquire keeping of Sheep and Goats was a very ancient and in those times a noble employment Abel was the first Shepheard you read of Gen. 4. 2. Rachel was a keeper of Sheep Gen. 29. 6. So was Jacob and David as you know before he came to be King over Israel God called him from the Sheepfold Christ takes unto himself the notion of a Shepheard he calleth himself the good Shepheard John 10. 1 2. c. It was prophecied of him that he should feed his flock like a Shepheard Isaiah 45. 11. and his death was prophecied of under the notion of smiting the Shepheard Zech. 13. 7. Mat. 26. 11. The Apostle calls him the great Shepheard and the chief Shepheard In this dialect here the Spouse speaks to him It was not unusual for the Heathens to discourse matters of carnal and sensual love as transactions between Shepheards and some whom they loved The Holy Ghost doth the same here he by Solomon discourseth this matter of Spiritual and Divine love as a transaction betwixt a Shepheard and one who dearly loved him But what would she have she would know where he fed that is where he fed his flocks where he made them to rest at noon the noon as you know is the hottest time of the day and so by the noon I find some understanding a time of affliction To this I find Mercer and Beza inclining Beza thinketh that the Church here beggeth to know how Christ would have his Church governed and ordered in the middest of temptations and persecutions and beggeth for Christs fullest and clearest manifestations of himself to her at such a time so saith Bernard Mercer thinks it is as much as if she had said Lord I am burnt with the Sun shew me that shadow in and with which thou usest to refresh thy Saints in the hour of affliction There is a promise made to the Church Isaiah 49. 10. They shall not hanger nor thirst neither shall the heat or the Sun smite them for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them even by the springs of waters shall he guide them Now the Spouse here in the opinion of these Interpreters begs to know these shadows where the flocks rested at noon I must confess I more incline to another sense The noon was the hottest time of the day and as in our Country where the power of the Sun is nothing so much as in those hot Countries Cattel seek shadows and resting places where they are a little free from the heat of the weather so they were wont to drive their flocks of Sheep into such shadowy places where both the Shepheard and the Sheep were more quiet and at rest which time was the most free time of the day for the Shepheard when any might more freely discourse him according to that of the Poet Fauste precor gelidâ quando pecus omne sub umbrâ ruminet antiquos paulum recitemus amores So that the Spouse desireth to know where he fed where he made his flocks to rest at noon That is where she might have the most free and uninterrupted communion with him For why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions She here implieth that without her Lords direction she was like enough to turn aside She beggeth she might not so turn aside The word in the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we translate it as one turning aside or that turneth aside and so Pagnine interpreteth it Arias Montanus translates it sicut operiens se as one that covereth her self and indeed so the Hebrew word most commonly signifieth Now this covering themselves was either in token of shame or of sorrow or modesty Mourners were wont to cover their faces Ezech. 24. 17. Forbear to cry make no mourning for the dead bind the tire of thy head upon thee and
is this Thou believing Soul who in my Eyes art more beautiful and lovely then any other Soul in the world if thou beest in any thing ignorant of my will and where to meet me and how to enjoy fellowship and communion with me do not stray from the rule of my word nor vary from the examples of those whom I gave for Shepherds to my People keep close to them to their Doctrine and to my Ordinances administred by them There thou shalt find me There I rest at noon These two verses thus opened afford us several Propositions of Doctrine as matter of further discourse Prop. 1. Christ is he and only he whom the believing Soul loveth Prop. 2. Though there may be a time when such a Soul may conceal and disown its love to Christ yet there will be a time when it will break forth and she will acknowledge it Prop. 3. A gracious Soul desireth nothing more then a quiet full and sweet communion with Christ Prop. 4. Christ hath shades where he resteth and feedeth his flock under the greatest and most scorching Afflictions Prop. 5. Though a pious Soul never slighteth a communion with Christ yet she never prizeth it at an higher rate then in an hour of greatest trials and temptations Prop. 6. Gods People will especially in times of trial and great temptation be prone to fall into sin and error to the scandal of their profession Prop. 7. Sin and Scandal are the two great things which a gracious Soulfears Prop. 8. The Believing Soul is of all other Souls the most beautiful in Christs Eyes Prop. 9. The Beauty of this Soul is not perfect it may in some things be ignorant Prop. 10. The surest way for a Soul to get a perfect instruction in the things that concern its spiritual good and to keep and to enjoy communion with Christ is to feed its self by the Tents of Christs Shepherds and to live according to the examples and directions of his holy Servants recorded in Holy Writ I begin with the first of which I shall speak but briefly Prop. 1. Jesus Christ is he whom the Soul loveth with a singular love I put in the term singular because as I told you the phrase imports it Love is nothing else but the adhaesion or cleaving of the Soul to an object out of a goodness and suitableness which it hath discerned in it with a complacency which the Soul taketh in it which is such as if the Soul wants it it desires it if it enjoyeth it it is glad and rejoyceth in it which being first considered it followeth that look how many objects as there are that have in them any goodness or suitableness to our state so many objects of our love there are in the world And 2. That look how much goodness and suitableness to us we apprehend in one object more than in another so much we love one thing more than another or one person more than another 2. There is also a love that floweth from Union and Relation of which we are not able to give a perfect account the Parent loves the Child and the Husband loves the Wife and the Wife the Husband not alwaies out of Judgment The Husband discerning in the Wife a suitableness to him is not alwaies the cause of love Nor is the Child's love to the Mother or Father alwaies rational flowing from an apprehension of the suitableness of the Parent to it but rather from an impetus of nature an unaccountable complacency in those whom God hath made correlates caused by the God of Nature who hath made them one flesh who so deliberately considereth this will easily understand a double reason of the Believers Love to Christ 1. The first is That Union which is betwixt the believing Soul and the Lord Jesus Christ which is wrought by Faith this produceth this second Union which is that of Love By Faith Christ is united to the Soul and becometh a member of his body and that is followed by this Union of Love The Soul in the same hour wherein it is united by Faith to Christ being taught of God to love the Lord Jesus Christ It 's a piece of its Regeneration which continually followeth Justification and is indeed coaevous with it so that as in the natural Union the same day the man becomes a Father or the Woman a Mother there is a new Emanation of affection and love the Man or Woman that before knew nothing of the heart of a Parent now begins to feel it and in the moral Union betwixt the Husband and Wife the same day that they are married to each other there floweth a reciprocal Affection each to other so as they then begin to know the heart of an Husband and a Wife of which they knew little or nothing before So it is upon the Spiritual Union as the God of Nature influenceth the Souls of persons whom he hath given one to another in natural and moral Relations ordinarily for a reciprocal usefulness one to another So the God of Grace influenceth the Soul put into a spiritual Relation to Christ That the Believer upon his Union with Christ doth find his heart cleaving to and taking a complacency in the Lord Jesus Christ and begins thus to know the heart of a Believer And look as it is in the moral Relation betwixt the Wife and the Husband though the Man may have heard such reports of the virtues and excellencies of the Woman before he hath married her as hath inforced from him a complacency in her yet this bears no proportion to that delight and complacency he taketh in her when she is once married to him So although a Soul upon the large discourses he hath heard of Christ and of his love to Mankind and what he hath done and is ready to do for the Souls of men may have some good thoughts of him and some kind of complacency in his thoughts of him yet there is a vast difference betwixt this and that complacency which the Soul taketh in Christ when it is once by Faith united to him and amongst other habits of grace hath that of Love to God infused into his Soul according to that Rom. 5. 5. The Love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us I know there is a Dispute raised by some whether the natural man's love to God differeth from the Believer's love to God specifically or only gradually I do not think that these spiritual habits fall under those logical measures I am sure it is a love flowing quite from another cause The natural man's love is no more than a natural Plant cultivated by reason the other 's is a fruit of the Spirit so as they differ further than gradually but whether we should call it specifically or no or want a Logical term to express the difference I shall not think it worth my time to enquire 2. A second Reason of the Believer's love and so
affection which a woman may have for many men none of which she intendeth to make her Husband and she may do many common acts of kindness for them so there is a common love which a man may have for Christ and many common actions which they may do in his service the question therefore is how a man or woman may know whether he or she may with confidence look up to Heaven and say O thou whom my Soul loveth Let me add a word or two upon this argument here though I have before spoken much to it 1. I desire you to observe in the first place that the Spouse speaketh here in the singular number O thou whom my Soul loveth so must every Soul do that loveth Christ in truth a divided Soul is alwaies faulry That Soul which hath any thing in Heaven or Earth to be compared with Christ doth not love him It is true that love is a diffusive affection and may respect several objects but note these two things 1. These objects must be only diverse not contrary Contraries naturally expel one another there is nothing but sin and last that is contrary to Christ you cannot saith our Saviour love God Mammon he that saith to any lust O thou whom my Soul loveth cannot in truth say so unto Christ How many in the world by their fondness upon their lusts shew their want of love to Christ 2. Conjugal love admitteth neither parity nor priority The Wife that loveth her Husband as she ought to love him must neither love any other before him or better then other nor yet in a proportion equal with him she must love him before and above all things Our Saviour hath determined this in saying He that loveth Father or Mother or Brother or Sister more then me is not worthy of me and he that loveth Son or Daughter more then me is not worthy of me 2. Soul-love will be known also by Soul-longings Love teacheth the Soul to long after 1. Union with the object beloved 2. A sense of reciprocal love 3. Communion with the object beloved If thy Soul loveth the Lord Jesus Christ it will be seen in thy longings after him in the hour of his apprehended adsence or after such degrees of his presence as thou hast not yet attained and after a sense of his reciprocal love the Soul that truly loves is impatient till it discerneth itself mutually beloved it will also long after communion with Christ you read Davids temper as to this Psal 84. 1 2 3. Psal 42. 1. Psal 63. 1. Alass how few are there whose pulses beat with any strength for God 3. Love thirdly is discovered by a complacency delight satisfaction in the presence of the object beloved according to the degree of its presence As it longeth for its object when absent so it rejoyceth and melts in the embraces of it when present What satisfaction hath thy Soul in an Ordinance or Duty in which thou hast seen the power glory of God the presence of Christ in his Ordinance 4. Love again is seen by the Soul's sorrow for a departed Christ The loving Wife weepeth when she for any time parteth with her Husband and is solitary when he is gone Mary's love to Christ was discerned by her weeping because she knew not where they had laid him And the Jews cryed out when they saw Christ weeping over the grave of Lazarus Behold how he loved him The dispensations of Christ to the Soul sometimes are very dark he seems to be gone and as it were buried out of the Soul's sight how beateth thy heart at such a time art thou afflicted or art thou not 5. If thy Soul loveth the Lord Jesus Christ it will be seen by thy anger a any thing whether in or from thy self or others which grieveth or offendeth him Love to its power will suffer no injury to the Beloved The Wife will not her self abuse her Husband nor to her power will she suffer any other if unwarily ignorantly or in a passion at any time she hath done it she is angry at her self for it and if others do it she is ready to seek a revenge upon them What indignation what revenge saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 7. 11. is produced by godly sorrow which is the effect of love 6. If thy Soul loveth Christ thou wilt reveal all the Secrets of thy Soul to him he shall know all thy griefs all thy desires and wants thou wilt be much in prayer much in secret prayer Dalilah charged Sampson for want of love to her because he had concealed his secrets from her Christ on the contrary justifieth his love to his Disciples Joh. 15. 15. by his telling them all he had heard of his Father 7. If Christ be he whom the Soul loves the Soul will be much in the meditation of him Whatsoever is the object of our Love is much in our thoughts O how I love thy Law saith David Psal 119. 97 99. it is my meditation night and day What room in thy thoughts hath Christ and the things of Christ 8. The Soul that is full of love is like the Fountain which is full and must overflow If we love any persons we are often talking of them upon all occasions talking for them and very often as we can get opportunities talking with them What are thy discourses of Christ to others How dost thou use thy Tongue in discoursing for Christ when there is need What discourses hast thou with Christ in prayer 9. Soul-love is like the Sun that cannot shine upon the Glass of the house but its refracted Beams will pierce thorow and shew themselves upon the walls the floor the pavements A love to Christ will look thorow him and shew it self upon every thing that hath relation to him his People his Ministers his Word and Ordinances Psal 16. 2 3. O my Soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord my goodness extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the Earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight 10. And lastly If you love Christ with your Souls you will keep his Commandments yea if it be to sacrifice an Isaac to pluck out a right Eye or cut off a right Hand This is our Saviour's mark Joh. 14. 15. Obedience is the first and most genuine fruit of Love and if it be such as shall speak a true Love in the Soul to Christ it must be 1. Internal as well as external 2. Universal not partial 3. Constant and not only for a fit But of these things I have spoken before and therefore shall not inlarge c. Sermon XLII Canticles 1. 7. Tell me O thou whom my Soul loveth where thou feedest where thou makest thy flocks to rest at Noon I have done with the first Proposition I observed from these Words from the compellation O thou whom my Soul loveth viz. That Christ is he and the only he whom the believing Soul loveth there
may not want it and it would be to her of no profitable use only it may be serve for Pride or ostentation but no tender husband with-holds from his Wife what he knoweth her to need But the Child of God never hath so much faith but he seeth cause to cry out Lord help my unbelief he is in daily want of Spiritual strength complaining of weakness and impotency so as supplies of grace are a daily good to gracious Souls and Christ can withhold no such thing from them Desire doth yet more engage the love of a correlate and the more passionate and vehement the desire of the beloved is the more he that loves moveth towards her Satisfaction The Philosopher saith to Love is to will that which is good to another though indeed love rather lyeth in a complacency which one taketh in another of which the willing of good is but a first fruit and an effect good he tells us is that which all desire The nature of good lyes in a Sutableness and conveniency to our needs for the supply of some vacuity or emptiness in us all the effluxes and emanations of divine grace are such suted to some great wants of our Souls and not only so but also to the desires of every gracious man and Woman who is continually crying give give and God cannot be wanting either to supply the necessities or to answer the cravings and importunities of his Peoples Souls He hears the desire of the humble Psal 10. 17. And giveth them their hearts desire Psal 21. 3. Lastly The interest of Gods own honour and glory is concerned in his giving of more grace The loving husband buyeth his Wife Chains and Jewels And fine Clothes and when she hath a good stock he is yet adding to the stock his love to her his desire to Satisfy her desires so far as he is able in all things convenient are the great grounds but yet he hath also some Eye to his own honour and Reputation by it he is taken notice of in the World as one that is able to do such things and also as one to whom his Wife is very dear this blessed Lover first aimeth at his own honour Hereby faith Christ is your Father glorified if you bring forth fruit much fruit of holiness requireth much of the seed of God much grace as the Principle productive of it for without his influence the Soul can do nothing Further grace is necessary to uphold and maintain what grace he hath already bestowed It is also necessary to the production of that much fruit by which God is glorified by his People in the World Grace in its true exercise is a lovely thing in the sight of the World Men that hate the practice of grace in themselves yet love it in another Hence the Apostle 1 Pet. 2. 12. commandeth Christians to have their conversation honest amongst the Gentiles that whereas they speak against them as evil doers they may by their good works which they shall behold glorifie God in the day of their visitation The Children of God are like Stars which shine from a borrowed light God hath all the honour of their well doing The man that walketh piously devoutly humbly in his conversation towards God and in the exercise of justice and righteousness humility and meekness mercy and charity and bounty towards men that is moderate and sober in the use of prosperity and patient in the time of adversity doth by this conversation commend himself to all that part of the World that hath yet any remainder of reason left whose passions have not out-lawed their reason and transformed them into Beasts And look as when the Wife is excellently attired it draweth the Eyes of all after her sets them upon enquiry whose Wife she is the honour redoundeth to the Husband out of whose Purse her Ornaments are known to come So when men see Christians abounding in the fear of the Lord in faith love in meekness sobriety liberality to the Poor love to their Enemies a doing good to all the honour doth not only redound to them but the Name of Christ for their sake is also well spoken of the grace of God in them is commended and magnified I come now to the Application In the first place I cannot but observe from this Text how Christ condesâ—endeth to our weakness that he might make himself and his grace desirable to us Why doth not our Lord speak plainly I will give them more grace I will communicate more of my self unto them He doth so in some other Texts here he clotheth his discourse with metaphors and compareth his grace to things which we much desire and which are very lovely and admirable in our Eyes This is observable there is hardly any thing which while we live in the World is either necessary for our use or delightful to our senses which our fleshly appetite longs for to which Christ some where or other hath not compared himself and the influences of his grace Is Bread necessary I am saith he the bread of life John 6. Is water necessary He compares himself to living water John 4. Yea to a fountain of living water Is meat and drink necessary My flesh saith he is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed Is clothing necessary and fine and rich clothing desirable Come saith he buy of me white rayment that thou mayest be clothed that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear Rev. 3. 18. Is Linnen necessary And fine Linnen desirable Rev. 21. 8. To the bride the Lambs Wife is granted that she should be arayed in fine Linnen clean and white Is Physick sometimes wanting to us The whole saith he speaking of himself need not the Physitian but the sick Is salve necessary sometimes to us I counsel thee saith he Rev. 3. 18. To Anoint thee with Eye-salve Is rest and ease desirable Come saith he to me all you that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest Is Gold and Silver are rows of Silver and Chains of Gold borders of Gold and studs or spots of Silver desirable I Counsel thee saith he to buy of me Gold tryed in the fire that thou mayest be rich and here in my Text thy Cheeks saith he are comely between the rows of Jewels Thy neck with Chains of Gold we will make for thee borders of Gold and studs of Silver Ez. 16. 10 11 12. I clothed thee with bâ—oidered work and shod thee with badgers Skins and I girded thee about with fine Linnen and covered thee with Silk I also decked thee with Ornaments and I put Bracelets upon thy hands and Ear-rings in thine Ears and a beautiful crown upon thine head What is the meaning of all this but I bestowed my love my grace upon thee How doth our blessed Lord humble himself to make himself his favour and grace the object of the most vain and airy Souls desire Observe Secondly that Christs graces are
according to the imagination of my heart c. But now take a believing Soul and he is very dull of hearing words of peace Tell him news of the wrath of God revealing against the Children of disobedience he easily believes it and tells you he feels it in his Conscience he is one of them designed to this wrath The terrors of God have been upon his Soul and like an affrighted man he is very prone to shake at any representation of what he hath found so terrible to him But let a Minister of Christ tell him thy iniquities are pardoned Christ is at the door of thy Soul it is Such improbable news to his affrighted Soul such a strange thing that he should be pardoned and such a sinner received to mercy that he is like the Christians met Acts 12. to pray for Peter when the Maid brought in word that Peter was at the gate they say unto her thou art mad And when she stands to her word they will believe no more then that it was his Angel A gracious Soul especially when it comes first to believe is ready to say to it self Surely I am mad to think that Christ should account me fair pardon my sins c. Now Christ in repeating peace consulteth this infirmity in us as I remember he did with Manoah Jud. 12. Manoah's Wife had been barren God sends an Angel to her to tell her she should conceive a Son c. v. 6 7. Manoah's Wife tells her Husband you must think there was nothing in the World these two desired more then a Son But it seemed too good news to be true and therefore v. 6. Manoah goes and Prays O Lord let the man of God which thou didst send to us come again to us indeed the reason of his desire which he assigns is to direct him how to order his Son but certainly Manoah thought the news too good to be true and God so far yeilds to Manoah's infirmity as to send his Angel the second time 2. As the believing Soul is dull of hearing Christ at first speaking peace to it and is like to Samuel when Eli called and cannot apprehend Gods voice So it is also very prone to forget the words of peace which God speaketh to it Of all the joys which we are in this life capable of these are the greatest and none so soon lost as these are so incertain is the state of the Children of God In many things we offend and even the righteous man sinneth seven times in a day and who can tell how often he offendeth Now every sin in its own nature is a breach of our peace with God and gives the watchful Soul occasion of doubting whether it did not at first mistake the voice of God or whether God hath not changed his mind towards it and hence in the second place God highly consults our infirmities in doubling his words of peace upon us and repeating them unto us Christ had told Peter Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church but when Peter had denied his Master Christ easily foreseeing that Peters thoughts would be much troubled and that he would be ready to forget all his former evidences of his favour orders his Angel Mar. 16. 7. To bid the woman go tell his disciples and Peter that he went before them into Gaâ—ilee and there they should see him But secondly As the Lord Jesus Christ doth by it consult his Peoples infirmity so he also highly consulteth his own Glory Reiterations of Divine Love to the Soul command reduplications of duty Love is of an obliging nature and there is no Soul that puts on so lively for God as that Soul that hath the most fresh and frequent manifestations of Divine Love to it David's Instance in the 118 Psalm is a full Evidence of this And this is the account that may be given why it pleaseth the Lord Jesus Christ to repeat his Love so frequently unto the Souls of Believers Obj. But I hear some gracious Souls saying Blessed are they that are in such a case who hear God speaking Love to their Souls and often repeating his Love to them But alas we are so far from this that we could never yet hear Christ speaking any such thing to our Souls we could never yet hear Christ so much asonce saying Behold thou art fair my Love c. What will you say to us Shall we hope that we are the Spouses of Christ who never yet could obtain one good look from him I answer Sol. 1. As it is not the Husband 's fond and affectionate expressions to his Wife which make or alone evidence her to be his Wife but the Marriage-covenant is that which doth it her consent to have him to be her wedded Husband and his consent to have her to be his Wife So it is not a word of peace sealed to the Soul which maketh the Soul or which alone evidenceth the Soul to be the Spouse of Christ No it is the Marriage-covenant it is the Soul's consent to have Christ for its Saviour for its Husband Though Christ hath not said it in thy hearing Thou art fair my Love thou art fair yet if the Soul can say and say it in truth that it hath accepted Christ as its Saviour and consented to Christ as its Husband there 's no cause of despondency 2 Cor. 5. 7. We walk by faith not by sight 2. Though the Lord be pleased thus to speak his Love in the hearing of some Souls and again to repeat it to them yet he is pleased to reserve himself more from some who are equally dear to him It may be the indulgent Father loves every Child he hath with a dear and tender love and doth design to give them all due proportions of his Estate yet he may carry himself more strangely and reservedly to some than unto others Possibly he may do it out of prudence as knowing it the best way in order to their good Possibly no other account can be given of it than a meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meer delight that he takes in one more than another which he exerciseth by Prerogative It may be God out of a depth of Wisdom shines not upon thy Soul so clearly as upon anothers Possibly no other account can be given of it but because he will do it 3. Take heed thy loose walking with God be not the cause of it When ever Christ speaks to the Soul he will speak truth if thou beest all foul and spotted he will not say to the behold thou art fair my Love behold thou art fair The Soul may have many failings many spots upon its face and yet be fair in the Eyes of Christ fair as to its Justification But Christ will not say to such a Soul Behold thou art fair The Father or prudent Mother may dearly love a disingenuous and rebellious Child But their prudence will keep them from commending such a Child and
new birth Light I black am in your curious Eye And in my own much more But white in my Beloveds sight Since he hath paid my score XVI Look not on me because I 'm black With a too curious Eye Nor with disdain nor let my black Visage you satisfy Much less dis-colour you Behold Sisters and pity me My Blackness is not my delight Ah! 't is my misery XVII The Sun hath scorch'd me with its heat It is by that I am tann'd My Mothers Children also have Touch'd me with unkind hand Their Vineyard they would have me attend Mine own I did not keep The envious one hath collied me While I thus lay asleep XVIII What Souls will not Afflictions tann If they be sharp and long Or who is not discolour'd by Temptations if too strong Worldly distractions spoil the look Of a Religious mind But ah through negligence I have Been to my self unkind XIX But O thou whom my soul loves best Tell me where thou doest use At noon to feed thy flock At noon Do not my Soul refuse When as Afflictions scorch me most Be thou at hand to me And teach my Soul at such a time How it may come to thee XX. O thou Shepheard of Israel Let me but know the hour When most of thee I may enjoy Tast most thy Grace and Power By th' flocks of thy Companions I would not turn aside With thee alone I would converse Be thou O Lord my guide XXI Thou fairest she dost thou not know Where me at noon to see The footsteps of the flock will teach Thee the right way to me Feed by the Shepheards Tents for there I shall most surely abide The Shepheards that derive from me Shall be to thee a guide XXII I have compar'd my love unto The goodly company Of Horses which King Pharaoh draw Made strong by Unity Of Horses which march on to meet The armed men and ne're Do from the glittering Sword turn head But mock at Cowards fear XXIII Thy Cheeks my Love are comely made With rowes of Jewels given Thee by my self Thy lovely neck Adorn'd with Chains from Heaven I will yet give thee further grace Borders of Gold I 'le make And spots of Silver thou shalt have And for thine own them take XXIV O may my dearest Royal Lord From 's Table never stir How sweetly doth my spikenard smell While 's that he sitteth there Even his own Graces will not smell When he is gone from me His Grace in me doth daily need His Royal company XXV My well-beloved is to me Myrrh in a bundle tyed More precious medicinal and sweet Than all the world beside Betwixt my Breasts he shall have place There he shall alwaies lye It is the place for posies There I will this bundle tye XXVI Engaddi's Vineyards have their plants Of Camphire Cypress All Are names too short for me whereby My Dearest Lord to call My sweet companion thou art fair Thou lookest with Doves Eyes Eyes which both meek and harmless are Not sparkling Cruelties XXVII Thou hast a satisfyed Soul A rich contented mind A plain and clean and lowly heart Which is to others kind A tender heart a mournful Eye Exceeding quick These are The things which make me say again Thou art exceeding fair XXVIII Nay my Beloved thou art fair My beauty is to thee As nothing worse than nothing 't is But meer deformity Thou fair art and pleasant too Thy conversation's sweet Thrice happy souls to walk with thee Whom thou dost please t' admit XXIX When thou within my bed dost lodge How soon it waxeth green When thou art gone no fruitfulness In it at all is seen Not a good work at such a time Can my poor soul produce Not an heart chang'd in Churches when Thou art not in the Pewes XXX The Beams and rafters of thy house Of Cedar are and Fir. Sweet beautiful and strong they are Such as shall never stir Thy word and Ordinances Lord Support thy Church for ever O let my Sins within thy house Me sever from it never CHAP. II. MY dearest Lord I 'm like the Rose Which Sharons fields doth grace Like th' Lilly of the Vallies which Doth beautify its place A flower and the noblest flower Which in the Fields doth grow My structure smell and fruitfulness Thy Workmanship all show II. But Lord I dwell i' th' common field And in the Vallies there To winds and weather I 'm exposed I live in daily fear Lest Sharons herds would me devour Or tread me under-foot And leave me nought to speak me thine But only a true root III. As Lillies are amongst the Thorns So I my Love do see The Daughters of the peevish world Are grievous Thorns to thee Yet thou art lovely there and thrivest The ugly Thorns commend My fairest Love and do improve Her while they do her rend IV. My dearest Lord it is enough Amongst Thorns let me be If while I stand there thou wilt be A shadow unto me Amongst the barren Trees in Woods Let me converse if I Thee as an Apple Tree may have That there I do not die V. Thy shade thy pleasant fruit shall be To me enough for food And for protection too while I Traverse th' untrodden wood I like an Hermite sit and sing Thy Apples to my tast Do much excel what other Trees Afford the world for mast VI. God manifested in the flesh O how exceeding sweet When infinite and finite did In one Redeemer meet Thy suffering being tempted is When tempted my relief Saran would rob me of my all Thou hast disarm'd the Thief VII Lord thy compleat obedience Unto thy Fathers will Is all relieves me when I think How often I do ill While I do good But O thy death Who can describe that fruit Which all my soul necessities Exceeds while it doth suit VIII Thy Resurrection thine ascending Unto thy Fathers Th rone Thy sitting there at his Right Hand Thine intercession How sweet they are And then to think That thou again wilt come To Judgment not me to condemn But only fetch me home IX Thine Ordinances Lord in which Thy loves thou dost display The Hony and the Hony-Comb Are not so sweet as they The Spirits sacred fruit those sweet Influxes of thy Grace Are what alone me patient make Of sublunary place X. These things my house of mourning turn drop Into an house of Wine Wine not which from Earths Grapes doth But from thee the true Vine Thy Love O Lord thy Banner is O're me and makes men see Men who thee hate I do'nt belong Unto their company XI Thy Loves thy Banner teaching me Where to resort when move When I fight for a Victory Then I display thy Love 'T is that unites me unto thee And every one that 's thine Where e're those colours I but see I run to them as mine XII
Protection I from them expect Mine Enemies are afraid As soon as they see over me Thy Banners are displaid You Daughters of Hierusalem My heart is sick for love I cannot live without your help O to my poor soul move XIII My dearest Lord hath left with you Flaggons and Apples too O reach me something left I dye Unto the Scriptures go Out of those Fat 's draw out some Wine And quickly bring it me Bring me his Apples why should you Your Lords Spouse dying see XIV I shall not dye but live for he Hath put under my head His left hand or his right hand shall Imbrace me in my bed 'T is he alone my aking head Can hold and give relief They 'r his imbraces only can Assuage my poor souls grief XV. How ready is he me to help I did but cry he heard His left hand hath secured me As to the thing I fear'd His right Hand soon shall follow it And wholly me release His right and left hand both shall join My love sick soul to ease XVI O Daughters of Hierusalem I charge you by the Roes And by the Hinds the friendly Hinds Which so much love disclose One to another Do'nt provoke My Love till he withdraw By my example wisdom learn Sin not but stand in awe XVII You live amongst the Roes and Hinds Learn not their wantonness You 'l want the hand of my dear Lord When you are in distress Judgment for Sin will come as fast As if the Roes it brought Do not stir up your Lord at rest By one rebellious thought XVIII Hark! it is my Beloved's voice He comes he comes to me Leaping upon the Mountains him Skipping upon th' Hills I see He 's my Beloved though not here I know his pleasant voice And though I see him not his found Makes my heart to rejoice XIX He comes The Mountain of my Sins I see lies in his way He leapeth o're that mountain and It causeth no delay He skippeth o're the little hills Of Creatures opposition That he may come to my relief In my distrest condition XX. I see him coming O let me The glorious sight behold With th' Eye of hope behold him and With th' Eye of Faith more bold He comes like a young Hart or Roe Nimbly and pleasantly Behind the wall he standeth when In my distress I cry XXI In at the Windows see he looks And through the Lattess sees Both my behaviour and withal My sad Calamities The Lattess Lord doth give to me But an imperfect sight O break it down appear to me In a more glorious light XXII I hear him say Rise up my Love My fairest one arise And come away for I have now Put off my dark disguise The Winter and the Rain are gone The pleasant Flowers appear Upon the Earth the singing Birds Do greet the springing year XXIII The harmless Turtles pleasing voice Is heard on every Tree The Fig-trees puts forth her green figs The Vines smell pleasantly Arise my Love Thou fairest one Make hast make no delay 'T is a fit season of the year Arise and come away XXIV Black storms of perfecution Have kept thee much at home The storms are over nothing now Hinders but thou mayst come The Gospel Turtles which lay hid In Corners now come forth All have a Gospel liberty To sing their Saviours worth XXV See how the Saints bud out in grace How gracious fruits abound Upon this liberty for all To hear the joyful sound Arise you who yet sleep in Sin Make hast to come and live O go not on presumptuously My Spirit yet to grieve XXVI The Summer will not always last Your day of Grace will end Come to me while I call and am Ready to be your Friend Discourag'd Souls arise and thick To my assemblies come The weather 's good doors ope you have No plea to stay at home XXVII My Love who to the rocks dark clefts Of late didst trembling fly And under stairs secret place Chose for thy Covert lye Pursu'd by Vultures now come forth Thy Countenance let me see For it is comely and thy Voice Is pleasant unto me XXVIII The Foxes which have spoil'd the Vines The Vines with tender Grape Come forth and take them now for me Let not a young Cubb scape They shall no longer spoil my Vines Chase them into their Den I 'le be revenged on thy lusts And on malitious men XXIX I know that my Beloved's mine I know that I am his This is my Triumph this my Joy My chiefest happiness Had not he made himself first mine His I had never been He first remov'd my guilt and then Purged my Soul from sin XXX ' Midst white and fruitful Lillies he Loves to converse and feed O let my Soul a Lilly be No more a barren Weed Until the glorious morn shall break And shadows flee away O let my glorious Lord be mine And I ne're from him stray XXXI Turn my Beloved to my Soul Be like a pleasant Roe Or like the nimble Harts which do On Bethers Mountains go In my distressed State O Lord Let me not be forgot Make hast and turn and let me feel Thee while I see thee not A Prefatory Discourse UPON THE SONG of SOLOMON Canticles 1. v. 1. The Song of Songs which is Solomons HAving undertaken this excellent portion of Holy Writ for the Subject of these Exercises it is reasonable I should according to the usual and commendable order of Interpreters discourse a little concerning the Divine Authority of it concerning the Subject matter of it the Penman the time and occasion of the writing of it and concerning the form especially considering that as to some or all of these there are some difficulties to be assoiled more than concerning other portions of Scripture and concerning some of them some things more peculiar to this than any other Book The first Verse of the Song which I have now read to you gives me a sufficient foundation for the most of my discourse of this nature if in any part of it I swerve from my Text I shall yet keep to my business which is by these previous exercises to prepare you for clearer understanding of the sacred contents of this Spiritual Song The Text affords us these three propositions 1 Prop. That this Book was Solomon's 2 Prop. That it is a Song 3. Prop. That it is a Song of Songs The first will lead us to a discourse of the Penman and that to a modest Enquiry after the time and occasion of his writing it and that well known we shall easily determine the Author and both from that advantage and the auxiliary help of other Arguments conclude concerning its Divine Authority against all opposers The second leads me to the consideration of the form of the writing being Metrical and Dramatical What else occurreth concerning that shall be there added The third will lead me to
Marriage Those are the excellent Songs which set cut the Excellencies of the Lord Jesus Christ This Book is wholly Evangelical wholly Spiritual But I have spoke enough also to this third Proposition Give me leave to make some application of this discourse In the first place Let me speak to all of you who shall hear my further discourses concerning any part of this Book as once God spake to Moses at the Burning Bush Put off thy Shoes from off thy Feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground While I shall be opening those figurative expressions by which it pleaseth the Holy Ghost by Solomon to discourse these Spiritual Loves Procul O procul este profani Saint Paul to Titus saith Unto the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving there is nothing pure but even their minds and consciences are defiled I am sure it may be said so of every line of holy writ to the pure heart every line there is pure not so to the impure the reason is because their own minds and consciences are filthy and impure Here is no wantonness in these sacred lines they contain indeed discourses of loves but altogether Divine and Spiritual though under carnal disguises Oh let not your wanton hearts bring hither any unclean thoughts Secondly Methinks much of what I have said may engage your minds to attention to me while I shall indeavour to unfold the Spiritual mysteries in this Book The Penman of this Book was Solomon The name of a King amongst men carries with it a great reverence and authority but Solomon was no ordinary King the Lord gave him such a degree of wisdom that none before or after him were ever like unto him 2 Chron. 1. 12. The Queen of Sheba thought it worth her travel to come from the utmost parts of the world to be his auditor and went away admiring his wisdom nay more he was one whom the Lord loved thence he had his name Jedidiah 2 Sam. 12. 24 25. we may therefore expect to hear the secrets of the Lord from his mouth rather than from another man When the disciples Joh. 13. 23. were at loss for an interpretation of what Christ said they beckned to the Disciple whom he loved to inquire his meaning and were presently satisfied further yet he was an eminent Type of Christ It is Solomon that speaks but he speaks as the Organ of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Greg. Nyssen Christ useth Solomon as his instrument and by him speaks to us But this brings me to a second Consideration as much engaging you to attention and far more than the former A greater than Solomon is here Solomon speaks in this Song in the Person of Christ and Christ by him here speaketh unto you Solomon's hand holds the Pen but Christ guides his hand to every letter in this sacred Song Nor was this holy Song as you have heard composed in Solomons time of deviation from God that indeed would have weakned the authority of it but either in the former part of his life before he went astray from God or in the latter part when he was again returned unto him be it which it will we are by it strongly engaged to the study and understanding of it as it from a great experience informeth a gracious soul to what degree of communion with God it may arrive and what sweet intercourses even in this life betwixt Christ and a believing Soul are attainable by that Soul that followeth after them whether in its Virgin State before it hath more notoriously estranged itself from God or upon a true repentance after eminent backslidings The exceeding sweetness and spirituality of the matter highly commends it to every spiritual heart There is no part of the Word of God but is exceedingly sweet and precious the historical part of it is so for if it be pleasant to read the Histories of Nations and Kingdoms c. how much more sweet should it be to every gracious Soul to read and understand the series of Divine Providences towards that People whom above all the Nations of the Earth he set apart for himself whom he miraculously conducted and for them made his holy Arm so eminently bare in the sight of all the Nations of the world The preceptive part of the Word of God which we call the Law is also exceeding precious to a gracious Soul it was so to David sweeter than the Hony or Hony-comb c. and St. Paul as to his inward man delighted in it But of all the portions of holy writ the Gospel part is most sweet That which reveals a God in Christ reconciling the world to himself which tells you what Christ is in himself considered as Mediator God-man c. which discovereth the Excellencies and desirableness of him who is Totus desideria altogether desires Those parts of Scripture which let us know what Christ is to his poor people how tender of them how jealous for them how condescending and kind to them and how dear and precious they are to him Of all the portions of holy writ Experience speaks those most exceeding sweet to us where Christ is set out in the pantings of his heart and yernings of his bowels towards his poor Children Such is this portion of holy writ when we shall have taken off the Vail of Metaphors with which this sacred portion of holy writ is covered we shall find that there is scarce any portion of holy writ wherein those sweet and spiritual mysteries of the Souls union and Communion with Jesus Christ are more fully and affectionately described The more special form of it as a Song doth likewise commend it to our attention there is a secret vertue in Poetry engagine Peoples hearts and affections to attention If a wanton Love-Song which discourseth the vertues and beauty of Creatures can lay such an hold upon our Ears and Hearts what should this Song do which discourseth the Excellencies of him who is the fairest amongst the Sons of Men the chiefest of ten thousand altogether desires and his particular indearments to the Souls of his Creatures which have no comeliness but what he puts upon them certainly the hearing of these discourses must ravish every spiritual heart This is the Song of Songs Finally the Metaphors with which this excellent Song is clothed must needs give it a great advantage with every ingenuous Soul which naturally desires the understanding of what is hid from it we may suppose God therefore to have thus phrased this Spiritual Song that we might have greater desires kindled in us to understand the mind and will of God revealed in it The harder the Shell is the sweeter the Nut will be found when once the Shell is crack'd Lastly What you have heard may serve you as a Key for the unlocking this whole portion of Scripture and guide you in the understanding of my future discourses
By the Beloved speaking in this Song you are to understand the Lord Jesus Christ By the Spouse whom he sometimes calleth his love you may understand the Church and more particularly every truly believing Soul By the Watchmen the Ministers of the Church whom God hath set to watch for Souls By the Daughters of Hierusalem sometimes mentioned either the Members of the Church or the Neighbours of it The two first have the greatest share in the Song the others sometimes speak and are sometime spoken to But this is enough to have spoken by way of preface 'T is time to leave the threshold and to enter in to this pleasant House Only give me leave as an Epilogue to this discourse to subjoin the Judgment of Ludovicus de Ponte though a Papist yet a learned Man who hath copiously interpreted this Spiritual Song and allowing him the Popish Devotion for the Sacred Virgin which makes them all think they see her in every Text hath done much in it well It is prefix'd to his Latine Commentary To this purpose The Book of Solomon which from the nobleness of the Argument is called the Song of Songs is a spiritual conference betwixt that God who is three and yet one or betwixt Christ who is true God and Man and his Church whether ancient or modern and every gracious Soul which is a Member of that Church In which discourse God hath a double part and personateth two several Persons The person of a most wise Instructer or Master delivering to his Disciple the sublime Doctrine of Faith and Holiness 2. The Person of a most endeared lover extolling and courting his most beloved Spouse with wonderful praises and enriching her with great gifts and favours The Church also represents a double Person 1. The Person of a Disciple or Spouse towards God or the Person of a Mistress or companion towards other Souls which she calls the Daughters of Hierusalem The Argument of this Conference as well became such Persons is sublime pleasant profitable and abundantly copious for whatsoever the ancient Prophets sang whatsoever the Evangelists afterwards related or the Apostles Preached whether relating to the mysteries of faith or to holiness and Gospel perfection it is all in this Song comprehended in the style of lovers the style being Spiritual not Carnal But because the Metaphors and Similitudes which fill this whole Book are taken from Carnal Marriages We must pill off the bark that the letter might not kill That being once taken off the spiritual part lying within will enlighten the Soul and quicken and inflame and perfect it For according to our Saviours words it is the Spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing and the words of this Song are Spirit and life to those who do sincerely consider them For as the Ancient Priests of the Jews as we read in the Book of Macchabees when they looked for the sacred fire which they had hidden found nothing but thick water which water to the admiration of all when the Sun shined out of the Cloud again was turned into fire so he who looks upon the Book of Canticles with carnal Eyes will only find the puddle-water of words which the outside letter seemeth to shew which will fill his heart with darkness instead of light with a carnal chilling instead of spiritual heat But if the divine Sun inlightens that which seemed puddle water will become coelestial fire wonderfully inlightning the understanding and inflaming the will But although the whole Book of Canticles containeth 8 Chapters and by Interpreters be divided into three five or more parts yet I believe the first and second Chapters are a sum or breviary of all those mysteries of Faith which are contained in the six other Chapters which is evidenced from this that the close of the second and of the last Chap. are much the same to shew us that the narration of matter is finished in the second Chapter and that from the third Chapter beginneth a new discourse of the same mysteries under new Metaphors and Similitudes Discourses of Divine Love BETWEEN CHRIST and the CHURCH From the first Chap. of the Song of Solomon Sermon I. Cant. 1. 2 3. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth for his loves are better then Wine V. 3. Because of the savour of thy good Ointments Thy name is as an Ointment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love thee I Have observed in my prefatory discourse that some have fancied that this Book is called The Song of Songs because it contains several Songs in it It is in our Bibles divided into 8 Chapters and by Interpreters into several periods according to their particular fancies Ludovicus De Ponte conceives as I shewed you that the two first Chapters contain a Breviary of all the rest and as an evidence of it alledgeth the same close both of the second and eighth Chapter and from the third Chapter he thinks there begins a repetition of the same spiritual mysteries under new Metaphors whether that notion in the extent of it be true or no doubtless the two first Chapters contain much spiritual Doctrine informing us in the near communion betwixt the Lord Jesus Christ and the believing Soul A learned Interpreter distributes this Chapter into two parts the first he calls Prooemium a Preface the second Colloquium a Conference betwixt the two great Interlocutors in this spiritual discourse In the former you have two things 1. A Prayer 2. An Apology The first in v. 1 2 3 4 7. The second as a Parenthesis v 5 6. The Prayer consisteth of three Petitions each of which is urged by suitable arguments The first petition is v. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his Month. The second v. 4. Draw me The 3d is v. 7. Tell me O thou whom my Soul loveth c. where thou feedest where thou makest thy flocks to rest at noon The further distribution of the Chapter and the several verses in it I shall leave until I come in order to them My Text containeth the first Petition with an argument annexed The petition in those words Let him kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth The argument in the latter words for his love is better then Wine For the just understanding of the words we must consider 1. Who it is that speaketh 2. To whom the Speech is directed 3. what the import of the Petition is As to the first our Translation puts it out of doubt and it is as universally agreed amongst Interpreters that the Person speaking is she who throughout the whole Song bears the Person of the Spouse by which having already rejected the notions of those who understand Pharaohs Daughter or the Shulamite as also of those who restrain it to the Jewish Church must be understood either the Church in the general or the believing Soul in particular who here speaketh Either to the Bridegroom the Lord Jesus Christ or to God the Father of this
Bridegroom whose it is to bless us with all spiritual blessings in and through him Supposing the latter the believing Soul directeth her request as her beloved directeth when he commands us to pray saying Our Father If the petition be understood as directed to the Lord Jesus Christ Let him kiss me is as much as Do thou kiss me Vicem nominis supplet vis amoris the force of her love supplyeth the omission of his name saith Lud. de Ponte It is a very usual dialect of Scripture to put the 3d Person for the 2d so the Psalmist God be merciful unto us and bless â—us But 3. Qu. What doth the Spouse mean by Let him kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth Some read it He did kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth Thus the ancient Chaldee Paraphrast Blessed be the name of the Lord who gave us his Law written by the hand of Moses his Scribe who wrote it in two Tables of Stone and spake with us face to face as a man who kisseth his Companions through the greatness of his love wherewith he loved us more than threescore and ten Nations But the stile of the Song is rather pathetical and optative than historical and narrative and it is rather referred to Christ as Mediator than to God the Father or the Lord Jesus Christ considered only as God over all blessed for ever besides that the Hebrew word being in the future tense referrs rather to the time to come than to the time past and I see no need of inventing a figure There is a threefold kiss of which you read in Scripture 1. The kiss of the feet Thus the penitent Woman Luk. 7. 38. kissed her Saviours feet 2. The kiss of the hand Job 31. 27. If my mouth hath kissed my hand 3. The kiss of the lips Prov. 24. 26. and so in many other Texts The Schoolmen tell us of a seven-fold kiss a kiss of 1. Love 2. Union 3. Reverence and Honour 4. Adoration 5. Reconciliation and Peace 6. Treachery as Joab kissed Abner and Amasa and Judas kissed Christ 7. Wantonness According to the usages of several Nations there were several sorts of kisses distinguished by their objects and ends they were wont to kiss the head lips cheek shoulders hands backs feet of their superiours inferiours and equals and that for several testimonies which yet I think are reducible to two heads For a testimony of honour reverence and subjection Thus Parents were kissed by their Children Jacob came near and kissed Isaac Gen. 50. 1. Joseph fell upon his Fathers face and kissed him Thus Exod. 18. 7. Moses went out to meet his Father in Law and did obeysance and kissed him and Orpah kissed her Mother in Law Thus the Persians were wont according to the differences of Persons in respect of quality to give differing kisses Equals kissed one anothers lips the Person who was but a little inferiour kissed his superiours Cheek The lower sort fell at their superiours feet and kissed them Thus Idolaters shewed their reverence to their Idols and the true Worshipers of God were by this distinguished They had not kissed Baal 1 Kings 19. 28. and the Idolaters in Israel said Let the men that sacrifice kiss the Calves Hos 13. 2. Thus also we are commanded to kiss the Son least he be angry Psal 2. 12. which Jerome translates Purely worship the Son This is now a kiss wherewith we ought to kiss Christ but this is not the kiss of the Text. Secondly Kisses were used for a testimony of love which sometimes was hypocritical and so the kissing deceitful such were the kisses of Joab and Judas ordinarily real which might be considered either as continued or interrupted Kisses were 1. Used in token of continuing love As appears by the several precepts of the Apostles regulating the use of them by a law of holiness and chastity Rom. 16. 16. 1 Cor. 16. 20 c. Or 2. In token of renewed love and reconciliation Thus Laban kissed Jacob upon their reconciliation Esau kissed Jacob and David kissed Absalom Beza thus gives the propriety of this testimony in affection Whereas our life lies in the breath which goeth out of our lips and our Soul goes away when our breath at last goes the joining of the friends lips and mouths signifies that they are so dear each to other that they could willingly unite Souls if it could be and bestow their lives each upon other The kiss of the text must needs be this In testimonium amoris for a testimony of love But still here remains a question whether she desires the kiss of Reconciliation 2. Or that which is a pledge of continuing love Those who understand the first confess a breach betwixt God and his Creatures which indeed there was made in the beginning of the world which breach is as to the meritorious part made up by the incarnation death and passion of Christ Indeed there was an ancient Covenant of Grace concerning it Gen. 3. revealed immediately but I say it was done quoad pretium by the incarnation and death of Christ according to those Texts 2 Cor. 5. 18 19. Col. 1. 21. Eph. 2. 16. according to the prophecy Dan. 9. 24. And as to the particular application of that purchase it is daily done by the Spirit of God working faith in us by which we are united to Christ Now the question is whether the Spouse here beggeth 1. Christs coming in the flesh being incarnate and dying for us for the fulfilling of the eternal Covenant of Reconciliation to which some encline 2. Or the kiss of Justification the actual reconciliation of the Soul unto Christ and application of Christ to the Soul by fâ—rth 3. Or The further influences of â— Love as pledges of that first Grace and Seals of that Original love of his to the Souls of his People Indeed the Eternal Son of God kissed us and he stooped much to kiss us when he took upon him our nature uniting finite and infinite corruptible and incorruptible when he nothinged himself for us and this was foreseen and so might be desired Abraham saw the day and rejoyced Joh. 10. 48. and not only Origen and Bernard of old but many modern interpreters think that the Spouse here hath a great respect to this matchless testimony of Divine Love which being granted the Text is no other than the breathings and pantings of the Church of God then living or the particular members of it after the Incarnation of Christ which doubtless was a great object of their desires Kings and Prophets and Righteous men desired to see the things which the Disciples saw and did not see them c. Others understand the text of those testimonies of Divine Love which followed the death of Christ particularly The sending of the Spirit It is true this is called The promise of the Father and was so under the old Testament Ezech. 36.
