apprehensions of Christ's Loveliness may excite to some love but the full well grounded perswasions of Christs love to you will above all heighten your love to Christ. Doubts of Christ's love do cause fears and fears do contract the heart and therefore are opposite to love which is the expansion and enlargement of the heart perfect love casteth out fear the more love the less fear and the more doubts and fears the less love Such as doubt much of Christs love to them they may love Christ truely but they cannot love Christ strongly You will love a less lovely person that loves you more than a more lovely person that hates you the love of the Person beloved is a most amiable Qualification and strong attractive yea one of the greatest Incentives and Inducements unto love Get then a perswasion of the infinite love to you of this Infinitely lovely person that you may be able to say with Paul Gal. 2. 20. Who loved me and gave himself for me Look diligently into the Word of God and find out the Characters there of those that are Beloved by Christ and then look narrowly into your selves and see whether your face will not answer that face in the Looking glass of the Scriptures see whether you cannot find the lineaments of the New Man within you whether you have not experienced a gracious change Is there not Light where there was Darkness Is there not Life where there was Death Is there not Love where there was Hatred Is there not the Law of God written where the Law of Sin did command all Is not the Biass of your Wills and Hearts God-ward and Christ-ward and Heaven-ward which heretofore was onely Sin-ward and Earth-ward and Hell-ward Pray earnestly unto God that he would give you a full assurance that if you are indeed effectually called if you are indeed united and related unto Jesus Christ you may know it and no longer doubt thereof In a word seek diligently after the Manifestations of Christ's Love in all the wayes of his Ordinances rest not in the out-side of Ordinances but seek after Christ in Ordinances follow him from Sabbath to Sabbath from Ordinance to Ordinance and always be looking for him and looking towards him till he turn about and look upon you and give you a gracious smile seek and wait for that Manifestation of himself which he hath promised to hem that love him Ioh. 14. 21. Wait for his Mission of the Holy Ghost from Heaven 1 Pet. 1. 12. to shed abroad the sense of his Love into your hearts Rom. 5. 5. and if you did know assuredly and had a sense hereof given unto you by the Spirit of Christ O the Joyes which then you would have in him O the love which then you would have to him As your Joyes would be unspeakable so your Love would be unspeakable too such a warmth of heart and burning of love to Christ you would feel within you as is beyond the Rhetorick of the Tongue to set forth 7. Would you have much Love to Christ get much hatred of Sin and accordingly watch and pray and strive and fight against Sin as the worst of Evils as that which doth so much displease your Lord. Bewail sins of daily incursion and labour that your sins of Infirmity may be less every day than other Take heed of sins of sudden surprize but chiefly of designed sins and that you comply not with any temptations unto grosser miscarriages which like water cast upon the Fire of your love to Christ will put out the flame and leave onely a few unperceivable sparks in the corner of your hearts Suffer not Sinne to have any room in your hearts or if it will abide and you cannot thrust it quite out let it not have a quiet habitation within you disturb sin as much as you can wage war every day with your remaining Lusts let no day pass over your heads without giving some blows some thrusts and wounds to Sin Stâ—eighten the room of Sin in your hearts as much as may be the more room Sin hath in your hearts the less room Christ will have there Particularly take heed of inordinate love to the world and the things in the world the prevalency of which love will damp your love to Christ by how much more the world gets of your love by so much the less Christ will have of it A subordinate love you may have to Persons and Things in the world but let no person or thing have your chief love but only Christ love nothing for it self with an abstracted love but love all inferiour things with inferiour love love all under the Lord and in the Lord and for the Lord's sake get all inordinate affections to the world crucified by the Cross of Christ. You must have dying affections to perishing things if you would have a living and active love to the ever-living Jesus 8. Would you have much love unto Christ associate your selves most with those that have most love unto Christ you may fetch light from their light you may fetch warmth from their Fire dead coals are enkindled by the living and your dead hearts may be enkindled with love to Christ by the warm discourse of those that have warm hearts Be ready to speak of Christ and for Christ in any company as you have sit opportunity and diligently watch for an Occasion shut your ears against and reprove profane â—ilthy Communication divert that which is vain and frothy and be ready to begin and promote that which is serious savoury that which is gracious and may tend to your own and others Edification Study the Art and practise it of provoking all whom you converse withall not unto Strife and Contention but unto this love and Affection unto the Lord Jesus Christ and whilest you are endeavouring to warm others with this Love you may be warmed your selves 9. And lastly Would you have much Love unto Christ be much in the exercise of this love hereby it is encreased and heightned Use legs and have legs and if you act this love frequently it will hereby get strength and Activity every day endeavour to put forth some vigorous acts of love unto Jesus Christ. In your ordinary Callings and secular Business and Employment you may send up some looks of Love unto Jesus Christ in your Ejaculations But especially in the Duties of Gods immediate Worship labour that your love may flow out unto Christ most vigorously In your daily secret Devotion and Family-Worship let love to Christ draw forth tears from your eyes at least cause grief and sorrow in your hearts in the acknowledgement of your sins whereby he hath been dishonoured and displeased Let love to Christ draw forth earnest desires after Christ and those communications manifestations and consolations which he doth give to none but such as are his let love to Christ put requests into your mouths arguments into your requests and fervour into your arguments in
drink of those Rivers of Pleasures which are with thee O hasten Lord hasten thy glorious appearance that thou mayest be Glorified before the whole World and we be glorified with thee that we may be then taken to live with thee and reign with thee and be made perfectly happy in the full and everlasting enjoyment of thee Thus I have done with these Directions the last thing in this Use of Exhortation And what do you now say after all Motives to excite and perswade you to the Love of Christ and Directions therein shall all be in vain What do you say Sinners shall Christ have your hearts or no will you harbour base lusts in your hearts that will damn you and keep out the Lord Jesus Christ who alone can save you shall I gain no hearts for Christ by all may Sermons which I have preached concerning the Love of Christ My Lord and Master hath sent me to woe you to win your hearts for him may I speed or no shall my Message be accepted and Jesus Christ the most lovely person find entertainment with you If any person or thing in the world which you do most dearly love do so well deserve your love lock your ears still against all my words and let them perish like an empty sound in the Air lock your hearts against Christ who stands knocking at the door and give an absolute and peremptory refusal to give him any room there But if in the whole world you cannot find out a suitable Beloved besides Christ if there be nothing here below but is unworthy of your hearts if all inferiour things whilest they have your chief Love do debase you and defile you and unless your hearts be taken off from them will certainly ruine and destroy you everlastingly O then be perswaded without any further delay to open the everlasting doors of your hearts to let Christ into them and set Christ up in the highest seat of your Affections O be perswaded to give Christ your chief Love to give him your Heart and your whole heart with grief and hatred let go your hold of sin and embrace the Lord Jesus Christ in the Arms of your dearest Love And then I would say to you as our Saviour did to Zacheus when he gave him entertainment in his house This day is Salvation come unto you O happy day unto you O happy you that ever you were born if this day Christ should be heartily entertained by you This then would be the day of your Conversion in which the Angels would rejoyce and though Grief and Trouble might invade you for a while because of your sin yet this would make way for your spiritual Joy weeping might endure for a Night but joy would come in the Morning but O the Joy which you will then have in the day of your Coronation when all tears shall be wiped away from your Eyes and when you shall have admission into the glorious presence of the Lord where there is Fulness of Joy and Pleasures for Evermore And what do you say Believers you that have some Love to Christ shall this Doctrine and these Sermons which I have preached be a means to raise and heighten your Love Your Love hath been too much mixed will you love Christ more purely your love hath been very weak will you love Christ more strongly Your Love to Christ hath