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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09950	The breast-plate of faith and love. A treatise, wherein the ground and exercise of faith and love, as they are set upon Christ their object, and as they are expressed in good workes, is explained. / Delivered in 18 sermons upon three severall texts, by the late faithfull and worthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Maiesty, Master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolnes Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.; Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635, ed.; Davenport, John, 1597-1670, ed.	1630 (1630)	STC 20208; ESTC S105956	328,230	606

desire long enough but how shall we be able to doe it I will tell you in a word and so conclude First you must pray for it it is a lovely suite when we come to the Lord and tell him that we desire to love him that we would faine doe it if we could and beseech him not to deny us that request that we know is according to his will doe you thinke that the Lord will refuse you in that case especially if you begge it importunately at his hands For if you object and say we have prayed and have not obtained it know that to love the Lord is a precious thing and therefore the Apostle reckons it so You will say How doth this prayer doe it I say that it doth it partly by obtaining at Gods hands for when you crie earnestly hee cannot denie you But as he did with the lame and the blinde when they were importunate hee never neglected any but healed them When you crie to the Lord and say I would faine love thee but I cannot will hee not be as willing to heale thy soule to give thee legges to runne after him and eyes to see him as he was to heale the lame and the blinde certainly he will not denie thee But besides that prayer doth it because it brings us to converse and to have communion with him by prayer wee are familiar with God by that meanes love growes betweene us as you know when you converse with men it is a means to get love Againe prayer doth it because when wee are much in calling upon God the Lord delights to shew himselfe to such a man yea at such a time for the most part as hee shewed himselfe to Christ when he was praying as he did to Moses and to Cornelius and others And againe prayer it exerciseth this love it blowes up the sparke of this love and makes a flame of it therefore much prayer begets much love If you would be abundant in love be fervent and frequent in this dutie of prayer pray much and you shall finde this effect of it it will beget love in you You will say prayer is a generall meanes for other things Why doe you put it as a peculiar meanes to get love The reason is because love in an especiall manner is a gift of the Spirit a fruite of the holie Ghost and it is true it must be a peculiar worke of the Spirit to beget love It is true faith comes by hearing and hearing begets faith it is done likewise by the Spirit but love is more peculiarly than other graces the gift of the holie Ghost And therefore 2 Thess. 4. saith the Apostle You are taught of God to love one another That is it is such a thing as God teacheth or else our teaching will never doe it that which he saith of love to the brethren we may say of the love of God the Lord hath put love into man man loves many times and knowes not why many times he hath reason that he should love and yet he cannot because it is a peculiar gift of God That naturall affection for a man to love his children all the world cannot doe it all the arguments in the world cannot perswade a man for if arguments could doe it we might perswade others to doe so but none can love so as the father doth his childe and why but because the Lord workes that in men So the love of God is a peculiar worke of the holy Ghost none are able to love Iesus but hee in whom the Lord hath wrought it in whom the holy Ghost hath planted this affection Therefore the way to get it is earnestly to pray to acknowledge the power of the holy Ghost to goe to him and say Lord I am not able to doe it this acknowledgement of the power of the holy Ghost is the way to prevaile Besides you know the power of God is so transcendent beyond the pitch of our nature that except the holy Ghost worke more than nature we shall never be brought together in agreeablenesse and sutablenesse wee are no more able to love the Lord than colde water is able to heate it selfe there must be somewhat to breede heate in that water so the holy Ghost must breed that fire of love in us it must be kindled from heaven or else we shall never have it Secondly another speciall meanes to enable you to love the Lord is to consider your owne condition to consider your sinnes what you are what hearts you have and what lives you have lead You will say how doth this beget love Yes this is a great meanes Mary loved much because much was forgiven her that is Mary Magdalen had great sense of her sinnes the Lord had opened her eyes to see what a one shee had beene what sinnes she had committed And because she had that sense of her sinnes her eyes were open to see