Church understands it of the Doctrine of the Law which also suiteth with Davids high commendation of the Law of God in his 19 Psal and in the 119. more largely 2. But reading it Loves possibly they may better interpret it who understand it concerning the Graces of Gods Holy Spirit When we speak of the Grace of Christ we either understand that goodness which is essentially in him as he is the fountain of all Grace full of Grace and Truth the fulness of the God-Head dwelling in him or that goodness which he communicateth to his People in the free pardon of their sins and acceptation of their Persons Or 3 dly Those fruits of his Spirit which abide and dwell in us such as faith love I find some Interpreters both ancient and modern interpreting the Text of the latter So Gregorius Mag. That love to thee and to my Brethren which thou hast wrought in my heart But Beza observeth That it is not usual to Saints to commend their own graces and therefore doubtless it is to be understood of that Grace which is and remains in Christ subjectively of which we are the Objects and to this sense agree the most sober and spiritual Interpreters making the phrase to signify that sweet pleasure which the Soul takes from the feeling of Christs love And possibly this is that Vis lactandi that suckling vertue which Delrio mentioneth which Christs puts forth refreshing the Souls of his Saints with his consolations The word is in the plural number by which the Hebrews were wont not onely to express a multitude of things but also the infinite vertues and dimensions of any thing You must not think saith Beza That in the One Essence of God there are more numerical loves No in him all things are one and he is one But his grace is manifold in respect of our feeling and apprehension and he deals out his love to us in different measures according to our different necessities or capacities The Chaldee Paraphrast with some of the Heb. Doctors understand here the Concret by the Abstract and interpret God's loves to be his beloved people of the Jewish Nation whom he preferreth before Wine viz. before any other Nations threescore and ten Nations to which purpose by their Cabalistical Art they have found out the numerical letters for 70 in the word which we translate Wine But I shall not insist upon so fond and improbable a Notion Having therefore spoken Enough for the Explication of the Subject Thy loves Let us indeavour to understand what is praedicated of this Subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are better then Wine good before wine saith the Heb. Text which is but the same thing in their dialect who so use ordinarily to express the Comparative degree 1. Good in the Philosophical notion of it is whatsoever is the Object of our desire the nature of it lying in a convenience and sutableness of the thing unto our natures which makes it desirable which a thing may be either upon the account of pleasure or profit or nobleness Accordingly the Heb. word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is variously translated merry Esther 1. 10. Beautiful Ruth 3. 7. Thy loves are more good i. e. more sweet pleasant profitable than Wine 2. Wine in its primary signification is the juice of the Grape whose proper Effect it is to make the heart of man merry Psal 104. 15. But this were too low a signification for it in this Text. We must therefore allow a figure The Hebrews were wont under the notion of wine to express all other delectable and pleasant things Hence Ahashuerus his feast is called A Banquet of Wine though it cannot be imagined that Wine was all the guests had for their intertainment It is an usuall Synecdoche to express all things that fall under a common genus by some Eminent Species Some of the ancient Rabbies understood by Wine here quamcunque Laetitiam whatsoever is pleasant and acceptable And in that sence Mercer and the best of modern Interpreters agree For that other interpretation which some make of it who understand by loves Gospel Doctrine and by Wine the Doctrine and dispensation of the Law though it seemeth to have some advantage by the use of Wine in the legal oblations and it be a truth That the Doctrine and dispensation of the Gospel being more sweet and perfect is better than that of the Law which brought nothing to perfection Yet I cannot think it the sense of this Text. Let us conclude then that the words are the Language Either of the Church of God preferring the injoyment of God in the Doctrines and dispensations of his word and Gospel or the words of the believing Soul preferring the influences of divine grace before the sweetest of all creatures comforts And this I take to be the most free and consistent sense and interpretation of the words The particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be conceived here to have a double use Either To give a reason of her former desire that her beloved should kiss her with the kisses of his mouth Which she professeth to be like theirs who desire wine They desire that because it is good She desires these because there is a far greater goodness in these heavenly influences than there is in the best of created comforts by which she shews that she was not carried out to these desires insano quodam affectu sed prudente consilio saith Beza by prudent advice and deliberation reason dictating to us the choice and desire of the things which are most excellent Not by an heady and misguided passion Or else to make an argument which might be advantageous to her for the obtaining of her request drawn from the Estimate of Christs love with which her Soul was possessed Lord I esteem thy favour to me above all created comforts in the world Therefore let not my Soul want it And so it suteth with that of David Psal 4. 6. Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness into my heart more than the time that their Corn and Wine increased And thus these latter words of the Text contain the Spouses first Argument by which she urgeth her petition mentioned in the former part of it She proceedeth v. 3. V. 3. Because of the Savour of thy Ointments Thy name is as ointment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love thee The Sept. translate it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Vulg. Latine joyneth the former part of this verse to the former thus Thy breasts perfumed with the best ointments are better than Wine The difference is not much nor is it an easy labour to determine it because the points and stops which make it are of no great antiquity at least as some think the Hebrew translated for a word seemeth to be thus To the smell of thy good Ointments Thy name is as Oil or Ointment poured out
Servants of God is yet to be found in the souls of such as have any acquaintance with or relation to the Lord Jesus Christ And indeed our reason will tell us that it must be so if we consider but these following particulars which will give you a reasonable account of the truth of this Proposition The least token of special distinguishing Grace is of an infinitely sweet and salvifick nature and evidence There are common gifts of the Spirit of God which indeed may be sweet and very grateful to a spiritual nature such are the gifts of Prayer and Prophecy c. but yet are not of a saving nature or evidence a man may have them and perish for ever but it is not so with such influences of the Spirit as are tokens of special distinguishing love spiritual gifts are to be coveted because of a subserviency in them to spiritual and saving ends but they are not of a saving nature and have nothing of a saving evidence in them but in the least token of special distinguishing love there is something of an evidence for Salvation the least of it is of a saving nature Faith that is but as a grain of Mustard seed is as much saving as the strongest Faith is The measures of our comforts much depend upon degrees of grace but our Salvation doth not Christ bids Zacheus go home for that day Salvation was come to his house Salvation cometh to the soul that hour in which the least of special love shineth upon it the least of that brings Salvation and consequently is exceeding sweet and must be so if you consider this soul as first seeking the Kingdom of God allarumed with the spiritual sense of its misery by nature it s lost and undone condition in Adam This is the one thing that such a soul seeks after in comparison with which all other things are as dross and dung to it That it may discern it self beloved of God one of those for whom Christ died and whose sins are washed away with his blood for this it hath wept and prayed and resolved to seek after it and resolved not to be silent There is no evidence of special Love but is suited to some great spiritual want of the soul Our souls are exposed to a great variety of wants All the tokens of God's special Love are suited to some or other of these wants Our souls are impotent and weak both to the performance of spiritual duty and to resist our spiritual adversary to this want now strengthening grace is suited They are dull and heavy and move heavily in spiritual duties to this quickening grace is suited They are sad and troubled for fear of God's wrath to this consolatory grace is suited There is no influence of the special Love of God but is suited to some special want or burden of our souls and therefore the least of them must be exceedingly desirable for so every thing is that suiteth our necessities and so much the more as it suiteth some more special and eminent wants If the Sun doth but arise upon the soul it healeth Mat. 4. 2. though it shineth not out in its fullest glory if Christ spreadeth but a wing over it there is healing in that wing His very shadow gives delight to the soul Cant. 2. 2. the least of his fruit is pleasant to its taste If saith the woman I can but touch the Hem of his Garment I shall be whole Such is the purity of the Saints Love that though they may have an Eye to the Recompence of Reward which his Love brings yet they love him for himself who appears to their souls as Totus desideria altogether desirable It is his Love which their souls thirst after now the least special token of Love sheweth that he loves it and his heart cleaveth to it He that valueth the Love of his friend regardeth not the quantum of the Token but the nature of it if it be of such a nature as he doth not ordinarily give to any common friend that is it which he eyeth If a soul can see any thing which speaketh its Lord joyned to it cleaving unto it this is it which makes it valuable A discerning soul will take little joy in gifts of common providence Riches Honours good Relations common gifts It may and will desire these things while it is in the flesh as they fill up some emptinesses in that our state but it can by no means be satisfied with these things As Haman said when he had been telling his Wife of his great preferments and honours All this doth me no good so long as I see Mordecay sitting in the King's Gate my Enemy is honoured and advanced as well as I So it saith The Lord hath given me riches honour c. but all this doth me no good so long as I see the haters of God enjoy as much of these things as I do let me have some special token of God's Love Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth Fourthly The Child of God knoweth That the least token of Christs special love is more worth than all the world There is no proport on betwixt a corpâ—ral and a spiritual good betwixt what is sutable to our flesh and to our wants in this life and what is sutable to our Souls and necessary for us with respect to our eternal felicity The Philosopher could say Animus cujusque est quisque The mind of a Man is the Man The Christian knows that Anima cujusque est quisque The Soul of a Man is the Man What shall it profit a Man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own Soul The sensual Man values his life above those things that are only good because of their subserviency to that The rational man valueth his mind above his flesh and accordingly sets a price upon knowledge and moral Virtue above those things that meerly gratify his sense The spiritual Man valueth his Soul his Soul considered not only as a rational Being but as a Spirit an immortal Spirit capable of the favour of God and an union and fellowship with him and ordain'd to an eternal existence not only above his body which he knoweth is made up of dust moulded up into flesh and blood and bones but above his mind It really is of more value and he is made apprehensive of it hence he cannot but value the least that tendeth to make that happy above any thing else whatsoever Besides he knows himself created to an eternity and believing that his reason teacheth him infinitely to prefer what is good for him with reference to an happy existence to eternity above any thing that can only serve him for the short time he is to be clothed with flesh and to live in this world This Election of the loves of Christ before all things else and the value he puts upon the least tokens and manifestations of it doth naturally and rationally follow his
their worldly and sensual satisfactions I would speak to them as one standing this day in wisdoms Porch and crying after them in their hottest pursuits of the world Come and turn your hearts hither you that are simple ones and void of understanding I shall have a fairer opportunity to speak to these when I come to consider the argument by which the Spouse backeth her Petition But alas we had need make these cries often you can see the world and the gay and fine things therein precious and run after them with a swift pace but you can see no excellency in the kisses of Christ nothing for which they should be so desired when alas the world is but like a brave glass which whole is of some value but if broken in pieces the small pieces of it are worth nothing Christ his love is like a wedge of Gold or like a most precious perfume the least particle the least drop of which hath its value there is no emanation of his special loves but is suted to the Souls wants and to some eminent necessity under which the Soul laboureth Hear Solomon speaking to you Prov. 1. 22. How long you simple ones will you love simplicity And Fools hate knowledge Turn you at my reproof I will pour out my Spirit unto you I will make known my words unto you Your reason tells you that a vessel of Silver or Gold is much preferrible to one of Earth or Glass and as for other reasons so for this which you ordinarily say break a vessel of Earth and Glass the pieces are worth nothing but if one of those more valuable mettals be broke the least pieces have their value Why should not the same reason instruct you that Christs favour is to be prefer'd to all the world can afford you a little of the world is not much valuable a plentiful estate the highest pitches of honour a belly full of pleasure that indeed may appear desirable but the least tokens of Christs love the least expressions of his favour are most valuable things The kisses of the world are for the most part but Oscula Iscariotica or Joabitica like the kisses of Judas who in order to the betraying of his Master first kissed him or like the kiss of Joab to Amasa who under pretence of kissing him smote him under the fifth rib and slew him Christ's kisses are kisses of peace and reconciliation of love and favour Secondly This notion calleth to all those that are true Christians and that for three things For a due value of the least tokens of Christs special and distinguishing love look narrowly to make up your judgment whether what you take to be such be such or no and there you must take heed that you do not make conclusions from the gifts of common providence No man can judge of the love or hatred of God to his Soul from any thing which befalls him in this life No man can judge of any special love from Gods giving him a longer life greater measures of health a more plentiful estate or any thing of this nature God gives the worst of men their portion in such things as these No nor â—dly from common gifts such as those of knowledge utterance c. look therefore narrowly to make your judgment and the surest Judgment is from such things as more conform you to the nature or will of God but if you will find aliquid Christi any thing which you can call Christs or speaks his distinguishing love take heed of undervaluing that Secondly It calls to you for the use of all means for proficiency and growth in Grace Such as hearing the Word Prayer the use of all the Ordinances of God for in reason if the least tokens of Christs special love be desirable greater manifestations of it are much more desirable Labour for more holiness more heavenly-mindedness more subjection of your will to the will of God Hath the Lord blessed you with a faith of adherence a power given you from above to cast your Souls upon the Lord Jesus Christ Labour for faith of evidence be like the Travellers to Zion of which David speaketh Psal 84. that go from strength to strength until they all appear before the Lord in Zion It may be a good question sometimes to satisfy a troubled doubting Soul what is the Minimum quod sic the lowest degree or measure of saving grace but it is an ill hearing from a lazy wanton Soul Lastly it calls loudly to us to thirst after Heaven where the believing Soul shall be the Lambs Wife and follow him whithersoever he goes and be blessed with the clearest vision and the fullest imbraces of its beloved Oh how pleasant will the mansions of glory be to those Souls to whom the imperfect views that it hath had of Christ in this life have been so desirable while we are present in the Body even Paul himself owneth himself absent from the Lord. Now indeed we are the Sons of God now we are in a capacity of his kisses tokens of special love sufficient to uphold and refresh our Souls but there we shall be at the rivers of pleasures where there is not only pleasure but fulness of pleasures and that for evermore O Blessed are they that shall be alwaies before the Throne of God seeing their Redeemer with those Eyes and taking their fills of his love Sermon IV. Canticles 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth BY the beloveds Kisses mentioned in this Text I have understood Christs special and distinguishing love and the tokens of it by which either as God blessed for ever or as the Mediatour of the world he may discover his kindness to the Children of Men or the Members of his Church in common from whence I have already observed that the heart of a Believer is after distinguishing love Kisses being the least of those Evidences I have shewed That the least tokens of Christs special and distinguishing love are and will be very sweet to Believers Souls But I observe the word is in the plural number Kisses and so may signify either 1. Various dispensations of Grace Or 2. Various repetitions of the same Acts of Grace Hence the next Proposition ariseth That altho the least dispensations of special and distinguishing love be exceeding sweet and precious to Souls which have once tasted how good the Lord is yet their hearts will be after fuller and frequent dispensations and repetitions of it I take both these to be comprehended in the plurality of the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace is a thing which is but one piece considered as it is in God their 's nothing plural in the one Divine Being but as the Sea which is in itself but one yet as it washeth upon several coasts receiveth several names and denominations as the English Sea the Irish Sea and the Baltick Sea So as the Grace of God respecteth the several necessities and wants of us
with reference to the Levitical rites Christ speaketh to Peter Joh. 13. much in the same dialect Except I wash thee thou canst have no part in me But the meaning is pardon me remove the guilt of my sin from me but is this enough for this holy Man Is this all that he asketh of God No v. 8. Make me to hear the voice of Joy and Gladness that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoice There he prayeth for Consolatory Grace Well will this yet satisfie the thirst of this holy Man No he must also have a renewed Heart a right Spirit The Spirit of God resting upon him dwelling abiding in him A right Heart as well as a righteous Heart v. 10. Create in me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me v. 11 12. Take not thy holy Spirit from me Uphold me with thy free Spirit He must not only be set right in Gods way but he must be kept right and upheld in it Look upon him in that 119 Psalm Psal 119. 28. Strengthen me according to thy Word The Lord had given him the Pardon of his Sin he had given him Wisdom so as he tells us in that Psalm he was become wiser than his Teachers God had sanctified Affliction to him so as by it he had learned to keep Gods Statutes The Lord had given him an heart to love his Law to make it his Meditation night and day yet he cries Strengthen me O Lord And again v. 25. Quicken me in thy way Quicken me after thy Loving-kindness v. 4. O Quicken me in thy Righteousness Hath he enough yet No one thing he yet wants v. 42. Mine Eyes fail for thy Word when wilt thou comfort me There is hardly any Dispensation of Grace which we do not find David in that Psalm pleading with God for This one instance of David is enough to shew you the temper of every Soul which hath but once tasted how good the Lord is Nor indeed can it be otherwise If we consider the Beauty and excellency which appeareth to such a Soul in every Dispensation of Grace The Spouse saith of Christ in another part of this Song He is altogether lovely There is no part of Christ which is not in itself lovely he is the brightness of his Fathers Glory the fulness of the God Head dwells in him bodily As every Beam of the Sun every Emanation of that Body of Light is lovely to him whose Eyes are open to discern it So every Beam of the Sun of Righteousness every Emanation of his Love must necessarily be lovely to the Soul that hath its senses exercised to discern betwixt good and evil All Beauty is attractive whatsoever appeareth to our Souls lovely and beautiful appeareth also desirable But this is not all though Beauty and Comeliness be attractive and allures our Souls into an earnest desire after it yet profit is more Secondly There is no Dispensation of Divine Grace but suiteth some great want of the Soul It is the same Reason that I gave you why the least of Christ is so pretious Because the least of his Grace is suited to some great want of our Souls What I there applied to the least of his Love I here apply to the varieties of his gracious dispensations and indeed reasonably for there would be no variety in grace if there were not a variety of defects and wants and emptinesses in our Souls that which distinguisheth divine grace is our various wants and necessities and we can as naturally not desire a supply for our own discerned defects and wants as we cannot desire various emanations of divine love suited to the supply of them Nature prompteth us to desire a supply for every craving of our Souls The Soul is sensible that it daily sinneth and cannot but desire pardoning grace and say unto God every day Forgive us our debts it is sensible that it wants purity and holiness and therefore cannot but desire a right Spirit Its wants are many and it therefore desireth various dispensations of grace to supply them they are daily renewing therefore it desires repeated acts of grace to be renewed also A third reason lyeth in the Concatenation of grace The Philosopher saith Virtutes sunt Concatenatae that all vertues are chained together and no man is truly virtuous but hath in him the habits of all Virtue they make Virtue to lie in the reduction of the whole Soul to the rule guidance and conduct of reason I am sure Gratiae sunt concatenatae the Graces of Gods Spirit are like Pearl stringed together and that upon a double account 1. With respect to themselves 2. With respect to our sense and apprehension Pardoning grace never goeth without renewing and regenerating grace God never saith to any Soul Thy Sins are forgiven but he addeth sin no more The Grace of Consolation never goeth without the Grace of Sanctification The Grace of Regeneration is alwaies attended with some degrees of that Grace which strengtheneth and quickneth the Soul unto its Spiritual work and duty 2. As to our sense of it The Grace of God being as I have before said nothing else but the Love of God freely shining upon us with respect to our several circumstances and diversified wants the Soul is prone from the want of a supply as to one thing to suspect its want of all Hence it is that it suspecteth the want of the love of God in the whole from its sense of the want of it in part Indeed this oft-times is the error of a Soul that is truly gracious from it s not distinguishing betwixt those things that are necessary to Eternal life and Salvation and those influences that are meerly accommodating and tending to the better being of the spiritual life the dispensations of which are not meerly directed from the divine love but from the divine wisdom and sometimes are with-held from the wisdom of God by which he directeth his own motions to their ends Hence as Gideon when the Angel came to him and said The Lord is with thee O thou mighty man of valour replyed If the Lord be with us why am I thus So the Soul thirsting after the love of God if any go about to persuade it under its sadness and dejections under the sense of its weakness as to spiritual duties or dulness and heaviness in the performance of them that yet the love of God is toward it it hath a truth of Grace it cries out If God loved me why am I thus I am weak why am I not strengthened or my Soul is dull and dead and heavy why am I not quickned Or I am sad and dejected if God loved me why am I not comforted The Soul of a believer is apt to conceive that because Love is one in God therefore it 〈…〉 be a sharer in his love while it wants any one aspect of it 〈◊〉 might suite its spiritual wants Another reason may be the possibility
reason to question it doubtless those that lie most in Christs Bosom here shall sit nearest him upon his Throne hereafter I shall shut up my discourse with four or five directions in this case First Labour to understand the various emanations of special and distinguishing Grace how many ways the Sun of Righteousness may shine upon Souls with healing in his Wings I am afraid many talk of Grace special distinguishing Grace who do not understand it as they ought to do Study to understand Christs saving looks upon Souls and to distinguish them from other looks which have no such saving vertue and evidence in them Christs saving looks upon Souls are either such as evidence pardon of Sin or contribute to the change of the heart in first or further degrees of holiness Or comforting us with the view of our own sincerity take a right notion of Christs kisses Be sure in thy desires of further Grace thou forgettest not to be thankful for what thou hast the least token of love for good to thy Soul is more worth than the world ther 's nothing little in Grace I before observed to you the passions of some Christians who are ready to overlook all that God hath done for their Souls if they want some particular dispensation of Grace which their hearts are set upon Make use of what thou hast To him that hath shall be given It is a saying which our Saviour applyeth to the parable of the sower Mat. 13. 12. Luk. 8. 18. and to the parable of the Talents Mat. 25. 29. In the two first places the meaning may be To him that hath in actual possession so it may be conceived as a promise of further grace to those who have any thing of the truth of grace but in the 25. Mat. 29. it is plainly to be understood of such as make use of and improve what they have for it is spoken with reference to those Servants that had ten Talents and had gained other ten and five talents and had gained other five In thy desires of more Grace distinguish betwixt necessary and comfortable influences betwixt manifestations of the Spirit given thee to profit withal and such as are given thee to make thy life more easy and cheerful the first thou mayest beg more absolutely and be as earnest for them as thou wilt The latter must be asked with more explicite submission to the will of God they being such as are not only not necessary to thy glorifying of God under all circumstances but not necessary to the eternal Salvation of thy Soul such for which the wisdom of God may see more reason under some circumstances to with-hold from thee and that in order to thy edification and improvement in holiness As to such influences though thou oughtest to desire them and to pray for them yet thou oughtest also to be content to wait for them David did so His Eyes failed while he said When wilt thou comfort me Wait upon God in all his own institutions The Ordinances of God are usually called means of Grace because they are usually made use of by God as means in and by which he communicateth his Grace in the several influences of it to our Souls These Ordinances are the Word Sacrament and Prayer The first Grace is usually dispensed to us upon reading or hearing the Word of God and so is further Grace also Therefore the Apostle Peter commands us to desire the sincere Milk of the Word that we may grow thereby I had saith David perished in my affliction if thy Word had not been my delight The Law of the Lord saith David is perfect converting the Soul the Testimony of the Lor d is sure making wise the simple the Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart the Commandment of the Lord is pure inlightning the Eyes Psal 19. 6. 7. Christs love is a thing different from the Word but it is shewen to the Soul in the use of the Word Infinite instances might be given you of Christs kissing Souls manifesting his special love to Souls is it which I mean by it in the reading and especially in the hearing of the Word there it is that is in the use of that that he usually speaks to the hearts of Men and Women hence the Apostle tells us that the holy Scriptures are able to make the Man of God wise to Salvation and are profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instructions in righteousness Yea and for patience and comfort too Rom. 15. 4. For whatsoever things were written before were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope The Sacrament that is another mean the Sacramental believing eating of the Bread and Wine is an eating of the flesh and a drinking of the Blood of Christ a feeding upon all Christs fulness as Mediator Prayer is a mean of all Grace whatsoever God hath promised in a way of Grace is all promised upon this condition That he will for it be inquired of by his People Walk humbly and uprightly before God The humble he will teach saith the Psalmist Psal 25. and to the humble he will give more Grace Ja. 4. 6. 1 Pet. 5. 5. he dwelleth with those that are of a contrite and humble Spirit to revive the Spirits of the humble and the hearts of those that are contrite and for the upright he hath told us that he will with-hold from them no good thing But this is enough to have also spoken to this Proposition There is another term in the petition of the Text. which I shall take notice of she prayeth not only that her beloved would kiss her and that not with one but many kisses but she adds of his Mouth But of that hereafter Sermon V. Canticles 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth I Told you in the close of my last diseourse that I should not yet leave this Text because of the last words of his Mouth which we must either be allowed as a Pleonasme and superfluous or to contain in them yet some further spiritual Instruction The Jews say there is not the least tittle of the Law upon which great things do not depend nor do I fancy the allowing of more Pleonasms in holy writ than must necessarily be allowed I shall therefore take notice of what Origen and Beza and divers others have before me noted from the addition of these words That the believing Soul thirsts after a communion with Christ in his Word Mr. Ainsworth taking special notice of the term kisses understands the Doctrine of the Gospel which is the Word of Reconciliation as kisses are amoris reconciliationis symbola the tokens of love and reconciliation I am sure the notion is in itself true whether the sense of this Text or no. The Law worketh Wrath faith the Apostle the Doctrine of the Gospel alone speaks love and peace Christs Spouse here
in none of your bosoms Is there not amongst some of you a sad neglect of Reading the Scripture Let me tell you it speaks you to have tasted very little if at all how good the Lord is Secondly How sadly doth this reflect upon those who despise Prophecyings It is a dreadful Text 1. Joh. 4. 6. We are of God He that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth not us It is true no Minister of Christ can say He is of God in that strict sense as the Apostles did whose Calling was not of men nor by men but immediately from God It is also true that every one who talks out of a Pulpit is not of God Many run whom God never sends and you shall easily know them by the message they bring But every faithful Minister of Christ that faithfully openeth and conscienciously applieth the Word of God to Peoples understandings hearts and consciences is of God that is he is sent of God he is the Ordinance of God and he that knoweth God that hath â—â—y saving experimental knowledge of God will hear such a one If there be any that despiseth such Prophecying he is not of God Now this men may do from looseness and prophaneness and this too many are guilty of and by it proclaim to the world that they were never born again of the uncorruptible Seed of the Word that they never yet tasted the goodness of God in an Ordinance There is another generation that despise Prophecyings pretending to the immediate Teachings of the Spirit of God I shall in my next Discou se God willing shew you that no pious Soul can undervalue the Teachings of the Holy Spirit nor think them needless but he that looks for them in opposition to the Teachings of the Word of God or otherwise than by and in the Teachings of the Word is ignoranr knowing nothing The Spirit brings to our remembrance the things which we have heard of God I never yet knew a pious Soul that duâ—st slight Reading or powerful Preaching I have indeed known Religious Souls neglect and despise some mens little jinglings of words in Pulpits flaunts of Rhetorick and playing with words or disgorging their malice and passion and they deserve to be despised and abhorred of all but I never yet knew that pious Soul that did not hunger after the Preaching of Jesus Christ in a plain Scriptural powerful manner I would say to any that pretend to despise Sermons pretending to the Teachings of the Spirit immediately as Paul spoke to the Galatians Gal. 3. 2. This would I learn of you Received you the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith So say I you pretend to some change of heart to a Receiving of the Spirit Received you the Spirit by an immediate afflatus or impression or by the Hearing of the Word Besides how shall the impressions of the Spirit be known tryed or judged but by the Word for St. John hath taught us 1 Joh 4. 1. That every Spirit is not to be believed And the Apostle warns the Thessalonians 1 Thes 2. 2. not to be shaken in mind troubled or deceived by Spirit nor by Word nor by Letter I shall shut up this Discourse with a word of Exhortation Which of us is there who hath not an ambition to be the Lamb's Wife and to be thought the Spouse of Christ Evidence then your selves to be such by your hunger after a communion with God in his Word by your much Reading much Hearing by your meditating in the Law of the Lord night and day For the written Word you have no plea to the contrary no excuse for the Word Preached I wish Christians had more general incouragement We have too much of of the word of man in Pulpits too little of the Word of God and as it is in Trade the false and corrupt making of Wares depretiates the Commodity and brings it out of esteem with such as abhor to be cheated So the abundance of false Preaching by which I mean not only Preaching of unsound Notions but Preaching vain Philosophy idle Speculations turning Sermons into Harangues of Oratory In short whatsoever is not intelligible Scriptural Preaching with a true design to shew men the way of Salvation and to direct them into it and in it I call this false Preaching We have so much of this that it hath brought a discredit upon the Ordinance I would have you as our Saviour directs Take heed what you hear and how you hear and that will oblige you to take heed whom you hear But withal Take heed that you hear for God hath told you that Faith cometh by hearing He hath said Hear and your Souls shall live And blessed be God he hath not left us without some that Preach Jesus Christ and him crucified and desire to know nothing else amongst people I cannot tell you how long you shall have any of the daies of the Son of Man work while it is day when the night comes no man can work We have had faithful powerful Preaching a long time possibly Christ never had a Church on Earth had such handling the Word of God so long a time doth not the Candle begin to fail and burn in the Socket We have an Ezra's Temple but is not Solomon's destroyed 2. There 's no such way to recover your Light and keep it with you as to cry after it and to make use of it while you have it God will not take away his Word from hungry Children Where are our Rogers Sheppard Hooker Fenner Preston Sibbs Burroughs and others It 's time to recover your Appetites that you may recover your Bread 3. Consider you that love the Lord will be the first that want it Prodigals of their Souls can feed upon any Husks though they fill their Bellies with nothing but wind and crudities That you may recover your Appetite to the Word Purge your selves of your lusts I shall conclude with that of James Jam. 1. 21 22. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the ingrafted word which is able to save your Souls But be you doers of the Word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves Sermon VI. Canticles 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth IT is not Let me hear the words of his mouth though that be intended the words of God's mouth may be brought to us by men like unto our selves as they were spoken to the Israelites of old by the Prophets the Spouse begs not only the Words of her Lord but that they might be spoken from himself She beggeth his words but so that they may be kisses tokens of his love and favour to her Soul She beggeth not only a more external Communion with God by which God communicates his Will to our exteriour senses but an inward Communion that God by his Word and Gospel would speak unto her heart that the Word might
motions of the Affections as it is said Sechem's heart clave to Dinah But I extend it further to all overt Acts by which this inward Affection may be discovered in the same sense as we say to our Friends I will stick to you or I will stand by you Christ performs his part he sticks he cleaves to the Believers in all its Spiritual Combates and Dangers with or from the World the Flesh and the Devil Thus must we cleave to him Fourthly 'T is a piece of Conjugal Communion That the Wife does nothing but she will first acquaint her Husband with it ask his Counsel take his Direction The Husband also imparts much of his Counsel to his Wife 'T is a piece of our Communion true Communion with Christ to do nothing without taking Counsel of him in his Word without asking his Directions in Prayer in every difficulty where we have not a clear direction in the Word of God to fly to him by Prayer and Supplications Are your Souls willing to entertain such a Communion with Christ as this is Are you desirous of it Do you pray for it This speakâ—eth well for the Union betwixt Christ and your Souls nothing less than this will This Discourse may be further useful to some Souls that it may be cannot satisfie themselves in that Communion which they have with the Lord Jesus they would willingly that Christ should impart more of his Loving-kindness and of his Power to their Souls and they are troubled that they can no more freely no more fully give up themselves to him their Hearts are not united enough to love and fear God and indeed the best Souls are seldom satisfied in the Reception of Grace or in the Actings of it Now such Souls as are overmuch troubled in this case troubled to that degree as for want of degrees to suspect all the truth of Grace in their Souls This may be some satisfaction to hear that it speaks a Soul to be the Spouse of Christ to be truly willing sincerely desirous much in Prayer for those degrees of nearest Communion with Christ which it stands in need of In Earthly Marriages three things are required 1. Consent of Parties 2. Consent of Parents 3. Publication of it to the World The first alone is essential to the Union The second to make it a perfectly lawful Act. The third only to avoid Scandal and to keep up Civil Order in the World In the Spiritual Marriage the Consent of Parties makes the Union Christs Consent to be united to thy Soul is evidenced in his Word declared by us who are his Proxies to espouse you to this Husband If thy Soul also truly consents if thou truly desirest this Union and that Communion which followeth and ought to follow it the Match is made thou art joined to the Lord though it may be there be not a Publication of it to thy own Soul much less to the World I shall conclude with a Word of Exhortation To labour for this evidence of Grace That you may be truly willing to truly desirous of such a Communion with Christ as I have been describing You that are yet strangers to it labour for the beginnings of it You that find any thing of it labour to uphold it and labour for the Perfection of it To the first by way of Counsel I would only speak a few things 1. Labour to be convinced of your sad condition till Grace hath brought you into this better State Christ told the Woman of Samaria she had had many Husbands and he whom she then enjoyed was not her Husband Unregenerate Men have many Paramours for there is no Soul but cleaveth to somthing one mans Heart cleaveth to his Pleasures another to his Profits but all these are not the reasonable Souls Husbands the Soul cannot feed upon these things Let a Woman be married to a Man and run away from him she may have another Paramour but he is not her Husband It is Mans Case he was in Creation united to God he is run away from God and followeth many Lovers but none of these are the Souls Husbands O therefore return to your first Husband what can you imagine God should do for any of your Souls more than any one of you would do for a Wife that had run away from you and clave to another man 2. Look as the Woman that wanteth her Husband hath none that so naturally careth for her none that will be a covering to her Head or a Light to her Eyes so neither hath the Soul in its state of disunion with God any that will care for it as to its Spiritual and Eternal Concerns I might add the infinite advantages of this Union and Communion I remember the Argument used by Hamor and Sechem to persuade their People into a Willingness to be circumcised that Sechem might be married into Jacob's Family Shall not say they their Cattle and Substance and all that they have be ours only consent to them Shall not the Grace and Glory and Kingdom of Christ be yours only consent to him and be willing to a Communion with him But it is the Lord that must persuade Japhet to come and to dwell in the Tents of Shem. No man comes to the Son but he whom the Father draweth and while there is a spiritual Union it is unreasonable to think there should be any Willingness in a Soul to any near Communion with Christ We may use Arguments with Souls estranged from God to reconcile them to him and it is our Duty so to do till God concurreth with the work of his Spirit they will be of no force Let me therefore turn to such with whom this mystical Union is made Nor shall I need use words with any such to persuade them to a consent or willingness to or desire of this near Communion with Christ which I have been discoursing there is no such Soul but must be willing must be desirous of it But there is none of them which hath attained there 's no such Soul but hath attained somthing nor any that hath attained to Perfection none but may receive from Christ more than it hath received none but desireth his Heart might be more in subjection to Christ than it is The way further to attain is Prayer rightly ordered Prayer It is the Spouse that speaketh in the Text she had attained she was already united to her Spiritual Bridegroom but yet she finds her Soul in a continuing need of his Influences and further Tokens for good to be shewed unto her for these she useth Prayer as an apposite means Only we may ask and not receive because we ask amiss Let us look over the form of the Spouses Petition and see what we may learn from thence to guide our Souls in our Applications to God First The word in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the future Tense which is often used for the 〈◊〉 Mood in the Hebrew and may indifferently
be translated Let him kiss me or He shall or will kiss me with the Kisses of his Mouth Her Prayer was the Prayer of Faith This is a prime requisite in all our Prayers to God Math. 21. 22. And all things whatsoever you shall ask in Prayer believing you shall receive Jam. 5. 15. The Prayer of Faith saveth the sick He saith the Apostle that cometh unto God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of those that seek him Nor is that General Faith enough for that Soul that goeth to God for any particular Mercy there must be a more particular Faith both as to Gods Power and Love with reference to that good thing that God is able to do that thing for him yea and willing also so far as in his infinite Wisdom he shall see it good When the blind men had come to Christ begging Mercy Matth. 9. 27 28. saith he Believe you that I 'am able to do this They said Yea Lord then he touched their Eyes Nay the Prayer of Faith signifieth more a trusting and relying on God for the doing of the thing we ask It is very much to observe how much the holy Scripture layeth upon this with Reference to the hearing and answering our Prayers Jam. 1 5. If any of you lack Wisdom let him ask of God But v. 6. let him ask in Faith nothing wavering According to your Faith saith Christ so be it to you The Unregenerate man cannot ask in Faith he wants the Habit his Soul is shut up in Unbelief and Gods People may be too guilty of not asking in Faith giving too much way to temptations and hearkening too much to the jealousies and suspicions of their own Souls Secondly The Spouses Phrase speaks an holy boldness He shall kiss me with the Kisses of his Mouâ—h Indeed this differs but gradually from the other it must be a boldness of Faith and in this Sense we are to come boldly to the Throne of Grace Eph. 3. 12. We have boldness and access with confidence through the Faith of him Hence Heb. 4. 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in a time of need Thirdly The abrupâ—ness of the Phrase speaketh Passion and Ferveney The fervent Prayer of the Righteous availeth much Jam 5. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The working Prayer When the whole Soul is in Prayer set on work the Understanding discerning the good the Soul prayeth for discerning God able to give it and willing also discerning the Promise by which God hath made himself a Debter to the Creature for it The Will in willing it the Affections in intense desires of it Men may pray and their Souls be hardly set at work at all only they so far as it influenceth the Eye to see Words in a Book or the Understanding to invent Words which the Tongue may utter This Prayer signifies little it is the fervent working Prayer that availeth much when the whole Soul is at work wrestling with God as Jacob did that it may receive the Blessing Fourthly The form of the Word speaks Reverence Let him kiss me O that it might please the Lord to kiss me so much the Phrase sounds in our Dialect In all our Service of God he requireth Reverence and a godly Fear He that dareth not to come to God but doubteth whether he may presume to ask of him knoweth not the Lords goodness he that dares to come without Reverence knoweth not the Lords Majesty and Greatness As boldness and Confidence without doubting becomes us with respect to his Goodness Love and Faithfulness so Fear and Reverence becomes us with reference to the Greatness and Majesty of the Divine Being Lastly her Speech speaketh Modesty She asketh but a Kiss Modesty is not opposite to an holy Boldness in Prayer She peremptorily asks somthing which might speak his special peculiar Love Yet there is a modesty imported in her words in that she asketh no more than the Kisses of his Mouth In three things we should shew a Modesty in Prayer if it be rightly ordered 1. In the asking the good things of this Life with a due Submission to the Will and Wisdom of God It speaketh too much boldness with God to be too importunate for things that are not absolutely and infallibly good for us under all circumstances It is enough for us that God hath promised to withhold from us no good thing We prefer our own to the Divine Wisdom in such importunities 2. In the asking of Spiritual Mercys Modesty ought to be shewed also in submitting our selves to the VVill of God as to Dispensations or Degrees of gracious Manifestations not absolutely necessary they may be asked but they ought to be asked with limitations if God seeth they be good for us if he that knoweth our Hearts seeth that we will use them for his Glory c. 3. In not prescribing time to God as to the granting of those things which are not in the present time necessary We ought to believe God wiser than our selves and to limit our Requests by the Terms of his Promise to beg the things which God hath promised upon the Terms which he hath promised I have now finished my Discourses as to the Spouses first Petition Let him kiss me with the Kisses of his Mouth I shall in my next exercise proceed to the Argument by which she backeth this her first Petition For thy Loves are better than VVine Sermon IX Canticles 1. 2. For thy Loves are better than Wine I Have done with the Spouses first Petition Let him kiss me with the Kisses of his Mouth Wherein as I have shewed she manifested her Desire after near and special Communion with her beloved and some distinguishing token of his favour I come now to the Argument by which she backeth this Petition that is expressed in the words I have now read to you The Argument is drawn from the value she had for his Love The reason of her before mentioned Desire was the excellency she apprehended in the favour of her Lord which she expresseth in a way of comparison She saith It is better than Wine And she makes this her Estimate of the Love of Christ an Argument for Gods manifestation of it to her Soul I shewed yon the Sense of the words before I have nothing now to do but to discourse the Propositions arising from the words so opened the first of which was Prop. That Christ hath Loves There are Loves in Christ He is not onely lovely and so the object of our Love the chiefest of Ten thousand but he is Loving and we are the Obiects of his Love Of old He rejoiced in the habitable parts of the Earth and his Delights were with the Sons of Men Prov. 8. 31. The Apostle telleth us 1 Jo. 4. 16. That God is Love It must be understood of God in Christ For take Man as he is stated upon the Fall and
