glory of his power Are you yet convinced of your deplorable Condition by reason of the want of love to Jesus Christ Do you not see the Curse of God hangs over your Soul Can you reply to this proof or deny it or will you still hold to your old Conclusion that you shall not be thus accursed like to what is recorded Deut. 29.19 And it shall come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse that he bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of mine heart to add drunkennese to thirst Behold a man blessing himself whom the Lord declared accursed But what then Is the Curse the further from him or the Blessing nearer to him Read on Verse 20. The Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoak ageinst that man and all the curses that are written in this hook shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven 21. And the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the Tribes of Israel according to all the curses of the Covenant that are written in this book of the Law It is but a poor shift to Iull your Consciences asleep with groundless hopes of escaping the Curse contrary to the express word of God who will not suffer one tittle of it to fall to the ground though in the accomplishment and fulfilling of it millions of Sinners fall into Hell The Curse then being certainly to fall upon the Final-Non-Lovers of Christ the third thing in order follows to open to you what kind of Curse it shall be to be Anathema when Maran-atha accursed when the Lord shall come CHAP. IV. Ten Properties of the Curse upon Non-Lovers of Christ 1. TO be Anathema when Maran-atha will be to be cursed with a dreadful curse This is more general and the following Properties will shew it to be so dreadful so dreadful as will make your Joints to tremble your Knees to knock together your Faces gather paleness for you will be cursed by God himself and as to be blessed by God is the greatest Blessing so to be cursed of God is the sorest Curse A great Emphasis is laid upon those words where God calls a People a People of My Curse Isa 34.5 When the Church prayed against her Enemies it was a sore Petition Lam. 3.65 Give them sorrow of heart thy curse unto them If the Devil should curse you yet God may bless you if men should curse yet God might bless you as David begged in Psal 109.28 Let them curse but bless thou As if he had said If I have God's blessing I will not fear wicked mens cursings for when they curse God can turn it into a blessing Deut 23.5 Nevertheless the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam but the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee because the Lord thy God loved thee The form of the rash and wicked Speech of ungodly men much given to cursing shews it to be a dreadful thing to be cursed of God when they say The Curse of God fall upon you The Curse of God overtake you they mean the forell the heaviest the greatest Curse by the Curse of God but though men might wish you so accursed yet you might be far from it but if you love not sincerely the Son of God then the Curse of God will overtake you light and lie upon you and then you will be accursed indeed Oh now love Christ indeed that you might then escape the Curse indeed which else will be a Curse indeed heavy indeed and indeed intolerable 2. To be Anathema when Maran-atha accursed when the Lord comes will be to be accursed totally all the Sinners shall lie under this Curse his Body shall be cursed and his Soul shall be cursed as the Curse in this world falls upon all that belong to the Disobedient and rebellious Deut. 28.15 But it shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee 16. Cursed shalt thou be in the city and cursed shalt thou be in the field 17. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store 18. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land the increase of thy kine and the flocks of thy sheep 19. Cursed shalt thou be in thy coming in and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out So when the Lord comes thou shalt be cursed in all thou art in thy Body and all the parts thereof cursed shall be thine Eyes that were as Windows to let vanity into thy heart Cursed shall be thine Ears that hearkened to the Enticements of Sinners but not to the Commands and Calls of God Cursed shall be thy Hands and Feet that acted wickedly and carried thee on in ways of Sin Cursed shalt thou be in thy Soul and in all the Powers and Faculties thereof Cursed shall be thine Vnderstanding that never was inlightned with the saving Knowledge of Jesus Christ Cursed shall be thy Will that never made choice of him for thy Saviour and thy Lord. Cursed shall be thy Conscience that did not effectually stir thee up to look after and to hasten to Jesus Christ Cursed shall be all thine Affections that thou shalt be constrained to confess that Love that was set upon the World and Sin which should have been better placed upon Christ was cursed Love Those Desires which run out after Vanity which should have been upon the wing in moving after Christ were cursed Desires and those Delights which are fetched from the Creature and from sinful Objects were cursed Delights and that Hatred which I had to Christ and his ways which should have risen against Sin was cursed Hatred Thus as now where the Love of Christ doth not rule in the Heart Sin is spread all over so then the Sinner shall be cursed all over In this Life Spiritual Curses upon the Soul are the heaviest Curses as Blessings on the Soul are the best of Blessings When men will not be persuaded to love the Lord Jesus but will love their Cups and their Whores and their Profits and Sporting Pleasures better than Christ but after long wooings of Grace and intreaties of Mercy after many strivings of the Spirit and Calls of Conscience and waitings of patience they will love their Sin and not Christ the World and not Christ God and Christ and Holy Spirit may give them up to these vile and cursed Affections and say to them as Christ cursed the Fig-tree on which there was no Fruit Mark 11.13 14 20 21. Never fruit grow on thee more Sinner wilt thou not love me never Repentance be found in thee never Pardon be bestowed on thee Wilt thou not love me let him love his Swearing still let him