her owne vilenesse thence it is saith he she loved much For when we are humble and poore in spirit when we are little in our owne eyes then the Lord will come and shew mercy on us when a man shall see his sinne and shall thinke with himselfe I am worthy to be destroyed I can expect nothing but death then the Lord shall come sodainly as it were and shall tell us you shall live and shall reconcile himselfe to us this will command love We shall never receive the Gospell as to love Christ till we come to poverty of spirit till we be thus humbled as in the first of Luke it is the speech of Mary My soule doth magnifie the Lord and why because he had respect to the poore estate of his handmaiden When she was little in her owne eyes and made no account of her selfe and thought not her selfe worthy to be looked after the Lord comes and takes her and vouchsafes her such an honour as to cause his owne Sonne to be borne of her now she could not holde but that was it that enflamed her heart with love to the Lord my soule doth magnifie the Lord because he had respect to the poore estate of his handmaid So wee see in David you never finde a greater expression of love in David than at that time when hee was most humbled when the Prophet came to him and tolde him what the Lord would doe for him that he would build him and house David begins to consider what he was what is David saith he What am I or what is my fathers house That is I am but a poore miserable man I am but thus borne what have I done that the Lord should respect me so farre If David had not beene so little and so vile in his owne eyes those great mercies had never so wrought on his heart And therefore I say the way to make us abundant in love is to consider our sinnes to be humbled to consider what

that though your faith be weake yet he belongs to you it is a true faith Againe it shuttes out those that have false hearts although thou thinkest thy perswasion be full that Christ belongs to thee yet if thy heart be not thus prepared to seeke him and to esteeme him thy faith is not true I can stay no longer in the opening of this so much shall serve to shew you what this love is You see what love is in generall and this love to the Lord this love to Christ. Now I come to prosecute the point having gone thus farre in the explication of it I say this love is so necessary to salvation as that hee that hath it not is in a cursed and damnable condition he is not in Christ if he doe not love that as the Apostle saith hee that beleeves not shall be damned we may say as well of love for there is a tye betweene all these faith repentance and love And therefore wee finde these words put promiscuously sometimes he that beleeves not shall not be saved sometimes he that repents not shall not be saved sometimes he that obeyes not sometimes hee that loves not shall not be saved and therefore the Scripture is cleere in it and there is good reason for it First because if a man love not there is a curse there is a woe due to him for wheresoever there is not love a man is an hypocrite as our Saviour saith to the Scribes and Pharises Wo be to you Scribes and Pharises hypocrites that is because you are hypocrites Now wheresoever love is not there is nothing but hypocrisie in such a mans heart For what is hypocrisie Hypocrisie is nothing but to doe the outward action without the inward sinceritie as we say it is counterfeit golde when it hath the forme and colour of golde but in the inside is base as we say he is a false Hector when he acts the part of Hector but is not so indeede So hypocrisie is to doe the outward act without the inward sincerity Now to doe them without inward sincerity is to doe them without love for to doe a thing in love is to doe it in sincerity And indeed there is no other definition of sincerity that is the best way to know it by A man that doeth much to God and not out of love all that he doth is out of hypocrisie he is an hypocrite and there is a woe belongs to him So that as we deale with counterfeit wares wee breake them in peeces or we set markes upon them as we doe with counterfeit peeces of golde and silver we bore holes in them as condemned peeces so the Lord proposeth a woe to such as love him not for in that hypocrisie consists when a man doth much and doth it not out of love Againe hee that breakes the law you know there is a curse belongs to him Now there is a double keeping of the law a strict and exact keeping of it and there is an Evangelicall keeping of it that is when you desire and endeavour to fulfill the law in all things and accordingly there is a double curse there is a curse that followes the breach of the morall law that belongs to all mankinde till they be in Christ there is besides an Evangelicall curse that followes upon the Evangelicall breach of the law Now when a man loves not he breakes the whole law for as love is the keeping of the whole law so the want of love is the breach of the whole law because though hee may doe many things of the law though he may keepe the sabboth though he may deale justly though he may heare the word and doe many things yet because it