in the habitable part of his Earth and his Delights were with the Sons of Men. The Apostle tells those of the Ephesians who were Saints and faithful That they were chosen in Christ before the Foundation of the VVorld that they should be holy and without blame before him in Love predestinated unto the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his VVill. To the Praise of the Glory of his Grace wherein 〈◊〉 hath made us accepted through the Beloved in whom we have Redemption through his Blood the forgiveness of sins according to the Riches of his Grace c. There is no portion of the Word of God that part of it especially which we call the Gospel but affordeth us an abundant proof of this What meant his being made Surety of a better Covenant for us as the Apostle to the Hebrews tell us His being given for a Covenant for the people Isa 42. 6. a Light to the Gentiles to open the Eyes of the blind to bring out the Prisoners from the Prison and them that sit in Darkness out of the Prison-house His being the Lamb slain from the beginning of the VVorld Rev. 13 8. His Speaking by the Mouths of the Prophets as the Apostle tells us His growing up as a tender Plant and as a Root out of a dry ground having no form nor comliness nor beauty to be desired his being despised rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs his bearing our griefs and carrying our Sorrows being Smitten of God and afflicted his being wounded for our Transgressions and bruised for our iniquities when the chastisement of our peace lay upon him His suffering strips that we might â—e healed c. What signified his incarnation his death and 〈◊〉 his resurrection and ascension his taking care for his Gospel to be preach'd to every creature c. his being grieved for the hardness of peoples hearts and troubled for their unbelief his frequent preaching while he was upon the Earth his weeping over Hierusalem his invitations of people to come unto him that they might have life his complaints that they would not come unto him c. I say what do all these things signify from him who needeth not his creature being over all God blessed for ever but that he hath loves an infinite good will to the Children of men No man is at cost taketh pains in any business suffereth hard things to go through it but either out of kindness to himself or to another Our Lord did not do and suffer these things for himself he had no need of them if it were for us it speaks his loves 2. But this is no more than what every one who owneth Christ and the Gospel will easily grant That Christ is Love and hath a Love for the Sons of men yea and that there is an infiniteness and unmeasurableness in the Love of Christ But that he hath Loves in the Other sense Some Specialties of Love some particular propensions to some Souls more than others this is what the proud world cannot so easily digest Yet is this as plain in the Revelation of holy Writ as the other It speaks of an Election or choice of some to Holiness and Happiness before the foundation of the world the choice of Some must suppose the passing by or not electing others experience shews us that not onely the good things of common pro vidence but even the external means of Grace are granted to some not to others 3. Neither doth this grate so much The most perverse opiners in this point must grant the publication of the Gospel an effect of the Love of Christ and that there is a very inequal distribution of it by the wise Providence of God but as to them to whom the Gospel is alike preached they know not how to allow Loves in Christ have they then forgot what the Apostle saith Rom. 9. 6. For they are not all Israel which are of Israel Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all Children But in Isaac shall thy seed be called that is They who are the Children of the flesh these are not the Children of God but the Children of the Promise counted for the seed And again Rom. 2. 28. 29. He is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh But he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circnmcision is that in the heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose praise is not of men but of God Doth not experience teach us that even where the Gospel is preachd some repent of their sins some are hardened some believe others are lockt up in unbelief some are holy and blameless others are leud and profane But they will say This is not from any Loves in Christ he his alike to all but from the differing motions and inclinations of the will of man I yet ask Whence is it Seing human Souls are Equal and have the same powers and faculties how comes it that one man loveth God and the ways of God another hates and abhorreth every thing almost that hath the image and Superscription of God upon it Is a man a God to himself and the first cause of any motions that are truly and spiritually good Is it not God that giveth to will and to do of his own good pleasure Hath a man any thing which is good which he hath not received If one hath received such a power such an inclination such a disposition from God there is Special Love then Christ hath Loves besides a common Philanthropy a good will to the generality of mankind shewed in other things which will not bring Souls to Eternal Salvation he hath a special Love and kindness to some Souls which he manifesteth in such dispensations to it as shall certainly bring the Soul to Eternal Life and Salvation and these are those of which the text Speaks But I have Spoken enough in evidence of so plain a Proposition as this is I come to the application 1st How should this Revelation of Christ reconcile the world unto him Christ hath Loves for us why should there be found in our hearts or ways any hatred to or opposition against him Yet is not the World full of this What is an opposition to the publication of his Gospel an hatred to his Ministers to his People to his Laws and holy Institutions but an hatred to him Christ hath so judged of it he told some of the first Minister s of his Gospel Math. 10. 14 15. That in the day of Judgment it should be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha than for those that did not receive them and hear his words Wicked men and Enemies to the Gospel are in Scripture called unreasonable men 2. Thessal 3. 2. Absurd men The absurdness and unreasonableness of men that are Enemies to Christ and the Gospel for of such the Apostle speaketh
further to consider the relation they stand in to the Petition considered as an argument used by the Spouse to inforce it I have already shewed you they are brought in by the Spouse 1. Partly to shew us the reason why the Spouse so earnestly desired these tokens of Christs distinguishing love viz. because she had found them good yea good before Wine as is the Hebrew Idiom 2. Partly as an argument she inforceth her Petition drawn from the value she set upon the love of Christ Each of these will afford us a distinct Proposition That the ground of Believers earnest desire after the tokens of Christs distinguishing love and nearest communion with him is their knowledge and experience of the goodness and transcendent excellency of it That it is a good argument for Christians to use in pleading with God for the choicest dispensations of his grace if they can truly tell him that his Grace is very precious to them These 2 propositions remain yet to be handled I begin with the first of them 1 Prop. The ground of Believers earnest desires after the tokens of Christs distinguishing love is their knowledge and experience of the goodness and transcendent excellency that is in it I say their knowledge of the goodness and transcendent goodness of those tokens of Divine Love By knowledge I here mean no more then their believing apprehension God hath in his word revealed the excellency of them this revelation they have read and heard and God hath wrought in their hearts a firm and steady assent to the Divine Revelation This indeed is Gods first work in the Soul the motion of the will and affections follow it I added and experience Experience is a sensible evidence Knowledge is gained by reading and hearing experience by seeing and enjoying knowledge conduceth something to move the Will and Affections experience more The reason is because good things in the fruition and enjoyment of them do not alwaies answer our first apprehensions of them and expectations from them but nothing can be imagined more potent to incline the whole Soul to any thing than knowledge in conjunction with experience justifying our apprehension As we have heard saith the Psalmist Psal 48. 8. so have we seen in the City of our God when a Soul hath not only heard of the Loves of Christ but its Eyes hath seen them the Soul hath tasted how good the Lord is this mightily engageth the Affections Especially if we further consider that whereas in all sensible objects called good the fruition or enjoyment rarely answers the report of them or the apprehension of them which the Soul first entertained and apprehended it is quite contrary here the enjoyment infinitely transcends the notion and apprehension so that as the Queen of Sheba said to Solomon It was a true report that I heard in my own land of thy Acts and of thy wisdom howbeit I believed I eved not their words until I came and mine Eyes had seen it and behold the half was not told me thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard 1 Kings 10. 6. 7. So saith the Soul that being justified by faith hath arrived to a peace with God Lord it was a true report that I read in thy word and heard from thy Ministers while I was yet in my natural state and condition of thy loves and the infinite sweetness that is in them how beit I believed not the words until my Soul came to tast something of it and behold the half of that quiet and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost the half of that serenity of conscience and satisfaction which the Soul hath from a peace with God was not told me thy loves far exceed the fame which I heard I shall lay the proof of this Doctrine upon these 2 Propositions which have a natural rational evidence to every reasonable Soul 1. The Soul of man naturally and necessarily knowing an object to be good and wanting it in whole or in part to any considerable degree doth desire it and without such knowledge it desires it not It is a rule in Philosophy we will nothing but what to us appeareth good It is our misery in our lapsed state that many things to us appear so which are not so but they must so appear or we cannot will them Three things must concur to make any thing the object of a reasonable Souls desires 1. An apprehended goodness in it That is an apprehended Sutableness in it to our state or circumstances if there be never so much goodness in a thing if we have no knowledge of it no apprehension of such goodness in it our will moveth not by desire toward it Hence it is that the Clown desires no learning and the man of learning and knowledge desireth no excess of gold or Silver Though there be a goodness in learning and knowledge Yet the Clown apprehends it not so doth not desire it and though there be some degrees of goodness in a great estate yet the Philosopher and man of contemplation apprehends it no further than as it serveth for a Viaticum a Travelling Penny to pay for food rayment whiles he passeth through the world And indeed this is the true reason why the sensual profane man saith to the Almighty depart from me and to Christ what do I care for thee for being under no conviction of his lost and miserable estate and possibly hardly believing that he hath an immortal Soul or shall have any existence beyond this Life he seeth nothing in Christ or the loves of Christ that any way suteth the necessities and wants of his Soul and Ignot i nulla cupido what good a man doth not know he never longeth for 2. A Second thing concurring to make the Object of desire is an apprehended possibility of attaining to or enjoying what he apprehends so sutable for the reason of man will not suffer his Soul to move towards what he apprehends impossible to be attained Hence as no Schollar ever heartily desired all kinds degrees of learning knowledge so no worldling ever desired all the Gold and Silver in it Hence it is also impossible that a Soul under an habituated despair should heartily desire the Love and favour of God which it apprehends not possible for it to obtain 3. The object of it must be somthing which the Soul wanteth either in whole or in part either as to the thing it self or as to some degrees of it or at least what it apprehendeth itself to want Still apprehension is necessary for De non Entibus non apparentibus eadem est ratio It is the same thing as to this motion of the Soul not to have a good and not to apprehend that it hath it for our Souls move according to their apprehensions and this is the reason none desires being though they may desire the continuance of it the healthy man desireth not health though he may bless God for it
there will be no sincere desires in the Soul after these things The Schoolmen tell us there are three ways by which we gain the Knowledge of a thing By Signs Conjectures and Effects as some Causes are known 2. By the enquiry of our Reason into the nature of it 3. By Divine Revelation The Excellency of the Loves of Christ is a spiritual thing and to be judged upon Spiritual accounts and in a Spiritual manner The natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2. 14. So as the natural Reason of a Man will serve him very little to the gaining of this Knowledge by the Effects having never experienced it he cannot know it so as there is no other way to know it but by Divine Revelation God saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 10. hath revealed them to us by his Spirit And v. 12. We have received the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given us of God So as that I say God must shew some special token of his Love to our Souls for good before we can shew any Love to him or make so much as one step toward him Observe from hence That a Believers Soul moves rationally and accountably enough in all its desires after the Loves of Christ The Souls of Believers are not so unintelligible as some prophane Persons would make them in their Passions for and Motions towards Christs Loves The Knowledge a Soul hath or the Experience which it hath had of the Goodness and Excellency of any Object moves the reasonable Soul to the desires of it Admitting the Believer to see things in another Light than a natural Man hath or can see in to have other Notions of Good and Evil and to take the measures of them from their subserviency to the Spiritual and eternal good of the Soul the Passions and Desires of his Soul after Christs Love are as natural Motions of the reasonable Souls as the Worldlings Desires after Riches or the sensual Mans Passions for such things as gratifie the sensitive Appetite The Reason why every Soul moveth not after these Spiritual Things is because every Soul seeth not the Good and Excellency in them Multitudes hardly know that is believe they have immortal Souls that shall outlive their Bodies in a state of Happiness or Misery or if they know or believe that yet they do not believe that there is no other name under Heaven by which they can be saved but only the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Nor ever had any experience of the Love of God to Souls Their deriding of Religious Passions and the Breathings of pious Souls after the Manifestations of Divine Love flows from their ignorance of them and their unreasonable Rudeness in speaking evil of the things which they know not The original difference betwixt a person truly pious and panting after the Love of Christ and others lies here These Creatures know that they have Souls Souls ordained to an eternal existence either in HÄ—ll or Heaven in eternal Happiness or in eternal Misery They believe what God hath said that there is no other Name under Heaven by which Men and Women can be saved but only the name of Jesus Christ neither is there Salvation in any other That he that believeth on him is not condemned and he that believeth not is damned already the Wrath of God abideth on him and he shall never see Life they do not only read these things in their Bibles and hear them from their Preachers but the Holy Spirit of God hath firmly persuaded them that they do as fixedly believe them as they do any thing of sensible or rational Demonstration they have more waky thoughts with reference to Death Mortality and Eternity are things more in their Eyes than in the Eyes of others Again they have tasted and experienced more of the Love of Christ Allow the Souls of others to be in the same Circumstances they would have alike Motions but because they are ignorant knowing nothing of Spiritual Things or at least nothing as they ought to know it thence it is that their Souls move not this is now but the natural working of reasonable Souls in other cases nor is there any such unaccountable or unintelligible thing in it And indeed this gives us the true Reason why every unregenerate Soul is so cold in its motions toward Christ and also may inform us how far it is possible such a Soul may go in motions of this nature The Reason why such a Soul moves no more is want of Evidence which such a Soul hath of the Goodness of his Loves Simple Goodness and Excellency in an Object is not attractive of the Soul but Goodness apprehended by evidenced and appearing to us All the apprehension that it is possible a natural man should have of the Loves of Christ must be from Reading Hearing or its own Reasoning and concluding from what it hath so heard or read for it wants both the demonstrative persuasion of the Holy Spirit and also any experimental Tasts or sensible Evidence All Knowledge which hath no better Foundation will arise no higher than to beget in the Soul an Opinion and leaves the Soul at some Incertainties and unfixed and hence its Motions towards an Object of which it hath no better Evidence are also incertain and faint and fluctuating Knowledge being the Foundation of Desire Reason will tell us that the Desire must bear proportion with the Knowledge The unregenerate man having no Knowledge of Spiritual things that is productive of more than an Opinion the desire must be incertain and faint according to the nature of the Opinion that causeth it By this also Christians may be able to take some Measures and make up some Judgments of themselves whether the desires they find in their Souls after Christ and his Loves be such as are peculiar to the Souls of Believers yea or no. We usually say that Desires after Grace are Evidences of it and there is a truth in it but all desires are not so for as I have said there may be desires after Christ and his Loves in an unregenerate Man commensurate to that knowledge which he hath of the Goodness of them but this will speak nothing of good to the Soul only such Desires as flow from a Christians Knowledge of Faith and from Experience He that hath only a knowledge of Christ and his Loves from Reading the word or from the Report of Ministers may so far desire Christs Loves as may serve him for his own ends nay though he hath no great Faith as to that eternal State of Happiness to which Christ brings the Soul but hath only received Notions of such ablessed State to which he gives no great credit yet for his own Security because his notions may be true though he hath no great fixed persuasion of them he may yet desire the Loves of Christ so far as to bring him to
inlarged in my discourses upon some former propositions Sermon XII Canticles 1. 2. For thy Loves are better than Wine I Am now come to the last proposition I observed from these words which I told you might be either considered As a Reason why she desired the tokens of Christs distinguishing loves a reason drawn from her knowledge and experience of the goodness the transcendent goodness of them In this notion I have already spoken to the proposition arising from them Or 2. As an argument of her petition by which she pleadeth with God for the thing which she desired An argument drawn from the value she set upon his love From whence results this proposition Prop. 10. That our value and estimate of the love of Christ above all other things is an excellent argument for a Soul to use with God for the obtaining of it An argument is a mean brought either to prove a proposition or to move the Affections The Logicians bring arguments to prove the just connexion of Subjects and Predicates in propositions The Orator useth them to move mens wills and affections the business of the Soul with God in any prayer is the business of an Orator the Arguments he hath to use are such as may move God to bestow the good things upon him which he desireth If you observe all the prayers of the Servants of God upon Sacred Record you shall find them much to consist of Requests or Petitions and arguments backing or inforcing those requests These arguments you will observe drawn from several heads Sometimes from the Nature of God Sometimes from their relation unto him Sometimes from the promises made in the case Sometimes from the greatness of their misery Sometimes from Gods Power and the freeness of his Grace Psal 25. 7. According to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness sake O Lord. Sometimes from their faith alliance to and dependance upon God Psal 25. 2. O my God I trust in thee let me not be ashamed So from various other heads I say amongst others A Souls just prizing and valuing of the loves of Christ is an excellent argument for a Soul to use to inforce a petition for them 2. The goodness or badness the strength or weakness of an argument derives wholly from its subserviency to its end its cogency or no cogency The End here aimed at is by prayer to obtain the loves of Christ so as the goodness of the arguments to be used in this case depends upon the force they have with God to move him to grant the requests of our lips 3. Persuasive arguments have their force either upon a natural account and that is mostly from the infirmity of our Natures which renders them subject to be affected with fine words passionate expressions we must not imagine that God can be moved with any such thing and therefore fine phrases in prayer are very insignificant things Or else upon a moral and rational account As now amongst men if one can come to another requesting a favour from him and say Sir you promised it me there is a force in this argument upon a moral and rational account such an argument is this in this case If a Soul can go to God pleading for the manifestations of his love unto it and truly tell him that it valueth his love and favour above all created comforts tho the bare naming of this and delivering it in fine significant words will do nothing with God in order to the obtaining of it nay though this affection and temper of our Souls can merit no influence of grace from God yet considering the persections of the Divine Nature and the obligations which God hath laid upon himself It will have a great moral vertue and efficacy and be of great force with him for the obtaining the influences of Divine Grace and the communications of his love Hence I shall desire you in the first place to observe what frequent use the People of God have made of it in their applications to the Throne of Grace David especially Psal 42. 1 2 3. As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God my Soul thirsteth for God the Living God when shall I come and appear before thee O God His Request there lies in the last words That he might come and appear before God the Argument he useth is from the value he had for such a mercy so as the Hart did not more pant after the water-brooks The same Argument he useth and much in the same case Psal 84. 1 2. The great Petition of that Psalm was for a liberty again to enjoy God in his Ordinances what is the Argument he useth to enforce this Petition How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts V. 1. My Soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh cryeth out for the Living God So he goes on in a variety of Phrases all expressing but his great value and estimate of such a mercy to that degree that he preferreth the condition of a poor Sparrow or Swallow to his own in the want of it You have him using the same Argument again Psal 63. 1 2 3. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my Soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no water is To see thy Power and thy Glory as I have seen Thee in the Sanctuary Because thy loving kindness is better than life The Petition is much the same and the Argument the same I might instance in many other places of the Psalms but this is sufficient And certainly this were enough if no more could be said to justifie this Proposition That Argument which the man according to God's own heart used and so often used is certainly a good Argument and of due force and efficacy but this was an Argument he often made use of But I shall further shew you the value of this Argument from Reason First This Argument speaketh Christ in the Soul What the Apostle saith in another case No man calleth Jesus Christ Lord but from the Spirit may be applied in this No man can truly say that he prizeth the Loves of Christ above Wine above all created comforts whatsoever but from the Spirit none but the true Christian the truly spiritual man sets any considerable value upon Christ's Loves To you that believe saith the Apostle he is precious Now what Joseph said to his Brethren of Benjamin Bring your Brother Benjamin or see my face no more God hath said to every one of us Bring Christ with you or see not my face We are all transgressors from the womb and God heareth not sinners for their own sakes but for Christ's sake therefore we are commanded to ask in Christ's Name God indeed as our Father by Creation may hear us crying for temporal good things in the day of our wants so he heareth the young Ravens when they cry
for food to him But we are blessed with Spiritual Blessings in Christ and upon the account of Christ he giveth the first grace upon the account of Christ's Intercession pleading for the Application of the purchased Redemption He giveth further grace upon the account of Christ's Intercession for us and the Spirit 's Intercession for us For we know not what to pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered and he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh Intercession for the Saints according to the Will of God Rom. 8. 26 27. Now a due estimate and value of the Love of Christ in a Soul is an Indication of the Spirit of Christ dwelling in the Soul hence it must needs be an Argument of force with God for he that searcheth the heart knoweth the mind of the Spirit making Intercession for the Saints according to the will of God Secondly The force of this Argument lies here in that it layeth hold upon many Promises The Promises are but as so many Bonds in which God hath made himself a Debtor to his Creatures All Promises oblige the truth and faithfulness of those persons that make them God being the true and faithful One cannot lye He is faithful that hath promised saith the Apostle so that if it be a sufficient Argument to use with a man to obtain any thing we would have to tell him He hath promised it it holdeth towards God more strongly as his truth and faithfulness is much more certain and infallible than any Creature is Besides that it is a further advantage when Promises are made upon a due and just consideration for these is not only the truth but the justice also of the person promising is concerned to the fulfilling of them Hence in Scripture you shall ordinarily find the Servants of God pleading the Word the Covenant of God spoken to and made with them Psal 119. 49. Remember thy Word unto thy Servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope and in many other Texts of Scripture I say when a Soul can go to God and say in truth that he valueth his love and favour above Wine above Life above all created comforts this Argument layeth hold upon several Promises of God I will a little enlarge upon this â— It layeth hold upon a Promise of filling and satisfaction Matth. 5. 6. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled It is a mighty large and comprehensive Promise To fill a Soul with the influences of Divine Love is a very great thing It is not easie to fill the covetous man with Wealth but he may be sooner fill'd with Riches than the Soul of a good man with the Love and Grace of God But here is a Promise of being filled Open thy mouth wide saith God and I will fill it To whom is this Promise made To him that hungers and thirsteth after Righteousness Righteousness is Grace whether you take it for the Righteousness of Justification the Righteousness of Christ in which every Soul must stand righteous before God Or the Righteousness of Sanctification habits and acts of Holiness wrought in us and done by us they are both from Grace from the free Love of God shining upon our Souls He that hungers and thirsts after it is he that intensely desires it Hunger and thirst are natural passions arising in us from our want of due aliment nature inforcing in us a sense of that want and of all other they are the most vehement Thence our English Proverb Hunger will break through stone walls and experience tells us to what hard things these passions have brought people not only to eat Carrion but to kill and eat their own Children yea the flesh of their own Arms so as hungring and thirsting after Righteousness importeth vehement desires after Grace which desires testifie the Soul's estimate of it and value for it and to those who thus hunger and thirst the Promise is made that they shall be filled Again such a Soul hath a right to those Promises of all Grace propounded in the most large and comprehensive terms and general phrases as where God promiseth a new heart the water of life his coming unto Souls dwelling in them abiding with them The Soul that can go to God and truly say that he prizeth the Loves of Christ above all things layeth hold of all these Promises of which the holy Scriptures are full Isa 55. 1 2. Ho every one that thirsteth come you to the waters and buy without money and without price buy wine and milk So Rev. 22. 17. Let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him drink of the water of life freely Joh. 14. 23. If any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him So v. 21. He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self to him These now and such like are general Promises comprehensive of all the Love of Christ to the Soul in the various manifestations of it according to the Soul 's diversified necessities with respect to its several circumstances Now observe to whom these Promises are made to those that love Christ and in evidence of that love hunger and thirst after him to them the Promises are made 1. That the Father will love that man or woman 2. That both Christ and his Father will come unto him 3. That they will manifest themselves unto them that they will dwell and make their abode with them That they shall have Wine and Milk without money and price Now I appeal to any ordinary capacity what evidence of Love any Soul can give greater than the valuing of his Loves above all other things So that where this can be said in truth to God God is challenged upon a multitude of Promises even so many as are made to the Love of God and Christ and to the Soul's hungrings and thirstings after him Nay there is yet another sort of Promises which such a Soul challengeth viz. all those Promises of a further supply and increase of Grace to those that have the Seed of Grace As Matth. 13. 12. To him that hath shall be given and he shall have in more abundance I might add many more of like nature but there is hardly any of you but know how to furnish your selves with them Now where the Soul can challenge God upon a Promise and lay claim to the mercy which it asketh from an obligation which God by his Word hath laid upon himself to give it This is a great Argument for it toucheth God upon the account of his Truth and Faithfulness 3. Further yet this argument toucheth God as he is a tender Father God you know to let us know his heart to his poor Creatures amongst other names
wants but it deriveth from Christ Good things suited to the more external wants of our Body derive from God as the great preserver of man and flow from that common providence of his which dayly worketh in the upholding and preservation of created Beings but good things for our Souls derive from Christ as Mediator and as they are purchased by his blood so they are dispensed out by his Spirit This now can appear to a Soul from no other light but that of Revelation study therefore the holy Scriptures meditate therein night and day they testify all this concerning Christ A full persuasion of these two things 1. That we have immortal Souls ordained to an eternity either of happiness or misery 2. That nothing but the love of Christ can furnish them with those good things which are proper and necessary for them with respect to their Eternal Happiness are enough to convince Men and Women that the loves of Christ are as much better than Wine and to be preferred to it as the Soul is better than the Body and the things suited to its wants better than those things which are only suited to the wants of the outward man But still I say and every days experience maketh it good Non persuaseris etiamsi persuaseris you shall not persuade Men and Women tho you say enough to persuade them though you shut up their mouths and they having nothing to say such a power hath lust in the heart of man into such a debauchery is the nature of man degenerated Admitting men to believe that they have immortal Souls and that the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God there is nothing in nature hath a fuller evidence than this truth that the loves of Christ are preferrible to all things in the world and a man cannot act like a reasonable creature in preferring any thing unto them yet who believes it who lives up to this demonstration It is God must persuade the Soul of this and till the Soul hath this written and ingraven upon it by the finger of his Spirit it will never so Judge Lastly therefore Pray mightily that God would open your Ears to see this and persuade your Souls of the truth of it for till he doth it in vain are mens persuasions To move you to it consider 1. This will bear some proportion to the love of Christ to mankind Christ loved us more than these more than all the Kingdoms and pleasures and profits and honours of the world yea more than his own life yea he preferred us to the Angels the fallen Angels for he took not upon him the nature of Angels but the nature of man 2. This will speak the Soul to be a wise and understanding Soul Certain it is as I have already shewed you that the loves of Christ are good before Wine The wisdom of a Soul lyeth much in a right discerning betwixt good and evil and betwixt that which is good and that which is more good or better The excellency of a Soul lyeth in its conformity to God he is an Atheist who owneth not God to be the first Being and to be of all Beings the most excellent and perfect Being So as necessarily that Soul that comes nearest in conformity to God must be the most excellent Soul now that Soul which acteth most up to the principles of improved and pure reason and to the rule of that holy Writ which we all confess to be the revealed Will of God and liveth most up to the Divine Pattern doing what God doth that must needs be the most wise excellent understanding Soul Now will not a little reason serve to convince us that Christ is the most excelling Object and therefore to be preferred to all sublunary enjoyments Doth not the Scripture represent him to us as altogether desires as the chiefest of ten thousand as the well beloved of the Father in whom he is well pleased as he whom we ought to love with all our heart all our Soul all our Strength Doth not the Father the Heavenly Father love him above all other objects To which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day I have begotten thee and again I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a Son He was brought up with the Father and daily his delight rejoycing alwaies before him 3. This will speak an heavenly sublimated Soul purged from the dregs of sensuality and from an earthly mind a Soul risen with Christ and seeking the things which are above Col. 3. 1. The preference of Wine any sensual satisfactions or any sensible enjoyments to the loves of Christ speaks a dirty Soul that feedeth upon carrion and can be filled with wind Lastly You have heard what an argument this will supply a Soul with in all its addresses and applications to God for any grace or favour no argument can be more moving more prevailing with God none that layeth hold upon more promises or that toucheth God more as a tender Father O therefore labour for this frame of Spirit and give your Souls no rest until you find that they indeed do prefer the love of Christ before all other things in Heaven and Earth Secondly This notion calleth to all you who profess Godliness and to any thing of the Spirit of Adoption which teacheth to cry Abba Father to take heed of a Carnal mind an heart cleaving to any created comforts in excessive degrees so as for the enjoyment of them or any of them to run the hazard of the loves of Christ you will by it prejudice your souls in a great argument which you might use at the Throne of Grace There are amongst others three distempers of heart which those that would do much with God in Prayer must take heed of 1. A revengeful not forgiving frame of Spirit It is a dreadful Text Mat. 6. 15. But if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you Our Saviour hath taught us to pray Forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors 2. A doubting and unbelieving frame of Spirit He that cometh unto God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him he that lifts up his hands unto God must lift up pure hands and that without doubting 3. Thirdly A Carnal heart cleaving to the world preferring the things of the world to the loves of Christ the good things of Grace Lastly Is this such an argument of force with God Let then such as can use it in truth make use of it I doubt not but I speak to many who can in truth say that they value the loves of Christ the tokens of his special and distinguishing love above all earthly contentments when you go to God plead this take unto you words and say Lord let me be made a partaker of thy special distinguishing love thou knowest that my Soul valueth it above mountains of Gold
and came and dwelt amongst us then as the Evangelist saith we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father full of Grace and Truth All the comfort of a Soul dependeth upon Christs Incarnation and what he did and suffered as manifested in the fl sh Oh! how sweet this is to the Soul to think of this together with the satisfaction which by vertue of this he gave to Divine Justice and the daily intercession which he makes together with the consideration that in this Capacity he entred into the Heavens as our forerunner and we sit together with and in him in heavenly places as the Apostle speaks are matters of exceeding sweet Meditation upon these the Soul liveth and supporteth its faith The Grace of Vnion also considered in the last notion is exceeding sweet This Grace is rooted in Christ and terminated in the Soul By this the Soul is consecrated to God by vertue of this it is consecrated a Priest to offer up Spiritual Sacrifices to God acceptable through the beloved by this it is comforted and refreshed when it is terrified with the thoughts of the disunion with God occasioned by the fall of Adam and that separation which its daily sins make betwixt God and it By this the Soul liveth its Spiritual life for Spiritual life lies in the union of the Soul with God which is made by and in Christ Secondly The Grace of Love in Christ is as a sweet Oil or Ointment That holy disposition which is in him by which he takes delight in the Sons of Men willeth them good with respect to their several capacities God is love saith the Apostle Christ is Love as he is God but as Mediator he is infinitely full of love his pardoning Grace is nothing but free love respecting a guilty creature his healing restoring Grace is free love respecting a backsliding Soul I will heal your backslidings and love you freely He hath in him comfort for them that are sad strength for them that are weak now is not this an Ointment that giveth a good savour I appeal to any Soul that hath been pricked at the heart for sin and felt the load and burthen of it How sweet hath it been to a Soul to apprehend the Lord Jesus Christ as one who pardoneth its iniquities How sweet hath it been to a Soul smitten with the sense of its backslidings to apprehend Christ as one who healeth backslidings and hath mercy even for the rebellious also When a Soul is discouraged at the apprehended difficulty of duty the strength and prevailings of sin and corruption how sweet is it to the Soul to think of Christ's strengthening grace the Promises against the Dominion of sin and the over-powering of temptation c. That we who of our selves can do nothing yet can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth us Thirdly The Righteousness of Christ is a good Oil or Ointment There is a threefold Righteousness may be conceived in the Lord Jesus Christ 1. Considering him as God so there was in him an universal rectitude and perfection of nature What is essentially good pure and perfect is the object of Love Thy Word is pure saith David therefore doth thy Servant love it 2. Considering him as Mediator so his Righteousness was his Active and Passive Obedience Whether both be imputed to us for Righteousness that is another question as to which I shall only say this That the usual Objection That his Active Obedience was but the debt of his humane Nature which was a Creature and therefore could not be imputed is of no value for his Righteousness was the Righteousness and Obedience of a person that was God Man so had a surplusage infinitely beyond the debt of the humane Nature considered as a creature Most certain it is he had a Righteousness yea and a Righteousness which is reckoned to us for Righteousness his Name is The Lord our Righteousness and he was made of God for us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption and this is a sweet Ointment for by this the Soul knows that God hath said to it Take away that Soul 's filthy garments and clothe it with a change of garments By this it knows under the utmost sense of its own unrighteousness that it hath a Righteousness wherein it shall stand before God and its Sins shall be as if they never had been by this the Soul knows that its imperfect duties and short performances of the Divine Law shall be made up through the more perfect performance of the Lord Jesus 3. There is also a Righteousness of the humane Nature of Christ which was the conformity of his Soul to the whole Will and Law of God There is no holy disposition required of any humane Soul but was to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ Holiness Meekness Patience universal Obedience now this also is a sweet smelling Ointment 1. As these dispositions render any Subject lovely any creature though found in it more imperfectly much more Christ in whom they are found most eminently There is none but naturally loves one who behaveth himself blamelesly in whose heart we can discern no guile one who is in his behaviour humble meek lowly gentle patient full of goodness now these and all other excellent Virtues being in Christ eminently make him the excelling Object of our Love Christ was meek and lowly Matth. 11. 29. he was humble condescending to those of low degree He made himself of no reputation Phil. 2. 7. Though he was rich yet for our sake saith the Apostle he became poor For his patience he was led as a Lamb to the Slaughter and as a Sheep before the Shearers so opened he not his mouth What should I speak of his readiness to forgive his praying to his Father that he would forgive those that crucified him all these made Christ an exceeding lovely Object 2. But now Christ as Mediator hath not only these excellent habits as Ornaments for himself but as the Fountain of Grace to distribute to us Of his fulness we have received Grace for Grace 1 Joh. v. 16. These are now Christ's good Ointments for the savour of which the Spiritual Virgins love him And that they may do so it is necessary they should receive the savour of them At the savour of thy good Ointments So then they must not only cast a savour but the Soul that loveth Christ for them must receive the savour of them The last Question is How a Soul receiveth the savour of them I answer two waies 1. By Faith I mean not here Justifying Faith that brings in experience to the Soul of which more by and by I mean here only Faith of Assent whose Object is the Proposition of the Word to which the Soul fixedly and steadily subscribeth So as the Revelation which is there becomes as certain to it as matter of sensible demonstration For Faith is as the Apostle telleth us the Evidence of things not
Name I will mention but three things First His Word is his Name The Gospel of Christ is his Name that expresseth to us what Christ is Christ saith that he had manifested his Father's Name unto the men whom he had given him out of the world Joh. 17. 6. that is his Fathers Truths the Doctrine of his Gospel The Lord Jesus is made known by his Gospel That doth the same thing for Christ that our Name doth for us it lets the World know whose Son Christ is what he is what he hath done and suffered for Sinners and this is to the Soul exceeding sweet as an Oil that is poured forth Secondly His Mercy is his Name All those declarations of his love and good will towards his Peoples Souls of which his Gospel is full All the Emanations of his Love When the Lord telleth Moses his Name he thus proclaimeth it The Lord The Lord merciful slow to anger As God gets him a great Name upon Pharaoh and the wicked of the Earth by executing Justice and Judgment so he gets himself a great Name amongst his Saints by shewing meâ—cy His Name is I even I am he that blotteth out transgressions for my own Names sake I will heal your backslidings and love you freely Lastly His Truth is his Name By Truth I mean his Faithfulness in fulfilling his Word Thy Truth reacheth unto the Clouds saith David Psal 108. 4. David Psal 138. 2. resolveth to praise God's Name for his Loving-kindness and for his Truth Jesus Christ is much known to us by his Truth and Faithfulness to his Promises making good to his Peoples Souls what he hath said hence he is called the Amen the Faithful and the true Witness Rev. 3. 14. Pareus upon that Text saith that Christ is called the Amen for that reason which the Apostle giveth 2 Cor. 1. 19 20. because he is not Yea and Nay but he is Yea and because all the Promises of God in him are Yea and Amen Thus I have opened to you what that Name of Christ is which the Spouse compareth to an Oil or to an Ointment poured forth 2 Qu. But why to an Oil poured forth Certainly for the usefulness of it under that circumstance Ointment in the Box Oil inclosed and kept up in the Vessel is no way so useful as when it is poured out If we use it for food it must be poured out if for Medicine if for Ornament which way soever we use Oil or Ointment it must be poured out then it becomes useful to us But that which I take to be what is principally intended is Thy Name is exceedingly infinitely sweet Oil is sweet in the Vessel where it is kept it is sweet if but dropped out by drops But saith the Spouse of Christ Thy Name is as an Oil or Ointment poured forth Thou hast not only a sweetness and excellency in thy self but all the grace and mercy in thee is communicated and that not in drops or little measures but as Oil poured forth that hath scope of Air enough to diffuse it self in and by If Christ had No Name by which he could be made known to us yet there would be in him as God blessed for ever infinite goodness as well as Majesty and Glory the fulness of the God-Head would be in him he would be full of Grace and Truth but now his Name makes him to be as an Oil poured forth by that we behold his glory the glory as of the begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1. 14. When the invisible incomprehensible excellency love and grace of Christ is made known unto us either by the Gospel or by the emanations of his grace and mercy or the demonstrations of his truth and faithfulness by any of his personal names or names of Office wâ—ich are given to him then like Oil or Ointment poured out he appears to the Soul transcendently incomparably sweet This now appears both from Scripture and from experience 1. From Scripture how sweet are thy words unto my tast faith David Psal 119. 103. More to be desired are they than gold yea than much fine gold sweeter also than Honey and the Hony-comb Psal 19. 10. In his name shall the Gentiles trust Mat. 12. 21. Adam had a little of Christ made known unto him One promise we read of no more The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head Gen. 3. 15. It was like Oil poured forth and kept him from a deliquium in the sense of the first sin and his being turned out of Paradise Abraham heard a little of Christs name it was to him like Oil poured forth he saw my day and rejoiced saith Christ John 8. he saw the day star arise afar off he saw but the morning the dawning of the morning too of Christs day and at a great distance how sweet was it to him He saw my day saith Christ and he rejoiced I might give you very many instances of the sweetness which the Saints of God perceived upon the several discoveries of Christ made to them But what needs any further demonstration than what ariseth from the consideration of the thing and from the experience of any Child of God to whom Christ is or hath been made known how sweet must rest be to one that is weary ease to one that is heavy laden both these are promised from Christ Mat. 11. 29. how sweet must the name of a Saviour be to one that is lost and undone the name of Redeemeâ— to one that is a Captive The name of a Mediator to one that hath offended a potent adversary able to crush him every moment 2. I appeal further to the experience of every Child of God even every Soul who hath tasted any thing of Christ and who hath heard any thing of his Name when a Soul is troubled to think how often how heinously it hath offended God how sweet is the name of a Mediator when it is brought to a sense of its sin and apprehends itself lost and undone how sweet is it to remember the name of Jesus given unto Christ because he was to save his People from their sins when a Soul considereth that without Blood without a Sacrifice there is no remission of Sin how sweet then is the name of an High Priest over the House of God who offered up himself once for our Sins and having done so ascended up into Heaven and ever sitteth at the Right Hand of God to make intercession for the Sins of his People How sweet to the Soul that is afraid lest its lusts should have dominion over him is the name of Christ as a King given unto him because he is to rule in the hearts of those who are once subjected and subdued unto him How sweet are his mercy his truth his promises when at any time the latter are applied to the Soul and the former any way made known in the Soul Doth any one ask whence it is that the name of
savour of his good Ointments Consider what a difference there is betwixt this Object of your Loves and those pitiful Objects which your Souls are so hot in the pursuit of One man's heart is after his Wine another's after his Riches a third after the Pride of Life The Name of these things is like the opening of a Dunghill which sendeth forth a stench they bring up an ill report upon your Souls Christ's Name is like an Ointment poured out 2. What an Argument doth this afford to persuade troubled fainting Souls in their spiritual Swoonings and Deliquiums to apply themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ Ludovicus De Ponte upon my Text telleth us Oil is a sign of Peace it healeth wounds it nourisheth the weak it feedeth the Candle with light It exceedeth all Liquors Christ's Name is as Oil as Oil poured forth it brings Peace to a disturbed Soul it healeth the wounds of a wounded Spirit it nourisheth the weak Soul it exceedeth all created Oil. O meditate upon this excellent Name There is something healing and refreshing almost in every Name of Christ 3. Finally Let those who have tasted how good the Lord is study Christ's Name more meditate upon his Name his Promises his Mercy Truth and Faithfulness more wear his Name upon your hearts There is no Christian but is subject to its faintings David's Soul fainted for the Lord's Salvation Psal 119 81. But he hopes in the Lord's Word He had multitudes of perplexing thoughts but in the midst of all the comforts of God refreshed his Soul You that have experienced the sweetness of his Name study yet a farther knowledge of him and acquaintance with him Sermon XV. Cant. 1. 3. Because of the savour of thy good Ointments Thy Name is as Ointment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love thee I Have yet something further to discourse to you from this Text. You have heard from it 1. That Christ hath good Oils or good Ointments which cast a savour 2. That his Name is as an Oil or Ointment poured forth It followeth Therefore do the Virgins love thee When I opened the words I noted to you a double sense of the term Virgins each contrary to the other Some taking notice of the term Virgins as signifying persons in a single and solute state and condition understand by it persons that are natural and unregenerate not yet by Faith married and united to this spiritual Bridegroom intended in this Song who upon the pouring out of the sweet Oil in the Preaching of the Gospel which is part of his Name are invited and allured to take a complacency in the Lord Jesus Christ to desire him to will and chuse him as their Lord and their Saviour There is a truth in this When I shall be lifted up saith Christ I will draw all men after me But I do not think this the sense of the term 1. Because I am not willing to interpret Metaphors used in Scripture into a sense different from all other Texts of Scripture where the same terms are used Now I do not remember that in all Scripture Heathens Unbelievers Natural and Unregenerate men are called Virgins but only such as are the Saints and Servants of God 2. Nor secondly are they so they beâ—ng married to their lusts and to the world c. Upon which account the Scripture expresseth them under the notion of Adulterers and Adulteresses persons that are filthy unclean defiled c. 3. Neither can the Natural Unregenerate man be said while such to love Christ because of the savour of his good Oiutments they are constantly expressed under the notion of such as hate God and hate Christ By Virgins therefore I then told you the Scripture generally understands the Saints Indeed Professors at large in the Parable Matth. 25. 1. are set out under the notion of foolish Virgins But the wife Virgins are the true Children of God Rev. 14. 4. 2. Cor. 11. 1. The Proposition then is this Prop. 13. That the Saints who are Virgins love the Lord Jesus Christ for those excelling graces which they discern in him In the handling of which I shall 1. Enquire why Saints are called Virgins so shewing you the propriety of the Metaphor 2. Whence it is that they love Chr st for the savour of his Ointmenâ—s and the pourings out of his Name First Why are the Saints of God called Virgins Not because they are not married The Soul of man will not be alone it will be united to something if it be not united to God and Christ it will be united to the world to lust and corruption I say it will not be alone The same therefore that are here called Virgins are elsewhere called The Spouse of Christ the Bride the Lamb's Wife c. Such as are espoused to one Husband God faith of them I am married to you saith the Lord. But they are called Virgins 1. Because they are free from those things to which Vulgar Souls are married but which are not the proper Husbands of reasonable Souls God hath created man's Soul for himself and its Maker only can be a proper Husband for it A Soul may be united to other Objects but they are not just Matches they are not proper Husbands for Immortal Souls that are Spiritual Substances and under ordinations for Eternity The most of Souls are married but they are unequally yoked For a Spiritual Substance to be united to a clod of Earth to a little yellow Earth or Sand is a very unequal match For a Soul to be united to any sordid lust any sinful pleasure is a very unequal match The Souls of Voluptuous men of Covetous worldlings of Ambitious men they are indeed married they have made a Covenant with their lusts and with the world and with these things they eat they drink they sleep they converse they keep a constant communion as the married woman doth but they are all this while Adulterers and Adulteresses because these things are not proper matches for the Soul of man it is like the marriage of a Man to a Beast Now in this respect the Saints are Virgins not defiled with this adulterous Union they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 2. 20. Hence they are called undefiled in the way Psal 119. 1. They are Virgins with respect to any Marriage-Union with the world or any sinful lusts or any thing which is not a proper match for a rational immortal Soul They indeed live in the world and use the world but they use it according to the Apostles Precept as if they used it not they live not with the world as the Wife lives with her Husband delighting in it looking upon it as their chief Joy and Portion they make use of the world and the things of this world for their lawful occasions as the Man may use the Woman that is not his Wife but the world is not that which their hearts cleave to