Love to Christ Necessary to Escape the CURSE AT His Coming By THO. DOOLITTLE M. A. Mat. x. 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 Mat. xxv 41. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels LONDON Printed for Tho. Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultrey over against the Stocks-Market 1692. THE EPISTLE TO Non-Lovers OF CHRIST Lamenting Their SIN and MISERY THat Glorious Person who is both Lord and Jesus and Christ hath suffered and done and promised such things that might gain the love of Sinners to himself and by these doth Plead with them to set their Affections upon him In opposition to him the World and Sin stand in competition with him for the love of man's Heart Christ calls Sinner Love me Sin and World cry aloud Place thy love on us The Spirit Word Ministers Mercies and a Well-informed awaken'd Conscience press hard for the Love of Man to Christ The Devil and the Flesh sollicit for the Heart of Man for Sin and World Love man hath and one of these he will Love both he cannot at the same time with a predominant Love for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other Ye cannot Love and serve God and Mammon Mat. 6.24 Predominant Love to the one is inconsistent with such Love unto the other 1 Joh. 2.15 Love not the world neither the things that are in the world If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him This considered what Thinking man can forbear to grieve abstain from floods of Tears and bitter Lamentation when he seeth that the Love of Man such a Noble Affection in it self is set so much on Sin that is so bad in it self and unto its Lovers and upon the World that proves a vexation to those that are so fond of it who Love and vex who vex at it and yet still continue and encrease their Love unto it and their vexation by it doth not abate their inordinate Affection to it while Christ that is the primary principal and most delightful Object of Love is slighted by so many even by the most Blind Sinners Do ye thus love Sin so vile and the World so contemptible and not Christ that is altogether lovely and desirable What perverseness is this that Christ that is best in himself and best for them should be refused and Sin that is worst in it self and worst to them should be embraced What folly and madness is this that Christ should be kept out standing at the Door when Sin and World are admitted in and Lodged and kindly Entertained in the chiefest Room of their Hearts Cursed doings When Sin should have no Love shall it have all When Christ should have all shall he have none When the whole World like that part the Earth should be as your Footstool shall it or any thing in it be set up in your Hearts as in its Throne How is it that ye are so much mistaken as to think ye see Beauty in Deformity and Deformity in Beauty it self Why is odious Sin so lovely and a precious Christ so unlovely in your Eyes Have ye considered what Sin is and what Christ is that ye have greater Love to that Work of the Devil than ye have to Gods own Son And this when Sin is so bad and vile that as Sin it cannot be loved by the worst of men till it be first disguised and dressed up with the appearance of Good and Christ so good that as Christ he is to be loved most of all When called invited and charged in the Name of God by the Ministers of Christ shewing you God's Call Invitation and Charge to love this lovely Jesus why do ye retort and say What is your Beloved above another Beloved O ye Teachers of Christ VVhat is your Beloved more than another Beloved that ye so charge us How long will ye say He hath no form or comeliness VVe see â—o Beauty in him that we should desire him How long shall Christ complain of you that ye hate both him and his Father And is not this complaint more grievous when ye hate him without a cause and do not love him when there is so much cause and reason why you should VVhat hath Sin and VVorld done for you and what did ever Christ do against you that ye love your sorest Enemies and hate him that would be your surest Friend Hath Sin afforded you Pleasures But how long will they last And what will ye do when the Pleasures of Sin are past and fled away and the Pains and Punishment for Sin are come and shall never never pass away Hath the VVorld allowed you its Profits But whose shall these be when ye are Dead and Lodged in the Dust VVhat profit is there in all your Profits if ye gain them and lose your Souls Will not your Gain be your Everlasting Loss Is Christ the Admiration of Angels and is he your Derision Do they Adore him and do ye thus Despise him Do Holy Saved-Souls above delight and joy in their Love to him and in his to them and do ye turn away your Love and Alienate your Hearts from him and Love Sin and Rejoyce in that your Love Do Holy Souls beneath in this Imperfect State cry ouâ— Whom have we in Heaven but Christ or what is there on Earth that we desire like or love in comparison of him and do ye prefer your Lust and Fleshly Pleasures and Worldly Profits before him Have ye done so and will ye still Are ye so resolved Are your Hearts so hardened Your Minds so blinded And so enslaved to Sin and Satan Alas for you Were ye Born without love to Christ And have ye lived so long without love to him And will ye Dye at last without love to him Where are the Mourners that they may with flowing Tears bewail your Sin and Misery Why your Sin Because ye love not Christ Why your Misery Because you must be ANATHEMA when MARANATHA be Accursed when the Lord shall come Alas for you that are Ignorant of Christ for can ye love whom ye do not know Alas for you whose Hearts are full of love to a vain deluding VVorld and empty of sincere Love to Christ for ye must all be ANATHEMA when MARANATHA Accursed when the Lord shall come Let Angels blush Let the Heavens be ashamed Let good men weep Let the Earth mourn Let all the Creation of God sigh and sob and groan that the Son of God is not beloved by so many of the Sons of Men O my Soul where is thy love to these Souls empty of Saving-love unto thy Lord Where is thy sorrow for want of their Love Where are thy Bowels of compassion
not innate desires to be happy and blessed for ever or can you fling away or shake off all desires of being blessed you might as soon cast off the Nature of men A Prophane Esau cried out for a Blessing Gen. 27.34 And when Esau heard the words of his father he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry and said unto his father Bless me even me also O my father 36. And he said hast thou not reserved a blessing for me Oh then say Be gone O cursed Sin be gone I will banish thee out of my heart for thou art not only contrary to the Nature of the blessed God nor only contrary to Innocent Nature but even also to my Humane Nature though corrupted Thou art not only opposite to a Principle of Grace implanted in the New Creature but to the Principles which God in mercy hath left in my Corrupt Nature that cursed Sin might be opposed striven against and for ever abandoned by me I would be blessed but thou wilt make me cursed I would avoid the Curse but thou wilt bring it upon me If I cannot be a wilful Sinner but I must be a cursed Creature I would rather cease to be such a Sinner than to remain for ever such a cursed Creature If I cannot have the blessing of God and my Sins too I had better be without my own Sins than be without God's Blessing IV. Men will be the most miserable or the most happy of all the visible works of God For amongst these Man only is capable of proper Blessings or proper Curses for those only are capable of penal Evils that are capable of moral Evils Therefore when you read of other things being cursed the Curse is not on them properly terminatively and ultimately that is on the Creature in it self for it self or from it self but only improperly and relatively in respect to man and so other things have been cursed in reference to man 1. To shew what man hath done So Gen. 3.17 And unto Adam he said Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee saying thou shalt not eat of it Cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life 18. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee The barrenness with which the Earth is cursed in not bringing forth good Fruit and its abounding with Briars and Thorns are both as Rods for the scourging of sinful man So also is that Catalogue of Curses in Deut. 28.14 15 16 17 18 c. 2. To shew what man should do So Mar. 11.14 21 22. Christ cursed the barren Fig-tree to teach man the duty of fruitfulness to the glory of God or the duty of having faith in the power of God for upon the Disciples observation how the Fig-tree was withered away Christ said to them Have faith in God The unreasonable Creatures have not the knowledge of God and the senseless Creatures cannot feel the power of God therefore these as they cannot be properly blessed so nor accursed But Man hath understanding to know God and hath sense to feel the power of his Anger therefore since among all God's visible Works man is only the subject of proper blessings and proper Curses he will of all these be the most happy or the most miserable If he obtains the Blessings of God the most happy if he lie under the Curses of God the most miserable Those that get the Blessing shall dwell and live and reign with the blessed God with blessed Jesus and with his blessed Angels but those that lie under the Curse must be tormented with cursed Spirits cursed men with cursed Devils for ever So then except you love Christ better you had never been rational Creatures a Toad a Dog a Serpent will not be in so bad a case as you will be In a natural sense it is better be a Man than a Beast but in a Theological sense it is better to be a Beast than a Man that will never love the Lord Jesus Christ V. Sins of Omission expose men to the Wrath and Curse of God and to Eternal Damnation as well as Sins of Commission For it is for not loving of Christ that a man is declared to be Anathema And when the Curse shall be openly and publickly pronounced and by Christ be thundered out against men at the last day the Reason given is Sins of Omission Matth. 25.41 Then shall the king say unto them on the left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels 42. For I was an hungry and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no arink 43. I was a stranger and ye took me not in naked and ye clothed me not sick and in prison and ye visited me not These are charged not with taking away their Meat but with not giving not with casting them out and banishing Christ in his Members but with not taking them in not with putting them in Prison but with not visiting them when they were there and for this they are declared to be accursed and sentenced to go to cursed Devils What a sandy Foundation then is the hope of multitudes built upon That because they are not openly prophane they bless themselves and make no question but God will bless them too Like the Pharisee Luke 18.11 God I thank thee that I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this publican Thou proud Pharisee What if thou art no Swearer by the Blood and Wounds of Christ yet thou art no Lover of Christ and for that thou shalt be accursed Thou blind Pbarisee What if thou art no Reproacher or Persecutor of Christ yet thou art no Lover of Christ for this thou shalt be accursed Thou Self-doluding Pharisee What if thou art no Blasphemer of his Sacred Name no Opposer of his holy Ways no Drunkard no Adulterer no Thief nor Robber yet thou art not a Christ lover and for this thou shalt be Anathema What if thou art not as other men be while thou art not what thou oughtest to be What if thou art not as this Publican while thou art not as this man that loveth Christ the Blessing of God belongs not to thee but the Curse of God and his Wrath shall overtake thee Oh look about you and search and see what Sins of Omission you are guilty of repent and mourn for them or else you will be cursed and damned for them VI. It is an easie thing for a man to fall under the Curse of God It is but forbearing to love Christ and how easie a thing is that it is but denying Christ your Heart your hearty love and the Curse is your own and how easie a thing is that to obtain the Blessing is hard is exceeding difficult for there must be weaning of our love from the World and getting that
of Souls which Christ died to procure Will God be reconciled to that man that doth not love him Or can that man that loves not him be reconciled unto God Or doth not Reconciliation without Renewals of Love sound like a contradiction Or shall Remission and Salvation be vouchsafed to them that never love him Behold then the greatness of this sin in its thwarting the wonderful Undertakings of Christ for man's Redemption III. Not love Christ What is this but an opposing and withstanding all the Operations of the Spirit For do not all tend to this That you should Love the Lord Jesus What do all Convictions tend to in shewing thee thy lost estate the vanity of the world the emptiness of the creature the impossibility of Salvation by any other but that thou mightest look after him and make him the Object of thy Love What meaneth the Illumination of the Spirit in enlightning of thy mind in the knowledge of Christ to see and discern the Fulness and Sufficiency of Christ the Fitness and Suitableness of Christ the Freeness and the Willingness of Christ but that thou shouldst fix thy Love upon him What do all the Persuasions Strivings and Wooings of the Spirit-tend to but Love to Christ Was ever any more solicitous for the love of another than the Spirit hath been that Christ might have thine And shall all and thine only Answer be I cannot love him I will not love him No Why not Canst thou better place thy Love Canst thou find in Heaven or Earth a more suitable Object Yet art thou resolved to give no other answer but that in Jer. 2.25 I have loved strangers and after them will I go I have loved the world and I will love it I have loved my pleasures and I will love them I have loved my sin and so I will still Why so resolved poor sinner Why so resolute Should not the world be a stranger to thee and thou to the world Should not sin be a stranger