is not out of love he breakes the whole law When he breakes the law thus there is a curse belongs to him and it is the curse of the Gospell that cannot be repealed it is more terrible than the curse of the law And therefore he that loves not is in a cursed and damnable condition Againe you know in the law of God an Adulterer ought to die as in the law of triall when the woman was to drinke the cursed water if shee were an Adulteresse it was a curse to her the Lord appointed it to be death to her Now hee that loves not the Lord is an Adulterer that is hee is false to the Lord that should be his husband And when he loves not the Lord he doth love somewhat else And doth it not deserve a curse to preferre their pelfe before the Lord that he should love pleasures more than God that he should love the praise of men more thā the praise of God And this is the case of every man that loves not the Lord hee loves the world and hee that loves the world is an Adulterer and an Adulteresse saith St. Iames. Lastly when the Lord shall be a suiter to us when God shall offer his owne Sonne to us in marriage and we refuse him when Christ shall come from heaven to shew us the way to salvation and to guide our feete into the way of peace and we shall either be carelesse or resist it doe you not thinke the Lord will be filled with indignation against such a man will hee not be angry with such a man Is not the Sonne angry when he is not received Kisse the Sonne lest he be angry Will he not lay the axe to the roote of the tree and cut off such a man as men doe briers and thornes whose end is damnation This is the case of all those that love not when they reject the Lord and the Lord shall come to be a suiter to them and they will have none of him This is enough to cleare this to you That whosoever loves not is in an evill condition in a state of damnation he is not in Christ he is a man without the Covenant We come to make some use of this If it be of such moment to love the Lord then let every man looke to himselfe and consider whether hee have in his heart this love to the Lord Iesus for as it is with men although you may doe them many kindnesses yet if it proceed not from love they regard it not so it is with the Lord whatsoever you doe though you may doe much though you pray never so constantly though you sanctifie the Sabboth never so diligently doe what you will yet if you love him not he regards it not Neither circumscision is any thing nor uncircumcision is any thing but love Indeede when a man doth love him the Lord beares with much as you see hee did with David because he was one that loved him But when you love him not performe never so much he rejects all he heedes it not As you see it was with Amaziah you know how much he did yet it was not accepted hee did it not with a perfect heart that is he did it not out

neeedes be a greater sinne than the neglecting of that Now you see how strictly God layeth a charge upon them that no man should omit the Passeover unlesse sicknesse or a journey hindred him Now consider this you that have beene negligent in comming to this holy Sacrament for it is a great sinne and provokes God to anger when he shall see that this ordinance which himselfe hath instituted and which he hath laid such a charge upon you to doe is neglected Besides doe you thinke it is a sinne to neglect comming to the word and is it not as much to neglect this ordinance Besides doe we not neede all helpes of grace and is not this among the maine helpes Againe as you ought not to omit it so to come negligently to it to come without examination to come without a more solemne and extraordinary renewing of your repentance is to receive the Sacrament unworthily to eate and drinke judgement and damnation to your selves Now there are two sorts that receive the Sacrament unworthily First those that are not yet in Christ. Secondly those that are within the covenant but yet come remissely and negligently and take not that care they should in examining their hearts for though you ought to renew your repentance every day yet in a more especiall manner you ought to doe it upon such an occasion As women doe in scowring their vessells they make them cleane every day but yet there are some certaine times wherein they scowre them more so we should scoure our hearts in a more speciall manner upon this occasion Now because this is the businesse that wee haue to doe this day we will therefore handle that more fully that we touched lightly before which is this examination whether we love the Lord Iesus or no for if you love not the Lord Iesus you are not in him for whatsoever you doe availeth not if you haue not faith and love Therefore if you finde that you have not this love to Christ that you are not rooted and grounded in love you haue nothing to doe with Christ and if you have nothing to doe with him you have nothing to doe with the Sacrament And therefore we will shew you what properties of love we finde in the holy Scriptures This is one property of love set downe in 1 Cor. 13. Love is bountifull and seeketh not its owne things that is it is the nature of love