liue in his feare Taste then and see how gracious the Lord Iesus is and how plentifull is his goodnesse which he hath layed vp for them that feare him and prepared for them that trust in him euen before the sonnes of men He being the perfection of Priesthood and prophecie of sacrifice and sacrament so that now who so setteth his heart vpon any thing but vpon the Lord Iesus is liable to the extreme curse of Gods desertion Set not then your hearts on beautie beloued it is but a forward blossome soone nipt nor on pleasure it is but a bitter pill lapt in sugar nor on your belly it is but the pantrie for the draft house nor on riches they are but guiles and baites to insnare vs which while they are in getting wearie vs while they are possessed befoole vs and when we lose them they crucifie vs. Set not your hearts on the fauour of Princes or Potentates for they are but the sonnes of men nor on ambition it is but a feather tossed with the wind nor on gay apparell it is but rags nor on goodly houses they are but so many bonefiers against the day of doome nor on any thing vnder the sunne but only like and loue them in and for the Lord Iesus sake as they are either remedies for sin or directions in ordine ad Deum for our vsefull necessities and furtherances to further our future happinesse But as for those who despite the spirit of grace and trample the blessed bloud of the new Testament vnder their feete as do all sycophantizing Papists schismatizing Puritans neutralizing Atheists satanizing scorners of all godlinesse truth and honestie I will euer pray against their wickednesse Psal. 69. Let their table be their snare their eies dimmed their habitation voide their backes bowed downe let them heape vp iniquitie vpon iniquitie and let their names be razed out of the booke of life Let them be vnto vs as paganish Ethnicks and Publicans as vncleane leapers put out of the campe of Israel as rotten members cut off from the bodie of the Church as dead branches broken off from the true vine as vncleane dogges put out of the holy Citie and as those of the Concision of whom we must beware Phil. 3. 2. Yea let all that is about them be hatefull vnto vs. Let the goods of such be as the cursed things of Iericho their houses as odious as a iakes their possessions as direfull as Acheldama their gaines as vile as the Pharisies Corban their name as branded and as infamous as was Ieroboams their posteritie as obscure as the vntimely fruite of a woman which neuer seeth the sunne If they be honourable and do not honor Christ ô Lord lay their honor in the dust If noble let them be accompted base vnlesse they be ennobled in Iesus Christ. If learned let their learning be a by-word and a fable among the vulgar that studie not to be students in Christs schoole If they be a whole nation let their portion be as the men of Ashdod 1. Sam. 5. If a king let him be made as Nebuchadnezzar that he may know the Almightie If a Courtier let him be despised in the sight of the king yea let all them be deliuered ouer that loue not the Lord Iesus but despise him vnto Sathan by excommunication that confession at least may be wrested from them as it was from Simon Magus and Elimas the Bariesu who craued aide of the Church which formerly they desperatly despised that if it be the will of the Lord they may be saued by repentance in this day of grace before that fatall and finall diuorce from the Lord of their soules and bodies be denounced before the curses of separation Depart from me of indignation ye cursed of dolor into fire of desperatiō into hell fire of confusion prepared for the deuil and his angels be in the last iudgement awarded against them for their contempt of the Lord Iesus Christ. But to them that seeke the Lord Iesus mella fluant illis and all the beatitudes of mount Gerazim let their eares neuer heare the horrors of the vale of the children of Hinnon but let Sions rayes shine vpon them all their life and let the Lord Iesus appeare vnto them in his second coming to saluation who loue him and looke for him from heauen and long for him from the bottome of their hearts crying come Lord Iesu. Let them heare ô Lord thy perfect blessings of association Come of benediction ye blessed of inheritance possesse of glory the kingdome of election prepared for you before the foundations of the world were layed And God perswade Iaphet to dwell in the tents of blessed Sem. Euen so ô Lord be it Amen My welbeloued is white and ruddie the chiefest of ten thousand Cant. 5. 