to thee and thou to sin What though I have loved these strangers and after them my heart and love shall go Indeed then let all men judge God and Angels judge what an opposer thou art to all the Workings of the Spirit to the contrary IV. Not love Jesus What is this but fearful sinning against the most gracious Attributes of God 1. Was it not love in God to give his Son to be a Saviour And wilt thou sin against this Love in not loving him that by Love was given for thee Was it not so infinite so great so wonderful that no mortal man can comprehend it John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son Is it not such manifest love that all the Devils in Hell cannot deny it to be love 1 John 4.9 In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him Was it not preventing Love in God to give his Son for thee before thou gavest or couldst give thy love to him 1 John 4.10 Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins And is it not a great sin against such great love and a manifest sin against such manifest love not to love him with a following love that so far loved thee with a preventing love 2. Was it not Infinite Wisdom in God to find out such a way that Justice might be fully satisfied and free Mercy might be richly manifested That sin might be punished to the uttermost and yet the sinner saved to the uttermost Sin punished and the sinner pardoned If all the Angels in Heaven that excel in Wisdom and Knowledge had been called to Councel they could never have thought of this way for fallen man's recovery which is the product of the Infinite Wisdom of God and by the Church made known to Angels Eph. 3.10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God What greater folly then can there be than to sin against such Wisdom 3. Was it not Goodness in God to accept of Christ's Sufferings for thy Sinnings Of Christ's Death instead of thy Damnation if thou wouldst believe on him and love him And wilt thou slight this Goodness by withholding thy love from him 4. Was it not patience in God to wait so long for thy Love Might he not have damned thee for thy first refusal And have taken thy first denial for thy final answer And have scorned thy love after thou hadst so long given it to the world and sin and denied it unto his Son And when in thy wicked heart thou hadst once said Thou wilt not love him God in his righteous judgment might have said I have thine answer and for this Thou shalt not love him If God had been thus quick and short with thee who hast been so slow to love his Son what a deplorable condition would thy Soul have been in this day and to all Eternity But if God hath waited so many years and doth still wait if perhaps thou wilt change thy mind return unto thy wits and give a wiser answer Wilt thou still abuse his Patience by persisting in the denial of thy love to Christ Take heed lest his Patience towards thee should end before thy Love to Christ begin for then when thy Punishment for not loving of him doth once begin it shall never end The longest Patience turned into Wrath thou shalt find the longest and the hottest Wrath and most fiery Indignation V. Not love Jesus What is this but an utter subverting of the whole design of the Gospel and refusing life and salvation by the Covenant of Grace God gave to innocent man a Law and Covenant of Works but he quickly transgressed that Law and thereby by that Covenant Happiness became impossible to man After that God gave a Law and Covenant of Grace to fallen man and established the same in the Blood of his Son and will you also refuse Life and Happiness by going on in your sin of not loving Christ For hereby 1. The Conditions of the Gospel are Neglected 2. The Threatnings of the Gospel are Slighted 3. The Commands of the Gospel are Disobeyed 4. The Promises of the Gospel are Undervalued 1. The Conditions of the Gospel and Covenant of Grace are neglected The great Article the Sum and Summary whereof is I will be your God and ye shall be my people Heb. 8.10 I will love you and you shall love me my heart shall be towards you and your heart shall be towards me I will love none like you and you shall love none like me How is this done Can you love him while you do not love him Hath God and Christ your hearts while the world and sin have your hearts 2 Cor. 6.18 I will be a father unto you and ye
Inexplicable for Glory Vnutterable for Sweetness Vnconceiveable for Sureness Vnquestionable for Fulness Vnmeasurable for Firmness Vnmoveable for Lastingness Vnchangeable 1. For God hath prepared and promised such as love him a Kingdom Jam. 2.5 Hearken my beloved brethren hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him A Kingdom is the top of Worldly Honour and when those that love Christ shall be in Heaven they shall be in their Kingdom far surpassing all other Kingdoms for it is the Kingdom of God Mat. 6.33 1 Cor. 6.9 10. others are but the Kingdoms of Men Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven others the best but the Kingdoms of this World 2 Tim. 4.18 Theirs is an everlasting Kingdom 2 Pet. 1.11 others in their greatest flourishing are near to withering and that which lasteth longest will have an end 2. God hath prepared for his Lovers a Crown of Life Jam. 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him A crown of glory 1 Pet. 5.4 A crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing 3. Such as have sincere Love have lively hope of an Inheritance all Christ-lovers are Heirs and their Inheritance is Incorruptible no end of it and they live to enjoy it for ever It is Vndefiled no spot nor stain in it no Sin nor Sorrow no Grief nor Groans no Troubles nor Terrors to mosest and disquiet them It fadeth not it is always in the Flower it doth always blossom there is Summer without Winter Spring without Autumn It is safe in it self it is reserved in a sure Hand in Gods own keeping It is sure to us we are kept by the power of God the Inheritance is reserved for us we are preserved by God that no sorce nor fraud shall make his sincere Lovers come short of it It is in Heaven The place where an Inheritance doth lye addeth to the valuation of it no place like Heaven no Inheritance like that which lyes in Heaven 4. God hath prepared Glory for the Lovers of his Son Glory that now is a Mystery and is to be revealed Rom. 8.18 Eternal glory 1 Pet. 5.10 Eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 X. The Grace of God shall be with the sincere Lovers of Christ Grace signifies sometimes the favour of God and sometimes the good things that do proceed from his Grace and Favour so that both the good will and kindness of God and all manner of good that is the Fruit of Gods special favour necessary to the life of Grace and Glory shall be to the Lovers of Christ Eph. 6.24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Amen