contain three Petitions which the Spouse by which we understand the Church or the believing Soul maketh to her Beloved the Lord Jesus Christ The first I have done with together with the Arguments ments which she used to enforce it I am now come to the second comprehended in this Verse with the Arguments by which she presseth it Her first Petition was in those words Let him kiss me 〈◊〉 the kisses of his mouth Here she saith Draw me Our English Annotations make the connexion thus Lord do not only invite and call me by the Preaching of thy Gospel which are the kisses of thy mouth but command me by the Power of thy Spirit Or thus Let me not only be passively happy in receiving tokens of love from thee but make me active in maintaining communion with thee Let me run after thee and to this purpose do thou draw me Thus the coherence of her Petitions seemeth to lie Some there are that do not make this a new Petition but adjoyn the beginning of this Verse to the latter end of the former and read it thus The Virgins love thee and have drawn thee after them thus the Seventy read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and after them Origen and Greg. Nyssen expounding it of the Faith of the Saints by which they draw Christ after them according to his Promise Where two or three are gathered together in my Name I will be in the midst amongst them But though there be something of truth in this yet this Interpretation is I think justly slighted by Lud. de Ponte and others even of the Papists the greatest Admirers of the Fathers And although the Copies of the Seventy which we have indeed thus read it yet Symmachus and Aquila the two other Antient Greek Translators read it as we translate it And I am sure that is the true Translation of the Hebrew where the Verb is in the Imperative Mood though there be a little change of the Vowels in regard of the Affix according to the Rules of Grammarians For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so I conclude they are clearly a Petition and thus the Vulg. Lat. reads them with the Tigurine Translators Pagnine Montanus Piscator Junius and indeed almost all others Agreeing therefore in that let me consider 1. The parts of the Text 2. Then open the terms And thirdly and lastly Raise and handle such Propositions as it will afford and may be useful to us You may in the Text please to consider 1. The Spouse's Petition Draw me 2. The Argument by which she enforceth this Petition We will run after thee Where 't is observable 1. The parties promising We. 2. The thing promised A running after Christ 3. The Spouse's Acknowledgment of her Beloved's speedy Answer to her Prayers The King hath brought me into his Chambers 4. And lastly The Effects this Answer had upon her they are three 1. We will rejoyce 2. We will be glad in thee 3. We will remember thy Loves more than Wine Then you have the Spouse's Justification of her self in this passion The upright love thee Let me now come to open the terms This word for it is but one in the Hebrew contains the Spouse's Petition It is agreed by all that it is the Spouse that speaks by which the Jews who understand nothing of the Gospel-Church in this Song understand Abraham and the Church of the Jews Aben-Ezra a Jewish Doctor would have these the words of Abraham speaking to God to draw him out of his own Country into Ur of the Chaldees according to that hard Precept to flesh and blood Gen. 12. Solomon Jarchi another of them makes it the voice of the Jewish Church speaking to God to bring them back again to Hierusalem out of Captivity The old Chaldee Paraphrast and Lira with him make it the voice of the Church of the Jews coming out of Egypt speaking unto God that he would go before them as he did by the Cloud and the Pillar The Righteous of that Generation then said Draw us after thee O thou Lord of the whole world We will follow thee in the way of thy goodness Mr. Cotton makes the Spouse to be either Solomon himself desiring to be drawn to Christ or the Church of the Jews desiring Solomon by Laws and Edicts and Proclamations to draw them to their duty Rupertus his notion applying the words to Elizabeth John Baptist's Mother and of some Popish Writers making them the words of the blessed Virgin are hardly worth mentioning any more than theirs who would make them the words of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon We have fixed the Spouse with the most and best Interpreters to be the true Church of God and every individual believing Soul and then it is easie to know to whom the words are directed viz. unto God and whether we understand the first or second Person in the Trinity is not at all material For besides that they are both but one in their operations respecting the creature Drawing is made in Scripture the act both of the Father and the Son No man saith Christ cometh unto me unless the Father draweth him And again When I am lifted up I will draw all men after me But drawing is a term of motion there must be a term to which Whither would the Spouse be drawn This is not so plainly exprest in the English as in the Hebrew I shall speak more to it by and by but I shall first open the term Draw and shew you what the Spouse desireth of her Beloved in this term I find the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew signifying four things 1. It sometimes signifies no more than to go to go on and forward so Jud. 4. 6. Go and draw toward Mount Tabor Exod. 12. 21. Draw out and take you a Lamb that is go out Job 21. 33. Every man shall draw after him that is by little and little follow him to the Grave But it would spoil the sense to interpret it so in this place The Me following makes this sense inconsistent 2. Sometimes it signifieth the pulling of a thing or person to a place by some violence or force Thus you read of the Heifer that had not drawn in the yoke Deut. 21. 3. So it is said God draweth the mighty with his power Job 24. 22. And you read of the man that drew a Bow at adventure That is an act of strength and power you know 1 King 22. 34. So they drew Joseph out of the Pit and Jeremy out of the Dungeon Gen. 37. 28. Jer 38. 13. And David prayeth that he might not be drawn away with the wicked Psa 28. 3. In all which places this word is used 3. Because in love and fair persuasion there is a kind of force compelling a reasonable and ingenuous person The word is sometimes used to express also such an action It is said of the wicked Psal 109. v. 12. He draweth the poor into
Notion Isa 40. 31. They shall run and not be weary When men begin to be weary they leave running they go a foot-pace as it were draw their leggs after them Now saith the Spouse Lord draw me and we will run we will not be weary in our courses of holiness and duty we will not faint and give over But running in its abstract and single notion doth not conclude Perseverance running added to not being weary doth So here supposing first a drawing then a running in obedience to that while the Lord draweth the Soul will run but we shall no longer dance to him than he pipeth to us And this I think sufficient to open the Spouse's Promise Only add further that those who run must have a way or path to run in What is the Spouse's way Beza saith that Christ is both the Principle from which we run the way in which we run and the End of the Race It is true but in a diversified Notion Christ is our Prâ—nciple in the gracious Influences of his Spirit Without me saith he you can do nothing Christ in his Word and Gospel is our way I will run the way of thy Commandments saith David Psal 119. 132. This is the Race set before us Heb. 12 1. The following of Christ commanded Luk. 9. 23. Christ in his Example in the fulness of the measure of his stature Christ in his Glory is our End That then which the Spouse here promiseth amounts to this Lord I am weak and impotent I cannot come unto thee I cannot of my self move after thee I am hindered by the prevalency of my lusts and corruptions Who shall deliver me from my body of death Who can but thou alone Lord draw me make me willing keep me willing put forth thy mighty Power and sweetly constrain my Soul by thy love then I shall not stand still but move in thy waâ—es I shall not move wâ—akly but strongly not slowly but chearfully freely nimbly I shall not be faint nor weary but hold on in the way of thy Precepts until I come to the fulness of the measure of the stature which is in thee yea until the day break and the shadows fly away and I come to thee in that glory which thou hadst prepared for them that love thee and sollow the Lamb in glory whithersoever he goeth But there is yet one thing further to be considered 2. Qu. What meaneth the change of the Number Her request was in the Singular Number Draw me her promise is the Plural We will or we shall run after thee Who are these We 1. Thou and I together fay some Indeed this must be I live saith the Apostle yet not I but Christ liveth in me We read in Ezekiel's Vision of the Wheels of his Vision of a Spirit within the Wheels without which the Wheels moved not Suppose Wheels put upon the Soul yet the Soul moveth not without the Spirit moving the Wheels Ego cum gratia tud saith Genebrard But this seems to me too nice 2. I rather therefore chuse to expound it with the most of Interpreters and to say that by We is here meant The individual Believer and all her companions Ego adolescentulae mecum saith Bernard Ego Puellae meae saith Tremellâ—us I and my Maidens I and my Virgins I and all mine So it imports thus much that the Child of God once drawn to Christ will make it her business to draw others along with her Yet a little further to enquire the reason why she changeth the Number Doth she promise for more than she would pray for Or doth she envy others that drawing grace which she prayed for for her self Doubtless neither what then 1. Possibly Bernard's notion may be more acute than solid We are drawn saith he when we are tempted when we are afflicted and exercised with tryals we run when we are refreshed and comforted She would have the sowre for her self and the sweet for others She did not know their strength here was her charity But I say this seemeth too nice for certain it is that all who run after Christ must be first drawn one way or other and that by power God's People are made willing in the day of his power 2. Beza therefore speaks better I think When she saith Draw me she speaketh in the person of the whole Church so had a liberty to speak either in the one or the other Number So that as Ludov. de Ponte hath well observ'd by this change of the Number she shews that the Church which consists of many is yet but One according to that of the Apostle Rom. 12. 5. We being many are one body 3. By this alteration of the Number she sheweth That she believed it as easie with God to draw many as one 4. Lastly Though the Saints be many yet the end of Christ's drawing them is That they might be one John tells us ch 11. 52. That the end of Christ's dying was That he might gather together in one the Children of God which were scattered abroad Thus I have opened the terms But before I part with them I must mind you who are capable of that Learning That the Seventy add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to which our English Translation should have been We will run after thee in the savour of thy Ointments The Vulgar Latine follows them so do Origen Ambrose Theodoret Vigilius Hildebrand Greg. Magnus Nyssen Bernard Honorius c. and generally the Popish Writers but Lyra who is one of them differeth and agreeth with the Hebrew which hath not those words and thinks they were put in by some Expositor in the way of an interlineary gloss and afterwards got into the Text through the unskilfulness of some Transcribers How they came into the Text in Translations we cannot tell Sure we are they are not in the Hebrew and therefore our English Translators had no reason to put them in though they make no new Doctrine for the believing Soul doth in leed follow Christ in the savour of his Ointments We heard before that therefore do the Virgins love him and it is their love to him which maketh them to run after him But that is enough to have cautioned you of I proceed to the following words of the Text The King hath brought me into his Chambers This I called The Spouses acknowledgment or testification of her beloveds answer The word translated King is the ordinary word used by the Hebrews to express that relation by she doubtless meaneth by the King the King of Kings the mighty God I shall not restrain it to Christ considered as a Mediator upon which account he hath a peculiar Kingdom The King God my King Hath brought me The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in Hiphil signifies he hath made me to come or made me to go Into his Chambers The word is often used in Scripture translated a Chamber Gen. 43. 30. Jud. 15. 1. A
righteousness but his spiritual strength and ability also His fall causing the need of a Mediator and a coming unto him that we might have life caused also the need of the influence of the Holy Spirit upon us to quicken and innable us to com◠unto him and to walk with him Hence there was a need of such a Covenant for God to make as that mentioned Jer. 32. 40. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn from them to do them good but I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall never depart from me Thirdly That body of death which remains in the best of Gods People evinceth a necessity of a continued powerful influence of grace to keep the Soul in any motion especially in any quickness of motion after God That we have weights that pressus down a sin which easily besets us a body of death as St. Paul calls it proper lufts lustings of the flesh against the Spirit is evident in holy writ we are indeed at last more than conquerours over this inteftine adversary but it is through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 7. For lust is so connatural to us the lustings of the flesh so strong in us that our regenerate part could never else maintain the Spiritual fight Besides as I shall shew you as we have an impotency so as we cannot so much as will the thing which is good so we have also a natural dulness and aversion to it and this also remaineth in part in the regenerate Soul nor to be conquered without the influence of the holy Spirit Lastly The many hinderances which the Soul hath from its Enemies without will also hinder it from running James tells us that every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed This is a temptation from within à carne this would be too hardfor a Soul in its own strength But it hath also Enemies from without both from its grand adversary the Devil and also from the world I must confess I have met with one never but one that would pretend to maintain a power in man to resist the strongest Temptations without any extraordinary assistance of the Spirit of grace this he would impose upon the world to believe because that Joseph resisted the temptation from his Mistriss That Joseph did resist that temptation is plain in Scripture but that he did it by no further assistance of Grace than Reuben had who defiled his Fathers Bed or Absolom who went in to his Fathers Concubines will want better proof than any I find in his discourse I cannot but think that if man without the assistance of special grace had a power as he boldly saith to resist the strongest temptations we should have none destroy themselves upon temptations to self murder Atbeistical thoughts and Despair It is an inaccountable thing why any should destroy themselves if this Doctrine were true especially if they be persons not before possest of atheistical principles believing there is neither God nor Devil Heaven or Hell who can give an account suppose it in the power of the best of men to resist the strongest temptations without any special grace how David the man according to Gods own heart came to fall into the sin first of Adultery then of Murther To will was certainly present with him as well as with Paul how came he to want a strength to perform but from Gods withdrawing his special influence of grace from him and leaving him to his own strength which though the strength of a renewed man yet is too little to grapple with a strong temptation If even the best of men without the powerful influence of special grace can resist strong temptations how came Peter to fall by denying his Master by swearing and cursing that he did not know him he manifested that to will was present with him by his telling our Saviour that altho all men should forsake him yet he would not God was pleased to with-hold his powerful influence and to leave Peter to the ordinary strength even of a renewed man he was not able to grapple with the temptation It is so far from being true that man hath a power to resist the strongest temptations that without Christs influence assisting he hath not a power to resist any temptation whether from the World the Flesh or the Devil It is Musculus his observation upon John 15. 3 Our Saviour doth not fay without me you cannot do much or all but you can do nothing Nor if it be a strong temptation such as the fear of life c. can a Christian resist and overcome it without a more than ordinary assistance of Divine Grace proportioned to the degree of temptation But vain man would be wise though he be but as an Asses Colt he would be strong though in very deed he is weaker than water he would be all to himself though he be nothing in himself 5. But for a further proof of this Proposition concerning the necessity of drawing powerful influences of Divine Grace both with reference to the Souls first motions and coming to Christ and further motions in following Christ and running after him I shall but appeal to the experience of all converted Souls If there be an heart before me which God hath truly changed any one that is not only converted from one opinion to another or one profession to another from Paganism to Christianity but indeed converted from the love of sin and lusts to the love of God and the hatred of all sin and an endeavour to walk close with God from an opinion and confidence of and in any righteousness in itself wherein it can hope to stand before God to a trusting and relying on the Lord Jesus Christ and his Righteousness I appeal to that Soul what was it thinkest thou that inclined thy heart to accept of Jesus Christ for thy Saviour to commit all the concerns of thy Soul unto him and to alter thy course of life from a principle of love to God and obedience to his will more than anothers who sate in the same Seat with thee or lived in the same House and sate under the same Ministry heard the same Sermons how camest thou to be taken thy Neighbour left how came thy will to move regularly whiles thy Neighbour under the same circumstances still retained his stiff neck and iron sinews and hard heart and continued in the same lewd and sinful courses who made thee to differ Didst thou make thy self to differ How came it that he did not also make himself to differ I know there is no Soul whose heart is truly changed but will say if almighty power had not changed me I had been as bad as any other And so since thy Soul hath been changed thou hast met with Temptations to sin thou hast resisted them overcome them triumphed over them others possibly some very good men have fallen by and under them who
hast not an inch of time at thy command nor canst command thy Sun to go back or to stand still for an hour If James instruct us not to say To morrow we will go to such a Fair or Market without adding If God will surely vain man should not say at such a time I will repent I will believe I will turn to God without saying If God will let me live to such a time and poor creature what if God will not What if he will say unto thee Thou dilatory fool This night thy Soul shall be taken from thee this year this month thou shalt die O the most unrea sonable vanity of men in venturing Eternity upon such incertain contingencies yet this is the usual delusion Augustine confesseth that his foot was once in this snare he resisted motions for his turning to God with cras cras to morrow to morrow I will do it till at length through the power of grace he brake the snare crying out Cras Domine cur non hodie to morrow Lord and why to morrow why not to day This is but the first thing I would say to these procrastinating Souls and not that which properly resulteth from my former Discourse 2. But though there be an obvious contingency in that yet we may admit that thou shalt live unto the time thou hast prefixed to thy self for thy coming and returning unto God supposing yet that no man cometh to the Son unless the Father draweth how vain are the promises that thou makest to thy self Admit thou dost live to that time and that before that time thy heart shall not be more inamoured upon thy lusts and hardened in thy sinful courses but that then thou shalt have as good and fair convictions as now thou hast Yet art thou sure that God will then draw thee Art thou sure thou shalt then be drawn by the Preaching of the Gospel Admit that Art thou sure of the motions impressions and breathings of the holy Spirit of God The Preaching of the Gospel beareth the same proportion to the healing of the Soul that the Pool of Bethesda bare to the healing of bodily infirmities Men might lie there many years the Gospel tells you of one that lay 36 years yet was not healed the Angel indeed came often down and stirred the waters but none thrust him in There is an healing virtue in the Gospel it is the word of Reconciliation the word of the Kingdom The Spirit of the Lord attends the ministration of it it stirreth the Pool but admit this if there be none to help the poor Soul that is impotent into it it is not healed What knowest thou whether the holy Spirit which breatheth where it listeth will breathe upon thee at thy leisure God said of the Old World My Spirit shall not alwaies strive with man If it be not perfectly in thy own power to turn to God when thou pleasest it is the most unaccountable folly imaginable for any to resist the holy Spirit and to vex it yet promising himself the operations and effects of it when he will be pleased to call for and to admit them But I hear some saying Do not you determine that the grace of God cannot be resisted what need your exhortations then not to resist it 1. I have told you that the grace of God may be opposed and resisted but that Grace by which the heart is changed is powerful and finally cannot be resisted but certainly the common grace of God which the Apostle saith hath appeared to all men may be opposed and resisted and finally rejected and is so by the most of those that sit under it and certain it is that mens opposing and resisting of that common grace may provoke him to deny special grace to the Soul that doth it and will justifie God in the denial of it For we have no reason to complain of God's not doing what was truly and purely his part whiles we have not done what is our part and in our power Now though the change of the heart be an act of Divine Power yet acts of moral Discipline and the avoiding gross and scandalous sins and the performance of some religious Duties which God hath prescribed as means though not in themselves sufficient and effectual are things within our power with the assistance only of that common grace which God denieth to none to whom he doth not deny the Gospel And in these the holy Spirit may be opposed and finally resisted though he shall not be finally resisted by any Soul that is ordained to life and eternal Salvation and it is certainly the duty and wisdom of every Soul to take heed of this Resisting this Vexing the holy Spirit because as I said before God shall for ever be justified in the with-holding his gracious acts of power until man hath done what is in his power To which I think I may add that in the day of Judgment there will be wanting a President so much as of one Soul who hath followed the drawings of his Gospel so far as he had power to whom God hath denied the more powerful drawings of his Spirit making a change in the Soul and subduing it to the obedience of Faith and also because God will not have his Spirit alwaies strive with man because he is but flesh 2. But secondly Even the People of God also fall under this reproof though not for such vexings and resistings of the Spirit as natural and unregenerate men are guilty of yet for Quenching the Spirit in its motions and resistances of it in his operations whence the Apostle saw need of those Precepts 1 Thes 5. 19. Ephes 5. 30. We are prone 1. To Quench the Spirit in its motions to duty and to put them off 2. And to promise our selves if we fall we shall rise again When we find some motions to duty which we have reason to conclude to be from the holy Spirit dwelling in us and sometimes from some more than ordinary suggestions to and impressions made upon us we are too ready to put them off to some other time promising to our selves that we then will obey them and hearken to them not considering that as our first coming to Christ dependeth upon the Father's drawing so our running after him depends upon Christ's and his Spirit 's drawing Now though the Lord never forsaketh the Soul that is his as to necessary grace yet he often deserts it as to gradual manifestations in strengthening and quickening influences See that famous instance Cant. 2. The Lord called at the door of his Spouse saying Open my Love my Dove my Undefiled The Spouse grieveth her Beloved's Spirit she would open in the morning when she should have had her fill of sleep when she should be up and drest she had put off her Coat and how should she put it on she had washed her feet and how should she defile them At length v. 5. She rose to open to her Beloved but
and weak without strength We are like Lot in Sodom though we daily hear that the wicked shall be turned into Hell with all those that forget God though the Lord useth all intreaties with his poor Creatures and the love of God be displayed before us in the fullest measure yet till the Lord doth by us as the Angel did by Lot lay hold upon us and pull us out of our sinful state we move not a jot Yea verily man in his best estate man regenerate and brought home to God must also be drawn or he will not run he must be kept by the power of God through faith to Salvation or he will never come into Heaven when to will is present with us we have no strength to perform The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak O miserable men that we are who shall deliver us from our bodies of death I need say no more it being what is justified by the experience of the best of men and their prayers directed to God accordingly Sermon XIX Cant. 1. 4. Draw me and we will run after thee I Have formerly discoursed from this Text this Proposition That the Soul till drawn doth not run after Christ I am in the application of that discourse and that by way of Instruction This may inform us in the true nature of special saving Grace It is a drawing to and after Christ Grace in its general notion signifieth nothing but free love and favour Let me find grace or I have found grace signifies no more in Scripture than though I have no worth no merit yet shew me love and favour when applied to God it signifieth no more in the general notion whether this love be shewed in the collation of the good things which concern this life or those which concern that life which is to come they are all grace in a large sense because emanations of divine love not merited by Creatures But words taking their significancy more from use than etymology Grace in a more strict and usual notion hath been taken to signify The emanations of Divine love concerning the Souls and Eternal Salvation of the Children of men which is called the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation Now these divine emanations having different effects this Grace of God is also distinguished into Common and special ineffectual and effectual under the notion of common grace we comprehend all those effluxes of divine goodness by which God sheweth his kindness to the Souls of men in order to their Salvation whether they prove effective of their Salvation yea or no under this head some will bring both Election and Redemption owning no other Election than the eternal counsel of God to save such as should believe so denying all eternal Election of persons and making Christs intention in dying to extend to all either equally or at least so far as to put all in a possibility of Salvation if their own perverse wills do not hinder The Publication and proposal of the Gospel with the common influences of the Spirit attending the preaching of it certainly come under this notion for though all hear not that joyful sound yet it is granted on all hands that of those that do hear it to some it is the savour of life unto life to others the savour of death unto death And this is all the grace which some will acknowledge antecedent to the pardon of sins and regeneration But we affirm a further special grace than this is which we call special because it is not equally administred to all no not to all that hear the Gospel saving because it brings salvation not only in a general tender and offer unto all but to that particular Soul upon whom it shineth and so is effectual because effective of the blessed end to which it is levelled and aimed and doth not evaporate in a meer tender and proposal of the will of God This is that which we conceive expressed here and in John 6. 44. under the notion of drawing Which term is fully expressive of the Nature of it as it signifieth both 1. An act of power 2. An act of sweetness and love 1. An act of power The converted Soul is made willing in the day of the Lords power Psal 110. 3 4. The holy Scripture describes us in our natural state as dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2. 1. Enemies to God Col. 1. 21. and alienated from the life of God Having hearts harder then rocks then nether milstones iron sinews stiff necks Let those that think a meer intreaty of a Soul to come to Christ that it might have life a meer moral suasion or persuading a Soul to Spiritual duty will change it and renew it and beget in it spiritual habits try what their Rhetorick will do to melt a rock or to raise a dead body If the disadvantage of an ill education and a customary course of debauchery added to our vitiated nature hath such a power to beget in us a moral impotency that the drunkard and the unclean person cannot obtain of himself notwithstanding the advantage of his own ratiocination and the potent arguments drawn from the health of his body the upholding his reputation amongst men the preservation of his estate the pleasing of his sober friends to turn from an Alehouse and Tavern and from the house of the strange Woman no not tho his own experience and the daily experience of others verifieth these arguments and the acts are but such as by the force of reason supposing the common grace of God denied to none may be declined How shall we ever think that a man hath a natural power to the most sublime and spiritual acts and that the power of God must not be put forth upon a Soul causing it to love God and to hate sin and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Two things evince this grace to be an act of divine power 1. The invisibility of Christ and his excellencies 2. The natural alienation of our Souls from him If indeed our need of Christ or the suitableness which is in him to the lapsed state of Souls were either evident to sense or demonstrable to reason or the excellencies of Christ were demonstrable to either something might be said for the sufficiency of rational arguments to persuade the Soul to Christ yet not enough in that case for the sensibility of the goodness of temperance and sobriety and chastity their suitableness to the frail state of our bodies ready to be destroyed by debaucheries opposite to these vertuous habits we see by experience are not enough to keep Souls within the circle and bounds of morality But the other things being neither subject to the demonstration of sense or reason it is most irrational to plead for a power in the will of man to chuse them The sweetness of what the lapsed Soul in its state of alienation from God tasteth in sensible satisfactions is a thing evident to sense and it is
most absurd to imagine that a Soul should ever call these things bitter till it be convinced of a more excellent good and the incompetency of its fruition both of the one and of the other Could it be any thing less than a powerful act of Divine Grace that could make Moses willing to refuse the pleasures of Pharaohs Court and the honour of being called his Son and to chuse rather to suffer affliction with the people of God counting the reproach of Christ greater riches then the Treasures of Aegypt O study and adore the power of faving and effectual Divine Grace Do but consider your own weakness and the mighty power of Satan in tempting and you will be convinced that there had need be a divine power exerted in the collation of saving Grace 2. But yet as it is mighty and powerful so it is also sweet we are drawn to Christ but it is with the cords of a man the divine power put forth hath the will for the object which is not forced but melted renewed changed by the influence of the mighty God upon it Indeed the will is not capable of violence but yet it is capable of a divine influence sweetly renewing and changing it the Soul is made willing and then it wills and chuseth desires delights in the things which are good and acceptable in the sight of God Grace doth not meerly exhibit and propose Christ as a lovely and beautiful object altogether desires it doth not only furnish the Gospel and fill the mouths of Ministers with suasive arguments but it fills the Soul the inward man with a powerful divine influence which quite reneweth and changeth it and altereth the byass and inclination of it This is the nature of saving grace effectual grace thus it differs from that Grace of God which may shine upon reprobates which they may finally resist and abide still in darkness This notion in the next place wonderfully commendeth the love of God to those Souls that are made partakers of this Grace of God that bringeth Salvation that maketh a Soul meet for the inheritance of the Saints in light The great boast which those who maintain the contrary systeme of Doctrine to what I have maintained make is that their Doctrine doth vastly more commend the love of God to mankind Let us try that a little According to their Notion of the Grace of God it is no more than might have been consistent with the Eternal perdition of all mankind for they say God hath determined no particular person unto eternal life Christ hath laid down a price no more for the Soul that is saved than for those that perish In the Acts of his Providence he doth no more for one than another Both have the Gospel both have the common assistances of the Spirit and one hath no more than another both have Souls of the same species indued with the same faculties both might have resisted the Grace of God and that finally Now do not these mightily magnify Grace who will allow no more of it then what is consistent with the eternal destruction of all men yet neither are they consistent to themselves in their doctrine of Grace so far as they will allow any thing to it they pretend the advancement of the love of God by their conditional Election incertain Covenant universal Redemption common Grace yet they cannot deny but that the far greater part of the world hath not so much as the means of grace the sound of the Gospel is not in their Ears and how little of it is there in Popish Countries where the People have not the Bible in their own language and hear stories and tales out of the Legends instead of the Gospel nay in Protestant Countries how many places are there where People have Stones instead of Bread Scorpions instead of Fishes where they from the Pulpit hear little of Christ or the great motives of the Gospel to faith and holiness so as to make out their notion of their Doctrines commending the love of God they must find out a way to Christ and Salvation for more than three parts of the world without Christ and that an ordinary way too or but few of them will be saved yet in this extraordinary that their Salvation must be without the Gospel and the potent motives and arguments of it the Preaching of it and the ordinary concurrence of the Holy Spirit with it The opinion of Divineâ— on the other side is this That God out of the Mass of Mankind whether considered as created or to be created they are not so universally agreed did chuse a certain number of Persons great in itself but small in comparison of the whole number of mankind as to whom he willed a Kingdom of life and glory and also chose them and ordained them to obtain this life by having Redemption through the Blood of Christ the forgiveness of sins and by being holy and unblameable before him and to this end sent his Son to die for them and gives to the most of them whom he thus ordained to life and to faith and holiness as the means of it his Gospel and the Ministry of it by which he intreateth all those to whom it is Preached to be reconciled to God but for those whom he hath ordained to life he powerfully and effectually worketh in them by the Spirit of his Grace by which their hearts though they may for a time oppose and resist yet are subdued to the obedience of faith and drawn unto Christ and by which also being come to Christ they are drawn after him being by his power through faith preserved to Salvation Now whether is the Love of God more seen to mankind in the certain Salvation of many though comparatively but few and ordering of causes accordingly Or in such an ordering of causes as it was possible notwithstanding any thing God had done for man all might have perished And whether is God more glorified by our predication of him as one who though from all eternity he knew who would believe and live holily and who would not yet left it possible that all men should believe if they would Or by the predication of him as one who knowing all things because he willed them so being the first cause of all good in the creature ordered all things according to the good pleasure of his own will In the mean time this Drawing Grace which we maintain infinitely commendeth the Love of God to those who are thus drawn if we consider 1. The infinite distance of God from the creature He is a self-sufficiency to himself and in order to his happiness needed not the company of any creatures Now if there were no more in drawing grace than some would make drawing with the Cords of a Man intreating and persuading Souls to be reconciled to God his love might be just matter of admiration and astonishment Who are we that God should treat us and send Embassadors to intreat
us to be reconciled unto God If the Lord had only sent to us to give us warning of a wrath to come and timely notice to flee from it leaving us meerly to our own wills whether we would hear or forbear accept or refuse This had been love above the usual mercy of men who do not usually spend much time in treating and intreating those enemies whom they can easily crush and tread under foot Yet had God done no more for our Souls though in this he had shewed great love yet we through the natural stubborness and perverseness of our hearts had been undone for ever How many are in a high Road to ruine and eternal destruction whom God hath been thus intreating and beseeching many years 2. But now that the Lord should not only do this but put forth an act of power though not saving them against their wills yet making them willing to be saved and in order to it not verbally but really willing to receive Christ as tendred to them in the Gospel so as not only to be saved by him but to submit to those Laws and Rules in the observance of which they shall obtain Salvation and not only so but that God should assist the Soul in the performance of these acts not only giving it to will but to do also This certainly must transcendently commend the love and goodness of God to those Souls that have experienced such grace That God doth not so much for all speaks indeed severity to them but that he doth it for any speaks his unspeakable goodness and good will to their Souls I say that he doth not this for all speaks to them severity but yet justice and that not only in regard of that stock of sufficient grace wherewith our Pro-parent was intrusted which being lost God is under no obligation to restore but also in regard that God never denieth his special Grace until the Soul hath abused his common Grace 3. Nay lastly That the Lord should take care of our Souls after that we are once brought to Christ that he should put his fear into our hearts to keep us from departing from him and never depart from us to do us good that drawing Grace should follow us all the days of our life This certainly is the heighth of Divine Love more than this God could not have done for any Soul those for whom he hath done this must be highly beloved What now is left for such a Soul to do but to strive after perfection to live in a constant eying this All-sufficient God this Fountain of all Fulness and living in dependance upon him To live in a continual thanksgiving to and love for that God who hath dealt thus graciously with it and in a daily care not to grieve that holy Spirit by which it was first drawn to Christ and by which it is sealed to the day of Redemption and guided and kept that it doth not slip fatally O love you the Lord all ye his Saints Let drawing Grace find no renitency no resistance from any of your Souls God hath done for you more than others what will you do for God nay what can you do for that God who hath not only called but pluckt you out of the horrible Pit Take the Cup of Salvation and be for ever praising the Lord. Again we may from hence learn though not the proximate yet a true and remoter cause why the Gospel is preached to many so ineffectually Our Saviour tells us Many are called but few are chosen Isaiah cried out Who hath believed our report to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed Paul in his Preaching was to some the savour of life unto life to others the savour of death unto death When Christ himself Preached some believed others were hardened Whence so great a difference when the Word was the same the Preachers the same both to those that believed to those who were hardened They had all reasonable Souls those Souls had all the same powers the same faculties I mean powers and faculties that had the same virtues We see the same in the experience of every day Indeed there may be some Preaching that may bear no better proportion to the instruction of the ignorant or the conviction of a sinner and turning him from his sinful courses than the Clay and Spittle had to cure the blind man's eyes from which no such effect could have flowed but by a miracle but where there is the same Scriptural spiritual lively powerful Preaching we see this effect Two sit in the same seat one's heart is changed the other 's is not one goes on in his leud courses and perisheth for ever the other is converted his heart changed whence is this difference Is it from him that willeth or him that runneth think you or from him that calleth from him that sheweth mercy because and on whom he will shew mercy We will grant that the one doth not make that use of God's common Grace which he might and therefore the Lord righteously with-holds his special Grace But could not the Lord if he pleased influence the one Soul as well as the other to make a good use of his common Grace Hath God think we no influence upon men inclining their hearts to make a due use of his common Grace When men have said what they can the conversion of every Soul is the effect of the Lord 's drawing and when the Lord doth not draw the Soul doth not cannot come or run The natural man hath many things which draw him another way and God is not pleased to put forth his power upon the Soul Indeed properly nothing but our own lusts draw us another way but our natural passions are inflamed several waies You have an instance of the principal of them in the Parable of the Marriage-Feast which the King made for his Son recorded by Luke c. 14. 18 19 20. Matth. 22. v. 5 c. A certain great man Matthew calls him a King made a great Supper Matthew calls it a Marriage for his Son he bade many saith Luke he sent forth his Servants to call them that were bidden to the Wedding saith Matthew They would not come saith Matthew They all with one consent began saith Luke to make excuse They were invited by potent Arguments I have prepared my Dinner my Oxen and my Fatlings are killed and all things are ready come you to the Marriage Matth. 22. 4. In general it is said They would not come they made light of it they made excuse What drew them another way Lu. 14. 18. The first said I have bought a piece of ground and I must go and see it I pray thee have me excused And another said I have bought five yoke of Oxen and I go to prove them And another said I have married a Wife and therefore I cannot come who is this King Even the King of Kings the Lord of Lords who is his Son but the Lord
thou art greatly beloved Ordinary subjects may have their petitions answered but they must be favourites that have the Kings ear presently those Souls to whom God gives present answers of prayers are ordinarily such as are beloved greatly beloved A good natured Mother may help a Child that is another persons being in any ill circumstances and crying to her aloud and fiercely but it is a sign the Child is her own when her bowels yern towards it as soon as it begins to cry yet I find two instances at least in Scripture of Gods present answering the cries of persons in no such state of favour with God Ahab and the King of Nineveh 1 Kin. 21. 27 28 29. Jonas 3. 4. But besides that those instances relate meerly to temporal mercies and such wherein not those Persons alone but great bodies of people were concerned and in such cases as nothing but a present answer could have done them good as to the thing wherein they were heard Nineveh was within forty days of ruine and it was only a deferring of that judgment which God had threatned as to which they were heard I say besides these things it is one thing what God may do out of the abundance of his goodness and mercy and another thing what they may with any confidence expect It is most certain that persons who are strangers and enemies to God and so under a threatning That although they make many prayers God will not hear them and of whom God hath said that their sacrifices are abomination cannot hope that the Lord should answer much less presently answer their prayers 2. As to a present answer of prayers it is necessary not only that the persons praying be believers persons in favour with God but that their prayers be prayers of faith that they exercise faith in their prayers James 1. 5. If any of you want wisdom let him ask of God But v. 6. Let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a wave of the Sea driven of the wind and tossed and James 5. 15. The prayer of faith shall save the sick Prayers for Persons sick ordinarily require present answers now saith the Apostle the prayer which saveth the sick must be the prayer of faith This is a point not well understood viz. how to pray in faith and what exercise of faith is required in prayer I shall therefore shortly open it and shew you what exercises of faith are necessary to that Soul that would have his prayers at all answered at least who can expect a present answer 1. Faith in prayer must respect Gods being and goodness This the Apostle informeth us Heb. 11. 6. He who cometh unto God must believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him That God is and that he is able to give what we ask of him Believe you saith Christ to the blind man that I am able to do this If God be if he be God he is able to do whatsoever we ask of him But this is not all we must also believe the goodness of God That he is a rewarder of them that seek him one who hath said to the Children of Men seek ye my face and who never said to the seed of Jacob seek ye my face in vain This is the first act of faith in prayer whosoever cometh to seek God for any mercy must steadily agree to this That God is and is able to grant the thing he asks of him and that he is infinitely good and a rewarder of those Souls that obey his will in that precept seek ye my face 2. Faith must respect that promise which God hath made for that mercy or good thing which we come to God for There is hardly any particular good thing for which God hath not somewhere in his word made a particular promise now this promise is Gods bond which faith laies hold on and prayer puts in suit if we want a particular promise respecting the specifical mercy yet there are general promises within the latitude of which those particular good things fall such as those Psal 84. 11. He will give grace and glory and no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly Psal 34. 10. They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing Rom. 8. 24. We know that all things work together for them that love God 1 Cor. 3. 22. 23. All things are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods Now I say that he that prayeth in faith must have his Eye either upon some of these more general words in which God hath promised all good things or those particular promises wherein God hath promised that specifical mercy which he comes to ask of God Mar. 11. 24 What things soever you desire when you pray believe that you shall receive them and you shall have them It is not only necessary that when we go unto God in prayer we should Eye him as the fountain of power so able to grant what we ask of him and as the fountain of goodness so willing to relieve all the streights and supply all the necessities of poor creatures but 3. As a God of truth and faithfulness that he believe that he shall receive what he asketh of God and to this end he must see the good thing either generally or particularly promised 3. There is yet a third act of faith necessary which is a casting of our Souls upon God in the promise a trusting in him for the receit of the thing we have asked of him James saith we must ask in faith nothing wavering the Soul must not doubt within itself whether God hears or will give in a gracious answer yea or no but commit itself wholly to God upon the credit of his promise believing that he who hath promised is able to perform and trusting in him for a performance This is now praying in faith and the truth is all other praying is but praying in formality of which we can expect no more profit then ariseth from a meer bodily labour This now is necessary with reference to an answer especially a quick and a present answer on the part of the person praying 2. But something also is necessary to be observed with respect to the matter that we pray for 1. It must be something which is truly and really good for us and of which we stand in need Our need of a thing and the goodness of it for us is not to be measured from our sense and apprehension for we are often mistaken and do not keep what is good for our selves and therefore must refer our selves to the wisdom of God who knoweth what things we have need of It is true that there are some things so perfectly and absolutely good as they can never be evil such are the pardon of our sins the love and favour of God c. But there are other things that are not so which at some time we