been but a spark shall it now break forth into a flame after such blowings shall there be no burnings When you think of Christs Person so amiable his Love so incomparable his Benefits so ineâ—timable shall not this fire your hearts and will you not now love him more dearly and ardently than ever will you be perswaded to get off your hearts from Earth and Earthly things and get up your hearts to your Lord which is in Heaven and to settle your Love there upon him so as never to withdraw it from him any more Will you love the Lord Jesus much whom you can never love too much will you now dwell in the Love of Christ and be more frequent and â—ervent in the actings of it Then O what comfort would you find in your Love and what sweetness in the sense of Christs Love This would be the surest Evidence that Christ loveth you because Christ loveth first and how would this sweeten your passage through the Valley of Affliction and through the Valley of Death This would sweeten a bitter cup and make a sweet cup more sweet In Life the sense of Christs Love will be better than life but at Death this will be the onely stay and support which you can have nothing else can give any well-grounded comfort in a dying hour Death rageth and playeth the Tyrant every where shooteth his Arrowes hither and thither sometimes he smiteth those that are Elder than your selves and sometimes those that are Younger sometimes those that are weaker than your selves sometimes those that are stronger sometimes those that are better sometimes those that are worse sometimes the righteous are smitten sometimes the wicked sometimes the profane and sometimes the Professors that all might be awakened to prepare And what is it that can give you comfort when you come to the sides of the pit You may have the Love of your dear Yoke-fellowes weeping and mourning at your Bed-side Children Kindred and Friends wringing their hands and looking with a pitifull countenance upon you grieving to part with you but what comfort can all their Love yield unto your departing Spirits their Love may disturb you and make you the more unwilling to dye and leave them because they are so unwilling to part with you But the Love of Christ and sense thereof will be a Comfort indeed because he is a Friend whom you are not departing from but going unto and O the delight which then you may have when Friends look most sad and Death looks most grim when the trembling Joynts the clammy Sweats the intermitting Pulse the falling Jawes the ratâ—ing Throat and other symptomes give notice of near approaching Death then to think I am now come not onely to the Door of Eternity but also to the Gate of my Fathers House where many Saints are gone before me and many Angels are attending for me and where my dearly beloved Iesus is and hath prepared for my Reception and eternal Habitation Here are Friends about my â—â—d-side who ere long will convey 〈…〉 to the Grave to be fed upon by 〈…〉 are Angels also by my bed-side 〈…〉 Soul that so soon as it is loosned 〈…〉 Carkase they may convey me 〈…〉 Paradise Within a few 〈…〉 and I shall be with my dearest 〈…〉 Faith will be swallowed up 〈…〉 Hope in Fruition and my 〈…〉 to Perfection O the Glorious 〈…〉 there and then will shine into every 〈…〉 of my mind O the Love and Ioy and â—â—effable Delight when I come to see and enjoy and live for ever with my most dearly Beloved This This onely will make you
be his and wholly at his dispose as the Wife giveth her self unto the dispose of her Husband Section IV. Fourthly THe Fourth thing is to shew that it is the Property of all true Christians to Love this unseen Christ. True Christians are differenced and distinguished not only from all Heathens and Infidels but also from all bare Nominall Christians by their Love to Jesus Christ. It is the Property of Covetous Persons to love Worldly Wealth and Riches It is the Property of Ambitious Persons to love Worldly Honour and Dignities It is the Property of Voluptuous Persons to love Sensual Pleasures and Delights And it is the Property of True Christians to Love Jesus Christ whom they have never seen None but such as are True Christians do Love Christ and all those that are True Christians do love him The Loveliness of Christ doth appear not to the Eye of Sense but to the Eye of Faith they that do not see him with this Eye they cannot love him and they that do see him with this Eye they cannot choose but love him Such as do not love Christ it is not because Christ wants Beauty but because they are blind Now all true Christians have this Eye of Faith to discern Christ's Excellencies and none but True Christians have this Eye the Essence of Christianity doth consist in Believing Reason makes us Men but Faith makes us True Christians It being therefore the property of True Christians to believe it is their property also to love this Unseen Christ. Section V. Fifthly THe Fifth thing is to shew that it is the Duty of all True Christians to love this unseen Christ. This will appear if you look into John 21. 15. 16 17. Peter was one of the boldest and forwardest of all Christs disciples but he had been withal too self-confident which was the introduction unto and laid the foundation for his fall and thrice shameful denial of his Master a look from his Lord put him in remembrance and brought him to Repentance with bitter weeping for his sin so soon as it was committed After our Saviour was risen from the dead he appears unto Peter with other of his disciples and in this place he asketh the same question in the same words three times Simon Son of Ionas lovest thou me Whereby as he doth tacitly upbraid him for his great sin in his three times denyal of him which had there not been a defect in his love he would never have done so he doth also give a signification that love to himself is the great duty and the great thing which he doth look for in all his disciples Section VI. THe 6th thing is to shew how Christians ought to Love this unseen Christ. 1. Christians ought to love Christ with Sincerity of Love Eph. 6. 24. Grace be with all them that Love our Lord Iesus Christ in Sincerity It was the great sin of Iudah Ier. 3. 10. That she turned not to the Lord with her whole heart but feignedly so it is a great sin to love Christ with a feigned and hypocritical love the love of Christians to Christ ought to be sincere in regard of the habit inward workings of it they must love him not only in show word and outward profession but their love must be cordial in the heart and so a love indeed and in truth and the love of Christians to Christ must be sincere in regard of the object of it they must love Christ for himself and not chiefly for what they get by him to love Christ only for Temporal gain is hypocritical love to love Christ cheifly for other gain is not so spiritual but to love Christ for his own excellencies and perfections is most sincere and generous this sincerity of love to Christ is every ones duty 2. Christians ought to love Christ with Supremacy of love they must place him in the highest seat of their hearts he is a Great King and he looks for the Throne and that all Creatures should be placed beneath him and stand at his Footstool Math. 10. 37. He that loveth Father or Mother more than mee is not worthy of Me he that loveth Son or Daughter more than Me is not Worthy of Me. They are the words of our Saviour Christians may love Father and Mother the Law of God and Nature doth require it they may love Husband and Wife the Word of God enjoyneth the Husband to love his Wife as his own Body and as Christ loved the Church they may love Sons Daughters Brethren Sisters Kindred Friends yea Enemies and they ought to do it yet all must be with a Subordinate love but they must love Christ with their chief love otherwise they are not worthy to stand in the Relation of Disciples 3. Christians ought to love Christ with Ardency of Love Luk. 24. 32. And they said one to another did not our Hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the Way and while he opened to us the Scriptures This burning love Christ enkindled in the heart of his Disciples and this burning love Christ requireth of all Christians Canâ— 8. 6 7. Love is strong as Death the coals thereof are coals of Firâ— which hath a vehement Flame Many Waters cannot quench Love neither can the Floods drown it Such a strong vehement ardent flaming love Christians should have unto Jesus Christ which all the waters of Affliction may not be able to quench which no Flouds of Temptations or Persecution may be able to drown and oveâ—whelm Therefore 4. Christians ought to love Christ with Constancy of Love Having begun to love him they ought to continue to love him and to love him unto the end as they ought to be constant in their Obedience and to persevere in their other Graces so they ought to be constant and to persevere in this Grace of love to Christ. SECT VII Seventhly THE Seventh thing is to shew why true Christians do Love Christ whom they have never seen Rea. 1. True Christians do love Christ because of the Need which they have of him Men do love their Necessary Food without which their Bodies would starve with Hunger Men do love their Necessary Raiment and Habitations without which in Winter Seasons their Bodies would starve with Cold. Men do love their Necessary Friends upon whom under God they have their Dependance and from whom they have all their Subsistence But no Thing in the World or Friend in the World is so Needful to the Body as the Lord Jesus Christ is unto the Soul and as the Excellencies of the Soul are far beyond the Excellencies of the Body so the Necessities of the Soul are far beyond the Necessities of the Body which Necessities can be answered by none but Jesus Christ and therefore True Christians do love him At first Conversion when they were convinced of Sin awakened out of their carnal security O what Need had they and did they see they had of Christ they perceived themselves to be