10. YOu may iustly demand of me blessed and beloued in the Lord Iesus as the daughters or faithfull people of Ierusalem do here of the spouse in the Canticles concerning her beloued saying What is thy beloued more then other beloued what is thy beloued more then another louer that thou dost so charge vs because of late I denounced from this place before you not against you for I am perswaded better things of you my brethren and such as accompanie saluation Paule his fearefull curse of Anathema Maranatha to wit If any man loue not the Lord Iesus let him be accursed when the Lord shall come And my reply vnto you must be my text which the spouse here maketh to the like demand that is My beloued is white and ruddie the chiefest of ten thousand The words are few the matter manifold Out of Sion saith Dauid hath God appeared in perfect beautie for what higher and more heauenly perfection can be imagined or was euer hard of then Sions sacred rayes which giue bright splendor and most glorious lustre to the whole Christian world The rigor of the law frō Sinay is satisfied in the righteousnesse of the Gospell from mount Sion If any thē be affectionate let him come hither here is loue and if he haue grace here is his welbeloued also and this commencement and commerce of sweet loue will be the whetstone of true perfect and perpetuall loue If any be curious here is amiable beautie white and ruddie white answering the purenesse he would haue and ruddie corresponding the zealous hartines he would craue And further if he shall be curious and be elegans formarum spectator here is choice euen the chiefest of ten thousand For here he may behold the spouse first shewing her deere affection then her true loues description her affection she vttereth by appellation of vnfained loue welbeloued and also by application thus My welbeloued she then describes him generally as thus is white and ruddie the chiefest of ten thousand And then particularly in his parts as in the verses following of this Chapter In her generall description she sets him downe in
Come and see THE BLISSE OF BRIGHTEST BEAVTIE SHINING OVT OF SION IN PERFECT GLORIE Being the summe of foure sermons preached in the Cathedrall Church of Glocester at commandment of superiours BY WILLIAM LOE Imprinted at London by Richard Field for Mathew Law 1614. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL AND RIGHT WORTHY GENTLEman Sir William Sandis Knight and to that wel-disposed very Christian Ladie the Ladie Margaret Sandis his vertuous wife and ioyfull consort grace and glorie be multiplied in Christs kingdomes of grace and glorie MVch honored The Christian neighborhood and kind commerce both of bountifull liberalitie and gracious respect which my selfe and mine receiued from you and yours this time tweluemoneth by our contiguous vicinitie hath occasioned me to be thus bold in saluting you after long silēce with a paper token the onely miniment and memoriall of a Scholer in this last and worst age that hath nothing for vs but bookes amongst the best and by-words amongst the worst as her onely bequest and our legacie Howsoeuer notwithstanding it is the heartie ioy of Israel the vnspeakeable comfort of Iacob that still some of the precious balme of Gilead that falls vpon Aarons head doth distill downe euen vnto the skirts of his priestly clothing And whereas others may haue spices and balmes to preserue their bodies for a time and monuments of brasse and stone to continue a future glorie to their memorials yet euer those haue bene most enobled whose remembrances the tokens of vertue and godlinesse haue endeuored to eternize and keepe from the rottennesse of corrupted baserie and obscure obliuion And albeit the purport of this whole proiect is but the turning of my tongue into my pen and the matter it selfe is but a preaching againe as it were the same words another saboth day as the Gentiles besought Paule in the Acts yet I pray you entertaine them as the presence of my spirit the pledge of mine heart and the earnest of that affection and loue which I iustly beare vnto you And whereas before I spake in a great auditory in the presence and countenance of a liuing man am now content in this my paines to bury my selfe in a dead letter of lesse effectuall perswasion But principally I protest to this only end and purpose that God might be magnified if it be his holy will in me the weakest meanest of his seruāts both by the meditations of mine heart and in the endeauors of mine hand The Treatise is of the loue of God deuoted vnto your selues in whom I haue obserued much loue toward God toward your brethren without and amongst your selues at home Goe on then blessed in the Lord Iesu in this sacred vettue that disposeth you to God so amiablie and you shall find these holy encreases in you 1. You shall euer desire to thinke on him that made you 2. Gladly and willingly to frequent his house the pallace of praier 3. Duly to speake talke of him 4. Often to heare of him by his messengers and to meditate of that you heare 5. Readie will you be to giue for his sake 6. Ioyfull that you suffer whatsoeuer it be for Gods honour 7. Duly to bowe your hearts to the obedience of his holy lawes 8. Yea you wil loue them that loue the Lord and despise and hate them that hate him 9. Neither will you loue this world nor anything therein vnlesse it be for the Lords cause 10. Yea in a word you will loue your friend in the Lord and your enemie for the Lord. Long may the blessing of this diuine loue which is the beautifull Idea of your soules sparkle and flame in you Let the God of heauen grant that the distempered humours of misperswasion may neuer quench it within you nor the ouerflowings of vngodlinesse in the world euer put it out but let the light of Gods owne most blessed countenance for euer and euer shine vpon you and cause it to be enflamed eternally I beseech the God of heauen and of earth to multiplie his richest blessings vpon your selfe your Ladie and your children for euermore Euen so Lord Iesu be it The Colledge of Glou. Febru 20. 