his Spirit but thy Soul is yet unquiet and impatient it is thy duty yet to wait upon God to chide down thy tumultuous and unquiet thoughts all the risings up and murmurings of thy Soul against God to adore and to admire God where thou canst not see or understand him to acknowledge Gods goodness and holiness though thou canst not discern his goodness as to thee in this particular Thus did David Psal 22. 3. after he had complained that he had cried in the day time and the Lord did not hear and in the night season and was not silent v. 3. he saith But thou art holy O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel This is most certainly our duty under such providences as these are we must not look in this life to understand all Gods ways and methods of providence much less the reasons of them that is a piece of knowledge reserved for another world all that we have to do is to observe and study them and where we cannot find them out to admire and adore them and to wait upon him that wrappeth up himself in thick darkness and hideth his face from the House of Jacob. This waiting doth not only signify a passive quietness silence and patience but an active doing our duty Waiting on the Lord and keeping his way are put together Psal 37. we ought not to leave off praying because in our apprehensions at least our prayers lie by without answer much less to slacken our course of holiness but to resolve as the Church did for Zions sake so for our own sake not to hold our peace we have for this an excellent president in the example of the Church Psal 44. 17. All this is come upon us saith she yet have we not forgotten thee nor dealt falsely in thy Covenant Our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy way though thou hast sore broken us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death then she concludeth with prayer v. 23 24 25 26. Awake why sleepest thou O Lord arise cast us not off for ever wherefore hidest thou thy face and forgettest our affliction and oppression For our Soul is bowed down to the dust our belly cleaveth to the Earth Arise for our help and redeem us for thy mercy sake Sermon XXV Cant. 1. 4. The King hath brought me into his Chambers IF any asketh who is this King whom the text speaks of as the question soundeth like that Psal 24. v. 8. Who is the King of glory So the answer must be much the same The Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in Battel the Lord of Hosts he is the King of Glory He is the King of Nations for all the Nations of the Earth are the work of his hands and he hath a Native Lordship and dominion over them He is the King upon the holy hill of Sion the King of Saints they have chosen him he ruleth in them and reigneth over them they have chosen him he hath subdued their hearts unto him and hath chosen them for his peculiar people this is the King of whom the Church and the believing Soul here speaketh and saith The King hath brought me into his Chambers It is the same Person of whom she spake v. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth To whom she said v. 3. Draw me and we will run after thee There she spake to him as her beloved here she speaketh of him as a King there she prayed for something that she wanted here she praiseth and giveth thanks for something she had received I have already taken notice of the alteration of her stile of her so sudden giving thanks upon the quick return God had made to her prayers I come now to consider the mercy or good thing she had received which she expresseth in the same metaphorical dialect which she useth throughout this Song The King hath brought me into his Chambers when I at first opened the whole verse I endeavoured to find out what this mercy was in the receit of which the Spouse triumpheth in this text I then considered Chambers as places more lofty then others and and of more privacy and secrecy and from thence concluded that the Spouse by this phrase signifieth some special favours which she had received from God some special and more near and intimate degrees of fellowship and communion with God into which her beloved had taken her The Proposition I offered from the words for my further explication was this That the Lord Jesus Christ hath Chambers in which he sometimes entertaineth the Souls of his people He hath a favour for them all Rooms in his House for all the sizes of his people but he hath Chambers for some or into which he sometimes takes up the Souls of his Saints the subject of my discourse will be such special favours as God sheweth to some Souls or to the Souls of his people at some times This is evident in holy writ Abraham was called the Friend of God Moses is called his Servant emphatically Moses my Servant is dead David the man according to Gods own heart Solomon was named by God Jedidiah a man beloved of God There are four degrees in the love of God as it respecteth the Children of men 1. He hath a Philanthropy or general love which he sheweth towards all He leaveth not the Heathen without witness In him all men live move and have their being from him they have fruitful times and seasons which fill their bellies with food their hearts with gladness their bellies are filled with his hid treasure The patience of God leadeth them to repentance The invisible things of God even his eternal power and God-head are made known to them by his works of Creation by the things which he hath made 2. He hath a more special love for his Church This is seen in his more special providence exercised towards his whole Church which are more watched over and preserved by a common providence then any other body of people are They have also the Oracles of God the Ordinances of God and means of grace and this latter is certainly an effect of the death of Christ 3. He hath yet a more special love for all those within his Church who are effectually called whose hearts God hath seized and subdued to himself they are made partakes of more special grace being called justified and sanctified and such who shall hereafter be most certainly glorified 4. But there is yet another specialty of Divine love even amongst those who are made partakers of special saving graces some are more specially favoured in this life and shall be more eminently then others glorified in that life which is to come These more special favours to the Saints that are all made partakers of the same saving grace are the subject of my present enquiry 1. Some here understand the mansions of glory but they are forced to make an
I do not misconceive him David seems in this to have failed Psal 22. 2 3 4. O my God saith he I cry in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent But thou art holy O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel Our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them they trusted in thee and were not confounded but I am a Worm and no Man a reproach of Men and despised of the People c. To silence this corruption so exceedingly natural to us let me offer a few things to thy thoughts 1. The first shall be the Lords Prerogative to shew mercy where he will shew mercy This our Saviour hints me in the Parable of the Labourers sent into the Vineyard Mat. 20. 15. when those who had wrought all the day received their penny in proportion to those who had wrought but a few hours they complained the Master of the Vineyard saies to them May I not do with my own what I please All influxes of grace are Gods own It is a prerogative that every one of us claims for himself to dispose of his love especially some degrees of it as we please why should we deny that to God which every one of us claimeth to himself The Prince will not allow the Subject to dispose of his favour no more will the Father allow it to his Child why should we think God is not at the same liberty especially considering 2. That God by it doth us no wrong You have this in the same Text Friend I do thee no wrong Mat. 20. 15. This now dependeth upon this hypothesis that the grace of God cannot be merited by any he that hath the greatest manifestations of Divine love hath them freely he who hath the least discoveries of it hath what he hath freely without any preceding merit in himself If God will let one of his Children walk in the light of his countenance and another to walk in the dark and see no light if he will treat one in Chambers another in a low and more common Room yet he doth not wrong to any There is no injustice in the case in appearance to us he sheweth indeed more severity to the one and more goodness to the other but he is unjust to neither because neither hath merited any thing that he receiveth 3. God hath with held from thee nothing for which he agreed with thee This is a third thing which the Master of the Vineyard told those labourers that repined because they had not more then those who had laboured less Mat. 20. 15. Did I not saith he agree with thee for a peny we can lay claim to nothing of anothers but either upon the plea of a Native right thus the Child laies claim to his Patrimonial Estate as heir at law or upon the account of purchase by vertue of some compact or agreement or some valuable consideration given him for it we can lay no claim to the Grace of God as our Patrimonial right as Heirs to it we are indeed called Heirs but it is by adoption nor upon the account of any valuable consideration given who hath given first to God and it shall be repaid to him again All the claim we can lay to any thing either of Grace or Glory is upon the account of a Covenant that God hath made with us or with Christ on our behalf and by us accepted when we come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ The question is what God hath agreed with us for he hath agreed with us for a Kingdom Fear not little Flock saith Christ it is your Fathers will to give you a Kingdom He that believes on me is not condemned saith our Saviour he is passed from death to life He hath agreed with us for all that grace and mercy which is necessary to bring us to this Kingdom That he will give us a clean heart and a new heart that we shall be kept by the power of God through faith to salvation But where hath the Lord agreed with the Souls of any of his people for equal measures of his manifestative love Nay plainly God in the Covenant of his Grace hath reserved himself a liberty to chastife and afflict his people either for the probation of Grace or for the punishment of sin and this is one species of affliction by which God doth both try the faith and patience and also correct the errors and miscarriages of the best of his people But you will say is not manifestative love promised I answer it is but so are not the measures of it nor yet the particular time for the discovery of it 2. It is but the matter of a conditional promise John 14 21. He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him Psal 50. 21. To him that ordereth his conversation aright I will shew the Salvation of God The promises of Eternal life and Salvation are made to Faith and holiness without which both which none shall see God but not to degrees of the one or of the other a weak faith may bring a Soul to Heaven so will an upright and sincere heart though incumbred with many lustings of the flesh against the Spirit but the case is otherwise as to some degrees of the manifestative love of God which much depend both upon degrees of faith and degrees of holiness also Our Saviour hath determined doubts and fears indications of little faith and reason will determine them inconsistent with much joy peace and comfort in the Soul that holiness in some good degree is necessary to our peace will appear to any Soul that considers that nothing but sin will break our peace with God So that if thou beest not conscious to thy self that thy faith is as strong as others and thy ways as perfect before God as theirs thou hast no reason to expect the same manifestations of Divine love No tho thou beest one who truly believest and truly lovest and fearest God God hath agreed with every believer for eternal life and salvation for pardon of sin and a clean heart and the upholding of him by his power unto salvation But he hath not agreed with every such Soul for the same measures of peace and comfort the same degrees of his manifestative love he hath reserved himself a liberty to reward those with these more special favours who walk most closely and exactly with him in their conversations Those therefore who find their Souls under temptations to repine at God for doing more for others then for them should do well to reflect upon themselves and to consider whether the faith of those others be not more strong and their walking with God more close and exact then theirs if it be they are not to wonder that their Souls are more highly favoured and more
climb up those steps which God hath made for us by which we may ascend into these Chambers we must blame our selves if we abide below But this is not alwaies the cause in some cases we must have recourse to Gods prerogative and must rest in this Even so O Father because it pleaseth thee Some Souls are dignified with a special communion and familiarity with God so was Abraham Moses David yet possibly if we look into the records we have of their lives we shall find more blots in some of them then in some others who we do not read were taken up into such eminent degrees of favour We cannot give just reasons and accounts of all Gods acts of Grace it is enough that God wills them In the mean time if we find but a good hope through grace an heart changed and cleaving to God if we can say with Peter Lord thou that knowest all things knowest that we love thee though we cannot boast of such special providences as others nor of such visions of peace nor of so quick an hearing of our prayers tho we dare not pretend to be such favourites of Heaven yet let us not be discouraged possibly as to us the Lords time is not yet come possibly it never will come God is a great Soveraign and unquestionably free as to these things he knows what is best for us he will deny no good thing to us We may say of the whole Family of God as the Queen of Sheba said of Solomons 1 Kings 10. 8. Happy are thy Men happy are these thy Servants which stand continually before thee and heaá¹™ thy wisdom There are some of Gods Servants that as to these enjoyments are more happy then others but there are none but are happy none but have reason for ever to admire the difference which God hath made betwixt them and others to admire what God hath done for their Souls bringing them out of the horrible Pit if they have not if they cannot see reason to rejoice in such a prospect of Heaven as othershave yet they have reason to rejoice in an equal deliverance from Hell I will shut up this discourse with two words of exhortation 1. The first directed to those who can say with the Spouse The King hath brought us into his Chambers 2. The second to those who walk with God but have not yet arrived at this Are there any who can speak the language of the Spouse and glory in this not only that they are brought home to Christ but that the King hath brought them into his Chambers the Lord hath dignified them with some special favours and manifested himself more to them then unto others the following words of this Text will let them know what is their duty I will saith the Spouse be glad and rejoice in thee and remember thy loves more then Wine 1. Be glad and rejoice in God we are often called to for this rejoycing in the Lord Psal 33. 1. Psal 97. 12. Phil. 3. 1. 4. 4. and in many other Texts Such is the portion of Gods Children such their state and condition that they have a continual cause of rejoycing and giving of thanks be they under what circumstances they can there is ground enough for them in all things to give thanks but they are more eminently obliged to it when they are under the highest manifestations of Divine Love This rejoycing in the Lord is I conceive opposed both to a carnal joy in sensual objects and also to a rejoycing meerly in that ease and satisfaction which the good thing giveth us for which we rejoice As now suppose a rich man giveth a poor man 20 s. it is one thing for the poor man to rejoice in the gift as suited to to â—his necessitous circumstances another thing to rejoice in the love and favour of the giver This is now the duty of the spiritual man he ought not only under the manifestations of divine love to rejoyce in the Lord more then in all the world and all the affluences and contentments of it which is expressed in the next phrase we will remember thy loves more then Wine and is commensurate to what David saith Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me for thou shalt thereby make my heart more glad then in the day when their Corn and Wine increased I say this is not enough for a Soul thus dignified he ought more to rejoice in the favour of God shewed him in these specialties of his favour then in the ease and satiâ—faction which the mercy received giveth unto his Soul And herein lieth the purity of the spiritual mans joy nor is his joy genuine and perfect till it come to this pitch 2. The second phrase in the Text expressive of this dignified Souls duty is We will remember thy loves more then Wine The term remember is taken in Scripture in a great latitude and expressive both of all that affection which is due to the remembrance of the object and of all that practical duty which is consequent to it I shall touch a little upon both these and that very shortly for I shall God willing speak to both these expressions in order more fully 1. Remember Christs loves with the remembrance of the heart I shall instance but in one fruit of this and that is faith Remember his loves so as for them to trust in God more and to cast the care of thy Soul in an hour of distress the better upon him upon consideration of thy past and present experience We are too ready both to forget our sorrows and to forget our comforts to forget our sorrows by giving our selves a liberty to the same sins for which we have smarted and to forget our comforts by giving liberty to the same dejections and despondencies again after the experiences of Gods favour 2. Remember Christs loves practically so as to make them obligations upon your Souls to a close walking with God See the example of David Psal 116. 1 9 12 18. But I shall speak all this over again when I come to handle the next words and shall therefore add no more My second Branch of this Exhortation shall respect those whom God hath not thus far dignified the Lord hath as they hope admitted them into his family but he hath not yet brought them into his Chambers Some communion with God they hope they have and an heart that panteth after a more full and near communion with him but this they have not yet attained to they walk in the dark and see no light the Lord giveth them an heart to pray but they cannot glory in such a full and quick return of prayers as others have they have not that inward joy and peace which as to some Souls is consequential to believing the question is now what they should do what their duty is under their present circumstances I will open it in two particulars 1. Certainly they ought not to despond
meat the Flock shall be cut off from the sold and there shall be no Herd in the stalls yet I will rejoyce in the Lord and I will joy in the God of my Salvation The believing Soul can rejoyce in nothing without Christ and it can rejoyce in Christ when it hath nothing more to rejoyce in Let a gracious Soul have but the sense of God's Love in Christ to his Soul he can say to all the world as Esau though not upon such a consideration said to his Brother Jacob I have enough my Brother I have enough keep what thou haft unto thy self Am I justified and regenerated have I peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ have I the pardon of my sin and a righteousness wherein I can stand before God it is enough If the Lord will not give me Bread to eat nor Children to continue my name if I die Childless so I do not die Christless it is enough If I have not Raggs to cloth me nor an Estate to leave Portions to six and also to seven yet I have said to the Lord Thou art my Portion it is enough Hence ariseth a good Christian's contentment in all Estates I have learned saith Paul in all estates to be content content to want content to abound content to have little or much as the Lord pleaseth If the Lord will take away such a man's Children Estate c. he saith with Job The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken blessed be the Name of the Lord. If I have my part in Christ saith he I have yet enough Omnia mea mecum porto I have my All as the Philosopher is reported to have said when his City was on fire and his Neighbours reflected on him going out and carrying nothing along with him nor concerning himself for the share of Estate he had in it If the Believer considereth his body he seeth a crazy constitution diseases growing upon him if he looks into his Family and seeth it empty of Children if into his Grounds and seeth them bring forth nothing but Weeds and Thistles if into his Stalls and seeth them empty of Cattel yet if he looks into his Soul and finds any evidences of the Love of Christ he can rejoyce in them this must be understood when he seeth himself stript naked not by his own wicked hands but as Job was by the effective Providence of God for the loss of the things of this life the good things of the common Providence of God caused by our own sinful hands and miscarriages oft-times hinder this Joy as they make it difficult to us to see the Love of God in and under them 4. And lastly This Soul rejoyceth in Christ Primarily Emphatically Supremely The Child of God is a parta ker of flesh and blood and hath a sensitive appetite which when gratified necessarily causeth a joy proportionate to the good which it receiveth hence he rejoyceth in the good things of common Providence as well as another man but not as much as another man not upon the same account that another man doth Christ is the Believer's chief Joy and as his title to the good things of this life differs from the title of another so his joy in them differeth from the joy of another All men may have a natural legal title to the good things of this life Dominion and Title is not founded in grace but it is mended by grace Another man derives from God as the Lord of the whole Earth who by his common Providence distributeth portions to the Sons of men as he pleaseth but the believer doth not only derive from God as the supreme Lord but from Christ all is yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods saith the Apostle so that while he rejoiceth in the gifts of common Providence he rejoiceth in Christ because he rejoyceth in these things as coming from the hand of a Father reconciled to him by the blood of Christ he rejoiceth in the good things of this life as the loving Wife reioiceth in some present made her by her Husband not so much in the fineness or costliness of it though that may also please her humor as in the kindness and love of her Husband shewed in giving it her So the believer more rejoyceth in the goodness of God shewen to him in any dispensation of Providence then in the thing which God hath given him or her and he supremely rejoiceth in Christ whiles he rejoiceth in a lower comfort Let me shew you this in the instance of Hannah whose story you have 1 Sam. ch 1 2. She was the Wife of Elkanah she had no Children and was passionately desirous of the blessing of Children an affection common to all of that sex especially and for which there was some more special reason in that Age and Nation partly because of the promise of a numerous issue to Abraham so as the Women that were Barren lookt upon themselves as hardly the genuine Children of Abraham at least not sharers in his blessing partly because they knew the Messias was to be born of a Jewish Woman and every Child-bearing Woman might have an expectation to be his Mother Under this great affliction she applies her self to God by prayer the Key of the Womb is one of those Keys which the Jewish Doctors say God keepeth in his hand God hears her prayer she conceiveth and brings forth Samuel as in the first Chapter she names him Samuel to testify her joy in receiving him as an answer of her Prayer upon which she dedicates him to the Lord 1 Sam. 1. 28. So in the second Chapter she sings a Song of praise mark the phrase of it 1 Sam. 2. 1. Mine heart rejoyceth in the Lord my Horn is exalted in the Lord. Her Child was the next object of her joy but how doth she rejoice in him the primary object of her joy was the Lord her great joy in Samuel was as God by giving him to her shewed her his love and that he had not shut out her supplications from him She rejoyced in God Supremely in Samuel Subordinately in God Emphatically in her Child more remissly Thus doth a good Christian rejoice in Christ thus is he the singular object of a believers joy David calleth God the gladness of his joy we translate it his exceeding joy Psal 43. 4. The Prophet Isaiah faith Isaiah 29. 19. The meek shall encrease their joy in the Lord and the poor amongst men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel Yet the proximate cause was v. 20 Because the terrible one was brought to nought and the scorner consumed and all those that watched for iniquity cut off Hence Christ commandeth his Disciples not to rejoice in this that the Devils were subject to them but that their names were written in the Book of Life Doubtless the subjection of Devils to them was true matter of joy ah but it was no primary object no supreme object of their joy no
have some fits of pleasure and delight in sin but neither of them will be constantâ— and abiding a good mans pleasure in sin is but a fit of sensuality a wicked mans trouble for fin is but a fit of distast It is a good sign that he or she rejoiceth in God and in Christ that can find no sensual satisfaction to rejoice in Secondly It is a sign that Soul truly rejoyceth in the Lord Jesus Christ that can rejoyce in no sensible enjoyment without the sense of God's love in and through him The unquietness and dissatisfaction of the Soul in the midst of all its sensible comforts if at any time it wants the sense of God's love and the pardon of its sins in and through Christ will much evidence Christ to be the Head of his Joy or his chief Joy There are few Souls in this life whose daies are without clouds sometimes they walk in the light sometimes in the dark and see no light now for a Soul under the fullest affluence of created comforts to be able to rejoyce in nothing in the absence of the sense of Christ's love is an excellent sign Abraham Gen. 15. 2. when God bid him ask him what he should give him replyeth Lord what canst thou give me so long as I go childless This now argued that a Child was the chief of his desires and the chief Joy which he had in prospect Abraham had a plentiful Estate a beloved Wife but his dissatisfaction for want of an Heir spake a Child to be his chief Joy an object which his heart was ready more to rejoyce in than in all that he had besides it When the Soul is at this pass that it can say Lord thou hast given me an Husband or a Wife and Children and I acknowledge thy goodness in them thou hast given me a plentiful Estate and I desire to bless thy Name for that but Lord what canst thou give me what canst thou do for me so long as I want the sense of thy love in Christ all these things are nothing to me whiles I have this dissatisfaction though it will not speak the Soul at this time actually rejoycing in Christ yet it will speak Christ to be its chief Joy Thirdly It is a sign that Christ is the chief Joy of the Soul if it can rejoyce in Christ alone when there is no fruit in the Vines when the Figg-tree doth not blossom and the labour of the Olives faileth as Habakkuk expresseth it that is when all sensible external satisfactions fail That Soul which hath not chosen Christ for his portion will hardly be content with Christ alone Mephibosheth declared that Davia's return in peace to Hicrusâ—lem was his chief Joy when upon David's saying Thou and Ziba divide the Lands he calmly replied 2 Sam. 19. 30. Yea lâ—t him take all for as much as my Lord the King is returned to his House in Peace It is said of the Primitive Martyrs Heb. 10. 34. That they indured with joy the spoiling of their goods knowing that they had in Heaven a far more induring substance Our hearts may be ready to deceive us in this point when we only put a case to our Souls and the thing appears at a distance It may be therefore we may come to a nearer judgment what our Souls would do in such a case by observing the frame and temper of our Spirits and what their support is under smaller losses and deprivations of more external comforts There is none of us but at some time or other suffer something from the hand of God immediately or from the hands of men We lose possibly a dear relation or a part of our estates supposing now that at this time thou hast no apprehensions of the wrath of God no fears as to the pardon of thy sins and thy interest in Christ how is thy Spirit under such providences canst thou look above them and yet rejoice that thy Christ is not taken from thee if you should see a Woman in the loss of a Child or Children yet lifting up herself above her sorrows and blessing God that it is not her Husband he is yet alive you would easily conclude that her Husband was her chief joy though she had some pleasure some satisfaction in her Child yet her Husband was the head of her joy 4. Lastly Canst thou joy in Christ Supremely not in thy mercies so much as in the God of thy mercies and in thy mercies only as thou seest the favour and goodness of God in them you read Luke 10. 17. that after Christ had sent out the 70 they after some time returned and made this report to him Lord even the Devils are subject unto us through thy name Christ tells them v 19. Behold I give you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions over all the power of the Enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you notwithstanding in this rejoice not that the Spirits are subject unto you but rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven God saith thus to many of his people Behold I give you comfortable Wives towardly and dutiful Children plentiful Estates success in your tradings and worldly businesses I set an hedge of providence about you whatsoever you take in hand doth prosper Notwithstanding rejoice not in this let not this be the great matter of your content and satisfaction But rejoice in this that I have given you my Son and through him the pardon of your sins and favour with me an evidence that your names are written in the Book of Life He that can do this makes Christ the head of his joy And if you can do this 1. You will be more troubled at the fears or apprehensions of the loss of Christs love then at the fears or apprehensions of the loss of any external satisfactions whatsoever 2. You will be rather willing to part with all then to do any thing that may hazard your loss of Gods favour Thus the Martyrs shewed that Christ was their supreme joy Let us labour to find this evidence of grace in our Souls to bring up our hearts to be glad and to rejoice in Christ in that manner as I have opened to you and particularly to rejoice in the answer of our prayers I will inlarge upon both these branches a little Let us be unquiet in our spirits until we find that our hearts are brought to this to rejoyce in Christ solely and supremely to rejoyce in him as our righteousness as our strength as our portion as our All in all I told you before that the Apostle Phil. 3. thus describeth a true Christian one that was of the true Circumcision The Jews he calls there the Concision but saith he We are the Circumcision who rejoyce in Christ Jesus He speaketh there of a reioycing in him as our Righteousness as he from whose perfect Righteousness alone the Soul expecteth Salvation This is in opposition to a rejoycing in any Birth-priviledges or
more of our passion and excesses of affection yet the reality and truth of our love may certainly be as well discerned rewards a spiritual and invisible object as to one that is more the object of our exteriour senses let us therefore try those measures and see how we will make up our judgment of the truth of our love to a fellow creature what is that which we call love but the delight and complacency and satisfaction of the Soul in an object beloved declared by the pantings and breathings of the heart after it when absent for an union or re-union with it the acquiescence and meltings of the heart upon it when present and an union with it is obtained or apprehended the Souls intercourse and communion with it and free communications of its self unto it its kindness to every person or thing to whom or which the object beloved hath any relation its patient and pleasing bearing his reproofs its readiness to go or run or do any thing at the will and command of such a person its standing up in the defence of him or her its rising up against any that would do them injury or that it hears speak reproachfully or diminutively of him It 's readiness to suffer any thing for his sake c. Surely by some or all these notes we may try our love to Christ and be as certain of it as we can be of the sincerity of our love to any fellow creature let me therefore desire you to propound these few questions to your selves 1. How far is Christ the object of thy thoughts We say 〈◊〉 amor ibi oculus where love is there the Eye will be the reason of that is because our thoughts are much imployed about the object of our love where our treasure is saith our Saviour there will our hearts be also the Psalmist therefore speaking of the wicked man who hath no love for God saith God is not in all his thoughts Psal 10. 4. So long as we live in the world the things of it are so much and so continually the objects of our senses that it is not to be expected but that our thoughts should in a great measure be exercised about the things of it so that I would not put the issue upon that whether the world or Christ have most of our thoughts but certainly Christ will be much in the thoughts of that Soul in whom the love of Christ is Te veniente die te decedente canebat saith the Poet of the lover the Soul that loveth Christ will think of him in the evening when he lieth down and in the morning when he riseth up and David had his waking thoughts in the night season with God God will not have all of the best mans thoughts because he is but flesh and hath some thoughts to take about what he shall eat and drink and put on but God will have much of his thoughts Christ will be much in the thoughts of that Soul that truly loveth him Secondly 2. How are the motions of thy Soul after an absent Christ Christ as to his person is alwaies absent that the Heavens must contain till the end of the World but he is or may be graciously present in his institutions and with respect to his gracious influences and with respect to both these he is often or may be absent the first makes up the desertion of a Church when it is general or a particular person when it is only the affliction of a particular Soul in some cases and by some severer providences kept from the ordinances of God the second is the particular desertion of a gracious Soul not as to necessary but as to gradual influences now how is thy Soul affected to Christ absent when thou canst not enjoy the Ordinances of Christ as thou hast formerly enjoyed them You see the heart and affection of David in this cafe in divers Psalms particularly Psal 42. Psal 63. Psal 84. what breathings what longings what impatience doth he there express So when thou suspectest his absence as to the particular special influences of his grace how doth thy heart move toward him doth it move as the heart of the Spouse moved in the third and 5th Chapters of this admirable Song Seeking him sighing after him enquiring of all like to inform thee how thou mightest recover thy lost peace being restless till thou hast recovered it This is a sign of love 3. How is thy heart affected in any presence or enjoyment of Christ What pleasure what delight and complacency hath thy Soul in the institutions of Christ in the manifestations of his love to thy Soul See the instance of the Spouse as to this Can. 3. 4. I found him whom my Soul loveth I held him and would not let him go until I had brought him into my Mothers House and into the Chamber of her that conceived me v. 5. 1 charge you O you Daughters of Hierusalem by the Roes and by the Hinds of the field that you stir not up nor awake my love until he please A rejoycing in the signs of his love being glad and resolving not again to part with him a fear of offending him and care to please him are all of them signs of a love to the Lord Jesus Christ 4. A freedom of converse and communion with him also speaketh love Christ proves himself his Disciples friend because he had made known to them whatsoever he had received from the Father Joh. 15. 15. Dalilab challenged Sampson for want of love to her because he had concealed his secrets from her The withholding of prayer from God the want of frequency freedom and boldness in prayer speaks want of love to Christ in the Soul frequency freedom and boldness holy boldness speaks a Soul full of love to Christ 5. What affections hast thou to those things and persons that have a relation to Christ that bear his image and superscription the Word and Ordinances of God the Ministers and People of God by this you shall know your love to Christ Again 6. How canst thou bear the reproofs of Christ Our nature doth not love reproof we must love those very well from whom we take reproof quietly Let the righteous smite me saith David it shall be as an excellent Oil which shall not break my head When a Christian can bear the verbal reproofs of Christs Word and Ministers and the real reproofs and chastenings of his rod It is a sign of love 7. What zeal hast thou for the honour and glory of Christ Canst thou not hear him reproached but that his reproaches fall on thee thy blood riseth and thy heart is troubled It is an argument of little love for God or Christ when we can patiently hear them abused and dishonoured Psal 69. 9. The zeal of thine house saith David hath eaten me up and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen on me 8. I must not forget that of our Saviour If you love me
and persecutions But comely hrough an imputed righteousness and through the habits of grace with which God hath adorned her I come now to apply that discourse and First We may from hence gather the true notion of a child of God and understand how he stands distinguished from one that is a natural man and yet an unbeliever The true notion of a child of God is this He is one who is imperfectly perfect Black but comely you shall observe in Scripture that perfection is both predicated and denied concerning the People of God Not as if I had attained or were already perfect saith Paul Phil. 3. 12. We are commanded to strive after perfection to endeavour to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord but it is a mark which no man hitteth Heaven is the only place where just Souls are made perfect both as to their fruitions and as to their Actions A thing is then said to be perfect and so a person when there is nothing wanting to it or him nothing that can be added and in this sense no man can be said to be perfect on the other side we are not only commanded to study perfection but it is said of many in holy Writ that they were perfect Noah was a just and perfect man Gen. 6. 9. Job was perfect and upright Job 1. 1. Paul saith he spake wisdom amongst them that are perfect 1 Cor. 3. 6. Phil. 3. 15. Let us as many as be perfect A Christian is perfect in the same sense that he is comely In short there is a threefold perfection may be predicated of a Christian 1. A Perfection of Justification In this sense every believer is comely through Christs righteousness put upon him and reckoned to him and he is perfect for the state of justification is a state that admits not of degrees thus we are as the Apostle speaketh to the Colossions compleat in Christ 2. There is a Perfection of Regeneration and Sanctification this is threefold 1. Of degrees thus none is perfect no not one none liveth and Sinneth not against God there is something to be added to the best mans habits and Acts of Grace 2. Of Parts thus again every believer is perfect Sanctified as the Apostle speaketh in body and mind and spirit the man is made a new creature all the faculties and powers of his Soul are renewed and Sanctified 3. Of scope design and intention This is uprightness this is called perfectness because God upon the covenant of grace accepteth the Soul upon the account of Christ as if it had fulfilled the whole Law of God Rom. 8. 3 4. What the Law could not do in that it was weak through our flesh God sending his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin or by a Sacrifice for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit God accounteth the righteousness of the Law fulfilled by those who walk after the Spirit tho personally it is not because Christ condemned sin in the flesh Thus Noah is said to be a perfect man Gen. 6. 9. and Job a perfect man and upright this is expounded v. 8. one that feareth God and escheweth Evil. For in the strict sense of perfection Job saith chap. 9. v. 20. If he justified himself his own mouth should condemn him if he should say he were perfect that should prove him perverse 3. There is a comparative perfection in this sense the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 3. 6. That he spake wisdom amongst them that were perfect and Phil. 3 15. Let us as many as be perfect be thus minded that is as many of us as are comparatively perfect whose attainments as to knowledg and faith are higher than others The State of the Saints is in no other sense a State of perfection So as I say they are imperfectly perfect which is the same with that of the Text Black but comely And this sufficiently distinguisheth the believer from the unbeliever whether the profane person or the hypocrite The unbeliever may say he is black but he cannot say he is comely What beauty can there be in any Soul not reconciled to God they are all blackness all deformity It is true there is a great deal of difference in these men some of them are black and filthy in the eyes of the rational and more orderly part of the World such is the Atheist the profane Curser and Swearer the Blasphemer the Drunkard the Thief the Oppressor the unrighteous and intemperate man these are the fots of the Earth the spots of the World the shame and reproach of the Nation or City in which they live Beasts walking in humane shapes But there are many others who have much beauty in them in the eyes of the World and humane reason yet are not comely in the eyes of Christ If a man be Sober and Temperate Just and Righteous Kind and Charitable tho he liveth not up to the strict rule of the Gospel and the Commandments of God yet living up to the conduct of humane reason and the advantages of humane society which the others infect and destroy the World counteth him a very good man full of beauty and comeliness applaudeth commends and courts him But now the Lord Christ not judging according to the outward appearance but according to the heart seeing in this mans heart no love of God constraining him to these acts nothing of the fear of God awing this mans Soul unto his duty God I say seeing him in these actions neither acting from a persuasion that this is the will of God nor from a belief of the Promises or of the Threatnings nor from an Obedience to the Precepts of God but meerly from Politick and rational principles from self ends interests that he may appear to men to be good and seeking in these actions the praise of men not of God Or meerly under the conduct of reason commanding their passions in order to their more comfortable being in this World and a more honorable and acceptable converse with the best men in it God I say seeing this judgeth these morally vertuous men black we that are Parents to Children and Masters 〈◊〉 Servants tho we cannot judge of their hearts yet can distinguish betwixt actions which they do upon and in obedience to our command and what they do not at our command nor out of obedience to us tho they be things which done please us being what we would have had done God who knoweth the heart will much more do so I remember our Saviour Matth. 23. 23. pronounceth a wo to the Scribes and Pharisees for faith he you pay Tythe of Mint and Annis and Cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law judgment mercy and faith these things ought you to have done and not to have left the other undone Christ judgeth the comeliness of a Soul not meerly from its external acts
for I delight in the law of God after the inward man 2. Let him Secondly examine himself whether there be not a comeliness in him in and under his blackness of Affliction and worldly opposition A wicked man may be black through affliction but his blackness is like the blackness of a coal which is a dead colour and hath no beauty in it The Child of God is also black from the same cause but his is like the blackness of a polished marble which hath a great beauty and comliness in it The trial of his faith in his afflictions appeareth more precious then that of gold that perisheth his love to God then appeareth by his panting after him and firm adherence of Soul unto him his meekness his patience all shine forth under his afflictions The demeanour of People under afflictions will much discover whose they are 3. Thirdly The comeliness of the Spouse of Christ is not a comeliness without blackness but a comeliness norwithstanding blackness That is to say It is not a Native but an adventitious and Superinduced comliness nor adventitious from any good dispositions or any acts or indeavours of our own singly but a gracious imputation and infusion The imputation of Christs righteousness the infusion of gracious habits a comeliness arising from Christs comeliness put upon the Soul So as tho the poor creature hath been guilty before God and iniquity yet doth sometimes prevail against it the righteousness of Christ being reckoned to him for righteousness and his heart being renewed Sanctified through the Spirit of Christ and the bent of it being set right for God notwithstanding his blackness the Lord doth judge him comely and beautiful overlooking his blackness by reason of sin and infirmity 4. Lastly Every Child of God will own and be truly sensible of his blackness I am black saith the Spouse The hypocrite boasteth of his whiteness come saith Jehu to Jonadab and see my zeal for the Lord God of hosts God I thank thee saith the Pharisee I am not as other men are Extortioners Unjust Adulterers or even as this Publican I fast twice in the week I give tythes of all that I possess Luk. 18. 11 12. he owneth nothing in himself but whiteness aversates all blackness yet v. 14. he went away to his house not justified Hypocrites are hardly perswaded to own in themselves any blackness The Children of God are as hardly perswaded to own any beauty or comliness in themselves I gave you before the Instances of David and of Paul The reason is because the hypocrite trusts to a Spiders web a righteousness from himself spun out of his own Bowels and he is concerned to justify his integrity and to make it as whole as he can again all that he doth is to be seen of men and therefore he must set the best face of his actions that he can the Child of God seeketh for no such things in himself but despairing in himself he flyeth to the righteousness of Christ and freely confesseth and owneth his own nakedness that he might be clothed with that righteousness again the Child of God seeketh not the praise of men nor his own honour and glory but seeketh the praise of God and the honour and glory of Christ alone Thirdly This notion affordeth a great relief to the People of God against their own dejections and despondencies 2. Satans temptations and 3. The worlds upbraidings 1. Against his own despondencyes and dejections A Child of God living under the power of that Precept 2 Cor. 13. 5. Examine your solves prous your selves whether you be in the faith or uâ— is often looking into his own heart and can seldom please himself with the prospect He seeth in his own heart much of Vnbelief much of Vaniâ—y much of Hypocrisy always some lust or other a body of death remaining in him iniquity prevailing against him he sinneth 7 times every day and he seeth it every night and oft times as much out of heart much dejected crying out Vnclean Vnclean I am black wofully black no better then a painted hypocrite I make a fair shew to the World and deceive some of my brethten but alas they do not see that luft and vanity that pride and passion that folly and hypocrisy which I can with half an Eye discorn in my own Soul surely I deceive myself I have no portion in God no relation to Christ I cannot be his Spouse Christian be of good Chear thou art black but art thou not also comely When a Child of God hath found out the best of himself all his comfort will be found to lie in that one text Rom. 8. v. 1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit He can neither look into his own heart and see his inward thoughts and the motions there nor consider his tongue and the issues of that nor compare the best of his actions with the Divine rule but he feeth himself by all condemned and findeth nothing to relieve him in is dark thoughts but in Christs imputed righteousness and that there no is condemnation to them that are in Christ And that is enough provided that he hath this evidence of his being in Christ That he walketh not after the flesh but after the Spirit 2. It affordeth the same relief against the most desperate temptations of our grand adversary the Devil Satan we say first tempteth to Sin and then he makes advantage of our hearkening to his temptations to tempt us to further sins and those of a more heinous and horrid nature to despair of Gods mercy to destroy our selves c. He first attempteth to make the Soul black by moving it to sinful acts then his next work is to perswade the Soul that God will never pardon such a sinner Christ can never Love such an Ethiopian Hence those strong violent impressions upon Souls under the power of temptations God is an holy God of purer eyes then to behold iniquity he can never set his heart upon such a polluted vile wretch as I am I have been guilty of thousands of willful Omissions of duty and Commissions contrary to my duty possibly some particular sin or sins lie as an heavy load upon the poor creatures conscience The Spouse here hath furnished such a Soul with an answer to the tempter The Spouse of Christ is black but yet comely Let then such a Soul thus answer these suggestions of the tempter O thou Prince of darkness it is true I have been a grievous sinner and as such Christ cannot Love me so far forth as I am black I am unlovely but I am not wholly black Christ cannot Love my sins but he can pardon my sin and Love my Soul The Lord hath been graciously pleased to pardon my sins upon my repentance and my acceptation of the Lord Jesus Christ and receiving him as my Saviour he hath said to me while I
that which should commend him or it No artificial beauty is our own and so a thing not to be gloried in All the comeliness of a Child of God is a derived comeliness His blackness is his own his comeliness is from another it is Christ that hath made him to differ he hath received his beauty and therefore ought not to glory as if he had not received it And this in the second place ought to mind them of their duty of thankfulness and admiration of â—he love of Christ When saith David I consider the Heavens the work of thy hands the Moon and the Start which thou hast ordained what is man that thou art mindful of him and the Son of man that thou visitest him Yet David in that Psalm is speaking of no more then Gods more common mercies of Creation and Providence but what greater reason hath a Child of God to cry out Lord what is man that thou shouldst remember him Lord What was I that thou shouldst remember me and fix thy love and put thy comeliness upon me I was by nature an Ethiopian and have contracted much more blackness by my conversation in the world now that the Lord should make us comely through his comeliness that he should fix his love upon any of our Souls and put any of his Chains about our Necks What manner of love was this To which of the Angels said he at any time aâ— Zech. 16. 8. When I passed by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time was a time of love and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness yea I sware unto thee and entered into a covenant of life with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine Or as Jer. 3. v. 14. Turn O backsliding Children saith the Lord for I am married unto you To which of them hath he at any time said my Love my Dove my Vndefiled We had none of us either Beauty or Portion Christ hath given us both Admire the height and depth of Divine Love and consider what an ingratitude it would be if any of us should now like Israel Ezek. 16. 15. Trust in your own beauty and play the Harlotâ— and pour out fornications on every one that passeth by Bestow our hearts our love and affections upon any objects contrary to him beneath and besides him whether it be not reasonable that we should be wholly to him and for him who are wholly from him and are nothing but what we are in him Thirdly This notion calleth to the people of God not to be overmuch disquâ—eted and dejected It is one thing to walk humbly that is our duty another thing to walk dejectedly that is our infirmity we have no reason to be proud because we are black nor yet to despond and be dejected because in Christs Eyes if we be upright if we prepare and fix our hearts to seek the Lord we are comely We have no reason because of our blackness to glory in our selves but we have reason to rejoice and to glory in our comeliness which though indeed Christs comeliness yet being puâ—upon us becometh ours A believer hath therefore hath nothing to do but to see that his interest in Christ be clear and to see to wash his feet and he is clean every whit We have reason to consider our ways to reflect upon our infirmities to be humbled for our failings and to walk humbly at all times in the sense of them but still to incourage our selves in the Lord our righteousness to hope in God and rejoice in Christ tho we have no confidence in the flesh either in any priviledges of our birth or in any works of our own Lastly This Doctrine calleth upon all not to look upon the Spouse of Christ because she is black They are the words of our Spouse following in the next verse but the proper application of what she saith in this verse the use which she desireth her Brethren to make of this her imperfect and black state Something God willing shall be spoken hereafter more largely for the explication of those woâ—dâ— then the streightness of my time will now allow I shall therefore reserve the fuller explication of this duty until I come to the next verse and shall give you but a short tast and specimen of what I shall then more fully inlarge upon 1. We ought not to look upon the Spouse of Christ in these circumstances with a supercilious scornful and censorious Eye The Eye is the Oâ—gan of the body by which the Soul first taketh the cognisaâ—ce of a thing and is suitably affected there are two false rules by which we judge of persons 1. When we judge of them by particular actions 2 When we judge of them by external acâ—idents the first of them indeed is more proper then the latter because they are the fruit of the Soul the other are forreign and adventitious neither of them are a safe rule of Judgment not the former because none is to be denominated from single and particular acts and this the Philosopher will teach us and indeed if this rule of judgment should be true what judgment must have passed upon Lot Noah Abraham Jacob Job David Pâ—teâ— all the most eminent Servants of God whose names are upon Sacred Record they were all guilty of irregular acts Not the latter for it is not that which is accidental to a man but that which proceedeth from him that defileth a man Take therefore heed of a censorious scornful Eye when you look upon the People of God in their blackness consider that you also may be tempted that although you now stand yet you may fall 2. Look not upon her with a pleased and satisfied Eye The Eye is that Organ of the Booy which giveth the Soul delight content pleasure and satisfaction in the object Psal 92. v. 11. Mine Eye also shall see my desire upon mine Enemies We have naughty and corrupt hearts ready to take a secret delight and pleasure in the slips and failings of our Brethren let this be far from you either to rejoice in the real blackness the failings and miscarriages of any whose general conversation is not unworthy of the Gospel or to rejoice in any of their afflictions we are to weep with those that weep not to rejoice when we see our Brethren weep The first rejoicing is opposite to your duty with respect to the honour of God which suffereth by others sins as well as our own The second is eminently contrary to that love and fellow-feeling and compassion which we owe unto our Brethren Thirdly look not upon them so as to take out a copy for your imitation Rocks stand up in the Sea and lights stand upon the Land to give Ships notice of Rocks and Sands not that Mariners should run upon them but that they may avoid them for this end also are the failings and sins of Gods People Recorded in Holy Writ When you see a Child of God