and seeking him therein Such are the wayes of his Ordinances both publick and private Christ's way is in his Sanctuary and in his Ordinances he may be found do you give your attendance unto Ordinances Publick prayer the Preaching of the word the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and do you prize these Ordinances because of the Stamp of Christ's Institution upon them because of Christ's presence in them and because they are a meanes of bringing you and Christ together and when you are under Ordinances do you diligently seek after Christ in Ordinances Don't you rest in the outside and carnall part of Ordinances in meeting with Gods People there or do you design desire and endeavor after something more inward and Spiritual and incomparably sweet that you meet with Christ there that you may have Fellowship with the Father and the Son therein and upon this account can you say as David How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord and A day in thy Courts is better than a Thousand Psal. 84. 1 And One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple Psal. 27. 4. Do you also seek after Christ in your Families and in your Closets do you seek him in secret prayer and meditation your love to Christ doth express it self in your desires your desires do shew themselves in your seeking after Christ in his wayes Thirdly you may know your love to Christ by your love of Christ's Image there is the Image of Christ on his Word and there is the Image of Christ on his People 1. Do you love the Image of Christ on his Word as Caesar's Coin did bear Caesar's Image and Superscription so the Word of the Scriptures which is the Word of Christ doth bear Christ's Image and Superscription Do you love the Scriptures because of Christ's Image which is upon them do you love the Word of Doctrine in the Scripture because of the Image of Christs Truth and Wisdom upon it do you love the Word of Precepts in the Scriptures because of the Image of Christ's Holiness upon it do you love the Word of Threatnings in the Scriptures because of the Image of Christ's Righteousness upon it do you love the Word of Promises in the Scriptures because of the Image of Christ's Goodness Grace and Love upon it You have Christ's Word in your Bibles and sometimes sounding in your Ears but doth the Word of Christ dwell in your Hearts you receive Christs word in the Light of it do you receive his Word in the Love of it 2. Do you love Christ's Image on his People If you love not your Brother whom you have seen how can you love your Lord whom you have not seen All Christ's Disciples do bear Christ's Image if you love the Original you will love the Picture although it be but imperfectly drawn If you love the perfect Goodness and Holiness which is in Christ you will love the Goodness and Holiness which you see in the Saints although they have it but in an imperfect Measure do you love Christ's Disciples â— and that because of Christ's Image although they differ from you in some opinions which are circumstantial Fourthly You may know your love to Christ by your Obedience unto his Commandements Joh. 14. 15. If you love me keep my Commandements and ver 21. He that hath my Commandements and keepeth them he it is that loveth me You Have Christ's Commandements do you Keep them you Know them do you Practice them your Love to Christ is known by your Obedience unto Christ. If Christ be your Beloved he is also your Lord if you have true affection for him you yeild Subjection unto him If you Love Christ you are carefull to Please Christ you are not the Servants of the Flesh to take care to please the Flesh but you are the servants of Christ to take care above all persons and all thing to please Christ if you love Christ you are fearful of giving just occasion of offence unto men but above all you are fearful of displeasing and offending your Lord. Do you labour so to walk that you may please Christ in the way of sincere and universal obedience are you hearty in your obedience unto Christ have you a respect to all his Commandments is it your greif that you fall short in your obedience unto Christ if you can say in the presence of the Lord and your hearts do not give your tongues the lye that you don't live and allow your selves in the practice of any known sin which Christ forbiddeth nor in the neglect of any known duty which Christ commandeth this is a sure evidence of true love to Jesus Christ. Thus for the tryal of your love unto Christ. Section III. Vse 3. FOr reproof 1. Of all such as have no love at all unto this unseen Christ and will not the use of Information together with the use of tryal leave a conviction upon many of you that you are without this love Suffer then the word of reproof what are you Creatures made By Christ and made For Christ and yet have no love to him are you Rational Creatures have you souls capable of knowing him and loving him and yet have no love are you Christians and not love Christ baptized in Christ's Name and yet have you no love to Christ's person are some of you Professors and yet not love Christ make a show of devotion and yet without any true affection to the object of your worship Sinners though you have not seen Christ yet have you not heard of him and have you not heard enough to engage and draw forth your love unto Christ. What do you think is there such a person as Jesus Christ or is there not have you no Bibles and if you have have you not read therein the History concerning Jesus Christ and what do you think of that History is it true or is it false do you think the Gospel to be a cunningly devised fable are not the Scriptures which contain this Gospel the very word of the true God who cannot lye are there not such characters of Divinity upon them as are sufficient to evince their divine original to any that search into them and do not willfully shut their eyes against the light which there doth shine And if it be so that there is indeed such a person as Jesus Christ as there is nothing more true how is it that you have no love unto him do not the Scriptures reveal and set forth Christ as the most excellent and amiable person and yet do you not love him can you love persons and things that are but Imperfectly lovely and not love Jesus Christ who is Altogether lovely can you love one of great honour that hath but some inferior power and authority and not love Jesus Christ who is the Lord
have such fulness and plenty as the Lord Jesus Christ and none so willing to communicate of his fulness unto the wants of such as are poor in Spirit and sensible of their need Col. 1. 19. It hath pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell There is not only Plenty in him but fulness not the fulness of the cistern but the fulness of the Fountain not the fulness only of sufficiency for himself but the fulness of redundancy for his people not some fulness for some things but all fulness for all things that are good not fulness for some time and to continue but for a while but all fulness doth dwell in him and abide for all his people throughout all Generations and this not to depend upon the pleasure of men whose minds may alter but it hath pleased the Father it dependeth upon the pleasure of the Father who is always the same and whose good will to his people is unchangeable There is a twofold fulness in Christ for his people here besides his fulness of Glory which hath a reference to Eternity There is a fulness of Merit and a fulness of Spirit 1. A fulness of Merit in that full and perfect Righteousness which he hath wrought out for them and which he doth impute unto them for their Justification 2. There is a fulness of Spirit in Christ the Spirit being given unto him without measure which he doth impart and communicate unto them for their Sanctification and Consolation Christians you are empty Christ is full you are poor Christ is rich you are indigent Christ is All-sufficient and will not you love Christ who is able to do for you beyond what you are able to ask or think and is as willing as he is able to supply all your Spiritual necessities will you not love Christ who is an Overflowing Everflowing â—ountain of Good who hath inexhaustible treasures of Graces and Comforts in him which are set open before you and unto you and every day you may freely come and fetch such jewels out of this Treasury as are of higher worth and greater use than any Earthly Riches in the greatest Plenty and abundance 6. Consider Christs kindness and mercy All the kindness of Men is unkindness compared with the kindness of Christ all the Mercies of Men are Cruelty compared with the Mercies of Christ. He is all kindness all bowels all compassion all pity all grace all mercy to miserable lost mankind I shall not enlarge here because this will fall under the second head of Arguments taken from the consideration of Christs Love And if you add the kindness and mercy of Christ to all his other excellencies and perfections surely he will appear to have incomparably the greatest attractives in him for Love unto any that have not a very thick veil of unbelief before their Eyes to hide him from their view Secondly Consider what Christ is to the Father 1. He is most nearly related to him 2. He is most dearly beloved by him 1. Christ is most nearly Related and with all most perfectly like unto the Father All the Creatures are related to God as their Maker but Gods Children are more nearly related the Saints are nearly related to God who are his Children by Adoption and Regeneration the Angels are more nearly related to God who are his Sons by Creation and never were separated from him by sin but the Lord Jesus Christ is most nearly related unto God who is his Son by Eternal Generation thus Christ is the only Begotten Son of God and doth bear his Image most perfectly being the brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express Image of his Person This near Relation of Christ and his likeness to the Father doth call for your strongest love if you have reason to honour the Father on the same account you have reason to honour the Son if you have reason to love the Father you have the same reason to love the Son You will love the Sons of Princes and will you not love the Son of God you will love your own Children who bear your Own Image and will not you love Christ who is the express Image of God we read of Christ Phil. 2. 