CHAP. XIV The CONCLVSION AND now beloved Hearers what is the issue of all that I have said and ye have heard upon this Subject Have I gained any of your love to Christ Or are ye still in love with the World and Pleasures and Profits and Honours thereof Are ye in love with Sin and Self more than with Christ after all the Arguments and Pleadings of Grace and Mercy for your Hearts and hearty Love to be placed on the blessed Son of the most blessed God Did ye love Sin and will ye love it still Did ye love the World and will ye do so still Did ye not love Christ and do ye not yet and will ye not is this the answer I must return to him that sent me Lord I cannot gain their love unto thy Son fain I would but I cannot I have asked them in thy Name but they will not I have studied for this purpose and Prayed and Preached for this purpose but I have studied in vain and my Labour with so many is lost Labour I have delivered my Message but they will not hearken I have entreated for their Love not for my Self but for thy Son but many will not consent Why Sirs Did I find you full of Love to Self and Sin and World and after all must I leave you so I found you void of the Love of Christ and must I leave you so Why then did I Preach and why did ye Hear Did ye come day after day resolved Say what I could ye would do what ye list Shall that blessed Jesus that hath been set forth before you be still thus despised and set at naught by you Did I find the Anathema upon you and must I leave it upon you till Maranatha What if God should say he that after all these Entreaties Calls Invitations to love Christ yet loveth the World Let him love the World and he that loveth Sin Let him love his Sin Let him love his Pleasures Let him love what he will since he will not be perswaded to love whom he oshuld Oh dreadful Curse Oh heavy Wrath Oh sad presage of the Curse that shall fall upon such Souls when Christ shall come and after that lye and abide upon them for ever Speak therefore in thy Heart Sinner and return thine Answer for it may be this might be to thee the last time of Asking Wilt thou give Christ thy Love or wilt thou not Thy sincere not thy pretended Love Wilt thou consent and promise before thou stirrest out of this place to love Christ more than all beyond all and above all Or wilt thou deny him such love and keep it for and place it still upon thy old beloved sinful Objects Sayst thou so What must I to my Sorrow and thy Woe as to thee end as I did begin I had hoped I might have bid thee joy of thy new Love and matchless Match in thy consenting to Love and accept of this Blessed Jesus for thy Lord and Husband but if thou wilt not I must say what I would not Lord I am loth to say it but it is what thou dost say and I cannot alter it yet if I must say it let it be with a pained and a sorrowful Heart and as my Mouth shall drop the Word let mine Eyes drop so many Tears whilst at thy command I must pronounce If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha But must this be the Sentence I must leave upon you all that at the beginning of this Text had no love to Jesus Christ What is there not one amongst you all that can say Before I did love my Pleasures but now I love Christ I did love my Sin but now I love my Lord and Saviour My love is turned into another Channel I have found another object for my love I would not for a thousand Worlds have died before I had sincere love to Christ Not only one but many of you can say
above all thankfully accept him for my Lord and Saviour is plainly required from me and upon the sincere performance of these conditions and persevering therein unto the end of my life for Christ's sake beloved and believed on I may comfortably well-groundedly hope wait for and expect through the Riches and Freeness of his Grace Everlasting Happiness In like manner I judge it a perplexing question Whether we should love Christ for himself or for the Benefits by him Lord help me to love Christ for himself and for all the good I have and hope for by him but the one subordinately the other ultimately for such love I read there was in David Psal 116.1 I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications SECT X. The Ninth Requisite in Love to Christ NInthly Sincere Love to Jesus Christ doth respect him and is placed upon him as he is Prophet Priest and King In which respect the love of Hypocrites and carnal Gospellers doth fail and come short Most will profess love to Christ as he is Jesus a Saviour to deliver them from the Guilt of Sin and Punishment of Hell and the Wrath that is to come but will not love him nor have him as a Teacher and a Ruler As if a woman should love her husband as he makes provision for her and doth protect her from wrongs and injuries but as he is her Head to guide to rule and govern her so she cannot endure him Would you not in such a case cry out against such love and say this is but partial and pretended love And do not you see you deal as deceitfully and hypocritically with Christ when in one respect you say you like and love him but indeed in other respects you do dislike and hate him And do you think that Christ will save you from Hell if he do not save you from your sins That he will make you happy if you be never holy Or do you hope that he will bring you to Heaven without your being made meet and fit for Heaven Doth not your own Reason and Conscience if you consult them condemn such hopes of happiness that is built upon such partial Love Must Sin be loved as a Lord and Christ loved as a Saviour Do you think if Sin be your Lord Christ will be your Saviour What is the meaning then that the Object of such love that you must have if you would not be Anathema in the Text is set down the Lord Jesus Christ What meaneth then that slaughter at the last day among them that never would submit to Christ as Lord and Ruler nor love him in that relation Whom Christ looks upon not as Lovers of him but as Enemies to him and will deal with them not as Lovers but as Enemies Luk. 19.27 But those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me What is the meaning then that Lord and Saviour so often in Scripture with a Conjunction Copulative are put together if as the Object of your Love they are to be parted asunder Rom. 8.39 and 7.25 1 Cor. 1.2 1 Cor. 15.57 2 Cor. 1.2 Gal. 1.3 Eph. 1.2 3. Phil. 1.2 Col. 1.2 1 Thes 1.1 and 2.1 2. 