from above 2 When we boast our selves to have some good or some measures of good and perfection which we have not 3 When we slight and despise others whom we judge to come short of our perfections They likewise prescribe a threefold remedy for this distemper 1. The consideration of our native weakness and infirmity 2. The consideration of the infinite greatness and perfection of God 3. The consideration of our own gifts and graces in the shortness and imperfections of them In short therefore there is no need to fear the discovery of any Pride in the acknowledgment of what God hath done for us provided 1. That we do not play the Hypocrites boasting beyond our line of what we never experienced what God never wrought in us The proud man arrogateth more to himself then doth belong unto him 2. Provided that thou doest intitle God to all that thou hast of good in thee It is truly said by the Schoolmen Cum aliquis aestimate bonum quod habet ab alio ac si haberet a seipso fertur per consequens appetitus ejus supra modum in propriam excellentiam That is If a man judgeth that that good which he hath from another proceedeth from himself his desire is immoderately carried out after his own excellency and this is Pride They are therefore highly concerned to look to themselves as to this that attribute so much to the power of mans will without any influence of special and distinguishing grace you shall observe how careful St. Paul was against this upon all occasions where he mentioneth his grace I live saith he but yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God I was a Persecutor a Blasphemer Injurious but I obtained mercy and the grace of the Lord was exceedingly abundant in me with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus I am the least of the Apostles not worthy to be called an Apostle But by the Grace of God I am what I am It is no pride to acknowledge what God hath given us and done for us but to arrogate it to our selves as done by our own power this is pride 3. Provided 3dly That thou dost not despise the day of small things in the Souls of others Scorning contemning and despising those for whom God hath done or we think that he hath done less then he hath done for us This will speak Pride the proud Soul as he alwaies arrogateth too much to himself so he alwaies giveth too little to his Brother and haughtily over-looketh what he hath so that his Brother alwaies seems low and vile in his Eyes 4. Lastly Provided That with the acknowledgment of thy perfections and graces thou conjoynest an admiration of Gods goodness an acknowledgment of thy unworthiness and of thy sinful failings and imperfections Thus you see the Spouse doth in this Text. I am black saith she but comely So did Paul in the places I before quoted 3. A third Bar to this is Novelty This can only be pleaded with reference to our acknowledgments to the Church or the Officers of it with respect to our either being admitted into a full communion with it in all Ordinances or being restored to it after some lapse for the more private practice of it to our Brethren it is as old as David as may be seen from Psal 66. v. 16 17. As to the former it was from the beginning certainly thus None were admitted into the Gospel Church without a profession of repentance and faith in Christ None after a lapse or Apostacy was restored to the Church without it Indeed through the corruption of times both the one and the other practice hath degenerated into a meer formality and now it seemeth new to us But as it is but a reduction of an Apostolical and Primitive Practice so there certainly is nothing more reasonable both for the comfort of the particular Soul from whom this declaration is desired and for the satisfaction of the Minister of Christ who is but a Steward of the mysteries of Christ and ought to be faithful and also for the mutual satisfaction of such as are to be Members of the same Body 4. But lastly whatever is pretended it is much to be feared that Pride is the true hinderance of this Christian and Spiritual duty 1. Either we think it beneath us to discourse of spiritual things and to acknowledge all to the free grace of God Or 2. We think we come short of some perfections which others have attained and we are ashamed to let others know how short we are But O that Christians would grow more familiar with spiritual things We think that it is a piece of Charity if we hear of a Neighbour that is full of pain or very sick ofsuch adistemper as we have formerly laboured under to goand tell him how we were what we did what effect and issue it had but we find an awkness to relate to fellow Christians how we lay labouring under the guilt of sin and perplexities of conscience and burthens of temptations and what our applications to God were and what relief we found from his free grace and mercy But in the performance of this as well as other duties there may be miscarriages Let me therefore conclude with offering some directions for the better management of this duty They shall be three 1. Take heed to the principle moving thee to such actions That must be love to God the principle of all religious actions without which we do nothing acceptably this is determined by the Apostle 2 Cor. 13. 1 2. It is love that is the fulfilling of the law and indeed we can no otherwise in any point fulfil it Take heed that self-love be not the principle if by it thou seekest thy honour and praise self love only principleth thee but if thou dost it that God may have the glory of his Grace that the Souls of others may be profited and advantaged That offences may be prevented or removed That the dirt may be wiped off which the world throweth upon profession In these cases the love of God is thy principle 2. Take heed to the manner of thy doing it As to that I shall only hint 2 things 1. See that God hath all the glory It is lawful for thee to boast of the Grace of God but you must be sure to boast in the Lord and in all thy acknowledgments of any spiritual good thou oughtest to sing with David Psal 115. 1. Not unot us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name be given the Glory for thy mercy and for thy truth sake 2. Do it with all the greatest lowliness and humility of mind and expression that thou art able so as nonw may for what thou hast received of grace think of thee above what he ought to think Paul forbare to speak what he could have spake after his rapture into the third Heavens
2 Cor. 12. 6. Lest as he saith any should think of me above that which he seeth in me or that he heareth of me We are to have a care of the corruptions of others hearts as well as our own 3. Look to the simplicity of thy heart in the end of thy action This will indeed be much regulated from the principle if the principle be true the end will be so A man can do nothing out of a true principle of love to God but his end will be the honour and glory of God if the principle be self-love the end will be our own honour praise and applause to have the reputation of a religious man in the world and to appear to be what indeed we are not Now if thy end be the honour and glory of God you have heard that is no other way attainable but either by the predication of his goodness or by the doing of his will either in the doing good to others or the preventing of scandals and offences or upholding the credit and reputation of Religion c. But of all these things I have discoursed more fully before Sermon XXXVI Cant. 1. 6. Look not upon me because I am black c. I Have done with the four first Propositions which I observed in these two verses I come to the fifth from those words Look not upon me because I am black Where the Spouse or rather the Holy Ghost by her doth not forbid all looking upon the Spouse whether we understand the Church or the particular believing Soul in the day of her blackness but some particular lookings And this is very usual in Scripture to deliver Propositions generally which yet must be understood in a limited and restrained sense of which a multitude of instances might be given Mat. 18. 3. Except you â—e converted and become as little Children that is in some things as little Children you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God So where Christ saith my Doctrine is not mine the meaning is not mine alone and again If I give testimony of my self that is if I alone gave testimony of my self my testimony is not true So often in precepts and exhortations when thou makest a feast saith our Saviour Luk. 14. 12. call not thy Friends or thy Brethren or thy Kindred that is not them alone There is nothing more ordinary in the phrase of Scripture and particularly in exhortations or prohibitions So here when she saith Look not upon me her meaning is not to dissuade all intuition and beholding her in her blackness but to caution us how to look upon her hence the Proposition was It is our duty to take heed how we look upon the Church or the particular Child of God because they are black What the blackness of the Church or of the particular Soul is I have heretofore largely discoursed Both of them are black through Afflictions and black through Corruptions the Corruptions of particular Souls are personal the Corruptions of the Church are the Corruptions of the body collective through the mixture of undue and corrupt Teachers or Members the reception of false and erroneous Doctrine idolatrous or superstitious Worship or Rites c. In some sense we may not be able to avoid looking upon them as looking signifies no more then the casting of our Eyes upon obvious objects that are before us In some sense it is our duty to look upon them to pity and compassionate them and contribute what we are able toward their help and recovery But in other senses it is our sin to look upon them The business as to which I am to instruct you under this Proposition is how truly to divide betwixt our duty and our sin in this case The Eyes are the windows of the Soul through which most of our affections and passions shew themselves Pride discovereth itself by the Eye hence you read of a Generation whose Eyes are lâ—fâ—y Prov. 30. 13. and David saith of himself O Lord mine heart is not haughty nor my Eyes lofty Psal 131. 1. Love and wantonness discovereth itself by the Eye Hence Peter tells us of Eyes full of Adultery and Job tells us he had made a covenant with his Eyes that he would not look upon a Maid Covetousness and immoderate desires discover themselves by the Eye Prov. 27. 29. The Eyes of man are never satisfied The joy pleasure and satisfaction of the Soul are discerned by the Eye Mine Eyes also shall see my desire on my Enemies Psal 92. 11. Hope looketh through the Eye hence David expresseth his hope in God by the action of his Eyes Mine Eyes are towards the Lord Psal 25. 15. and in many other Texts Pity sorrow and compassion are discovered and expressed by the Eye The Eyes for sorrow wax dim and run down with tears The outward man moveth according to the bent and inclination of the will and affections as a mans will stands bent and his affections are inclined so he moveth so he acteth and this will of man and his affections discovering themselves by the Eye The motions of that are made use of in Scripture to express the several affections and inclinations of the Soul of man The Spouse in this Text must not be understood to caution the Daughters of Hierusalem against the natural motions of their Eyes with reference to her But 1. Against those unkind affâ—ctions towards her which were not suitable to her state and condition 2. Against those unkind effects and actions which ordinarily follow such affections I put in those words unkind and unsuitable because there are affections and actions which are our duties towards the Spouse in the day of her blackness This will lead me to discourse two points under this Proposition 1. The duâ—y of Christians towards the Church of Christ black with Afflictions or through sinful mixtures and corruptions and towards particular Christians under affâ—â—ctions or lapses 2. How Christians may sin in their behaviours towards one or the other under such circumstances First Let me speak as to what is a Christians duty in the ease that I shall resolve in this general position That it is a Christians duty so far to look upon the Church and the particular Christian in the day of their blackness as they may be thereby affected with that due compassion which they owe unto their Brethren and quickned to those acts which brotherly love and compassion calteth to them for Thus not to look upon the Spouse because she is black is our sin So that the duty of a Christian here lieth in two or three things 1. In a sympathy or fellow feeling of a Churches or Christians burdens and misery The Eye naturally affects the heart according to the nature of the object which it seeth Nature itself teacheth a sympathy betwixt members of the same body No one member can be afflicted or pained but the whole body feeleth it and hath some sense of it The Apostle hath compared the Church the
of God Let us take heed that we be not made black by afflictions of this nature which we shall be if by them we be moved from our good opinion of the ways of God from our profession or practice of them there is no sinner more black then the Apostate See 2 Pet 2. 20. 21. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning For it is better sor them not to have known the way of righteousness then after they have known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered unto them Indeed failings in a time of Persecution are caused from a double cause Sometimes meerly from the fear of life or some great danger that will befall to men if they adhere to their former profession failings of this nature make a Soul look black but many such recover themselves and the Lord who can have compassion upon our insirmities pities them and recovers them out of the snare of the Devil this is a blackness we ought to avoid by putting on the whole Armour of God that we may be able to stand in the day of the Lords Battel But there is another defection which is occasioned by Persecutions and Afflictions of this nature That is when men out of a greater love to other ways in a time of tryal renounce the truths of God they have formerly owned and forsake the ways of God in which they have formerly walked to these now Persecutions and Afflictions of this nature are but a slight occasion of their defection and Apostacy and this eminent difference you will find betwixt the others and these The others though they may be prevailed withal to warp and start aside because of the greatness of the temptation it was Peters case in the High Priests Hall yet will never be prevailed with to speak evil of and to revile the truths of God which they have owned nor the ways of God in which they have formerly walked and others yet walk The others being prevailed upon to their Apostacy meerly from the lusts of their hearts and the greater love they have alwaies had tho like Hypocrites they have concealed it to looser principles and a looser way of living take themselves concerned to reproach their former ways and those who yet walk in them This is a dreadful blackness not a tincture upon the face only but a tincture of the heart which by occasion of Persecution for the Gospel breaketh out into the more exteriour conversation To enforce this caution I shall only mention three things 1. That this is the affection only of the stony ground Mat. 13. 6 21. It is a certain sign that those never received the Seed of the Word into honest and good hearts that they never had any root in themselves who when tribulation and persecution ariseth because of the word by and by they are offended He that receiveth the truth in the Love of it cannot so easily abandon the profession of it 1 John 2. 19. They went out from us they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us The day of Persecution and tribulation for the Gospel sake is the day of the manifestation and discovery of hypocrites I do not think that all shrinking in a time of persecution is a note of hypocrisy there is a shrinking through fear in the time of great temptation so Peter shrank But for men to make a defection out of a principle of lust and greater Love to other ways and to reproach and speak Evil of the ways of God which by the way is a certain indication of such a defection this speaketh the man or woman to be no better then an hypocrite nor ever to have been other tho to serve his lusts he disguised himself with a mask of holiness and Religion 2. Secondly consider That no sinner so reproacheth the good and holy ways of God as such a sinner doth He tells the World that he hath tryed them that there is nothing in them that nothing but the ignorance prejudices of his education youth led him into them that the ways of sin profaneness of Formality and Superstition are better and therefore he is at last grown wiser then to take such pains to go to heaven If I would pick out a wretch out of the whole herd of sinners to reproach God to blaspheme the Gospel and the ways of holiness I would pick out onethat had been formerly a professor and had turned away from his profession this wretch pretendeth from experience to justify what others do but loosely discourse 3. Thirdly no sinners must expect a more dreadful Vengeance The reason is evident because none sin against more light There is no man who hath made a profession and lived in any practice of Religion but knows that there is no iniquity in it nothing but what suteth the common reason of mankind not debauched through lust and that those who in any measure live up to the profession of the Gospel are if sober heathens were to be judges the best of men with respect to all duty which the light of Nature teacheth toward the Divine Being and all good offices towards men I say there is none who hath made any profession but knows this and in all his Evil speaking of them doth not sin like an heathen nor like a profane man who speaketh ill of the things he knoweth not but speaketh contrary to the dictate of his own conscience I would not have this understood of those who are made black through these afflictions from the temporary prevailing of a strong temptation these with Pâ—ter tho they fall yet go out and weep bitterly and are recovered and made stronger by their fall but of those others before mentioned to whom Affliction and Persecution are but the externall occasions to draw out the lusts of their hearts which waited but for an opportunity to discover its self 2. Finally to shut up this discourse let this caution us from Judging the Spouse of Christ black because the Sun hath looked upon her You have heard that this is but the Worlds judgment not according to any measures of truth or righteousness To this End 1. Root your selves in this truth That none can judge of Gods Love or hatred from what happeneth to him in this life It is Solomons Maxime and a great truth God governeth the World according to the just Oeconomy of his Providence with respects unto his own wife Ends and no spiritual judgment can be made of the state of any from those administrations oft-times he maketh Princes to go on foot when servants ride on horse back and the wicked to devour those that are more righteous then they 2.
condescension beyond the grasp of our faith The greatness of it causeth in us a difficulty to believe it Who is a God like our God a Saviour a Redeemer an Husband like our Saviour our Redeemer our Spiritual Husband When they told David that he should have Michal the Daughter of Saul to Wife and persuaded him to it Seemeth it to you saith he a small thing to be a Son-in-law to a King If there be any of you not affected with this Love this transcendent Love give me leave to speak to you in the language of David Seemeth it to you a small thing to be the beloved the friends the companions of the Lord Jesus Christ Ah! That I could send you away this day admiring the divine Love that he should take the fellowship of our nature upon him that he should make us his fellow Citizens admit us to a fellowship with him both in grace here and in glory hereafter that he should be our Companion in tribulation our Companion in labour and follow Soldier But I leave this to be further improved by you in your more private meditations 2. Secondly This notion is of wonderful use to relieve and comfort the People of God under all their present afflictions or fears of greater The face of things as to Gods People hath been a long time gathering blackness and there is this day a great blackness Prisons in the Primitive times were more the habitations of Gods People then Palaces God grant we may not see them to be so again we have been so used to beds of Feathers Down that the thoughts of a bed of straw make us shrink so wedded to our own Country that a strange land appeareth to us a strange thing The Providence of God looketh as if it were preparing Prisons and Fetters and banishments for his People and the hearts of Gods People are every where as sad as the times What a wonderful comfort and relief to the People of God at such a time is it for them to hear the Lord Jesus Christ calling them his Companions His Companions in tribulation and to call himself their fellow Souldier and fellow Prisoner There are a great many arguments with which the suffering Servants of God may be relieved Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer said the Angel to the Church at Smyrna Behold the Devil shall cast some of you into Prison that you may be tryed and you shall have tribulation that you might be tryed and you shall have tribulation for ten days Rev. 2. 10. There are several arguments 1. It is the Devil that cast Saints into Prison He doth it by men as his instruments but he filleth them with their rage and malice 2. It is that they may be tryed God permits it the Devil could have no power against a believer more then against Christ if God did not permit it The Devil and his instruments design is to ruin and to destroy them Gods end is to try them 3. It shall be but a tribulation for ten days a short time The rod of the wicked shall not always rest upon the lot of the righteous Well but how shall they hold out these ten days See Isaiah 43. 1 2. Thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel Fear not for I have Redeemed thee I have called thee by thy name thou art mine When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee When thou walkest through the fires thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee In the ten days of tribulation the Child of God shall not be alone he that Redeemed them will be with them This was made good to the three Children in the fiery fornace in Babylon Dan. 3. 24. Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire saith Nebuchadnezzar lo I see four men loose walking in the middest of the fire and they have no hurt and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God He was with Daniel Daniel 9. 22. With Paul and Silâ—s Acts. 16. They could never else have sang in the Prison at midnight Let the People of God lift up their heads as Moses seeing him who is invisible Only take the caution of Peter 1. Pet 4. Let none of you suffer as a Murderer or as a Thief or as an Evil doer or as a busy body in other mens matters But if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God one this behalf Let men look that they suffer for righteousness sake that is to avoid sinning against God all such suffering is for righteousness sake then they shall never be alone Saul Saul why saith Christ persecutest thou me calling out of Heaven to Paul when he was in his full carreer of persecution of the Church No man can expect that Christ should be a companion to him in his tribulation while he suffereth meetly for his stomach or out of humour much less if he suffereth for doing that which is plainly sinful and which he ought not to have done but if he suffereth to avoid sin against God to keep himself unspotted from the World as he is made a partaker of Christs sufferings so Christ will be a partaker of his sufferings his Companion in suffering and whensoever Christs glory shall be revealed he shall be glad with exceeding joy It is a marvelous sweet notion to suffering Christians to hear that Jesus Christ is and will be their Companion in sufferings fear not therefore Christians in despight of evil men and evil times to keep a good Conscience but Jam. 1. 2. Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations A good Conscience was yet never in Prison alone Nor will this be strange to us if we consider that even death it self though it makes Soul and Body part Company yet it doth not make Christ and a believer part Company Our Bodies shall be raised from the Grave by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us Rom. 8. 11. There are two great arguments amongst others to comfort the People of God in all their noons of Afflictions 1. That even then they are Christs fellows They then are in the fellowship of his death Phil. 4. 10 11. They suffer with him Rom. 8. 17. They are made conformable to his death Christ is magnified in their body They make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ 2. That Christ will then be their fellow it is to the Spouse at Noon that he saith here O My Love My Fellow c. When the World is spitting their Venom shewing their utmost Malice and hatred even then Christ is calling to them and saying My Love When the World is casting them out as Pestilent fellows then is Christ saying unto them My Companions Then will he be with them and manifest himself as a friendly Companion to them In
to the King There 's no Faith in Christ nor pure Love to God and Christ to be got at Athens Flesh and Blood will not convey these things into a Soul Lastly Observe how the whole Trinity is concerned in the dispensations of grace It is the note of the Learned Mercer That the Mystery of the Trinity is here held out to us in the Plural Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I touched upon this before though indeed the works of the Trinity within it self be divided The Father begetteth and is not begotten The Son is begotten but doth not beget The Holy Ghost proceedeth from both and doth neither beget nor is begotten and although to denote the order of working in the holy Trinity Creation is made the work of the Father Redemption the work of the Son and Sanctification the work of the Holy Spirit yet it is most certain that all the works of the Trinity out of it self are individed what one person doth all do All that grace of which the Believer is made partaker floweth from the whole Trinity it is from the Father through the merits of the Son and by the Holy Ghost In the second place Will Christ go on in giving to his Saints more grace Let not then those of little Faith be discouraged Let not those that are strong despise the weak nor those who are weak be discouraged and despond in themselves If the Child of God hath Faith but as a grain of Mustard seed it shall increase If it hath but a stock of grace like the Widdows Meal in the Barrel and Oil in the Cruise yet the Meal shall not fail from the Barrel nor the Oil from the Cruise If the Child of a rich and indulgent Parent be despised by another that hath finer Clothes and richer Ornaments than the Wisdom of its Parent thinks fit at present to allow it it will comfort its self that its Father is able to do as much for it that he wants no love to prompt him to it that it hath a large Inheritance that is made sure unto it Shall not the Child of God thus comfort himself from its hopes of glory though it as yet hath but a small earnest of it from that fulness of grace which is in Christ He shall be holden up saith the Apostle speaking of the weak Brethren for God is able to make him stand Rom. 14. 4. And from that readiness that is in Christ and his Promise to give to him that hath so that he shall have more abundantly from the Promise of Christ to the Soul whose cheeks are already comely with Rows of Jewels and Chains of Gold that he will make for it Borders of Gold with spots or badges or studs of Silver Let true grace in the Soul be never so faint and weak it is the Seed of God it shall abide yea it shall grow and increase Hypocrisie is alwaies withering the Hypocrite groweth worse and worse his fair shews and appearances daily decay but true grace is alwaies growing Christ is alwaies adding to it And indeed this is one thing which distinguisheth a sincerity and truth of grace from all the counterfeits of it A Child of God is alwaies growing better and better the Lord is adding to his spiritual habits Wicked men and Hypocrites are growing worse and worse In the last place This Notion calls to all the People of God 1. For an admiration of the Love of God towards them what a God do we serve what a Saviour what a Friend what a Beloved hath every Soul whose Soul sincerely loveth the Lord Jesus Christ The Beloved of your Souls is not like anothers Beloved in himself he is not he is the chiefest of ten thousand he is altogether desires He is not to you as anothers Beloved he is unweariable in his acts of grace and dispensations of goodness Are there any Souls here whose iniquities are forgiven whose sins are covered whose Souls are regenerated renewed through the Sanctification of the Spirit might not these Souls go into their Closets with David and sit down and say Who are we O Lord God! and what were our Souls that the Lord should bring us hitherto that God should wash our Souls white in the Blood of the Lamb and give us another Spirit than we had by Nature a new Heart a new Nature that he should make us partakers of the Divine Nature But this was yet a small thing in the sight of God he hath spoken also of his Servants for a great while yet to come he hath spoken of more grace of making for us Borders of Gold with Badges of Silver A faithful man shall abound with blessings The beginnings of saving grace in the Soul in the Justification of the Soul and the first change and renovation of our Natures are blessings of that nature as Eternity will be too short a time to admire the Love of God in and for but will the Lord also add to his Servants stock and increase their heap will he be still making and preparing new Ornaments for them and giving further grace to them till all their wants shall be supplied all their emptinesses filled up what manner of Love is this Let our Souls be swallowed up in the admiration of this Love Let our Souls and all that is within us bless his holy Name 2. How doth this Notion call to us for all manner of holiness Holiness lyeth in two things 1. The mortification of lusts and sinful habits with the eschewing and declining of sinful acts which are the fruit of those trees 2. The exercises of Godliness Let me shortly press both from this notion of out beloved's being preparing still and making for us Chains of Gold and spots of Silver I will begin with the 2d 1. The exercises of our selves unto Godliness in all those positive duties which God requireth of us Whether they may be more internal such as faith hope Love or more external in our more external communion with God in Prayer reading hearing his word receiving his holy Sacrament Or in our conversation before and towards men I shall press these from this notion upon a twofold consideration 1. These exercises are the way to keep Christ still at work making for us these further Ornaments 2. They are the wearing and using of these Ornaments I say first these exercises will keep our Lords hand continually at work so as he will never be weary but be still adding to our Ornaments of grace I have had occasion often in my former discourses to hint to you that although God be ingaged by his covenant and faithfulness to bring the Souls of believers to glory and consequently to give out to them such necessary supplies of grace as shall make them meet for that inheritance yet he is at liberty as to the gradual manifestations of his grace to dispense them according to his own infinite wisdom and his Peoples behaviour toward him And the promises of that
grace are made to the exercises of grace Christ will be alwaies giving to those who are alwaies working out their Salvation with fear and trembling exercising themselves to Godliness These exercises are those sacred means in the use and not without the use of which he hath promised the influences of further grace Men mistake the promises of further grace if they apprehend them made to any who do not their duty as to the fulfilling of them when God had made those large promises of which you read Ezek. 36. He concludeth v. 37. Thus faith the Lord God I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them I will do it faith God but yet I will be inquired of to do it for them And for that promise Matth. 13. 12. Whosoever hath to him it shall be given and he shall have more abundance though by the foregoing verse where our Saviour giveth a reason why he soake to his disciples more plainly then to others Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them it is not given It seems to be a promise of further grace to those to whom the first grace is given Yet in Matth. 25. 29. where the same promise is repeated and annexed to the parable of the talents it is plainly to be understood of those who have and use and improve what they have so as take those two Texts together they are a promise indeed of further grace to be given but to such as make a just improvement of what grace God hath first bestowed upon them 2. Secondly Our exercises of Godliness are indeed the wearing of these Jewels God gives men and women grace for their uses exercise is the use of the habit and the end for which the Lord giveth it What man will be continually buying clothes and Ornaments for his Wife who when she hath them will not wear them They are no Ornaments if they do not adorn us how shall they adorn us in the sight of the World which cannot look into our hearts unless we use and wear them How can we wear and exercise our grace but by works of piety towards God and goodness towards men I will add yet one thing more 3. It is but ingenuity in us when our Lord is never weary of giving out to us never satisfied never thinking that he hath done enough for us to be thinking we have not done enough nor can ever do enough for him when we hear Christ saying to us I will make them borders of Gold and Ornaments of Silver Should not we be saying We will take some new steps in the ways of God do some further acts of obedience then we have yet done forget what is behind and press on to what is before unto the price of the high calling Shall my beloved never think me fine enough Adorned enough And shall I ever think my self holy and Spiritual enough Serviceable enough to him in my generation Shall not I be ever trying some new ways to advance Christ in the World in my family in my own Soul Christ asks his disciples what do you do more then others Matth. 5. You receive more but what do you do more Every good Christian should ask himself these two questions 1. What do I more then others I have more mercy then others what do I more than they It is a shame for a Christian to do no more than a Publican a poor wretch that never tasted how good the Lord is yea it is a shame for him to do no more than he who hath not received the measures of grace which he hath received The 2d Question I would have him propound to himself is What do I do more than I was wont to do Wherein do I go on from strength to strength Wherein do I exceed my self Christ is preparing new measures of grace for giving out new measures of grace to me What new affections have I for Jesus Christ What new performances do I do for him The second thing in which I told you Holiness lay was in mortification of lusts and vitious habits in eschewing evil c. Is our Lord making and preparing new Ornaments for Believers How should they be afraid to grieve and dishonour him This Notion affords a double Argument whereby to press this second part of Holiness 1. From Ingenuity It is no way ingenous and becoming Christians to be pulling Jewels as it were out of Christ's Crown while he is adding Jewels to our Crown to be spoiling Christ of his Honour and Glory while he is consulting our honour and satisfaction O therefore grieve not his holy Spirit 2. There will by it arise a disadvantage to your Immortal Souls What Husband will still be bringing new Ornaments to a froward and disobedient Wife that taketh no care to please him Duty may oblige him to see that she shall not want necessaries but he will certainly cut her short of superfluities God in this as I have shewed you deals after the manner of men God's Cove nant his Truth and Faithfulness to that will oblige him notwithstanding his Peoples frowardness to give them what grace is necessary to bring them to Heaven but they must look to be cut short of that more grace which they otherwise might receive from him The Soul of a Christian who giveth himself too much liberty may be saved but it will be as through fire When David had fallen into those two great sins of Adultery and Murder I remember God sent Nathan to him with this Message 2. Sam. 12. 7 8. I anointed thee King over Israel and delivered thee out of the hands of Saul and I gave thee thy Masters Houses and thy Masters Wives into thy bosom and gave thee the House of Israel and Judah and if that had been too little I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things wherefore hast thou despised the Commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight c. God there aggravaâ—eth 〈…〉 not only from those mercies which he had already received from God but from that Love which was yet in his heart for him and his readiness to do much more for him than he had yet done Think when you have any temptations to sin against the Lord that you hear Christ saying to you I died upon the Cross for you I washed you in my Blood I have pardoned thy sins clothed thee with my Righteousness changed thy heart put my 〈◊〉 into thee and if that had been too little I was ready to do for thee such and such things to make for thee Borders of Gold and Studs of Silver and shouldst thou now favour thy lusts which are the Enemies of Christ shouldst thou now despise the Commandments of the Lord and do evil in his sight Let this ingage all of us to fulfil the Precept of the Apostle 2 â—et 1. 5. Giving all diligence To add to our faith
Doctors generally understand this of an ill savour strangely interpreting this Text of the Golden Calf which the Israelites made soon after they came out of Egypt after the commission of which Idolatry they say the name of the Israelites which before was exceeding sweet in the nostrils of God stank and had an ill savour But all of the most valuable interpreters of this Text understand it of a sweet and fragrant smell which alone is proper to Spikenard Thus far we have inquired out the Grammatical sense of the words Let us further inquire 1. What is meant by the King sitting at his table 2. What is meant by the Spouses Spikenard sending or giving out the smell thereof By the King that King is doubtless meant the same Person whom the Spouse in the two next verses calleth her Beloved by whom we have all along understood the Lord Jesus Christ the only question here is what is meant by his sitting at his table Some by it understand his Incarnation the time during which he tabled with us others his glorifyed estate so Tremellius I think Genebrard hitteth the sense right who saith the phrase Denotat praesentiam Christi cum Ecclesia signifyeth the presence of Christ with his Church Thus also Mercer interpreteth it while Christ saith he is present with his Church feeding it with his Word the Church sendeth forth the sweet smells of Faith grace and good works as Paul saith we are a sweet savour unto God And what he saith of the presence of Christ with the Church is as true concerning his presence with the particular Soul that believeth in him he who fitteth with another at the table hath a fellowship and communion with him while Christ vouchsafeth me his presence That I take to be the sense of this Phrase You read in the Gospel of a Marriage Supper which the King provided for his Son And Rev. 19. 9. You read of the Marriage Super of the Lamb and God promiseth Rev. 3. 20. That if any man opens to him while he standeth at the door and knocketh he will come in and sup with him Which phrases only note Gods nearness of presence intimacy of fellowship and mmunion with his People The next question is what is here meant by the smell thereof Tremellius translates it Nardinum that which is of spikenard taking the Suffix not as a Pronoun but as forming a Noun adjective So it should be read thus while the King sitteth at his Table that which is of Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof as if the smell related to the fulness of Grace which is in Christ But I shall rather follow our own translation To send forth its Smell saith Mr. Durham on the Text is to be in lively exercise Grace without smell or lively exercise being like flowers somewhat withered that savour not nor like unbeaten spice that sâ—nds not forth its savour My grace is in exercise that is his Sense But 2dly The smell of a thing is that which discovers a thing that both to our selves and to others Not only the motions and vigorous actings and exercises of grace but the Notifications and discoveries of it both to our selves and others depends upon Christs presence with and influence upon the Soul that is possessed of it Two Propositions of Doctrine arise from the words thus opened 1. Prop. That true grace will give its proper smell 2. Prop. The smell of the Saints grace doth much depend upon Christs influence upon them and communion with them I cannot but observe the connexion of this verse with the two former Her beloved had told her that her Cheeks were comely with Rowsrof Jewels her Neck with Chains of Gold he had been commending her for her grace holy conversation in the World Ay saith she while my beloved whiles the King sitteth at his Table my Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof So long as it pleaseth the Lord to keep my Soul company to vouchsafe me his gracious influence so long I can do something those habits of grace with which he hath blessed me so long send forth their smell but if he hath withdrawn himself from me if he withholdeth his blessed influences my grace moveth not smelleth not But before I can reach that I would willingly speak something to the first Proposition concerning the nature of true grace to send forth a smell a peculiar smell 1. Prop. True grace where it is will send forth a proper smell The Philosopher tells us that a smell is a quality of a mixed body which is drawn out by heat arising from a due temperament of things in it which are hot and moist But I have nothing to do with the Philosophical notion of a smell it is here without question taken Metaphorically and as I before hinted signifieth Motion and discovery In all smells that arise from things there is 1. Something of motion the thing giving out the smell moveth and sends some quality into the air The smell of grace signifies the motion and exercise of it 2. There is in smells something of discovery By the smell of a thing we both discover the place of the thing and know where it is and also the nature of things in a great measure I will open my meaning to you in this proposition in three conclusions shortly Where a truth of grace is in the Soul it will not lye hid but discover it self both to him that hath it and to others or at least to one of them A man may carry dust in his pocket and neither himself nor others with whom he converseth know it but he cannot so carry Musk or any odoriferous thing if it be open grace is a glorious light which God kindleth in the Soul and must not be hid the Kingdom of Heaven which is within us as well as that without us is like unto leaven which cannot lye long hid in the meal The Romans faith was spoken of throughout the World Rom. 1. 8. The elders obtained a good report Heb. 11. 2. Grace where it is will be heard of Eph. 1. 15. After I had heard of your faith and your love to all the Saints The like he saith to the Colossians Colos 1. 4. It is a thing to be seen in its fruits and effects Shew me thy faith by thy works and I will shew thee my faith by my works James 2. 18. The grace that dwelleth in Christ hath a favour so we had it before Because of the Savour of thy good Ointments therefore do the Virgins love thee Grace is the salt of the Soul Have salt in your selves saith our Saviour and sale must not be without a Savour It is compared to light to fire neither of which will be restrained Secondly grace doth not send forth a Savour only but a sweet savour like the Savour of Spikenard which is very grateful to the exterior senses Corruption and lust hath a savour The Savour of the body of death is like
Servants v. 10. They hated him that rebuk d in the gate and abhorred him that spake sprightly v. 12. They afflicted the just They took Bribes and turned aside the poor in the gate from their right These are they of whom God saith I will not smell in your Solemn assemblies To the same purpose God speaks Jer. 6. 20. To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba and the sweet Cane from a far Country Your burnt offerings are not acceptable nor your Sacrifices sweet unto me And Isaiah 2. 11 12 13 14. Look as it is with some very strong natural ill savours they do not only themselves offend our nostrils but they so infect the whole air which should bring the sweeter savour of some other things which we have about us to our nostrils that nothing smells sweet we smell nothing but the Castoreum or other stinking thing so it is with rampant lusts and corruptions with notorious Scandalous sins whether the acts of impiety towards God such are Idolatry c. Or acts of injustice and uncharitableness towards men they send forth such a strong and ill savour in the nostrils of God that the Lord can smell a sweet savour of nothing they do that live in such sins he will not smell in their Solemn assemblies their Sacrifice are abomination to God God cannot away with the calling of their assemblies Ah how many are there whose smells are of this nature 2. Neither are these smells only offensive to God but to the Church of God The Protestant Religion may speak to these Simeons and Levies You have troubled us you have made me to stink amongst Papists and Atheists and God grant that these spots in the assemblies of Protestants in our time cause not the latter part of Jacobs Words to be verifyed upon us That our Enemies gather not together against us and slay us and we be destroyed 2. We may learn from hence That a true Child of God need not set a Trumpet to his own mouth to blazon and proclaim his vertues The Wise man saith Let anothers mouth praise thee and not thy own The Child of God needs not that his own mouth should praise him His Spikenard will send forth the smell thereof and that is alwaies a pleasant smell Good Wine needeth no Bush we say We have a saying That Virgins should be seen and not heard God's Virgins should be so they should be seen acting and exercising their gracious habits not heard admiring themselves for them It is the Pedler that goeth about the Country proclaiming his Pins Points and Laces The rich Merchant though better furnished leaves himself to the report that others shall give of his Warehouse The naughty woman praedicates her own vertues whiles the woman that is truly vertuous trusts her reputation to those who see and observe her to speak of her as they find her You need not write upon a Box of Spikenard This is Spikenard the smell will tell you what it is From what you have heard you may observe That every one is not to be condemned whose Spikenard sends not forth so strong a smell as anothers There is no Child of God but hath his Spikenard his Box of Spikenard his measure of grace but every one hath not the same measure The least of the Believer's Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof But I have shewed you before that in the People of God there are differences in degrees of grace None can lay claim to the name of a Believer or a Child of God but he must have some faith some love some gracious habits and must bring forth some fruits of holiness proportionable to his measure of grace One Christian hath not the like measures of grace as another nor the like influence of heat from the Sun of Righteousness to elicit the smell of those good habits But of the necessity of that I shall speak more under the next Proposition If a Christian's Soul be kept from scandalous and presumptuous sins if he liveth up to those measures of knowledge and light which God hath given him if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we say in the generality of his conversation he walks close with God though in some things his foot slippeth a Christian is not to be condemned if his Spikenard sends forth the smell thereof though larger quantities in others and under more incouraging and glistering circumstances send forth a greater and stronger smell 4. A Christian may hence take some comfort who doth not see his own grace It is the case of many a good Christian yea almost of every good Christian at one time or another he cannot see his own Faith or Love or it may be any other habit of grace with which the Lord hath blessed him Others possibly can see much good much of God in him he can see nothing in himself This often perplexeth a Christian who thinks that he should know himself best But the judgment of others is not alwaies to be despised as no foundation of comfort Grace casts its smell and there may be a time when a Christian's grace and Spiritual life may be more discernable to others than to himself Nay there are several such times times of natural disturbances from Melancholy times of Divine Desertion times of great Temptation In all such times others are better Judges of the People of God's grace and sincerity than themselves are these things cast a mist before their Eyes 5. I shall conclude this Discourse with a word of Exhortation To do what in us lies that our Spikenard may send forth the smell thereof It amounteth to that of our Saviour Let your Light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven I shall press it with two Arguments 1. It is no Spikenard that sendeth forth no smell no pleasant smell James tells us that Faith without works is dead that is it is no true Faith John calleth pretended love to God without love to the Brethren no love Tantum es quantum agis a man is so much and no more a Christian than he acts and liveth like a Christian 2. There is nothing so scandalous in the World so dishonourable to God so dangerous and infignificant to our selves as the name of Saints without the smell of Saints The World expects that things and persons should in some measure answer their names hence it is that the falls and slips of Christians make a greater noise and give a greater offence to the World than the grosser actions of persons who make no pretences to Religion and Godliness For Branches in Christ which bring forth no fruit Christ tells us the Husbandman his Father will cut them off These are they who bring up an evil report upon the waies of God and make them to be abhorred Nor can an empty name be of any significancy to our selves I shall shut up this Discourse with a few Directions 1.