6. Who being in the form of God thought it no Robbery to be equal with God Christ without Robbery or Derogation unto God is equal with God in all Glorious Excellencies and Perfections and therefore your highest and strongest love is his due and without robbery you cannot withhold it from him 2. Christ is most dearly beloved by the Father 2 Pet. 1. 17. For he received from God the Father Honour and Glory when there came such a voice to him from the Excellent Glory This is my beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased he then that is wortâ—y of the Fathers love surely is worthy of yours he that is cheifly beloved by the Father should chiefly be beloved by you Thirdly Consider what Christ is unto all true Christians if you be such Christ is your Shepherd he feedeth you in green Pastures he hath laid down his life for his Sheep and will you not love such a Shepherd he is your Captain who hath conquered all your Enemies for you and leadeth you on to take the spoils and will you not love such a leader He is your Prophet who teacheth you the most excellent things that ever were taught the highest mysteries the most Glorious Truths which are of the greatest concernment to know and believe and he teacheth you in the most excellent way by his word and Spirit opening your understandings as well as his Truths giving you light and an eye to discern this light and will you not love such a teacher He is your High-Priest who hath made satisfaction for you and withall maketh intercession for you to reconcile â—ou unto God and his intercession is incessant and prevalent and will you not love such an Advocate He is your King who ruleth you most powerfully and righteously most Wisely and Graciously and will you not love such a Soveraign He is your Benefactor the most kind and bountiful and no gifts are comparable unto his gifts and will you not love such a friend He is your Brother and if he be not a shamed to own you for his Bretheren and Sisters will it not be a shame if you should withhold from him your hearts He is your Husband and you are joyned to him by the Spirit and Faith in such Bonds as cannot be broken and will not you embrace him in the arms of your dearest love He is your Redeemer who rescued and delivered you from Sin and Sathan from Death and Wrath He hath redeemed you by price the price of his blood and hath he not then given the greatest price for your Love he hath redeemed you also by conquest and shall he not make a conquest of your hearts Surely you are altogether unworthy of these relations if you do not present Christ with your
to lawful things and it is of use to keep the Heart from unlawful and sinful loves if Christ have not your Hearts some base and foolish lusts will have them which will wound your Consciences with guilt and peirce your Hearts thorow with many sorrows 2. The love of Christ is useful in Adversity to bear up the Heart from sinking and being overwhelmed with the Winds and Waves of Trouble and Affliction it is of use to establish the Heart from being extraordinarily moved in the most Stormy times not only Faith but Love too is of a fixing nature to keep from amazing fears of evil tidings and the greatest perils and of a strengthning Nature to stay and support the Spirit and keep off pressing Griefs and despondencies in the darkest and most doleful days 3. The love of Christ is useful to quicken and excite unto duty this makes the yoke of Christ easie and will enable you to draw cheerfully therein this makes the burden of duâ—y so accounted by the most to be no burden in esteem if you have much love unto Christ you will account duty to be your priviledge and the Service of Christ to be freedome and none of his commands will be grievous but all of them joyous unto you if you have much love unto Chriâ—t your Hearts will be ensiamed hereby with zeal for your Masters Glory and you will never think you can do too much for him 4. The love of Christ is useful to arm you against Temptations If Faith be a Shield Love to Chriâ—t is a Breaâ—-plaâ—e against the sharpest Darts which the Devil can throw at you â—ove to Christ doth Garrison your Hearts against this Enemy and is a strong defence against any overtures which the Devil may make in his Temptations to draw you to sin how can I do this evil and offend my dear Lord will be the answer of love to repel temptations to sin whatever alluring proffers they be accompanied withal Temptations will have no force to prevail over you if this love of Christ be strong within you 5. The love of Christ is useful to fit you for the cross and the greatest sufferings which you may be called unto for the sake of Christ. If you have great love to Christ you will be ready to suffer for Christ with patience and with 〈…〉 the heaviest cross will seem light disgrace and shame will be accounted honour losses will be esteemed gains pains pleasures or at least priviledges prisons will seem Pallaces and death will be accounted life O how have some run to the stake and embraced the Flames of Fire kindled to burn them when they have felt the fire of love to Christ burning strongly within them thus this love is usefull in Life 6. The love of Christ is useful at death This love in its strength will put a beauty upon the Aspect of death which seems so grim and terrible unto the most If you have much love to Christ you will look upon death as Christs messenger sent for you to bring you out of the dark Prison of of the World and the Body and to convey you into the Mansions of Glory where your dear Lord is and you will not be unwilling to leave the World that you may live with Christ. 8. Consider the sweetness of this love unto Christ. If there be sweetness in the love of the Members there is much more sweetness in the love of the head if there be delight and comfort in the love of Christs disciples for their Masters sake there is much more delight and comfort in the love of Christ himself the Master for his own sake the Apostle telleth us of comfort in love Phillip 2. 1. that is in the love one of another but the consolations in the love of Christ are far exceeding there are no such sweet motions of Heart as those of the strong and fervent outgoings of it in its love to Christ especially when Christ doth draw near and manifest his love unto the Soul Christ doth rejoice in his love unto his Disciples and they may rejoice in their love to him and this joy in the love of Christ is a full joy Iohn 15. 11. These things have I spoken unto you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full in the former verse Christ speaketh of his love to them and here of his joy in them they were the objects of his joy as they were the objects of his love and according to the measure and strength of their love to Christ so is the fulness of their joy in Christ. Cant. 4. 9. Thou hast ravished my heart my Sister my Spouse thou hast ravished my Heart with one of thine Eyes with one chain of thy neck they are the words of Christ the Beloved unto his Spouse the Church expressing the ravishing delight which he found in her Looks of Faith or glances of Love and the chain of Graces which she was adorned withall How then may your Hearts be ravished with unspeakable delight in looking upon Christs most amiable face and in the fervent actings of your love unto him when a glance of his Eye a smile a beam from his countenance doth enkindle a fire in the breast and this fire of love to Christ doth burn and flame O how sweet is this flame beyond what tongue is able to express 9 And lastly Consider the Attainableness of this love to Chrâ—â—t Bâ—uâ—ts are not capable of this love to Chriâ—t but you are capable as your minds are capable of knowing him so your hearts are capable of loving him Others have attained this love who were as much without it and as much averse unto it as any of you may be Here you are capable hereafter if you live and dye without it you will be utterly uncapabâ—e You have now the means of Grace and as of other Graces so of this Grace of love to Christ in the diligent use of the means you may attain there unto Thus I have done with the Motives to excite you unto the love of Christ. SECT XV. THe second thing propounded in the Prosecution of the use of Exhortation was to give Directions and the directions will be of two sorts 1. How to attain this love to Christ. 2. Wherein to show this love to Christ. First How to attain this love to Christ and here I shall 1. Direct you how you may attain this love to Christ in the truth of it where you are wholly without it 2. Direct you how to attain much of this love to Christ where you have it but in a low degree and weak measure The first directions then shall be how you that are Graceless and Christless and wholly withoâ—t this love to Christ may at-this love to Christ. 1. If you would attain this love unto Jesus Christ whom you have never seen you must get a thorow peâ—swasion that there is such a Person aâ— Jesus Christ and that he is such a Person indeed as the