1611. Yours because you are of Christ. WILLIAM LOE TO THE CHRISTIAN READER BVT ESPECIALLY TO E. B. HIS VERY much respected friend Grace and Glory LEt God arise and let his enemies be scattered let them that hate him flie before him As the smoke vanisheth so let them perish at thy presence ô Lord that haue euill will at Sion But let them that loue and seeke the Lord be euer ioyfull and glad in him let them be telling his praises from day to daie And if there be any man so brutish that loueth not the Lord Iesus let him be had in execration Maranatha Seeing man being fallen is raised by Christ onely man is returned to God hauing turned awaie from all good The Angels that fell are damned man that sinned is pardoned To man God hath giuen a motion neuer to ceasse vntill he rest in him grace to guide him goodnes to imbrace him messengers of glad tidings to instruct him faith to furnish him with the fulnesse of perswasion sanctimony to dignifie him in this life glorie to deifie him in the other life Seeing with Iesus Christ also is the fulnesse of ioy whose name is saluation whose passion redemption whose sacrifice satisfaction whose bloud purgation whose resurrectiō sanctification whose ascension eternall glorification And seeing that the Lord Iesus Christ is loue substantially hauing nothing in him selfe but himselfe being loue it selfe essentially not accidentally he is also loue causally causing it in others as in the Elements in the creatures in the sweete symphonie of the whole vniuerse and in the bitter iarres of mans corrupted nature making men to be of one mind in an house and of one heart in a common-wealth He is loue actiuely louing all things he hath made man more particularly his redeemed most especially with a loue to the end in the end without end Louing them in their election when they could not loue him louing them in their redemption when they would not loue him louing them externally for they haue a promise to enioy their outward blessings louing them internally for their hearts shall be comforted louing them eternally for they shall euer be blessed with him in heauenly things He is loue passiuely most worthie to be beloued being louing euerie daie in multiplying his blessings being louing euery way in magnifying his mercies louing vs first in preuenting vs mercifully louing vs in continuance in guiding vs powerfully louing vs last in perfecting vs eternally Yea so louing that if he go to punish he walkes a soft pace he comes in the coole of the day but to shew mercie he runnes for he is gracious righteous yea our God is mercifull punishing three or fowre of the generation of the godlesse but shewing mercy to thousands that loue him and
hypocriticall and hyperbolicall integritie like an old bottle they must vent it or else they would burst and vtter they must yea slauer out rather then faile their owne fooleries be they neuer so grosse or neuer so greeuous to be endured So that they may be then taken for great ones they thinke and haue the names of None such or the great outcrie of vaine glorie and popularity and heare others say of them as the Ephesians doting on their Idol Diana cried Great is Diana of the Ephesians And then do they beyond all meane and measure admire themselues and their owne beauties as did Narcissus and lift vp their plumes with the peacocke contemning all other in the basest manner and crying out to their brethren whom they most contemptuously despise like the Elizean spirits to the Tartarian and say Procul ô proculite profani But yet for all this the whole ranke of them in the sound iudgement of true and essentiall wisedome is but a rout of foolish dottards and dizzie drunkards doting on their owne conceitfull beauty and transgressing in the pride of their owne hearts Seest thou a man wise in his owne conceit more hope is of a foole then of him See the dottard The reason is because a foole is wiser in his owne conceit then seauen men that can render a reason Seest thou a man that is proud in his heart he is as one that transgresseth with wine as did drunken Zebul taking trees for men and as did mad Aiax taking rammes for lambes and taking carts for castles as they do Qui concipiunt aethera mente The way also that this generation walketh in is like them to wit a seeming iust and imagined straight way For whereas all skill in diuinitie is either opinion faith or knowledge these dizzie dottards are