rock of their Salvation If ever a People forsook the fountain of living Waters to dig up to themselves cisterns broken cisterns that will hold no Water Certainly those are they who sit under the tenders of Christ in the Gospel and yet do despite to the Covenant of grace and neglect so great Salvation Christ is calling aloud every day as in the fifth of this Song v. 1. I am come unto my Garden poor creatures I have gathered my Myrrh with my Spice I have eaten my Hony Comb with my Hony I have drank my Wine with my Milk Eat O friends Drink yea drink abundantly O you beloved Christ incarnate crucified ascended up to Heaven sitting at Gods right Hand is daily preached to poor creatures And what is their language other then that of the Prophet Isa 53. 3. He hath no form no comeliness There is no beauty that we should desire him People that live in these lightsome parts of the World dwell upon the mountain of Myrrh upon the hill of frankincense to use the expression Cant. 4. 6. and yet how few are those that look after and discern any sweetness in Jesus Christ What is the reason Are not these men rational persons as well as believers How comes it that the Lord Jesus Christ is as a bundle of Myrrh to a believing Soul and not at all pretious unto others I will assign a double reason 1. The first is their want of Spiritual senses There are but few that have senses exercised to discern between Good and Evil. Heb. 5. ult the Carnal man is said to be dead in sin life and sense go together the dead man smells nothing The Natural Soul is a dead Soul He hath Natural senses he discerns the sweetness of Hony to his tast Musick to his Ear fair and beautiful objects to his Eye Perfumes to his Nostrils the sweetness of notions to his understanding but he discerns no sweetness in spiritual things he savours not the things of the Spirit 2. But Secondly His Nostrils are choked with other Smells The vitiated pallat tasts not the sweetness of the best meat the Nostrils suffocated with stinks discern not the sweetness of the best Perfumes the Souls of unbelievers are filled and suffocated with the smells of the World One with the smell of unjust gain Dulcis odor lucri he cannot smell the sweetness of Christ who commands him to leave the gain of injustice to distribute and give to the poor to avoid covetousness which is Idolatry another is suffocated with the savour of Worldly business and imployments he smells the smell of a field which the Lord hath blest the smell of his Worldly business puts out the smell of Christs sweetness he is cumbred about many things and he smells no sweetness in the One thing necessary A third hath his smell adulterated with sordid lusts the smell of a drunken cup of a fordid wanton spoils him for smelling this bundle of Myrrh which is infinitely more sweet But give me leave to turn this complaint and reproof into an Exhortation In the first place O you fools when will you be wise You that are creatures of pleasure and are not satisfied without a ransacking of the whole Creation for objects of delight Turn in hither I beseech you and tell me if there be any sweetness like this bundle of Myrrh Your Eye engageth your Tongue to call the comely face sweet Alas A fit of sickness spoils the beauty of it the Small-Pox spoileth that glory how ever when death hath taken possession of it you see no more sweetness in it You hear the voice of a singing man or Woman you think it sweet but that voice will one day grow hoarse or you may be in a state that it will grate upon your Ears and be offensive to you You smell a powder or perfume and you must have it and wear it about you because it is sweet But what are all these to one Christ who is sweetest to the Soul in an evil day who doth not refresh the outward man so much as the inward man whose sweetness ravisheth every soul that is possessed of it never corrupts nor decaies nor saileth Imagine all the lines of beauty which adorn all sublunary faces to be brought into one face that face must be very lovely But all nothing to the face of Christ in the Eye of a believing Soul If you could rifle Arabia and from all the sweet Plants and Gums and Spices which abound there distil one sweet Water or make one aromatical compound or perfume that should have in it united whatsoever is scattered in them of pleasure to the senses they would all be nothing to one Sprig of this bundle of Myrrh to one beam of Christs countenance the least breathings of his Love upon the Soul of his Saint Ob. Ah! But saies a poor Soul you told us that Myrrh Is not every ones portion it only grows in Arabia and every one there gets it not you told us there was a season in which it must be got and if that were lost or if during the season due means were not used People got no Gum I am afraid my season is gone and know not what course to take to get it Sol. 1. What the Country of Arabia was for Myrrh that is every place where the Gospel is preached as to the gaining of Christ It is true there are many Countries where the Gospel of Christ is not preached but England is a mountain of Myrrh and it drops every day amongst you 2. I told you that in the Country where the Myrrh grew every one gathered it not But I told you it was their own fault either despising through ignorance or through laziness neglecting their opportunity in the Country where Christ is Preach'd every one receives him not but it is their own fault I do not think it is true in every sense that every man may be saved that will This phrase implies a power in our selves to Spiritual actions but it is unquestionably true that if any Soul sitting under the Gospel perish it is because it will not be saved You will not come to me saith our Saviour that you may have life 3. I told you indeed that there is a season as there was for gathering Myrrh which if neglected we get no share in Christ The foolish Virgins came when the gate was shut Many shall seek and shall not enter There is a season of grace And some Divines think that this season is oft times finished while our life yet lasteth and the means of grace continue Whether it be so or no I cannot determine sure I am thou hast no sufficient reason to conclude thy season past whiles yet thy life lasts and the means are continued especially if God yet at last give thee an heart to come unto Christ 4. Doest thou ask what thou shouldest do Remember what I told you concerning the procuring of the dropping of Myrrh 1. They made an
viz. why the Spouse here compareth her Beloved to a Cluster of Copher Yet in that I find them most reasonably well agreed That whatever Plant it was either the Herb of it or the Juice of it was exceeding sweet and the Spouse here compareth Christ to it to denote that exceeding and abundant sweetness which her Soul had tasted in him And so this Text speaketh but the same in another phrase which she had said before A bundle of Myrrh is my Beloved to me she means the samething when she here saith A cluster of Camphire or Copher is my Beloved to me that is exceeding sweet and precious When I spake to the other expression I spake so fully to that point of the infinite Sweetness that is in Christ that I have nothing to add upon that Subject only I remember that I then took notice that I did not judge the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 redundant but exclusive My Beloved is not sweet to others they smell no sweetness in him but to Me he is a cluster of Camphire as a bundle of Myrrh sweet infinitely sweet above all other sweet things most sweet The Proposition which I shall only insist upon is this Prop. That the true believing Soul sees peculiar Excellencies and tasts a peculiar Sweetness in Christ which others do not see nor tast This Doctrine supposeth 1. That there is such an overflowing Fountain of goodness and sweetness in Jesus Christ that even those who are not Believers may discern some sweetness and excellency in him 2. It asserts That there is a peculiar excellency and sweetness in him discernable to the Believer which others do not discern The former is a truth As a good woman may so far approve her self to all that see her or hear of her that they may in heart admire her and praise her and have a general love for her but yet this woman may to her Husband in respect of her peculiar suitableness to him and more immediate and intimate converse with him be ten thousand times more precious in his Eyes than unto others So it is with the Lord Jesus Christ a wicked man who is far enough from saving Faith or any special Interest in Christ may yet have a general love for him Give me leave alittle to enlarge upon this supposed part of the Proposition 1. By enquiring upon what bottom this general love can stand 2. By making some Inferences from it The grounds of it may be 1. Real or 2. Supposed and mistaken The truth is such is the Lord Jesus Christ such a Fountain of sweetness that there is real ground for all the Sons of men to love him I will hint you two or three 1. The first shall be his humbling himself for the good of mankind The Evangelist saith Joh. 3. 16. That God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. Arminians cannot understand what the greatest part in the World as to the matter of Redemption have to thank God for if Christ were not given with equal respect to one as to another or at least as others qualifie to purchase a possibility for all But certainly if one should say such a one so loved such a Family that he gave his whole Estate to a Child of it we might understand it though every Member of the Family neither had nor were in possibility to have part and part like It is very questionable whether the Angels ever shared in the death of Christ any way yet I believe they love Christ for his dying for men And to that end Eph. 3. 10. the manifold Wisdom of God is by the Church made known to them Beneficence or doing good to others especially such as are in misery is a thing so commends it self to the reason of man that we cannot but have a love for such as are bountiful though we never tast of their bounty We see it in ordinary experience if we that live here be rational and ingenuous hear that one who lives in the furthest parts of England hath given all his Estate to good uses though we have no share in them yet we love the man for it And certainly if you could suppose a reasonable creature who should but hear that Christ the Eternal Son of God came down from Heaven and died upon the Cross for some men though he knew he were none of them yet it would be a ground of love to him considered as a reasonable creature But secondly a ground of it may be The certain apprehension of some good which even the Unbeliever enjoyeth from Christ It is said by many and those too such as can by no means agree that Christ died equally for all or that he purchased a possibility of Salvation for all that yet there is none who lives but is for his life and preservation beholden to the death of Christ and that all receive this good from him which may to rational men evidence a ground of Love I must confess I cannot too boldly strike this string for I much doubt whether the standing of the World and the common preservation of men flows from the Death of Christ as the Issue of his purchase I should rather ascribe it to the gracious Providence of God of which even the Death of Christ also is an Issue 3. Certain it is that whatever the intention of Christ in dying was such is the Wisdom of Divine Providence That the Gospel is held forth indefinitely Whosoever believeth shall be saved So that there is no ground for any Soul to conclude I was none of those considered in the purchase of Christ and there is ground sufficient in the intrinsecal value and sufficiency of the Death of Christ considered together with the indefinite Proposal of the Covenant of Grace to encourage every man under hope of finding mercy with him to come unto him Now which is there of us that should hear of a liberal man worth many thousands of pounds that should have freely determined with himself to spend it all upon our Family and should make a general offer to us that to so many of us as would come to him he would give a share sufficient would not as a reasonable creature judge himself engaged to love him even before we should so go to him and receiveour share Give me leave only to infer two things from this Discourse That there is sufficient ground for God to condemn those for want of love to Christ who yet never had a saving sight of him All men deserve to be Anathema Maranatha whose hearts yern not toward Christ whether ever they had any saving experience of the Love of Christ to their Souls or no. I speak but as a reasonable creature If I were sure that I were shut out of Christ's thoughts when he died upon the cross and that he would never save my Soul yet I see reason enough why I ought to hate my self and condemn my self if I should not love
him I remember what the Jews said for their Centurion He hath loved our Nation and built us a Synagogue this I am sure of Christ hath loved mankind he hath purchased salvation for some of them O my Soul if thou beest forgotten of God yet love him who would so far humble himself as to pity dust and ashes 2. Hence secondly No wonder if there be some love to Christ appearing in those who have no share nor interest in him It hath been the assertion of some that Common grace and special grace differ not specifically but gradually I think the assertion amongst understanding men but a contest of Logical terms I no way doubt of the truth of this That an unbeliever may love Christ in a sense But the Love of the Child of God vastly differs being an infused habit and of another species Whatsoever is presented to us under the Notion of good whether so really or apparently is plainly the proper object of our love Now such may Christ appear even to an unbeliever who is far from having tasted how good the Lord is hence even in a carnal man there may be desires after Christ good wishes to the interest of Christ upon the Earth yea and he may do much for the Service of Christ either from a general Notion of Christs excellency or 2dly which I should have mentioned before from a supposal that he hath as good a share and interest in Christ as any other though in this possibly he may be mistaken And this is very useful for us to consider that we may not build too great confidences from such desires which we find in our Souls or any such external actions without a due inquiry after their Principle But enough of this I come to the positive part of the Proposition 2. That there is a peculiar excellency in Christ which the believing Soul sees and savours and is not discernable to others My beloved saith the Spouse is a Cluster of Camphire unto me They said to her in 5th of this Song v. 9. What is thy beloved more then another beloved O thou fairest amongst women what is thy beloved more then anothers beloved that thou so strictly chargest us She answers v. 10. My beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest of ten thousand c. For the opening of this I will propound two questions 1. What are those peculiar excellencies which the believer sees in Christ more then another sees 2. How comes the believing Soul to be more eagle eyed then his neighbour To the first 1. The believer sees further into the heighths and depths of redeeming love in the general then another man doth The heighth of redeeming love is too great for a reasonable man to take the Astronomer is lost at taking the heighth of this Star we must be strengthned with might by the Spirit in the inward man Christ must dwell in our hearts by saith and we must be rooted and grounded in love before we shall be able with all Saints to comprehend what is the breadth length and depth and heighth and know the Love of Christ which passeth knowledge The unbeliever living under the light of the Gospel is like the blind man whose Eyes Christ hath once touched and he seeth something of he excellency of Christ but alas he seeth men like trees Christ must touch him again before he sees things clearly the believer seeth Christ as another thing to what the unbeliever seeth 2. The believer discerns a particular respect of Christ to his Soul Ah this this is it which makes Christ as a Cluster of Camphire it is sweet to a rational Soul to see a Saviour Buâ— infinitly sweet for it to see him as its Saviour to cry out my Lord my God Propriety in a good sweetens it infinitly unto a Soul the believer sees Christ as his Christ his Saviour It is sweet to poor Creatures who are so far enlightened as to see the World lyeth in darkness to know that he is the true light enlightning all that come into the World but infinitly more sweet to the Soul when it sees that he hath enlightened it in particular A good woman to a reasonable man is pâ—etious and he loves her quatenus good and vertuous but if she becomes his Wife that strangely indears her to him and shews her a peculiar excellency in him 'T is sweet to a reasonable man that is enlightened to see that all the Sons of Adam are by nature under misery to see that Christ came to Redeem them from this misery and Curse but how sweet must it be for this Soul to apprehend that he hath redeemed it in particular from this misery I shall not need to enlarge further upon this which in so plain Doth any ask Qu. 2. Whence it is that the believing Soul seeth such a peculiar sweetness and excellency in Christ I answer 1. From that special illumination which attends regeneration There is a Common illumination and there is a special illumination the Common illumination is the work of Gods Spirit concurring with the Preaching of the Gospel inabling men to understand and give some general assent to what is there revealed but when the Lord comes to deal savingly with the Soul it opens the Eyes of the Soul to a fuller clearer and more certain sight of Gospel mysteries 1 Cor. 2. 10. God revealeth to his Saints by his Spirit those things which the Princes of the World though they heard the Gospel never knew what things Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor can it enter into the heart to conceive A Commonly enlightned Soul upon the Preaching of the Gospel may see the same things that a believer sees that Christ died c. But it sees them not so fully and clearly as upon special saving illuminations when the Spirit dealeth with the Soul as it were by demonstration and gives it to see a Christ crucified as it were before its Eyes There are two things especially which the Soul upon conversion doth doubtless see after a quite other manner then it saw them before conversion 1. The sinfulness and mischief of sin A man meerly reasonable may see the ugliness and sinfulness of some sins such as are contrary to the light of nature c. A man Commonly enlightned may see more of the sinfulness and danger both of these and of other sins but when the Spirit of God cometh savingly to work in the Soul it seeth the sinfulness and danger even of these sins after another manner sin then becomes exceeding sinful Rom. 7. 13. It then thinks it sees Hell fire before it and is dropping into it and so hath a clearer sight of the danger of it 2. The excellency of Christ is doubtless seen by it too after another manner Of this there needs no greater evidence than the Souls strange workings of affections towards him its groanings after him longings for an interest in him c. 2. This proceeds also from the Souls
from expressing exuberant affection to it lest the Child by it take advantage to go on in courses of disobedience Christ dearly loves many a poor Soul that hath its wanton tricks and is full of failings but he will not say to such a Soul Behold thou art fair my Love I will add but one thing more 4. Lastly Possibly Christ hath spoke and spoke it to thee often Behold thou art fair my Love Behold thou art fair but thou hast not heard him I have already told you that many of God's People are very deaf of that Ear. I was about to say there is no better sign of a gracious Soul than not to be too ready to hear such messages of peace God sometimes speaks so as the Soul cannot but hear when he pleaseth to set the Broad Seal of his Spirit unto the poor Soul this indeed is an audible voice and distinguishable enough But God in every Sermon speaks to the Believer Thou art fair my Love thou art fair We never Preach those great Truths of God That whosoever believes shall be saved and whosoever is justified by Faith hath peace with God and such like but God to every Believer that hears us speak Thou art fair my Love thou art fair But alas not one of many hath an Ear to hear no not those who truly believe It is in this case as with Samuel 1 Sam. 3. 4 5. Samuel was young and had not been used to the voice of God God calls him once away he goes to Eli the Lord calls a second time Samuel runs to Eli again and so a third time till Eli instructed and assured him it was the voice of God Till the Spirit of God brings the voice of God in the Gospel to the Ear to the inward Ear of a Christian he will not understand God speaking peace to him when indeed he doth speak it In very deed it is for want of Spiritual Logick The Word of God hath the Proposition He that believes is fair Though a man hath been a Thief a Drunkard a Covetous person c. yet if he be washed if he be justified if he be sanctified in the Name of our God and through the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ he is fair Thus much is plain in the Word 1 Cor. 6. 11. But now when the Soul should come to assume But I am washed I am justified I am sanctified there it fails and these may be the Reasons of a gracious Soul's complaint in this case But I have spoke enough to the first of the five Circumstances which I mentioned I proceed now to a second The Spouse had been admiring Christ comparing him to a bundle of Myrrh to a cluster of Camphire or Copher Now Christ adds Behold thou art fair my Love Behold thou art fair Obs High out-goings of a Soul toward Christ are ordinarily productive of great returns of the Love of Christ upon the Soul Duty in us is not the Father of Grace for who hath given first unto God and it shall be repaid to him again but extraordinary influences of Grace are commonly the wages of great duty It is very seldom that any Soul lets Christ know that he is exceeding dear to it but by the next Post the Soul shall know that it is very dear to Christ Doth God hear Ephraim bemoaning himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God c. Ephraim shall presently hear God saying Is Ephraim my dear Son Is he a pleasant Child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. Is the Spouse sick of love Cant. 5. 8. Doth she indeed think her Beloved the chiefest amongst ten thousand c. She shall presently hear him saying Thou art beautiful O my Love as Tirzah c. Turn away thine Eyes from me c. ch 6. v. 4 5. I might instance in many Texts of Scripture but I forbear Will you know the reason of this Take it 1. Negatively 2. Positively 1. Negatively It is not because there 's any merit in duty Christ is no Merchant of Grace he gives it but he sells it not Indeed it is a contradiction to speak of meritorious duty if it be duty it is the payment of a debt on our part and can be no purchase-mony The compass of that Commandment Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy Soul and with all thy strength is of an exceeding latitude there 's no finishing of it by any creature in this life It was from the jejune Interpretation that the Pharisees of old and the Papists of late have put upon the Law of God that they ever dreamt that man was able to perform it much less do any thing of supererogation The foundation-stone of man's Salvation is laid in Grace and the top-stone is Grace too To the whole Building you must cry Grace Grace But Positively 2. It is from the overflowings of Divine Grace in him who is our Fountain-head the Lord Jesus Christ The Eye that weeps for its sin till it can weep no more doth not by its tears make it self an Handkerchief to dry its Eyes but a tender-hearted Saviour moved from his own bowels cannot but afford it one and say unto it why weepest thou The Soul that for Christs sake parts with Father Mother Children Brethren Sisters all doth not by this purchase to it self peace of Conscience or eternal life Alas what proportion is there betwixt things temporal and such as are Spiritual and eternal But he who hath both these to give gives them upon the Souls performing its duty in this particular Matth. 19. 29. The Soul that casts up many a long look to the Lord Jesus Christ and earnestly wisheth for his presence with it and valueth it above the World and seeks for it more then for Gold or hid treasure doth not by this earn Christs Love to it but Christ from the fulness of his grace makes choice of this Soul to reveal himself unto The Prophet Isaiah Ch. 30. v. 18. hath such an expression as this The Lord will wait that he may be gracious unto you Christ is a fountain of Grace a full fountain now when the fountain is brim full of water the water waiteth for an opportunity to diffuse it self it may be there is a bank that hinders the full river that it cannot diffuse its water the water therefore works secretly and softens the bank first till a breach be made and then it emptieth it self by it Christ is a sea a full sea of Grace but sinful man casts up a bank against this sea a bank of unbelief A bank of stone hardning his heart a bank of earth favouring an earthly mind a bank of mud delights in sensual lusts and
objects Christ now cannot shew his grace to such a Soul the bank hinders where he pleaseth indeed he worketh secretly takes away the heart of stone and makes it an heart of flesh takes away unbelief vanity earthly mindedness sensual affections and then he emptyeth the treasuries of grace upon the Soul In a word to apply this No wonder then to hear many a poor wretch complain that God never yet spake peace to his Soul others indeed have heard their beloved hath said to others behold thou art fair my love behold thou art fair but they never yet heard such a voice Let me ask thee who thus complainest this question Did Christ ever yet hear thee say as a bundle of Myrrh is my beloved unto me he shall lye all night betwixt my breasts Hast thou served Christ with Ordinary expressions of duty How canst thou expect to be feasted by him with extraordinary returns of mercy If thy breathings after him have been faint and short what reason hast thou to expect that his breathings should be so full upon thee He is indeed a full ocean of free grace but it may be thou hast cast up a bank against him it may be thou hast clogg'd him with an hard heart and unbelieving heart a vain heart a filthy sensual heart Wonder not O Christian that he is so little towards thee in a way of mercy if thou beest scant towards him in thy way of duty There is a generation of men and women in the world who are taken notice of to behave themselves as if they thought that all the World were made to serve them and they not made to serve any but they are an unreasonable generation and sober persons so account of them and accordingly slight them Oh that there might not be such an unreasonable Christian found in the World who should so much as think in his heart that Christ stands concerned to open all his Treasuries of Love upon his Soul which in the mean time hath scarce a thought of doing any thing more than ordinary for the Lord Jesus Christ if thou findest thy heart cold in duty frozen in affections toward Christ wonder not at all if thou findest the bowels of thy Saviour which yern upon others tied up towards thee And I fear me this is the cause of most complaints of this nature although it may be possible that this is not the case of every such complaining Soul witness David Psal 22. 1 2 3 4. 2. What an ingagement doth this Notion of Truth lay upon the Sons and Daughters of men to stretch out their Souls for and towards God Certainly if there be any thing in the World of force to open a Soul for Christ this will do it to hear that Divine Grace keeps pace with our duty and that the proper way to have Christ speak to us and say Thou art fair my Love Thou art fair is for us to get up our hearts in a readiness to say and say it in truth As a bundle of Myrrh is my Beloved to me The Psalmist cries out Psal 34. 12. What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days that he may see good Depart from evil and do good seek peace and pursue it Give me leave to speak to all you who fear the Lord in the same dialect What man is there amongst you who would not gladly have Christ speak peace unto your Souls and whisper the words of my Text in your Ears Thou art fair my Love thou art fair O let Christ be yet more and more precious to you let him have the strength of your Love that you may have the seal of his Love let the World know and let him know that he is dear in your Eyes that you may know that you are fair in his Eyes But this is enough for the second Circumstance which I observed I pass to a third Thou art fair my Love thou art fair It is not said thou O man or thou O woman art fair but thou my Love art fair It is both the observation of our own Annotators and some others Obs The Spouse of Christ is fair as she is His Love I observed to you before that the word signifies Amica Socia a Friend and a Companion the Object of ones love and the Companion of ones life This is not after the manner of the Children of men amongst them Beauty raiseth Love but with Christ it is Love that raiseth Beauty Locutio verbi infusio Doni Christ in calling her fair makes her fair Ezek. 16. 14. Thy Beauty was perfect through my comeliness which was put upon thee saith the Lord God A good complexion with a lovely air of the countenance and a due proportion of bodily parts makes the Children of men fair to a sensual Eye An head well furnished with Notions of Learning and a mind indued with vertuous generous dispositions makes a man fair and beautiful to a rational Eye But it is Grace alone that can make the Soul fair to the Divine Eye 1. Nature doth it not for all are by Nature Children of wrath Eph. 2. 3. like the Infant not cut not washed not swadled Ezek. 16. We are by Nature all Blackamores in the Eyes of God our Father an Amorite our Mother an Hittite 2. Art will not do it Though thou wash thee with Nitre and take thee much Sope yet thine iniquity is marked before me saith the Lord Jer. 2. 22. The Pharisees were men who used as much Art as others yet their Beauty to our Saviour's Eye rose no higher than to the Beauty of a Painted Sepâ—lchre that outwardly is beautiful but within full of rottenness so little that our Saviour saith Publicans and Harlots should as to the Kingdom of Heaven have the preheminence before them 3. Grace then alone must do it Those who are Christ's Love are fair only so far forth as they are his Love his Companions There is a double Grace the first of Justification the second of Sanotification according to the first the Believer is Christ's Love according to the second the Believer is Christ's Companion 1. I say first the Grace of Justification this is gratia gratum faciens that Grace by which the Soul is accepted of God It is the free Love of God shewn to the humbled Soul upon its exercise of Faith pardoning its sins reckoning over the Righteousness of Christ unto it and accepting it as righteous in and through Christ this changeth the Soul's state this is it which taketh away its filthy garments and covereth the Soul with Christ's Robes with this is conjoined the Grace of Regeneration by which God changeth the Soul's nature and disposition old things pass away with it and all things become new this is no quality infused into us or inherent in us but the free and pure love and good will of Christ imbracing us 2. The second is the Grace of Sanctification this makes the Believer the Companion of
did he ever revenge himself Nay when he was reviled saith Peter he reviled not again but suffered quietly c. He had satisfied Eyes What Covetousness was he ever guilty of he had a bag indeed but it was for the poor he had not an hole where to hide his head Yet he neither coveted the holes of the Fox nor the Nests of the Birds He had Benign Eyes upon whom did not he look kindly To whom was he not ready to do good He had meek and lowly Eyes he says of himself Learn of me for I am meek and lowly He had simple Eyes no guile was found in his mouth no deceit in his heart no doubleness in his actions c. He had clean Eyes he delighted not in filthy conversation not in filthy company or places if he came at a publicanes and sinners house it was to make it clean and a fit habitation for his holiness He had mournful Eyes he wept over Hierusalem as truly as a Turtle that hath lost its mate He hath chast Eyes not only in a carnal but a Spiritual sense all his delight is in the Sons of men in the Souls of his People By Doves Eyes Christians you shall be like the Lord Jesus Christ whose Eyes you see were such and like the holy Spirit which descended in the form of a Dove and what more honourable for a Christian then to be like Christ for a godly man then to be like God Thus Thirdly you shall distinguish your selves from those who only glory in appearance The Apostle tells us of some that glory in appearance only but not in heart 2. Cor. 5. 12. Now it should be the great business of a Christian to distinguish himself from these Christ tells his disciples Joh. 8. 31. that if they would continue in his word then they should be his disciples indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there are many in the World that are so but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in shew and appearance The Doves Eye is a certain note of a disciple of Christ many have the countenance of Doves and the voice of Doves but they have not the Eye of Doves an Hypocrite may groan like a Dove and may look like a Dove in some part of his conversation but yet want the Eye of a Dove The Eye is a noble part of the body it discovers a man much and it serves him much Our Saviour saith the light of the body is the Eye Matth. 6. 22. if therefore thine Eye be single thy whole body is full of light But if thine Eye be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness He speaks chiefly of the danger of an evil Eye and its unprofitableness to the body It is true concerning the Soul an evil Eye discovers an evil Soul in a great measure O labour therefore for Doves Eyes that you may have an evidence to your own Souls and that you may by them evidence unto others that you are such as glory not in appearance only but in deed My last argument shall be from the honour repute which by them you will gain to your Master to his Gospel in the World It is one of the great things that a Christian hath to take care of that the name of God for his sake be not Blasphemed in the World and on the contrary it should be his great care so to order his conversation as that by the ordering of it he may in the World gain a name and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his Gospel and bring up a good report of the land of Canaan and the Inhabitants thereof Now could we find a Christian that were harmless and innocent doing injury to none slow to conceive wrath ready to forgive free from greediness of the World and covetousness after that to which he hath no right kind and courteous meek and lowly simple in heart and of a single Eye tender spirited of a clean conversation chast and sober of a broken Spirit observing his waies and circumspect in his walking how lovely would this Christian appear even in an evil World How likely were a company of such Christians to recover the honour which others have lost to Religion in the World Oh! let the honour of the Gospel move you that the report of your faith may spread and others may see that Religion is not an empty thing and glorify God in the day of their visitation Obj. But you will say are these things in our power Can we create to our selves Doves Eyes If not why do you persuade us And why do you not rather spend your time in praying to God for us Sol. I answer that for the habits of these graces the exercise of which I call to you for they are the gift of God The Creator gives the Dove its Eye and the God of grace must create in men Doves Eyes But yet 1. As to the outward exercise of these things some of them at least much lyes in a mans power in the use of that Common grace which the Lord denies to none till by their abuse of it they have provoked him to deal so with them they may doubtless restrain their hands and tongues from acts of cruelty revenge and malice their bodies from unchast acts c. it is true these acts as done by them cannot please God because not done from a right Principle to a right manner nor to a right End nor are they able to mortify their inward lusts but the outward acts are their duty and would take off much of the reproach cast upon Religion 2. For those who have received the habits of regenerating grace 't is true the Lord must excite them to action And the Lord by the influence of his Spirit must also assist us in the exercise or we shall do nothing but these are such influences of graces as he 1. Grants to use in the use of our indeavours And such influences 2. as he ordinarily doth not deny to his Children putting forth themselves to what they can in the performance of their duty So that asserting yet those great truths of God That it is the Lord that gives to will and to do The first by the infusion of the habit of the grace of regeneration the second by the influence of his grace upon his People exciting those habits to exercise and assisting them in their exercise yet there is room enough for exhortations of this Nature Sermon LVIII Canticles 1. 16. Behold thou art fair my Beloved yea pleasant also our Bed is green IT is generally agreed that the person spoken to in this verse is he who is in this Song represented under the notion of a Beloved by which I have told you that we understand the Lord Jesus Christ and the person speaking is she whom he calls his Love the fairest amongst women c. By her the Caldee Paraphrast all along understands the Congregation of Israel which by that antient Interpreter is
brought in thus speaking How beautiful is the glory of thy Holiness while thou dwellest amongst us and freely hearest our prayers whiles thou abidest in our beloved Bed our Children are multiplied upon the Earth we increase and multiply like a Tree planted by the Rivers of water whose Leaf is beautiful and its Fruit much But I have all along observed too great a fondness in that Reverend Interpreter to apply all spoken in this Song to the Jewish Synagogue because once she was the only Beloved of God not attending this as a Prophecy concerning also such as should be received into Divine favour when God should have said to his Antient People Loammi you are not my People We have therefore by the Spouse here all along understood the Church of God in all times and more particularly believing Souls which are here brought in thus speaking to Christ Behold thou art fair my Beloved yea pleasant Also our Bed is green The words in our English Translation are punctually translated Nor is there any considerable difference amongst Interpreters rendring them in their several Versions We shall therefore fall immediately to consider the sense of the words as they lie before us which are a Reply unto what Christ had said v. 15. He had told the believing Soul that she was fair she was was fair she had Doves Eyes She now replys in the words of the Text Behold thou art fair my Beloved yea pleasant also our Bed is green Where you have 1. Her usual friendly Compellation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Beloved my Love my Nephew my Uncle my Kinsman I gave you an account of the significancy of that word before 2. A note of Attention or Admiration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold I shewed you in my Discourses on the 16th verse the usage of that particle in Scripture 3. A double Assertion 1. Thou art fair to which she adds yea pleasant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. The second in those words Our Bed is green He had told the Spouse v. 16. that she was fair she now replies Behold thou art fair my Beloved Pulchritudo ejus dilectio ejus saith Bernard His love to his Spouse is his beauty Et ideo major quia praeveniens which is so much the greater because it prevents us And saith he she therefore loves more because she discerns her self prevented and overcome in Love It is as much as if she had said Doth my dearest Saviour say I am fair who am by Birth an Ethiopian black with original corruption and upon whom the Sun hath lookt Nay My Beloved thou art much more fair Let the World be invited to behold thy Beauty Behold thou art fair my Love Observe Prop. 1. The Beauty of our Saviour doth infinitely transcend the Beauty of his Saints Prop. 2. The sense of the value which Christ puts upon his Saints will and ought to engage them to put an high value upon him Give me leave to speak something to the first of these Propositions before I pass on to the other words of the Text. I begin with the first Prop. 1. Christ's Beauty doth infinitely transcend the Beauty of his Saints The Saints are Stars and there is not the least Star but hath its lustre and glory but yet there is a difference of Stars in glory and the glory of the Sun of Righteousness of the Star that came out of Jacob is far more eminent than the Beauty of other Stars which are set in inferiour Orbs. Pulchritudo est qualitas per quam aliquid pulchrum est Beauty is a quality from which any thing is made beautiful That is beautiful which is lovely Pulcher quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or quod pollet charitate There is a corporeal Beauty and there is a mental Beauty the corporeal Beauty is nothing else besides a certain loveliness that ariseth from a due proportion of bodily parts and due temperament of humours and a comely bodily figure The mental Beauty is a loveliness which ariseth from a well tempered Soul adorned with good natural dispositions moral habits or spiritual infused habits of Graces When I speak of the Saints Beauty and of Christ's Beauty I understand it of a spiritual loveliness in them arising from that Grace which dwelled in Christ essentially as God and was poured out upon-him without measure as Mediator and is derived from him to all that truly believe in him Now I say this Beauty in Christ doth infinitely transcend that of the Saints I will shew it you in some few particulars which you may gather from what I said before concerning the Saints Beauty I shewed you that the Saints Beauty was not native and primitive but derivative not essential but accidental not perfect but imperfect I told you that it was indeed durable but yet the degrees of it might fade Let me now open to you the transcendent Excellencies of Christ's Beauty 1. And more generally It is a glorious incomprehensible and most incomparable Beauty When the Word was made flesh and came and dwelt amongst the Sons of men they beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1. 14. In all created Beauties there is not equality There are some faces more beautiful and some minds more beautiful and lovely than others which yet have their loveliness too Beauty is a quality which is capable of degrees There is a glory in Christ's Beauty which is not to be found in the Beauty of any Saint The Apostle tells us that the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily And the Evangelist that his glory was like the glory of the only begotten Son of God he was full of Grace and Truth Now if you ask me what this glory is what Tongue is able to express it Every one sees a glory in the Sun 's Light excelling the glory of the Stars but wherein the Excellency is more than in the fulness of the Light none is able to determine Here it is true which the Vulgar Latine makes the sense of Prov. 25. 27. Qui scrutatur Majestatem opprimetur à gloria While the Soul sets it self to fathom the transcendent Divine Excellencies that are in Christ it is overcome with glory as the Eye is with the Light of the Sun that looks too wistly upon it as the Boy that appeared to the Auncient who had promised his People to open to them the Doctrine of the Trinity unlading water out of the Sea into a little hole with a Spoon and told him that he should sooner have done that work than he would have opened the Doctrine of the Trinity So I may say in this case Christ is every way wonderful The Prophet concerning his Birth cries out Who shall declare his Generation I may here cry out Who shall declare his glory Thus much we can say that his Beauty is extensively and intensively more than that of the most eminent Saint in the World that it