Scriptures have revealed him to be The reason why Heathens and Infidels are without love to Christ is because they have never heard of him and the reason why many nominal Christians that have heard of Christ are without love to him is because they are not really perswaded that there is or ever was such a person as Jesus Christ in the World If you would attain this love you must give firm assent to this Truth which is the greatest of all and the very pillar foundation of the whole Christian Religion that Christ really is and that the History of him is no cunningly devised Fable If you have reason to beleive that there was such a a Person as Alexander the Great that there was such person as Iulius Caesar both which lived before Christs time you have more reason to believe that there was and is such a Person as Jesus Christ you have only Prophane history for the former but you have Sacred history for the latter you have only the writings of men to testifie the one but you have the word of God in the Holy Scripture to testifie the other You have as much reason to beleive the history of the Gospel as to beleive any other history and you have more reason to believe the history of the Gospel than to believe any other history I shall suggest one reason amongst many that might be mentioned The History of the Gospel was written by unlearned Fishermen and it was beleived by as leaâ—ned men as any in the world in and near the time of their writing which belief some of them sealed with their blood which they would never have done had they found any reason to suspect the truth of this history which had there been any reason of suspition they might easily have found out in those times when such a grand Fable as this had it been a Fable could not possibly have gained credit amongst wise and inquisitive men especially when it would have been their greatest worldly Interest the preservation of their Estates and Lives to have disbelieved and disowned it If beside the Apostles all the learned Fathers whose Works are extant amongst us who lived near the Apostles times and some of whom suffered Martyrdom for Christ's sake did see reason to believe that there was such a Person as Christ surely you have reason to believe and no solid reason to discredit the report of him in the History of the Gospel And when you have attained a firm Assent unto this get a full perswasion that Jesus Christ is such a person as the Scriptures do record and testifie him to be Be perswaded of his Amiableness his Greatness his Holiness his Wisdom his Faithfulness his Fulness his Kindness the Relation he stands in to the Father his onely begotten and dearly beloved Son the Relation he standeth in to his People especially in his Offices of Prophet Priest and King as I have set him forth in the Motives to stirre up Love acquaint your selves with the History of his Birth so Wonderfâ—ll of his Life so Holy of his Works so Powerfull of his Doctrine so Heavenly of his Sufferings so Great of his Death so Painfull and yet so Voluntary of his Resurrection Ascension Session and Intercession at the right hand of God so needfull for us as you have this History upon record in the New Testament the assent to this in your Minds will be a preparative for the attaining of true Love to Jesus Christ in your Hearts 2. If you would attain true Love unto Jesus Christ you must get Conviction of Sin and a sense of your Need of Christ. The prevailing love and liking of Sin is inconsistent with true love unto Jesus Christ such as love Christ do hate Sin and such as love sin have an Enmity against Christ Whilest your hearts goe after your Covetousness or your Voluptuousness or are set upon any other Wickednesse your hearts cannot be set upon Christ Before you can love Christ your hearts must be taken off from sin Get therefore a conviction of Sin as the greatest Evil in the world Be perswaded what an evil thing and a bitter it is to transgress Gods Law and thereby to affront the highest Majesty the great King of Glory Look into the Word and Law of God and see what is there required what is there forbidden and then look back upon your Lives or look into the Register of your Consciences that you may find out what your sins of Omission and Commission have been Take a view of your transgressions of the Law and of your disobedience also unto the Gospel and as you are guilty before God so labour for a clear sight and deep sense of your Guilt how you are under the Curse for your Disobedience how you are liable to ruine and eternal destruction for your sins Look upon sin as the most mischievous thing in the world if there be any evil in any temporal calamities which ever did befall any of the children of men yea if there be any evil in future miseries in the extremity and eternity of Hells Plagues and Punishments be perswaded that there is far more evil in sin which is the cause of all Think how miserable you are whilest under the Guilt and Reigning power of sin that the Worm is not so vile that the Toad is not so full of deadly Poyson that the filth of the Earth is not comparable unto the filth of your sins Think how base and disingenuous you have been how monstrously ingrateful to your Maker and Benefactor what Traytors and Rebels you have been to your Supream King and Soveraign Think what peril and danger continually you are in of Death and Hell how weak the thred of Life is which ties Soul and Body together which may be suddenly cut when you are least aware when you are most secure and then if you be found in a Christless state your Souls will be conveyed immediately unto a place of remediless and eternal misery Be perswaded that you are undone irrecoverably unless the Lord Iesus Christ do help you that you are lost for ever unless the Lord Jesus Christ do save you that you cannot escape the dreadful Vengeance of God but must be tormented most horriâ—ly and everlastingly amongst the Devils and the damned in Hell unless the Lord Jesus Christ do deliver you from the Wrath which is to come The sight and sense of sin your miserable condition thereby and of your indispensable need of Christ will make way for your Love of him If any of you were in debt many thousand pounds unto a severe Creditor and had not one penny to discharge it and you were threatned by him to be thrown into Prison where you must lie and â—ot and starve and die without hopes of relief or release except you could make payment of the debt And if you should hear of such a Rich man that were willing and did proffer to be your Surety and to pay all for
have interest in Christ and in all his Benefits If you ask me what this Faith is that gives an interest in Christ what it is to believe I answer out of Iohn 1. 12. that it is to receive Christ. But to as many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God even to them that Believe in his Name Be perswaded then to receive Christ and accept of him upon the terms of the Gospel Receive and take hold of Christ by the hand of Faith And that you may do this 1. You must let go your hold of sin if your hugg sin in your bosom if you harbour base Lusts in your Hearts you cannot receive and give entertainment to Christ there you must thrust sin out if you would let Christ in 2. You must let go your hold on the World I don't say you must let it go out of your hands and throw away the estates which God hath given except it be to part with some proportion in a way of Mercy and Charity and except you be called to leave all rather than to forgo Christ or any of his Truths but you must let the World go out of your Hearts the World must not sit upon the Throne of your Hearts that seat must be reserved for Christ cheif love and inordinate love to the world and things in the world must be taken off 3. You must let go hold of self your own Righteousness and all self-confidences must be parted with you must be humbled and emptied of your selves if you would be prepared for the receiving of Jesus Christ and receiving of that fulness which there is in him And then 1. Receive Jesus Christ as your High-Priest to reconcile you unto God trusting alone in his Merits and Mediation 2. Receive Jesus Christ as your Prophet to instruct and lead you in all Truth by his Word and Spirit 3. Receive Jesus Christ as your Soveraign Lord and King to Rule you 4. Receive Jesus Christ as your Captain to tread down your Spiritual Enemies under your feet 5. Receive Jesus Christ in all his Relations of Shepherd Friend Brother and especially in the Relation of an Husband and joyn your selves to him and make over your selves to him dedicating and devoting your selves to him and giving up your selves to be guided guarded provided for and governed by him This is to receive Christ and this is to Believe this gives Union and Relation and interest in the Lord Jesus and if you do thus joyn your selves to Christ by Faith you will quickly feel love to Christ to spring forth to work and act and that vigorously and to bring forth such fruit in the life as shall evidently shew that love to Christ is rooted in the Heart 4. If you would attain Truth of love to Jesus Christ be diligent in the use of all those means which God hath appointed for the working of it I shall instance only in two means 1. Be diligent in Hearing the Word Preached as Faith cometh by Hearing so love to Christ is wrought by the same means Hear and your Souls shall live saith the Prophet Isa. 55. 3. and I may say hear that your Hearts may love that where the Eye cannot the Ears may affect the Heart with love to the Lord Jesus Whilst Lydia was hearing Paul Preach her Heart was opened Act. 16. 