1 Tim. 1.2 and 2.1 2. Tit. 1.4 Jam. 1.1 1 Pet. 1.3 and 2 Pet. 1.1 2. In these Texts and many more Lord and Saviour Lord and Jesus Lord Jesus Christ are set together and in all these respects propounded to us to be loved and received by us if we would have Grace Mercy and Peace from God and Salvation by him And as he is offered so he must be loved and accepted or you must go without him and his benefits for ever SECT XI The Tenth Requisite to Love to Christ or the Worker of it TEnthly This Love to Christ is wrought by the Powerful Operation of the Spirit of God upon the heart For tho there is Affection of Love naturally in all men yet there is not the Grace of Love naturally in any man There is love to sin and to the world and there might be love of man to man and some common love in man to God by some common workings of the Spirit but there can be no special Saving Love to Jesus Christ but by the special Operations of the Holy Ghost It is a Flower that doth not grow in Natures Garden but is planted by the Spirit of God Therefore spiritual holy Love is said to be a fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 And if any such surely is sincere and saving Love to Christ SECT XII The Eleventh Thing required in it ELeventhly This Love includes a Resignation of a man's self to Christ without reservation of any thing he is or hath unto himself A Lover of Christ doth so devote dedicate and give up himself unfeignedly to Christ as to his rightful Owner and bountiful Benefactor that he looks upon himself to be Christ's more than his own to live to Christ and not to himself and to seek Christ in all and not himself As in Conjugal Love there is a mutual giving each to other the one I give my self to thee the other and I give my self to thee so in this holy Spiritual Love between Christ and the Soul Christ gives himself unto the Soul and says I am thine my Righteousness is thine my Merits are thine and all my Benefits shall be thine So the Soul in love with Christ saith Lord I give my self to thee my Understanding shall be thine my Will my Heart my Estate my All shall be thine at thy Command at thy Disposal for me to have to use to leave or lose as thou shalt please Cant. 2.16 My beloved is mine and I am his Hos 2.23 I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy and I will say to them which were not my people Thou art my people and they shall say Thou art my God SECT XIII The Workings of this Love as it is Delighting Desiring or Mourning Love TWelfthly When all this is done the Soul doth Delight in Christ if present Desireth after him if absent or mourneth for him if it cannot find him One of these Three ways Love will discover it self There are Three sorts of Love First Delighting Love If a man finds Christ's gracious quickning Presence in his Soul discovering and manifesting himself and Love unto him he rejoiceth in it more than in all Riches and saith My Life is a Pleasure my Heart is filled with Comfor my Soul with Heavenly Delights Psal 4.6 There be many that say Who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us 7. Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased Cant. 2.3 As the apple-trees among the trees of the wood so is my beloved among the sons I sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet unto my taste 4. He brought me
but you can if you would for have you not the means to help you to love him Is not he Preached to you Is not the Spirit striving with you Will you say you cannot love him though you would That I utterly deny for if you were really willing to love him you could love him nay if you do unfeignedly Will to love him you do love him for what is Willing but Loving And what hinders you from Loving but your not willing to love him Will you say you want power What power do you mean The Natural faculty or power of the Will That you have how else do you Will any thing you do Will you say you want a power of Willing to love Christ What is that but that you are unwilling to love him And if you cannot because you will not the more you plead your Cannot the more you aggravate your Will not A Natural Power God hath given you that is a Will if you lye under a Moral Impotency that is your Sin and what is this Moral Cannot or Impotency but the averseness of the Will from Christ Therefore though without the powerful workings of the Grace and Spirit of God you cannot love Christ sincerely yet this Cannot is your Will not for if by the Grace of God you were enabled to Will you could and if you were as willing to love Christ as some now are that once were as unwilling as now you be you could love him as well as they Why should you stand off and say If it were possible for me to love Christ I would How Possible What! Is there no difference betwixt you and a Devil Betwixt you and the Damned in Hell You can love the World can you do that You can love your Self can you do that Yes And I suppose you can love Sin too can you not To our Grief and your Shame we find it But why can you love World and Self and Sin Is it not because you will Do you do it against your Will I wish you did then there might be more hopes you would be perswaded to love Christ You can and do love Sin because you are willing have but as great willingness to love Christ as the World and Sin and then it may be said Not only that you can but do love Christ However though I am no Asserter of the Liberty and Power of the Will in things Supernatural nor an opposer of the necessity of the workings of the Spirit to enable a Sinner to love Christ yet it is most manifest that your unwillingness is the hinderance of such Love and this unwillingness is your weakness since then your unwillingness certainly by Grace might be removed your Love is possible therefore cease not till it be actual Are ye at length convinced of the Necessity of love to Christ And are ye at length perswaded to seek it and willing to get love to him I shall then next proceed to the Directions whereby ye might through Grace fall in love with Jesus Christ CHAP. XII Ten Directions to get sincere Love to Christ shewing the way of Love to him I. CLearly understand and be throughly convinced of thy lost Estate and miserable Condition for Conviction sight and sense of Sin and of our lost Estate thereby usually goes before the setting of the Heart and Love upon Jesus Christ though God doth not deal with all Sinners in all circumstances alike in working and begetting in them consent and love unto his Son in divers persons the measure of Conviction is different as in the Natural Birth some are born after more pangs and throws than others are so in the Spiritual Birth in which the Love is turned unto and set upon Christ the day of this Birth being the day of Espousals some God dealeth with more gently with some more roughly Some he melts like Wax and some he hews like knotty Wood some he carrieth by the Gates of Hell to the Door of Heaven and some he brings to Christ and leads to Heaven with lesser Terrors To gain your love to Christ he expresly threatens Damnation that is so great it cannot be fully expressed and lets the Sinner know that Consent and Love he must or be Damned he must He doth let in such light into the Mind that the Soul doth see there is is no way to escape the darkness