to bestow readily and freely any thing a man hath to the party whom he loveth We see Ioseph that loved Benjamin as his love was more to him than to all the rest of his brethren so he gave him a greater portion than the rest It is the nature of love to be bountifull what a man loveth hee cares not what he parts with to obtaine it Herod cared not to have parted with halfe his kingdome to please that inordinate affection of his The Converts in the Apostles time how bountifull were they laying all their goods at the Apostles feete Zaccheus when hee was converted and his heart was inflamed with love to Christ he would give halfe his goods to the poore But in generall it is a thing that you all know that love is of a bountifull disposition If you would know then whether you have this love to the Lord Iesus or no consider whether you be ready to bestow any thing upon him whether you be ready to part with any thing for his sake David when hee abounded with love to the Lord you see how he expressed it in his provision for the Temple you see how he exceeded in it An hundred thousand shekels of golde and a thousand thousand talents of silver this saith he I have done according to my poverty As if he had said if I had beene able to doe more I would have done more but this was as much as I could reach unto herein hee shewed the greatnesse of his love to God in the greatnes of his bounty Take it in the love which we have one to another where a man loveth he denieth nothing Sampson when he loved the harlot he denied her nothing that she asked of him If you love the Lord Iesus examine your selves by this are you ready to bestow any thing for his advantage are you ready to take all opportunities to doe somewhat for his glory consider how many opportunities you have had and might have had wherein you might have expressed and manifested this love to the Lord Iesus Might you not have done much to the setting of a powerfull Minister here and there have you not had ability to doe it would it not much advantage the glory of Iesus Christ to make bridges as it were for men to goe to heaven by and to make the high way that leadeth thither A greater worke of mercy than these externall workes that appeare so glorious in the eyes of men to have blessed opportunities and not to use them because wee have straight hands and narrow hearts is a signe we want love to Christ. In the passages of your life there is many a case that if you were of a bountifull disposition you might doe much good in You know what Paul saith which was a great testimony of his love Acts 20.24 My life saith he is not deare unto me so I may doe any thing for Iesus Christ so I may fulfill the course of my Ministery So examine your selves whether you can say thus upon any occasion so that I may doe any good so that I may help forward any good cause that may tend to the glory of God my life is not deare unto mee my liberty is not deare my estate is not deare my friends are not deare to me You that have to doe in government many cases there are wherein if you will doe any speciall good you must part with something of your owne God lookes to you and sees what you doe and how your hearts stand affected in all these passages aske your selves now whether these things be not deare to you if there were love in you it will cause you to doe more than you doe It was Davids great wisedome when water was brought to him that was purchased at so deare a rate when so high a price was set upon it hee would not drinke it himselfe but powred it forth to the Lord and therein hee shewed the greatnesse of his love that he was willing to part with that which he so exceedingly longed for which was bought at such a rate The like he did when he bought the threshing floore of Araunah the Iebusite hee might have had it given him for nothing No saith he I will not offer to the Lord of that which cost me nothing As if hee had said I shall shew no love to the Lord then and if I shew no love to him what is my sacrifice worth For David knew well enough that God observed what hee did hee observed what it cost him The Lord observeth

wilt look upon other things as things that thou regardest not much thou wilt grieve for them as if thou grievedst not and rejoyce as if thou rejoycedst not thou wilt use the world as if thou usedst it not thy heart will be taken up about Christ and about the things that belong to the kingdome of God thy intentions will be set upon the things that belong to the service of God and thy owne salvation This is a thing by which you may plainly discerne the truth of your love examine therefore what it is upon which you bestow the maine and the top of your intentions Indeed my brethren the greatest things that the world hath are not worthy of the toppe and strength of our affections for they are but trifles Therefore if you love the Lord Iesus if you prize him aright and be righ●ly affected towards him you will esteeme nothing great but the enjoying of his favour and nothing of worse consequent than the losse of it nothing will be of any great moment to you but onely sinne and grace sinne that displeaseth him and