onely guided by opinion the very fountaine of Atheisme and the high way to heresie and schisme grounded vpon vncertainties and seeming truths but are not guided by the direction of Iesus faith which hath holy increasings and doth suscipere maius minus there being a progresse à fide ad fidem according to the praier of the yong beleeuer O Lord increase my faith These contrariwise take vpon them to know suddenly all reason all rule all resolutions and like ignorant idiots controll euen their learned Priests Certainely they might notwithstanding do well to call to minde Saules way which seemed iust vnto him when he spared Agag and the best things for sacrifice yet the issue thereof was the ouerrhrow of him and his estate They might also remember the fierie zeale of Iames and Iohn that would fire should come from heauen vpon the Samaritans But the Lord Iesus told them that they wotted not of what spirit they were and sent them to learne a new lesson euen this I will mercie and not sacrifice There is a way therefore that seemeth right but the issues thereof are the issues of death So S. Peter likewise in the tendernes of his hart would not the Lord should suffer at Ierusalem as he prophesied to his Apostles Math. 16. saying Master spare thy selfe But the Lord called him an aduersarie and told him that he sauored not of the things of God In the singularitie also of his good manners Peter said vnto the Lord Thou shalt not wash my feete but when he vnderstood better that if he were not washed he had no part with him he suddenly changed his minde and then would haue his head and all his body bathed by him And yet againe in the singularitie of his sincerity aboue all his fellowes he told his Master that if all forsooke him he would not and see his sinfull defect immediatly following as a punishment of that presumptuous singularity for he first and onely denied him and that most strangely being vanquished with very slight prouocations There is a way then that seemeth right to a man but the issues thereof are the issues of death In this conceitfull generation then and in this seeming way there is no essentiall worth much lesse any especiall vertue to be found Looke vp then to your Lord Iesus your soules beloued and in him and by him you shall see a beautifull generation regenerated by grace who are of his owne generation and partake of his diuine graces by the measure of sanctification giuen them they are also a choice generation set apart for himselfe and for his seruice which are stiled The generation of them that seeke the Lord. The way that they insist in is a right way not of opinion but of iudgement For all the waies of God are so many iudgements saith Gods secretary Moses These turne neither to the right hand too superciliously nor to the left hand too superstitiously but keepe the old ancient and perfect way to God Christ himselfe being their direction in this blessed way for he is verbum genitum the begotten word and the way to him is by verbum scriptum the written word If therefore I should haue my wish I would rather choose to be a doorekeeper to this generation of essentiall goodnesse then to dwell in the glorious tents of seeming holinesse and I shall rather be at sea tossed with a tempestuous storme in the ship with those that humblie professe themselues sinners then on the shore in the table of those Pharisies that iustifie themselues with their hideous haughtinesse Now as this bright beautie is essentiall in the substance so also it is especiall in the brightnesse and excellencie thereof For there are foure sorts of whitenes First fanatically phantasticall whitenes Secondly superficiall whitenes Thirdly naturall whitenes but changeable in the subiect Fourthly natiue whitenes and not changeable in the subiect The first is the diuell transformed into an Angell of light for he is fanatically phantasticall white The man that had a blemish of white in his eye was debarred from the priesthood was resembled to the owle of whom the Naturalists yeeld the reason that shee cannot see in the day time because of the exceeding great whitenes she hath in her eyes which scattereth so the sight that the optiques thereof cannot discerne perfectly the obiects Such are all those that conceiue themselues pure and yet are not washed and cleansed from their euill conscience who say they see and therefore their sinnes remaine for had they bene blind they might pretend some excuse but now all excuse is taken from them because they say that they see The superficiall white are painted sepulchers and whited walls loathsome within and the best is but woodden without like the gilded potsheard Salomon speakes of that the next shower of raine discouereth to be but an outcast for the potters field how gloriously soeuer it glister The natural white but changeable are they that are borne faire but afterwards by the Sunne and soyle they become blacke and Aethiopian-like Semblable are those that begin in the spirit of grace and bright