of Hell than by consenting to Christ that came from Heaven and Christ presseth hard upon the Conscience of the Sinner whom he Wooeth for his Love saying Poor Sinner What dost thou mean To be Damned rather than to have me for thy Saviour To go to Hell with thy Lusts than to Heaven with me the Lord What wilt thou do Shall I have thy Love or No Wilt thou at last consent or wilt thou still refuse I tell thee plainly if I and thou part Hell and thou must meet I have been Wooing long and Waiting long but now it is come to a parting or a closing point and it is time for thee to come to a resolution This is the Case Deny my Suit and God will Damn thy Soul If thou hear not me thou shalt howl in Hell If I leave thee God will leave thee and Mercy will leave thee and all Misery will come upon thee Poor Sinner Consider the issue of thy final refusal of me and of denying thy love to me 1. Will it not be thy being cast into pain of greatest extremity And how wilt thou do to bear it If God do but touch thee with his Finger thou dost sigh and sob thou dost cry and roar and canst not rest O how wilt thou rest when God shall lay on blows with his Almighty Arm If pain in thy Head or sickness at thy Heart or Gripings in thy Bowels make thee cry out like a Distracted Man what wilt thou do to bear the wrath of God in a place prepared on purpose to shew his indignation against Christ-refusing Sinners When the sorest affliction in this Life is but as the pricking of a Pin to the piercing of a Sword if compared to the Torments of the Damned 2. Will it not be Misery joined with endless Eternity And hadst thou rather bear pains extream and eternal too than Love me that would deliver thee from them Doth not a small affliction make one Day or Night seem long much more if it be heavy Then in the Night thou askest Is it not Day Thou countest the Clock thou numberest the Hours and think'st that Time doth pass but slowly on Would it were but break-a-day that I might rise But all the time between the Creation and the Dissolution of the World is but a moment to Eternity Where there is no striking of Clocks no telling of Hours no returns of Night and Day but always Night and never Day never shall be break-a-day A thousand years shall pass and never the less to come Nay nothing past and nothing to come and yet more to come than is already past an everlasting
Instant Now there is hope and yet thou wilt not give me thy Love and Heart then there will be no hope and that might even break thy Heart Besides 3. Will it not be universal pain All over no part free Here if thou art pained in thy Head thy Heart may not be sick if pained in more yet not in all but then thou wilt be all over Tormented Thy Vnderstanding will torment thee when thou shalt know the God the Heaven the Happiness thou hast lost and all for want of Love to me and the misery thou hast found Thy Memory will increase the vexation of thy Heart in calling to mind thine opportunities upon Earth how Mercy did intreat thee how Grace did Wooe thee how I called my Spirit strived and Patience long waited for thy Love and yet I could not obtain it of thee Thy Conscience will sting and gnaw thee saying Did not I tell thee this would be the end of thy Refusals Did not I forewarn thee Did not I say it would be thy wisest only way to hearken unto Christ and to set thy Love upon him But thou wouldst not didst not hearken to my voice nor to the voice of Christ intreating of thee for thy Love And at the Resurrection thy Body will be sharer of punishment with thy Soul and all thy Senses be tormented with afflicting Obects Thine Ears in hearing doleful Lamentations â—hine Eyes in seeing a cursed Crew of Damnâ—d Creatures thy Smell afflicted with the stench of burning Brimstone thy Taste in continual drinking of the Cup of Wrath full of Dregs without mixture of Mercy thy Touch in feeling the Fire burning but never consuming of thee It was a Wonder unto Moses that the Bush did burn and not consume on Earth and these brambles shall burn in Hell and not consume which will be a greater Wonder Now tell me poor Sinner saith Christ what is thine Answer Hadst thou rather endure all this than love me Hadst thou rather love the World and thy present Pleasures and hereafter lye in these extream eternal and universal pains than love me and be delivered from them One of these must be be wise therefore in thy choice As Christ takes this course to gain thy Love so do thou join in with Christ by serious consideration for thine own Conviction that thou maist give thy love to him Urge thy self and work it on thy Heart that thou art under the Curse and Threatnings of God which are true terrible intolerable and eternal thou art the Man that art threatned by God with the forest Punishments Plagues Judgments in this Life and in the Life to come thou art the Man that Law and Gospel will condemn if thou finally deny thy love to Christ Think seriously with thy self that thou art under the Wrath of God which is great Wrath Jer. 21.5 Whole Treasures of it Rom. 2.5 Abiding Wrath. Joh. 3.36 Tearing and destroying Wrath. Amos 1.11 Psal 50.22 Ezek. 43.8 Intolerable Nah. 1.6 Most of it to come Mat. 3.7 And Eternal Rev. 14.10 11. Endeavour to get thine Heart affected that while thou lovest not Christ thou hast no Title to Heaven no Actual Hope no Promise no Pledge nor Earnest no Plea no Interest no Warrant to expect Salvation that Hell is thy due Torments thy desert Hell is appointed for thy Lodging Dwelling place The Place is prepared the Fire is kindled Devils are waiting and all Hell is moved to meet thee at thy coming Oh think what manner of Hell it is that thou art every moment in danger of it is hot long large dark deep a restless and remediless Hell When thou hast got a sight and sense of thy Sin and that thou art lost in thy self then II. Consider there is no help for thee in any meer Creature among all the Creation of God none such can prevent thy Damnation set thee in Gods favour bring thee to his Kingdom If thou lookest upwards Angels cannot or downwards Devils neither can nor will Look round about thee all Creatures say There is no help in us for Wrath must be pacified and that cannot be till Justice is satisfied and how shall any meer finite Creature satisfie Infinite-offended-Justice Tears Prayers Reformation cannot satisfie God so that as all other Creatures cannot give relief unto thee so thou thy self canst not help thy self Then III. By serious thoughts dwell upon thy own Mortality and on the consideration of Judgment Heaven and Hell Ponder upon the certainty and the nearness of approaching Death thou mightest dye this Year before the next this Week this Day this Hour before the next and say Oh what will become of me then Where shall I be then What shall I do Nay What shall I suffer then Am I under the Curse and