grace that brings you into favour with him as for other things you will looke upon them as trifles you will not put the strength of your mindes to any thing else this is the nature of love it is vehement toward the thing that it loveth Moreover it hath also this property of fire that it is still aspiring it is still enlarging it selfe still growing on assimulating and turning every thing into its owne nature it is overcomming and is not ready to be overcome Which propertie of fire is noted in that place I spake of in the morning Much water cannot quench it it is as strong as death Now death you know overcomes all so will love it will breake through all impediments Consider whether you finde this disposition in your selves that your hearts are still drawing nearer and nearer the Lord that they are still aspiring up towards heaven that you are still going onward and thriving in the worke of grace But that which of all other things will manifest most to us this affection of love it is those affections which depend on it you shall know it I say by the affections that hang upon it It is true that all the affections depend upon love but for this time I will instance but in two namely Anger and Feare Looke whatsoever it is that a man loveth where he findes any impediment in the prosecution of it hee is angry hee desires with as much earnestnesse to remoove that impediment as hee loves the thing Take any man even of the mildest disposition if in any thing that hee loveth much and intendeth much there be an intercurrent impediment that shall interrupt him he is angry though otherwise he be of a most meeke disposition For anger is but earnestnesse to remove the thing out of the way that hinders us whatsoever a man loveth hee is angry with the impediments that hinder him in it Come now and examine your love to the Lord by your anger that anger that proceedes from love to the Lord we call zeale will you professe that you love the Lord and yet your hearts are not moved when he is dishonoured Thinke with thy selfe when thou art wronged in thy name or some body miscalleth thee misreports of thee and prosecutes thee with evill speeches and revilings is not thy wrath kindled in thee against such a one Well if thou love the Lord Iesus as thy selfe as thou oughtest to love him above thy selfe why are not thy affections stirred in thee when thou hearest him dishonoured when thou knowest that his Name is ill spoken of If a man should take from thee thy wealth or any thing that is deare to thee if a man should come and violate thee with ill tearmes thou wouldest be angry with him and be ready to flie in the face of such an one If you be thus affected to the Lord and to his glory why doe you not doe the like for him You know David did the same Mine eyes gush out saith he with rivers of water because men keepe not thy Law Therefore know that if you finde not your hearts affected with the things that belong to God that there is no anger stirred up it is a sure argument that you love him not It is observable that is said of olde Ely 1 Sam. 4.3 when newes was brought him that the Israelites were fled that moved him not so much when it was tolde him morever that there was a great slaughter among the people that stirred him not neither when it was tolde him yet that his two sonnes Hophni and Phineas were slaine yet this did not so much affect him but when it was tolde him that the Arke of the Lord was taken the text noteth something more than ordinary that hee was so stirred with it that he fell from his seate it cost him his life Can you find this affection in your selves that you are not moved with the death of childrē so much or for the losse of your goods or for your owne particular discontents as when you shall heare that the glory is departed from Israel that religion suffers any eclipse in any place that the Gospell of Iesus Christ is hindred This is a thing that will try your love to the Lord. If you finde that you can heare of the desolation of the Churches and of the increase and growing of Poperie and yet you doe not take it to heart to be affected with it you doe not grieve for it it is a signe that you want love to the Lord. You know what is noted of them in Ierem. 36.24 when the King had done an abominable action that hee had cut the roll insunder that Ieremiah gave him and cast it into the fire that was upon the hearth before him it is sayd that those that were about him did not rent their clothes nor petition to him c. As if hee should say in this they discovered a wonderfull want of love to the Lord and to his cause that they were not moved with this dishonour that was offered to God and to his servant and to the cause of Religion at that time You know what disposition Paul had in this case Act. 17. He observed that the place where he was was given to Idolatry the text saith His spirit was stirred in him his zeale and his anger was kindled in his breast Therefore consider what your affections to the Lord are by this holy anger that is in you Moses you know was the meekest man vpon the earth and yet you know how he was mooved how his zeale was kindled in his breast when he saw the idolatry of the people In the next place consider your feare For if you love the Lord it will cause you to feare and tremble at his word and at his judgements for whom a man loves much he regards much and when a man regards