14. and whilst you are hearing Ministers Preach of Christ your Hearts may be opened to receive him and to embrace him in the arms of your dearest love See Act. 11. 15. As I began to speak the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning whilst Peter was Preaching and the Gentiles were hearing the Holy Ghost was sent down from Heaven and fell upon upon and so whilst you are hearing the Word God may give forth of his Spirit to work this Grace of love to Jesus Christ in your Hearts 2. Be diligent and earnest in Prayer unto God for this love confess and bewail before him your want of this love tell him you deserve a double Anathema because you do not love Christ and withall tell him you cannot of your selves love him that you can as easily lift a Mountain to Heaven as lift up your hearts unto Christ but desire that he would draw up your love to Christ by his Spirit Beg of him that he would put out the fire of Lust and all inordinate creature-love and that be would enkindle a fire of love in you to this most lovely Jesus which no corruption in your Hearts may be able extinguish And in your Prayers present your Hearts to the Lord Jesus offer them up freely to him and desire that he would accept of them that he would take hold of them and take possession of them and erect his Throne in them and an Everlasting habitation for himself Section XVI HAving given directions how you may attain the Truth of love to Christ where you are without it I come now to give directions how you may attain much of this love to Christ where you have it but in a low degree and weak measure Would you attain much love to Christ 1. Be much in Contemplation of Christ consider often what motives there are of love in him presse them upon your Spirits and labour to awaken and rouze up your Hearts unto the vigorous exercise of this love Spend time in secret retirement and there think and think again of the Superlative Excellencies and Perfections which are in Christ's Person how wonderfull and matchless his love is what heigths in it that cannot be reached what depths in it that cannot be fathomed what other dimensions which cannot be comprehended Meditate often of his benefits how incomparable his love-tokens be and whilst you you are musing you may feel the fire burning whilst you are looking you may feel your Hearts leaping whilst you are taking a view of him ere you are aware your Hearts like the Chariots of Aminadab may run to him O the ravishments of love the transports of Soul which some Believers have found in their retired thoughts and views of Christ. Get often into the Mount of Divine Contemplation and there look upwards unto Heaven and think with your selves Yonder Yonder above the shining Sun is the more Glorious Son of Righteousness there at the right hand of the Throne of God is my beloved Iesus the Son of God seated and though he be so high above me both in place and dignity yet he thinketh upon me and pleadeth for me and many a gift hath he thence sent by his Spirit conveyed unto me and I can ask nothing of the Father in his name but if it be really for my good I have it by his means O dear Iesus how lovely art thou in thy self the darling of heaven the Delight of the Father the Admiration of Angels O what brightness of Glory what shining lustre art thou arrayed with thou art clothed with most excellent Majesty and Honour thou art girded
you have never seen look much upon his Picture and Image in the Scriptures The Scriptures are Christs Love letters In the second and third Chapters of Revelations Christ doth send Seven Epistles to the Seven Asian Churches there are many Epistles and Love-letters as it were in the Scriptures especially in the New Testament wherein Christ doth give most kind expressions of most endeared Love unto his People Read much and study Christ's Love letters especially those parts of the Scriptures wherein Christ doth express most of his kindness and love See how kindly Christ doth express himself Ioh. 14. v. 1 2 3 13 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 27. Chap. 1â— v. 9. 13 14 15 16. Chap. 16. v. 7. 22 24 26 27. 33. Chap. 17. v. 9 10 11 15 20 21 22 23 24. Chap. 20. v. 17. Read often and consider such places Let the Word of Christ dwell richly in you and his will feed and maintain your love to Christ this is a means to have Christ dwell in your hearts not onely by Faith but also by most endeared Love 3. Would you have much Love to Christ be much in Prayer unto God for this Love Eph. 6. 23. Peace be unto the Brethren and love with Faith from God the Father Not onely Peace is from God who is called the God of Peace and Faith from God who works it by his Almighty power but alos Love is from God who is the God of Love he circumciseth the heart to love himself and to love his Son This love of Christ is a Grace of the Spirit which God doth freely give and powerfully work the Beginnings of it the Increase of it all the Measures and Degrees of it are from him If you would attain high measures of love to Christ you must apply your selves unto God in Prayter and therein diligently seek to him for it If you would have much love to Christ in your hearts you must be often at the Throne of Grace upon your Knees and there humbly acknowledge if not the want yet the weakness of your love to Christ bewail your Sins which do damp your Affections and earnestly request that he would work your hearts unto a strong love be importunate in Prayer for this follow God day by day with the same requests plead with him for it fill your mouths with Arguments and fill your Arguments with Faith and â—ervent Desires Tell him whatever lovelinesse and love there be in Christ whatever attractives to draw forth your love yet of your selves you are utterly unable to put forth the least motion of true affection unto Christ. Tell him that this love to Christ though it be your Duty yet it is his Gift that you ought to act it but this you cannot do unless he works it Tell him how easily he can enkindle this Fire of Love to Christ in your bosoms and blow it up into a flame Tell him he hath bid you to ask and you shall have and whatever you ask according to his will he heareth and that it is his will you should love Christ not onely truely but also strongly Tell him you desire much love to Christ and that these desires do come from himself and therefore earnestly desire the fulfilling of them Tell him if you do not love Christ much you shall be apt to over-love the Creature which will be displeasing to him therefore request that you may have such a love to Christ as may overpower all other love and keep your hearts from all Inordinacy of affections to any thing beneath and besides the Lord Jesus Christ. Plead how much it will be for his Glory that you should have much love unto Christ that hereby you shall be enabled to honour him the more in the world Plead how much it will be for your good tell him if you asked Corn and Wine and Oyl if you asked Wealth and Honours and Creature-delights in abundance they might be a snare to you and for your hurt but a strong love to Christ is needfull and usefull and be sure will be for your good urge his Promise of Circumcising the heart to love him and plead his Faithfulness and if you be thus importunate in Prayer for much love to Christ and will not be denyed you shall not be denyed 4. Would you have much Love to Christ get much Faith Faith worketh Love both to the Father and to the Son According to the measure of your Faith so will the measure of your Love be Such as are without any Faith are without any Love such as have but a â—eeble faith have but a weak love and such as have the strongest faith have the strongest love The strongest faith giveth the clearest discovery of Christs infinite Excellencies and Perfections It is not the eye of Sense which doth discern Christ neither is it the eye of Reason which doth discern him whatever discoveries we have of Christ it is by Revelation and this is discernable onely by Faith Faith is the Evidence of things not seen and the unseen Christ is evident by Faith to be the most excellent Person and the most sutable Object of love and the more evident the Object of love is the stronger will the love be Moreover Faith is not onely the Eye of the Soul to discern Christ but also the Hand of the Soul not onely to take hold on him but also to receive from him of his Fulness Grace for Grace and by consequence more of this Grace of love to him Our Communion with Christ is by Faith the more intimate acquaintance and fellowship we have with those whom we love the more endeared will be our love the strongest Faith brings us unto the greatest intimacy fellowship and familiarity with Christ and therefore it is a means of the strongest Love Endeavour then to get a strong Faith and to live daily in the powerfull exercise thereof the more you live by Faith the more you will dwell in the Love of Christ. 5. Would you have much Love unto Christ labour for much of the Spirit labour for much of the Light of the Spirit There must be not onely the Glass of the Scriptures and the Eye of Faith but also the Light of the Spirit that you may have a clear discerning of this lovely Lord Jesus Labour for much of the Operation of the Spirit the Spirit is like Wind to blow up the Sparks of Love in your hearts into a flame Labour for the inhabitation of the Spirit and that the Promise may be made good to you which Christ giveth to his Disciples Ioh. 14. 16 17. And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you 6. Would you have much Love unto Christ labour for clear Evidences of his Love unto you the