Death at my back Is God angry with me and Death at my heels Have I no Title to Heaven no Reason to hope for it and yet do not know how soon Death might come Am I in danger of Hell and might drop into it any day in the Week any hour in the Day Oh woful case that I am in Wrath is over my head and Hell is under my feet Wrath is ready to fall upon me and I am in danger of falling into Hell I never thought my Heart for want of love had been so bad my danger so great my Soul so black my Self so near to Hell Torments Woe is me that all my Life I have loved loathsom Sin A very Monster Even Sin which is a provocation to the Majesty of God a contradiction to the Will of God an opposition to the Nature of God a rejection of the Son of God a vexation to the Spirit of God and Damnation to my own Soul surely this Love was blind Oh! Will God bear such slightings of his Son Such abusings of his Grace Such contemning of his Mercy Woe is me Can I live without Life And be saved without a Saviour Oh what shall I do And where must I have help By whom may I be relieved restored saved Oh in this distress that I am in if I could but hear of one that could and would relieve and save me of one that could take off the Curse and make me Blessed that could turn away Gods wrath and reconcile me unto him that would save me from Hell and bring me to Heaven then What then distressed Soul Oh then him would I love Love Yea with all my Heart with all my Soul as surely I should have cause to do Love him Did I know such a one his very Name would be precious unto my Soul it should be Engraven on my Heart and I should think I could never love such a one enough Saist thou so Sinner I will tell thee there is one and but one that can and that is full and fit and free to help thee and to save and succour thee in this distress that thou art in Oh good Sir what is his Name that I might apply my self unto him and place
so or else ye have basely dissembled both with God and this Congregation Many of you that did not love the Lord Jesus Christ now do or ye have been wretched Hypocrites while ye have been Hearers of these Sermons for what did ye mean by all those Bills that ye did give in day after day ten or twenty in a day acknowledging your former Sin till now in loving other things and not Christ Why did ye say Ye never were convinced of the necessity of loving Christ before I beseech you Why have ye so many and so often with such earnest Requests even for Jesus sake and as we had any love for your Souls desire Me and the Congregation to beg with Importunity that God would give you such an Heart now that ye might love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity above all with a Superlative Love with a Predominant Love with all your Heart and with all your Soul that you might not be Anathema when Maranatha Were not these your own Words Did not the Congregation hear them Read When I reviewed your Papers at Home did not I sind these Words and such like whereby ye did express the former Condition and the present Desires of your Souls Tell me then were ye in good earnest or did ye jest with God and Men in desiring Prayers that ye might so love the Lord Jesus If so repent of your Hypocrisie lament your double Dealings bitterly bewail such cursed Dissemblings If ye were in earnest and your Hearts as well as your Hands did guide your Pens in Writing such Desires and ye have indeed changed your Love or rather God hath turned your Love from Sin unto his Son from the World unto himself I shall have cause to bless God that I Preached and ye heard what was spoken of this subject then are ye my Joy and Crown and Rejoycing both now and at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ And to you that have this love wrought in your Hearts so lately and to all the rest that had like love to him before I wish all the Blessings that are contained in that Prayer of the Apostle with which he concludeth his Epistle and I this subject Eph. 6.24 Grace be with all them that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity Amen The BLESSING to the Lovers of CHRIST THE Psalm being Sung all the People as is usual stood up I kept my Seat longer than ordinarily I was wont which caused their Eyes to be the more towards me Then I stood up and said Why stand ye gazing Why are your Eyes so intent upon me What can I say more What more do ye expect The Blessing What! All of you What! Whether ye love Christ or no Alas If God Curse how can I Bless I have day after day set Life and Death a Blessing and a Curse before you and must it not be with you according to your own Choice If ye will be blest indeed ye must love Christ if ye will not love Christ the Curse and not a Blessing waiteth for you though ye here wait for the Blessing If ye would not go without the pronouncing of the Blessing from hence to your Homes love Christ oh love Christ Oh at last be perswaded to love Christ that ye might not go from Christs Bar to the Flames of Hell without his Blessing for ever I have done for this time and Text when I have said the Words of my Text If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha and let all the People that dare least they should wish a Curse upon themselves say Amen And for you that have set your Hearts on Christ above all I beg from the Father of Mercies that Grace might be with all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and let all the People say Amen What lively Countenances what Affections what Tears and Cryings with the Spirits working were caused do not expect that I should tell FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by Thomas Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultrey THere is now in the Press and will suddenly be Published An Exposition of the Assemblies Shorter Catechism with Practical Inferences from each Question By John Flavell Minister of the Gospel Charnock's Works in Two Vol. Fol. Rushworth's Historical Collections 3d Part never before Printed containing the Principal Matters which happened from the Meeting of the Parliament 1640. to the end of the Parliament 1644. in 2 Vol. Fol. Geography Rectified or Description of all the World in all its Kingdoms Provinces Countreys c. Also Government Commodities Coins Weights c. Illustrated with about 80 Maps By Robert Morden 4 to The Morning Exercise at Cripplegate or several Cases of Conscience Resolved by sundry Ministers In 4 to A Supplement to the Morning Exercise at Cripplegate 8vo Specculum Theologiae in Christo Or a view of some Divine Truths which are either Practically Exemplified in Jesus Christ set forth in the Gospel or may be reasonably reduced from thence 8vo Christus in Corde Or the Mystical Union between Christ and Believers Precious Faith considered in its Nature Workings and Growth These three by Edward Polhill of Barwash in Essex Esq