hath it that walks with God and hath a fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ By way of Argument let me but plead with you 1. To observe the difference between sensual and intellectual pleasures And again betwixt rational and spiritual pleasures Who is there that observes not how much the satisfaction of the mind in the possession of Learning and Vertue excels all that satisfaction which the Eye hath in seeing or the Ear in hearing Christ is pleasant to the Soul not to the outward but to the inward man The pleasures of the mind are rational or spiritual The proportion which knowledge beareth to the understanding of man and which moral Vertue bears to his Reason makes them pleasant and creates an intellectual rational pleasure But alas it must be imperfect for as the Eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the Ear with hearing so neither is it possible that the Soul should be satisfied with knowledge or moral accomplishments especially when it is awakened to consider Eternity Hence the Learned man that before took pleasure in his knowledge being awakened cries out I with my Learning may go to Hell when one that knows much less may go to Heaven where 's the pleasure But now the Soul that is possessed of Christ hath its heart perfectly at rest because it sees its eternal Interest provided for and cannot discern it self in danger of future misery Furthermore the things in which it takes pleasure are above the rank of all sublimary contentments even such things as Eye hath not seen nor hath Ear heard nor can it enter into the Heart of man to conceive Besides Conscience is quiet Conscience is that which spoils much of the Worlds pleasure for as a good Conscience is a continual feast so an evil Conscience is more or less a continual torment Now Christ is he alone that quieteth the Conscience Many a poor Christless Soul drinks Wine in Bowls and boast in their outwardly happy condition but by and by a finger of a mans hand appears their Conscience begins to stir and to tell them they are damned undone sinners what becomes of their pleasure But now the Soul that is in Christ his Conscience speaks peace to him he hath peace without trouble And to give you a demonstration of this pleasantness of a Christian's life as I remember Christ said of the Lillies they neither spin nor sow yet Solomon in all his glory is not like one of them So give me leave to say Step unto the poor Cottages of Christians who have searce Bread to eat no Silken Rayments to put on no Musick to make them merry no Money to spend no Orchards or Gardens to delight them and yet there 's many a Nobleman many a Gentleman who have all these in abundance yet in all their glory are not like one of these Lillies these poor Souls have more true content and pleasure in one day than they have in all their life nor would they change conditions with them So true is that of Solomon Prov. 15. 16 17. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great Treasures and trouble therewith Better is a dinner of Herbs where love is than a stalled Oxe and hatred therewith I dare warrant you that the Philosopher could have dined more sweetly at home with Bread and Water than at the Tyrants Table of Dainties in view of a sharp Sword hanging over his head by a thred There 's many a poor Christian in this like a true spiritual Diogenes that satisfieth himself with the influence of the Sun upon his Tub better than an Alexander could do himself with a whole World subdued to his feet 2. Observe from hence the difference between Christ and lusts Christ and the World The Soul of man cannot be alone it is either espoused to lusts and to the World or else to the Lord Jesus There 's many a one whose Soul is united to it's lusts Lust is its beloved Can this Soul say Behold thou art fair my Beloved yea pleasant Doubtless nothing less Reason tells the Drunkard that his Drunkenness is a foul thing and Reason tells the Unclean person that his Soul is united to a filthy thing Take him that is united to the World to the Riches of it or to the Honours of it Reason tells him they have no beauty in them nor are they more pleasant than beautiful Ah! what racks of Conscience have prophane sinners oft-times The Wine tickles the throat as it passeth but it maketh the stomach sick The lusts of the flesh leave a Thorn in the Conscience which abides when the pleasure of them is vanished The World pleaseth the Eye while the figure of it passeth before it but it is no more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great fancy and vexation of spirit spoils the pleasure of it But Christ is pleasant never any Soul that followed him repented of it yea those that follow him weeping never repent of their repentings Bring me that Soul which ever said I would I had never known or never walkt with Christ Let this therefore prevail with every Soul that hears me this day to get acquaintance with Christ And 2. With those who have interest in him to labour to grow up in him 1. The former Because he is pleasant 2. The latter Because they have not tasted the bottom of that pleasantness which attends him and the full Enjoyment of him Pleasantness is an alluring thing When Eve saw that the Apple was pleasant to the Eye she took it Gen. 3. 6. When Issachar in Jacob's Prophecy Gen. 49. 15. saw that the Land was pleasant he bowed his shoulder to bear Were you but possessed of this one Truth that Christ is pleasant that the way of Christ is a way of pleasantness it would go a great way to persuade men into it Hearken to the Wise man speaking of Wisdom of Christ indeed and his Grace under the notion of Wisdom Prov. 3. 17. Her waies are waies of pleasantness and all her paths are peace She is a Tree of Life to them that lay hold upon her Hearken you that are at ease in Zion that drink away care and spend your time in singing away the Evil day you that lie upon Beds of Ivory and stretch your selves upon Couches and eat the Lambs out of the Flock and Calves out of the midst of the stall you that chant to the sound of the Viol and invent to your selves Instruments of Musick you that drink Wine in Bowls and fare deliciously every day and dress your selves in gorgeous Apparel I tell you there 's many a poor Soul that hath Christ and is clothed with Rags and feeds upon Roots and drinks Water whose Soul is more at ease and enjoys more pleasure than yours doth O! therefore return you Shulamites return and understand aright the waies of true pleasure from those things that are meer empty shadows of vanity 2. Let this engage you that have received Christ to grow
the Rule which God hath given us Our Souls communion with God through the Spirit is not out of Ordinances but in and by them The Teaching of the Letter is not opposed but subordinated to the Teaching of the Spirit There is room enough for the Teaching of the holy Spirit after the Minister hath done what he can to teach us nor is it to be blasphemed by ill tongued men because themselves do not understand what it means they only speak evil of the things they know not The Power of God upon the heart fastening the words we read and hear upon our hearts and consciences as a Nail in a sure place is a thing only known unto the Souls that have had experience of it But the great thing I desire you might be instructed in from this discourse is The difference betwixt a prophane person and hypocrites and the true Children of God which may be discerned from their affections to the Word of God The prophane person wholly despiseth and slighteth the Word of God both the written Word and the Word Preached it serveth him for nothing but a subject to exercise his prophane wit upon The Hypocrite driving another design glorying in shew and appearance he must have some pretended respect at least to the Word of God but he rests meerly in reading or in hearing and regardeth not either how far God in the Word communicates himself to him nor yet how far he communicates his Soul unto God in the Ordinance Let an Hypocrite go with a multitude and hear a Sermon he hath enough if he can but say I have been at the Ordinance whether his Soul hath been at all instructed or affected whether any Word of God hath come nigh to his heart laid any hold upon his conscience yea or no he hath no true thirst after any communion with God in the Ordinance if he hath been but seen in the Lord's Courts or at most be furnished with matter of discourse to talk of amongst Christians so as they may take him to be a Disciple his ends are satisfied But it is otherwise with a Child of God he is troubled when he cometh from an Ordinance if he doth not find he hath had some communion with God in the Ordinance That God hath either more sealed and further confirmed some Truth to his Soul or convinced him of some sin or comforted him with some Promise some way or other spoken unto his heart Methinks the difference betwixt an Hypocrite and a Child of God in this case may be resembled by the going of a Child with another companion who is no Child to a Father's house where they find themselves splendidly entertained but the Child seeth not his Father's face the Child's companion is pleased and comes home talking and boasting of his entertainment but the Child's heart is sad the end of the Child's Journey was to see his Father's face and to have his Father's blessing without this the good chear doth him no good The formal Hypocrite comes home from Ordinances pleasing himself that he hath been at Church that he hath heard a quaint learned discourse and his tongue may run great descants upon such things as these The Child of God is satisfied with none of these things he went to his Father's house that he might see his Father's face if he can find no evidence of that his Soul is discontented and unsatisfied he cries I have laboured in vain I have lost another day of grace and opportunity of salvation I have been seeking the Lord in vain and waiting upon him for nothing And this is the very reason why a pious Soul cannot hear every body nor take up with all Sermons or discourses he doth not go to Church to hear the voice of a man but the Word of God and goeth with an expectation to meet with a blessing from God and therefore he will hear where the Word of God is so opened so applied as he can expect God's blessing upon it He cannot expect that God's blessing should go along with any to whom he hath said Psal 50. 16 17. What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or that thou shouldst take my Covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee He will not therefore sit under the Ministry of one that is openly prophane and wicked and of a scandalous life Nor one that teacheth other Doctrine than what is according to sound Doctrine and godliness and the form of sound words delivered in the Word of God or him that giveth heed to Fables and endless Genealogies which minister Questions rather than godly Edifying which is in Faith 1 Tim. 1. 4. When he goes â—o an Ordinance he goeth not to hear the words of men puffed up but the words of God and expecteth that God should meet him and bless him and therefore governs himself accordingly in hearing so as he may probably meet with a blessing from God which he cannot expect from one who so dischargeth his work as he proclaimeth to all that God never sent him though he runs In the next place this will give us another advantage to try our state with reference to God's favour An earnest desire after an inward spiritual communion with God in any Ordinance or Duty and the dissatisfaction of a Soul without it will very much argue a man or woman to be a Christian indeed whereas a bare going to an Ordinance a bare fancy or desire to hear or a meer hearing will speak a man no more than a nominal titular Christian and be an evidence that the Soul resteth in a meer bodily labour and exercise which profiteth nothing This is a great point the being in the Sanctuary will satisfie an Hypocrite nothing but the seeing the power and glory of God in the Sanctuary will satisfie David the man according to God's own heart But it is hard for us to keep a medium in any thing almost As in the heart of a Formalist there is nothing of this desire nothing of this dissatisfaction so many times in the heart of a good Christian there may be too much of this dissatisfaction and a discontent and dissatisfaction founded in some mistake let me therefore a little enlarge upon this so useful a Subject 1. A satisfaction with a bare reading or hearing the Word speaks nothing above formality nothing above what an Hypocrite may arrive at It is said that Herod heard John Baptist gladly yet he was not got up to the Hypocrite's Form There was a people in Ezekiel's time of whom God complained Ezek 33. v. 30 31 32. that talked against the Prophet by the walls and in the doors of their houses yet spake every one to his Brother saying Come I pray you and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. And came as the people came and sate before the Prophet as the Lord's people and heard his words but would not do them with their mouths theâ—
shewed much love but their hearts went after their covetousness And v. 32. the Prophet was to them as a very lovely Song of one that had a pleasant voice and could play well on an Instrument they heard his words but they did not do them And in the time of the Propher Isaiah there was a generation that sought the Lord daily and delighted to know the Lord's waies as a Nation that forsook not the Ordinances of God and took delight in approaching to God Isa 58. 2. yet the Lord sent his Prophet to cry aloud against them not to spare to lift up his voice like a Trumpet to shew them their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins And doubtless there is such a generation still as a generation of prophane persons that despise the Word and Ordinances of God and blaspheme God and his Word so another generation that must read and must go and hear and may take some delight in it They may delight in the stile and phrase and wit of the Preacher or in the Learning that is mixed up with the discourse or in the Notion of the Sermon and desire to hear especially some kind of Preachers upon these accounts or to furnish their minds with some notional knowledge of the things of God that may serve them as to their credit and reputation in the world or furnish their tongues with discourse in religious company all this will speak nothing to prove a man a Christian indeed one whose heart is changed and transformed into the likeness of the Word All this may be without any desire after the kisses of Christ's mouth but a desire after the feeling the power of the Word upon our hearts and a dissatisfaction of spirit until a man findeth something of this upon his Soul this will speak a man or woman not to rest in a form of godliness without the power of it yet even this dissatisfaction may be too much and this happeneth when it proceedeth from some mistake and misapprehension of Religious Souls This principally happeneth in two cases 1. The Soul 's judging it self from its sensible experiences not from its direct motions toward God and its desires The motions of our Souls towards God must be warily distinguished from the sensible returns of God upon our Soul The first will speak the Soul beloved The latter speaks it highly favoured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much graced by God A pious Soul is not to judge it self so much from God's returns to it in this particular as from God's workings in it kindling in it those holy desires which move it after what it may be it doth not yet seem meet to the wisdom of God that it should attain I have not told you that the Spouse of Christ doth at all times find that Christ hath kissed it with the kisses of his mouth but that such a Soul's desires will be steady and constant after such a thing and will not be satisfied with a meer bodily labour and external performance of a duty The 2d mistake may be from the Soul 's not considering the variety of those kisses by which our blessed Lord may kiss the Souls of Believers in and by the Word but keeping its Eye upon some particular influence of grace which it passionately desireth and not finding that God satisfieth it as to that it concludeth it hath had no influence from God at all As now supposing a Soul sad and troubled it is exceedingly desirous of comfort and satisfaction and saith Lord when wilt thou comfort me In expectation of meeting God in this way it goeth out to hear the Word and not meeting with that peace and comfort which it wanted it is ready to conclude that it hath met with nothing and hath had no near inward spiritual communion with God As to this the Soul must rectifie its mistake the profit of the Word is not limited to one thing it is saith the Apostle profitable for reproof and correction and instruction in righteousness There is a kiss of instruction in righteousness It may be thou canst not find that God by the Word which thou hast heard hath spoken or sealed peace to thy Soul but thou art still full of troubles and fears doubts and dejections well but if thou findest that God hath more sealed and confirmed some Truth to thee that he hath made thee to see further into the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God to see some Truths of concernment to thy Soul in a clearer and fuller light do not say that thou hast not met with God in the Ordinance The opening of the Eyes especially to discern the Mysteries of the Gospel is one of the kisses of Christ's mouth If thy love be not so far as thou canst see further influenced yet if thy Faith be promoved this is a great thing It may be thou camest to hear hoping for strength against the temptation God possibly hath met thee and hath given thee a further light to discern the temptation the methods and depth of Satan's subtilties in it this is a kiss There is an instruction in Duty as well as Doctrine which deserveth this name Thou comest to the Word hoping God will speak peace to thee and take the thorn out of thy flesh that buffeteth thee It seems not good to God to do this but thou goest home from hearing more submitting to the Will of God more resolved to wait upon God more convinced that it is thy duty to lie at the foot of God and to wait his will and good pleasure This also is a kiss of his mouth There is a kiss of Reproof and Correction When God by his Word reproves and corrects a Soul when he reproves the Soul and the Soul is reproved as is said of Abraham when the Pagan King reproved him this is a kiss of his mouth Reproof and correction are things for which God hath told us that his Word is profitable for and a Soul ought to look upon it self as having had a communion with God in his Word when a wise reproof hath met with an obedient Ear. In short if a Soul after hearing though it hath not the desired mercy yet findeth it self more prepared to want it more quieted in the present want of it more patient under the afflicting hand of God that the grace of God is more sufficient for it than it was this is an excellent kiss of Christ's mouth a certain token that God in the Word communicated himself to the Soul though it may be it hath not been just in that way and method and particular dispensation that the Soul expected I shall finish my Discourse upon this Proposition with a Word of Exhortation If this be the frame of one that is the Spouse of Christ let us labour to find our hearts in this frame I remember the words of Absolom What saith he do I at Hierusalem if I may not see the King's face Hierusalem is called the City of
high Priest became us c. Give me leave upon this argument to make use of the same words Christ hath Loves such a Saviour became the Sons of men and that upon a three fold account 1. As love stands opposed to hatred and wrath and Enmity Considering man as Gods Creature he was not hated of God God hâ—teth not the work of his own hand but considering him as a lapsed creature as degenerated into the Plant of a strange Vine after that God had created him a generous noble plant so he became the object of Gods wrath hatred and Enmity We were Children of wrath by nature saith the Apostle E ph 2. 3. God is angry with the wicked every day How Sutable to us now is it to have a Saviour That is Love and who hath Loves considering the aversion in the holy Divine Beeing from Mankind as rebellious Seed a Seed of Evil doers Who could have suited us to have become a Saviour unto us but one who had akind propension and inclination to us inclining him to the great work of mans Redemption and Reconciliation to God especially also considering that there could be no remission of sins without blood no reconciliation without the reconcilers Death he had need have loves that should dye for his Friend and he much more who should dye for Enemies that were by his death to be made friends 2. As Loves signifies multitude and infinitness of Love We have all a multitude of sins and there is a kind of infiniteness in sin indeed our Acts of Sin are not infinite we cannot number them we cannot measure them but they are to be numbred that is our comfort so that the ballance is on Gods side he hath infinite Mercies But there is an infiniteness of a will to sin in every Sinners heart if a Sinner were let alone he hath such a depth of vileness in his heart that if he were to live infinitely he would sin without limits without bounds infinitely there is an infiniteness in the guilt of Sin we had need of a Saviour that should have Loves an infinite of Love a multitude of Mercies for our multitude of Sins numberless pardons for numberless Sinnings we Sinned yesterday we sin this day and we shall sin to morrow If Christ had not Loves we could have no hopes 3. Thirdly such a Saviour became us As Loves signifyes a Variety of gracious inclinations We have a variety of wants Our wants are not all of one nature we have need of Love to pardon us and to bring us into a state of favour Love to preserve us and uphold us when we are in such a state of favour One or another gracious aspect and inclination of Christ would not have been enough for our Souls which are not onely miserable and stand in need of mercy but poor and stand in need of the riches of divine grace and naked and stand in need of the long White robe of Christs righteousness and blind and stand in need of his Eye Salve We are all Emptiness and stand in need of his fulness that we might receive of his fulness Grace for Grace Less than infinite Loves and variety of gracious inclinations a readiness to serve our Souls in a variety of distresses with a sutable Supply of grace grace suited to every necessity of our Souls could not have fitted our Souls which have not only wants and infirmities but are incompassed about with wants and infirmities Fifthly Let this report of Christ to your Souls ingage you to indeavour to be made the Objects of these Loves I have observed to you before that this text doth not speak of the Love of Christ with respect to his Father but with respect to us to the Sons of men they are the objects of the Loves of Christ here mentioned How should we all study and indeavour that we may be the Beloved the objects of these Loves not of his Love onely but of his Loves Arminians keep a great deal of stir with a Philanthropy in Christ a common Love which he hath for all the Sons and daughters of men Nor is the question betwixt them and other Divines so much about the thing as the extent of it Sober Divines will many of them grant in Christ a common Love to all mankind and speak of some things which they take to be the effects and products of it but admit it yet it is certain he hath also an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a good pleasure of his will or Special kindness to some Souls So he hath Loves that is the benignity and kindness of his inclinations is more to Some than to others Let none of us satisfy our selves to be the Object of Christs Love unless we be the object of his Loves I shall press this onely with One Argument It is this Nothing but the Loves of Christ can serve our Souls as to their true Spiritual and eternal Concernment There is a great stir made in the world about a common Love which Christ should have for all the Sons and daughters of men and there are many that would make the Death of Christ to be the Effect of this Common Love And so conclude that he intentionally dyed for all and Every man Others are not of that mind but yet will allow all men and women in the world to receive some good from Christ and that not onely considered as God over all blessed for ever and one with his Father and so in him we live move and have our Being But as Mediator It is from him they say that the world yet stands that the Gospel is preached to the worst of men I see little in this worth the contending for I would gladly know what real advantage accrueth to any Soul from being the common object of Divine Love Admitting that all shal not be saved for whom Christ dyed which they must hold who hold that Christ dyed for all and every man unless they hold universal Salvation I would fain know what relief any Soul can have from this notion of Christs dying for all which some so much contend for Supposing that all men shall not be saved but those onely whom Christ hath loved with a Special Love Nothing can possibly revive a Soul troubled as to its Spiritual and eternal concerns but some evidence of that It is said of the young man who came to Christ so hopefully Mar. 10. 21. kneeling to him saying Master what good thing may I do that I may obtain everlasting Life that he loved him With that general Love which he hath for all his Creatures especially such as have any seeds of goodness in them yet the Text saith he went away Sorrowful Let us labour for the Special Love of Christ Such tokens of his Love as may distinguish betwixt us and those who shall perish But to shut up this Discourse This notion calleth upon all of us who would be like Christ to have Loves also There are two
was in my blood live he hath fixed his Love upon me who was by birth an Ethiopian he hath hung a Chain about my neck I am black but I am comely I have met with a story of a Minister who going to visit and pray with a poor creatureâ— possessed by the Devil the Devil thought to have stopt his mouth by objecting to him some sins committed by him in his youth The holy man answered confessing the charge but Satan saith he upon my repentance Christ hath since that washed me with his blood Another story I have met with of a worthy Person who lying upon his sick bed and being alone one opens the door and comes in in the habit of a Scrivener with a Pen and Inkhorn and Paper andsetting himself down at the table in the Chapter called the sick man by name and told him he was sent from God to take account of him of all the sins he had done for which he must presently go and answer to God before his Judgment seat The good man rightly apprehending that it was the Devil had assumed an habit to tempt and distrub him bid him go on and write first Gen. 3. 15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel Upon which the evil Spirit presently disappeared Speaking only from my memory I may forget some circumstances but this is the substance of the story What the Devil in these cases did by a more audible voice he doth yet every day by impressions made more secretly upon the Spirits of some or other that fear God For tho conscience will of it self often bring sin to remembrance and reflect sins upon the Soul committed long before yet they are some times reflected with such violence and degrees of terror and attended with such strong motions and sollicitations to despair of Divine mercy and to self murder that it is but reasonable to judge there is more in them then the ordinary workings of conscience In such a dark hour as this it will be a great relief to a Soul to think that the Spouse of Christ is black but comely Doth the Devil then object thy blackness whether by reason of past or present sins in bar to thy trust and confidence in God for the forgiveness of them through the blood of Christ Reply to him Satan I have been black I confess it I am black but I am comely also having my Garments washed and rouled in the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World I am as the Tents of Kedar they are black but I am also as the Curtains of Solomon they are exceeding beautiful 3. It also relieveth a Christian under Persecutions and afflictions and against the Worlds upbraidings because of them The Barbarians concluded Paul a Murtherer because they saw a Viper cleaving to his hand and the men of the World are very prone to judge and condemn the People of God for what happeneth to them in this life they see the blackness of Gods Peoples visages under affliction and persecution but the love of God in chastening them that they might not be condemned with the World the exercises of their faith and trial of it and its appearing more precious then that of Gold their patience its perfect worâ— hâ—se are things in which their comeliness appeareth in and under afflictions these are things which they do not see Gods People are also ready to conclude against themselves because of their tryals but there is no just reason for it afflictions are but a blackness of the skin the Child of God may notwithstanding them be within exceeding beautiful and comely The tents of Kedar though they had black and unlovely coverings and outsides yet within might be fill'd with Spices and Riches I shall shut up this discourse with some few words of exhortation to that duty which this notion of truth calls to us for 1. It calleth to all the People of God for humility a mean and low opinion of themselves beauty is often a great temptation to Pride whether it be natural or artificial The Daughters of Sion were haughty and walked with stretched forth Necks and wanton Eyes Isaiah 3. 16. Spiritual beauty gives no advantage to a Soul to think of it self above what it ought to think In all reason we should have been some cause to our selves of that whereof we glory we should have some propriety in it and there should be in it some perfection The comeliness of Gods People is neither natural nor any acquest of their own There are three things which may keep the most comely of Gods Children humble First The consideration of their former blackness Let but any of them look back to the rock out of which they are hewen and to the hole of the Pit out of which they were digged and they will see no reason to be exalted above measure their Father was a Syrian their birth was of the land of Canaan their Father was an Amorite their Mother an Hittite and in the day wherein they were born they were cast out to the loathing of their persons not salted not swadled at all Nor was this all there is none of them but had their conversation in times past according to the Prince of the power of the Air fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind Children of Wrath by nature c There is none of them but hath reason to pray that the Lord would not remember the sins of their youth against them and to beg of God that for them he would not write against them bitter things nor make them to possess their years of vanity None of them but before Christs comeliness was put upon them had been guilty of sin enough to make them to walk softly all the days of their lives Secondly The consideration of their present blackness is enough though they are comely yet they are black still they have a body of death a law of their members the lustings of the flesh against the Spirit sins that easily beset them weights that often press them down the beauty of the best of Gods People is but like the beauty of the Moon which is full of spots hath a dark part and often suffers great Eclipses and all whose light is borrowed He observeth not his own heart that doth not see enough in the imperfect and extravagant motions of it to keep him humble Thirdly The third is the consideration from whence he deriveth his beauty If men and women would but debate a little with their own reason they would see no reason to be proud of a comeliness arising from any external Ornament it is something beneath a Reasonable Being to be beholden to a Stone Jewels are no more or a little Earth such are Gold and Silver a Plant or a Fly or a Silkworm or a Sheep a little Wool or Flax for
doubtless were the Israelites in Jeroboam's time not only to the men of Judah who adhered to the true Worship of God and the sincerer part of the Ten Tribes who left them and came to Hierusalem to worship But the generality of the Israelites in Ahab's times in the sight of Elijah and those seven thousand whom God told Elijah he had at that time in Israel who had not bowed their knee to Baal nor kissed him with their lips The Use of this will be very short only warning us to be very tender in this point very careful of having to do with these Vineyards It is inconsistent with the keeping of our own the things which God hath committed to our trust It renders Churches and particular Souls also black It is an abatement to our beauty and comeliness These things are spots in our beauty shadows to our glory Nothing more offendeth the Eyes of the Divine Glory nothing more provoketh the Lord to jealousie To those who consideringly read the History of the Jewish Church recorded in the Old Testament nothing need be added upon this Argument I come now to the second sense of these words to which I told you I more inclined to From whence the Proposition is this Prop. That great intanglements in secular affairs will make the Spouse of Christ to appear black Demas did once appear white twice you have an honourable mention of him Col. 4. 14. Luke the beloved Physician and Demas salute you He is reckoned amongst Paul's fellow-labourers Philemon v. 24. but the world made him black 2 Tim. 4. 10. Demas saith the Apostle hath forsaken us and imbraced the present world Martha was doubtless white in her Lord's Eyes yet being cumbred about many things she appeared something black Mary had chosen the better part Luk. 38. 40 41. The Apostles left their Nets when they followed Christ When therefore one askt leave of our Saviour before he followed him to go and bury his dead Christ replied Let the dead bury the dead follow thou me You know the excuses those made Matth. 22. that were invited to the Marriage Feast one had bought a Farm another had bought five yoke of Oxen. Our Saviour hath determined Matth. 6. 24. No man can serve two Masters but either he will cleave to the one and neglect the other or neglect the one and be overcareful for the other What need we any Scripture in the case shew me that man or woman that is intangled in a multitude of worldly affairs and hath not lost something of his beauty if he or she ever had any as to the power and practice of Religion Holiness But it will be demonstratively clear to us if we consider either how much of our time the world will take up or how much of our strength and spirits how it will distract and divide us how much it will allure and intice us or to how many scandals it will expose us Of all these I shall speak a word or two 1. I say first if we consider how much of our time worldly occasions take up All humane actions require time as well as place There is no religious action but requireth time and the more time is spent in our worldly employments the less must or can be spent in religious duties the more our intanglements are in secular affairs the less time we must spend in the acts of our more immediate homage to God Alass how little time hath he who is much imployed in the world for reading hearing praying for any religious service and this is the ordinary plea that men make for the non-performance of them they have no time to read the Scriptures or to pray in their Families or to instruct them or to hear the Word or to imploy their thoughts upon spiritual things Solomon saith of the covetous man that the multitude of his riches will not let him sleep It may be said of others the multitude of their businesses will not let them pray or keep up any course of Religion in their Families it suffers but a few to spend the Lords Sabbath as they ought to do they are so far from sparing God any of their own time that they are more ready to steal his time though it be but one day of seven 2. Secondly Worldly businesses do not only take up much of our time but also much of 〈◊〉 spirits and strength God doth not only require our love and such acts of homage in testification of our love as he hath prescribed but also that we should love him and do those acts with all our hearts with all our might and strength and excess of worldly labour and business wasts our Spirits takes away that might and strength which we fhould spend in the service of God Ah what heartless lifeless prayers and religious duties are performed by men and women taken up with an undue proportion of secular imployments 3. Thirdly They fill the head with a multitude of distractions 1 Cor. 7. 35. The Apostle upon this account v. 34. commendeth a single life to those to whom God had given that gift for saith he The unmarried Woman careth for the things of the Lord that she may be holy both in Body and Spirit but the married Woman careth for the things of the World that she may please her Husband And this saith he I speak to you for your own profit not that I might cast a snare upon you but for that which is comely and that you may attend upon the Lord without distraction Distractions in religious services though they appear not to the world yet really are the blackness of the Soul and it is our duty as much as in us lyeth to serve the Lord with the greatest attention of our thoughts and with as few distractions as we can now the more we are incumbred with secular affairs the greater we shall find our distractions in the service of God For as it is upon the ringing of a Bell though the man's hand be off the Rope and the Bell begins to be still yet for some time we shall discern a din in the sides of the Bell caused from its former motion and agitation So will every observing Christian find that when his hand is off his secular business yet his head will for some time be working upon it and this more especially sheweth a preparation of heart necessary for those in particular who are much imployed in worldly business before they draw nigh to God in the Solemn Duties of his Worship that the noise of their secular affairs may be out of their heads and they may serve the Lord without distractions and not be like to the People whom God complaineth of Ezek. 33. 31. They said come and let us go and hear the Word of the Lord. And saith God they come unto thee as the People cometh and sit before thee as my People and they hear thy words but they will not do them for with their
mouths they shew much love but their heart goeth after their covetousness Christ in the Parable of the Sower compareth some hearers of the Word to the ground that received the Seed amongst Thorns the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choked the Word and made it become unfruitful It is a great blackness of a Christian not to have his heart with God in Religious Services so as the Lord as the Prophet expresseth it is nigh in his mouth and far from his reins and it is a blackness that will cover the face of every man and woman that converseth too much with the world Paul therefore rightly adviseth the Corinthians that they should use the world in a careless manner that those that rejoyced in the affluences of it should be as if they rejoyced not and those that bought as if they possessed not and those that used the world as not abusing it But saith he I would have you without carefulness 1 Cor. 7. 30 31 32. 4. Worldly imployments have often an ill influence upon Christians to intice and allure them to sin not only by omissions of duty but by the commissions of things which are contrary to their duty there is a sensible sweetness in worldly enjoyments and those are the product of worldly business and imployment The Devil baiteth all his Hooks with some piece of the World or other Some with the sensibly sweet part of it some with the gay and splendid part of it some with the richer and more profitable part of it It is an hard thing for Christians to keep Vineyards and not drink some of that intoxicating Wine which is the fruit of them When Samuel gave up his account as a Judge in 1 Sam. 12. 3. Behold saith he here I am witness against me before the Lord whose Ox have I taken or whose Ass have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I received any bribe Paul in like manner thus acquitteth himself to the Church of Ephesus Acts 20. 33. I have coveted no Mans Silver or Gold or Apparel But shew me the Man or Woman that hath been much incumbred with worldly affairs and can say I have coveted no Mans House or Land or Silver or Gold or that can say To whom have I told a lie for my gain or said it hath cost me so much when indeed it did not Or whom have I done injustice to in a bargain Commonly the best of the Market which such Christians have is that of Zacheus Luke 19. If I have taken any thing from any man by unjust dealings I restore him fourfold 5. Lastly A too great incumbrance with the world leaves a blot upon Christians in the common repute of the world if they escape real blots from it Holy Men in the Greek are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is men who are not Earthly and the world expects it of such as profess to Religion and Godliness that they should be persons looking for better Houses then those made of Clay even an House in the Heavens not made with hands and for a better Country and a more induring substance Hence a too great pursuit of the world becometh a greater blot to Persons professing to an heavenly conversation then unto others Our conversation is in Heaven saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our trading and business is in Heaven I shall only add two or three words for application of this discourse This in the first place giveth us all an opportunity to bewail the disadvantage we have all received from the fall of Adam It was a curse which upon the fall fell upon all the Posterity of Adam Gen. 3. 19. In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy Bread till thou return to the ground I do not think that if man had continued in innocency he should have lived idly but Mercers opinion is very probable his labour should rather have been for delight then for necessity or rather his labour should not have been so great as now it is the Thorns and Thistles which the ground now naturally brings forth and in the prevention and extirpation of which the labour of the Husbandman is so much were clearly the effect of the curse upon the Earth Gen. 3. 18. a lively-hood for the Sons of Men had doubtless been got at a cheaper rate with lesser labour and man had been at a great deal more liberty and leisure for a communion with God and have had more time for his immortal Soul then his worldly occasions will now permit or allow This may be a profitable meditation for the poorer sort of Christians whom the need of Bread for themselves and the want of a just provision for their Families restrain from spending so much time in communion with God as they would to sit down and think of the woful effect and fruit of the sin of Adam that first sin of man which reduced the Sons and Daughters of men to these miserable necessities Secondly Observe from hence what an advantage those have whom the liberal hand of Divine Providence hath delivered from such a miserable servitude to secular affairs If they will make themselves slaves and drudges to the World they may but the Providence of God hath not put them upon any necessity so to do God hath given them Estates to live upon Servants to toil for them I will but offer two things to the consideration of these 1. How inexcusable will you be if you do not keep your own Vineyards well Your own Vineyards are your Souls those immortal Substances ordained to an Eternity ennobled with Reason and many gifts and faculties by which if you will you may bring forth much fruit to the honour and glory of God if now you be not found mighty in the Scriptures much in reading hearing prayer close in your walking with God c. You cannot plead that you want leisure A morning and evening Service God under the Law required and in the same proportion doubtless under the Gospel though not by way of Sacrifice properly so called I observe of David and Daniel that they prayed thrice in a day Psal 55. 17. Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud saith David Of Daniel we read Dan. 6. 10. that he kneeled three times a day and prayed and gave thanks unto God as he did before-time They were both great men and at more leisure than ordinary Jews they considered this and as God had doubled their portions so they thought it reasonable in some measure to proportion their duties to their circumstances 2. Secondly Consider how little you will have to say if you so far intangle your selves in the world as it becometh a snare to your Souls Who pitieth him that is burned who for meer wantonness puts his finger in the fire Hath God given us food and rayment Jacob begged no more The Apostle commandeth us if we have so