the Arms of thy dearest Love and give him such entertainment that he may abide with thee for ever 2. There are others of you have had some manifestations of Christ unto you formerly but you have lost them your beloved hath withdrawn himself and is gone you call and he giveth no answer you seek him but you cannot find him Time hath been when your Lord was present and gave you Gracious visits frequently many a secret smile you have seen in his face many a comfortable word you have had from his mouth many a love-token you have received at his hand Time hath been when you had your evidences written out fair and clean with the Seal of the Spirit set unto them and how exceedingly did you then rejoice in the sense of Christ's love how did you feast your selves upon his rich entertainment of Gospel-priviledges which through him you were invested withal And O the admirings which then you had of free Grace O the sweet meltings of heart in the kindly sense of sin O the enlargements of desire which you had in your Prayers O the burnings of love to Christ which you have often felt in your bosomes O the lively hopes which you had and ineffable delight in hope of the Glory of God! But now there is a strange decay within you of Grace and Alteration as if you were not the same Men and Women as you were before You have withdrawn your selves from Christ and he hath withdrawn himself from your Souls you have let down your watch and the Devil hath got advantage against you by his devices he hath watched his opportunity and entangled you in the snares of some sins whilst you have heedlesly gone to the utmost confines of duty and been upon the borders of sin the Devil hath sent forth a â—quadron of temptations not with fiery darts but with silken cords which have treated and parlyed with you to entice and perswade to go a little further they have told you what pleasant fruâ—t doth grow within those borders most sweet and delicious to the tâ—ste that there are Silver and Golden Mines which you might quickly dig up and find precious substance that there you might have honour and esteem and what would you turn your back upon all these would you be so nice and strict as not to despense with a little duty as not to step over the hedge a little way where the delights and advantage would be so great And if you have hesitated they have told you that it was very disputable whether the confines of duty did not reach beyond the place which they would bring you unto propounding the example of others of the same Religious Profession that have frequently gone so far and why should you scruple or if it were a transgression it was but a little transgression they would not desire you to go far and who is there that lives and doth not transgresse those bounds and you might easily repent and find mercy if God were offended you might quickly retire and return into your former limits then whilst you have been parlying with temptations the silken cords have been fastned about you and e're you have been aware you have been drawn along partly willing and partly unwilling and enticed unto some kind of sins and complyed with some kind of lusts indulging your selves to give them satisfaction whereby you have been beguil'd and befool'd whereby you have been secretly wounded and inwardly defiled and thus your evidences for Heaven have been miserably blotted so that now you are not able to read them Time hath been when worldly Affections seemed to be mortified within you to be dead and buryed many a sore thrust and wound you had given unto them and how did they bleed and faint and grew so weak that they seemed to be giving up the Ghost and you have thought sureâ—y they would never â—â—ir much in you any more and then your love to Christ was strong and active it did burn and flame within you and O the zeal which you then had for your Masters honour and you seemed to have no interest to carry on in the world but the interest of Christ and you minded not your own things upon your own account but all your interests were swallowed up in the interest of Jesus Christ which you chiefly minded and cared for and made every thing else to truckle under it and to be subservient unto it but now your affections to Christ are strangely cooled if there be the fire of love to Christ still within you it is not fire in burning coals or in a vehement flame but it is a fire in a few scattered sparks and those raked over that they give neither light nor heat and are hardly if at all discernable by you and your wordly Affections which seem'd to be dead they have gotten Spirit and Life and Vigour and Strength O the eager desire which you have after the world and the things in the world and these accompanied with eager prosecution of the world now the world hath your thoughts in contrivements about it and the world hath your tongues in your most frequent discourse of it now the world hath your hand and your time but that which is worst of all the world hath your heart too the world hath justled Christ off of his Throne and for the present doth usurp his seat And is it then a wonder if your beloved be offended that you should thus decline in your love that your hearts should go a whoring from him unto the Creature in your giving those affections unto any thing in the world which are his due Hence it is that Christ hath shut up his countâ—nance from you or if he looks it is with frowns upon you you have lost your first love and you have lost your first sights and your first tastes of the Love of Christ now your spiritual joys and comforts are fled out of sight they are lost and gone and the bare remembrance of them only doth remain and whatever delights you have they are only such as come in at the door of sense you have none at all that come in at the door of faith and your sensual delights have expelled and banished your spirituall now the rich Gospel-priviledges have not that savor and sweet relish with you as heretofore your minding and savouring so much the Earth and Earthly things hath disrelished your spiritual appetite O the mischief which indulged sin hath done unto you O the unfelt wounds but so much the more deep and dangerous which sin hath given you O the defilements of sin in your Consciences and the stains blots which sin hath cast upon your profession O the havock which sin hath made amongst your graces and amongst your comforts Leaves you have still of an outward profession but where is your fruit to be found If you have some fruit is it not withered fruit â—our and ill-rellished not such ripe and mellow and sweet
fruit as heretofore in your flourishing estate Surely the Lord is at a 〈◊〉 distance from such of you and are there not too many such amongst you And what need have you to remember whence you are to fallen to ransack your hearts to find out your sins to humble your selves deeply to repent and grieve and mourn to turn your laughter into weeping and your joy into heaviness and to return unto the Lord speedily and do your first works otherwise some fearefull judgements are like to befall you and the Lord may be even forced to awaken you with a vengeance and make you a terrour unto your selves and unto all about you Don't provoke the Lord by your thus running away from him to follow you with a storm as he did Ionas and to devour you in the floods and waves of dreadfull afflictions that hereby he may reduce and restore you and keep you from being drowned in utter perdition and eternal destruction It may be the Lord hath scourged some of you for your faults with the rods of some crosses and disappointments some outward losses and troubles it may be he hath put bitternesse upon those breasts which you have been sucking and mingling gall in the cup of your pleasures which you have been drinking and you have begun to think of your evil wayes and seen what an evil thing and bitter it is to backslide from the Lord and you have thought it was best with you when you were nearest unto Christ. It may be God hath dealt with you as he telleth his backsliding people he would do with them Hos. 2. 6 7. Behold I will hedge up thy way with thorns and make a wall that she shall not find her paths Aud she shall follow after her Lovers but she shall not overtake them and she shall seek them but she shall not finde them Then shall she say I will go and return to my first husband for then it was better with me than now And now you are seeking after your Beloved but he hath withdrawn himself from you and seems to take no notice of you you call and cry and sigh and weep and lament and complain and seek and wait and yet he withholds from you all special discoveries of his Love Possibly doubts may hence arise and fears grow upon your spirits and you are ready to sink and sometimes are almost overwhelmed with inward trouble Let this Doctrine be an encouragement to you still to seek diligently and wait patiently for the Lord will manifest himself again unto you in his own time which is the best time He may try you for a while whether you will follow him in the dark he may suffer you to wait some time for him who have made him to wait so long time for you But if you persevere to seek him diligently in his wayes you shall finde that it will not be in vain And what would you say ye backsliding souls if the Lord should manifest himself unto you at this time would you not abuse his kindness if he should discover his Love to you again would you not grow wanton and carnally secure if he should now renew your evidences and give them fair written and easie to be read by you would you not blot them again by your sins if he should now speak peace unto your Consciences would you not again return unto folly If he should now restore unto you the joyes of his salvation and send down the Holy Ghost from Heaven to come unto you to be your comforter and to dwell with you would you not griev and quench the Spirit and provoke him to another retirement and more dreadfull withdrawings than before It may be the Lord will try you it may be the Lord may draw near and make some discovery of himself and discovery of his Love unto you it may be the Lord may look kindly now upon you and secretly by hiâ— Spirit speak kindly unto you you are now looking and longing and hoping and waiting possibly this may be the time of your seeing his face and the smiles that are there of your feeling the sweet sheddings abroad of his Love into your hearts by his Spirit at least he may give you a glimpse a glance a little taste such as shall ravish your hearts However wait for him and with earnest desires and importunate requests plead with him for his returns and these manifestations and that in such kinde of Language as this Come Lord Iesus Come quickly make haste O my beloved make haste to my soul that thirsteth for thee as the parched land after the sweet showers that fall from heaven as the hâ—nted Hart after the cooling and refreshing streams of the water-brooks O when shall I drink of those waters of Life which thou hast to give who art the fountain and spring from whence they flow when shall I taste again how good thou art when shall I see thee again and feed and feast my soul again with thy love when Lord O when wilt thou come unto me wilt thou cast off for ever wilt thou be favourable no more hast thou in anger shut up thy bowels shall this cloud alwayes sit upon thy brow shall this curtain alwayes be drawn before thy face Truth Lord I have grievously sined and greatly offended thee but have I not do I not truly repent is there any thing in the world so grievous unto me as the remembrance of my miscariages I acknowledge my offence my folly and horrid ingratitude but shall my sins be alwayes a wall of separation between me and my beloved are not thy bowels tender are not thy mercies plentifuâ—l is there not forgivenâ—â—s with thee that thou mayest be feared and the more dearly beloved dost thou not forgive freely without upbraiding hast thou not promised to be found of all them that diligently seek thee and didst thou ever fail in thy word unto any and shall I be the first are â—ot the desires of my Soul after thee and that Chiefly and that Earnestly Is there not dearth and drought in all things beneath thy self nothing that can give me satisfaction have I not renounced the World for my Portion Thou mightest send me to the World for help and comfort to the World which I have over-earnestly desired and loved and over-eagerly â—ought for contentment and happiness in But is this thy wont and thy way and the manner of thy dealing with them that are grieved for their Sin and ashamed of their Folly Hast thou not promised to manifest thy self unto them that love thee and do not I love thee dost not thou who knowest all things know that I love thee though my Love be imperfect yet is it not true though it be weak yet is it not sincere else whence are these desires after Thee above all Persons and Things in the World are not these the product of true Love and wilt thou not make good thy Promise then to manifest thy self unto me and if I
had the Manifestations of thy Love would not my love grow and encrease hereby Should I not love the more dearly and strongly if I had clear discoveries and were perswaded assuredly of thy love unto me Truth Lord I am altogether unworthy of such a favour but didst thou ever bestow this favour upon any for their deserts are not all thy Gifts free and am not I as capable as any of Free-grace the more unworthy the more I shall admire thee the more is forgiven I shall love the more And may I not now have a taste of thy Loving kindness Hasten my Beloved O hasten unto me and be as a Roe upon the Mountains of Spices Do not veil thy face from me any longer do not conceal thy love but now O now draw near and make me exceeding glad in the light of thy Countenance and in the beauty of thy Face and smiles thereof Such desires and pleadings as these might prevail with the Lord forthwith to return again unto you and to say Well Soul I have heard thy Prayer thy breathing and thy cry thy pleadings have prevâ—â—ed with me and I am now come unto thee and be it to thee according to thy Desires Come Soul and look up lift up thine eyes and see Here I am Behold me Behold me this day I am come to bring glad tydings of great Ioy unto thee I assure thee that I am thine and all mine is thine and thou art mine and shalt be mine for ever And what words can found so sweet and yield such comfort as these or such like spoken by the Spirit unto the hearts of those from whom Christ is withdrawn SECT VIII Vse 3. THe Third Use doth concern you that do love Christ and have the Manifestations of his Love to your Souls Three things be exhorted unto 1. Rejoyce in the Lord. 2. Admire his Free Grace 3. Labour to retain these Manifestations 1. You that have the Manifestations of the Love of Christ Rejoyce in the Lord of all Persons in the world you have most reason to rejoyce you are the happiest men and women alive It is not Wealth in the greatest abundance which can make men happy the richest Persons have often thorns of the greatest discontent to pierce their hearts and Stings of the greatest guilt to wound their Consciences It is not the highest Honour and worldly Dignity which can make men happy the vilest men are often exalted and those that are in the Highest places are in the most Slippery places from whence they are soon cast down into destruction and whatever security they have in Life yet they are usually consumed utterly with Terrours when grim Death doth appear and summon them to depart It is not the sweetest sensual Delight which can make men happy Vanity is the Attendant and Vexâ—tion of Spirit is the Consequent of all those pleasures that are sensual and sinfull which are the seed also of Pain and Everlasting torment Such onely can be said to be happy in truth as are really united and related unto Jesus Christ and through him reconciled unto God and entituled unto the Kingdom of Heaven but you are the most happy and have reason to take the most comfort who have not onely Relation unto Christ but also the Manifestations of him who know that Christ is yours and you are his that Christ loveth you and that his Love as it had no beginning so it is without changing and will know no ending If you know that Christ loveth you you have reason to rejoyce because hereby you may know assuredly that you are Elected that God by an eternal and unchangeable Decree hath chosen you when he hath chosen so few of fallen Men and none of the fallen Angels and when there was not the least foreseen Motive to induce him hereunto the assurance of this may yield unexpressible sweetness unto you If you know that Christ loveth you you may know assuredly your Effectual Calling Conversion and wonderfull Union unto Christ and O what matter of Joy is it to think how God hath called you out of Darkness into his marvellous Light how he hath delivered you out of the Snare of the Devil and the bonds of your own Lusts and set your Souls at liberty how he hath wrought a Miracle in your first Resurrection from the Grave and spiritual death of Sin put forth the same power in your New Creation change of your Natures as in his first Creation of the World how he hath dissolved and made a divorce between your hearts and your sins and so wonderfully United and espoused you unto the Lord Jesus and by this Conjunction and Relation given you an Interest in all the Priviledges which Christ hath purchased If you know that Christ doth love you you mâ—y know assuredly that you are Justified through his Merits and Mediation and O what matter of Joy is this to think that all your sins Original and Actual are pardoned that none can lay any sin to your charge because God hath justified you that there is none that shall condemn you because Christ hath loved you and out of Love hath dyed for you and is now making Intercession for you at the right hand of God Rom. 8. 33 34. to be acquitted from all Guilt and no more lyable unto future wrath than if you had never offended and when you had no Righteousness of your own to be accepted as perfectly Righteous in the sight of God through the Imputation of Christ's perfect Righteousness Who have reason to rejoyce if you have not reason If you know that Christ loveth you you may assuredly say that you are the Sons and Daughters of the Lord Almighty and will you not rejoyce when of Children of the Devil Children of Disobedience Children of Wrath you are made the Children of God the Glorious Jehovah that is the Supream Sovereign and King of the whole World and when you have not an empty Name onely but are intituled to all the Priviledges of his Children If you know that Christ doth love you you may know assuredly that he will keep alive his Interest in you preserve his Grace in your hearts and enable you to persevere in Faith and Holiness notwithstanding all the alluring Temptations which you may meet withall in the World notwithstanding all the Suggestions and Oppositions of Sathan and notwithstanding all the powerfull workings of your remaining lusts and corruptions all which do combine together and use all their power and policy which is great to extirpate your Grace to draw you unto sin to entice or force you out of the wayes of God and O what matter of comfort is it that the Lord Jesus who loveth you hath undertaken for you to keep you in his hand and by his unseen but mighty power to enable you to resist and overcome to hold on in his wayes and hold out unto the end so that you may triumph with the Apostle and say as Rom. 8. 35 37. Who shall