and you lose but that it might goe well with you and your children for ever So if you love the Lord when you thinke with your selves I shall be a loser by it I shall lose much libertie and much contentment and delight I shall lose the giving satisfaction to many of my desires and lusts No thou shalt lose none of this though a man seeme to lose this when he gives his heart to the Lord but thou gainest all this that is the Lord gives thee thy heart againe and gives thee leave to dispose of it he gives thee leave to love thy friends to love thy wife and thy children and even to love thy recreations he gives thee leave to dispense and to distribute thy heart to this or to that as long as thou doest it lawfully onely thou must doe it at his command Yea when we give our hearts to the Lord hee giues us not them againe onely but hee giues them much better than hee receiued them new painted new beautified and new furnished hee giues them in a farre better condition there is no man that loseth by giuing his heart to the Lord but he giues it him againe much better As we say of vapours that arise out of the earth the heavens returne them againe in pure water much better than they receiued them so will the Lord if thy heart ascend to him thy impure thy sinfull heart the Lord will give it thee better As we say of earth when the earth receives the sea water and puddle water it giues it better than it received it in the springs and fountaines for it straines the water and purifies it that whereas when it came into the bowells of the earth it was muddy salt and brinish it returnes pure and cleane and fresh as you know the waters of the springs and fountaines are so the Lord doth with us if thou wouldest give thy hearts desire thy affections to him thou shouldest have all againe onely with this difference thy affections should be more pure thy thoughts all the faculties of thy soule should be renewed and cleansed and beautified he would restore them better to thee but yet thou shouldest have them let it be thy comfort So that here is all the difference take a man now that loves himselfe and that thinkes with himselfe Well say what you will I will goe mine owne wayes I will provide for mine owne contentment in this life I know not what I shall have after I will looke to mine owne profit I say compare this man with another that resolves this with himselfe Well from hence I will deny my selfe and crosse my selfe and will seeke no more my owne contentment nor to satisfie my owne desires and lusts but I will give my heart wholly to the Lord. The question now is which of these are gainers I say the latter hath as much liberty and as much power of his owne heart he shall have as much use of all that is within him as the other hath that ●akes it to himse●fe all the difference is the one ●s an unjust owner the second the Lord hath made the steward of his owne heart so that the Lord hath thy heart and yet it is thy owne heart ●hou maist dispose of it as a steward under thy Master thou hast it as before onely now thou doest it by his appointment before it was at thine owne Let all this therefore stirre you up to love the Lord. You will say indeede this is enough to perswade us to come in to love the Lord and wee are contented to doe so that is the answer which wee shall have from most men But now what kinde of love is it that wee shall have at their hands My brethren we must add this for a conclusion that it is not every kind of love that the Lord accepts but your love must have these two conditions in it I will breefely name them and so conclude First you must love him with all your hearts and with all your soule you know that is every where requyred in the Scriptures That is the Lord will have the whole streame of your affections and desires and intentions and your endeavours to runne to him there must not any riveret runne out of it it must not be drained away but the whole streame must all be bestowed upon him there must be no division there you must not say here as he saith My Countrie and my father and my children and my friends have a part in my love but the Lord must have all and there is good reason for it because he bestowed all on you It is in this love as it is in marriage in that there is no corrivall admitted but there must be all in all for the husband must bestowe himselfe wholly on his wife and the wife on the husband so if you love the Lord if the match be made betweene you there is all in that equalitie if the Lord bestowe all on you and you should bestowe but halfe on him there would be no equalitie there would be an unennesse But when you bestowe all on him when you loue him with all your heart and with all your soule that makes the match betweene you You will say the Lord doth not bestowe himselfe wholly on me he bestowes himselfe on many others on many thousands besides me and why should not I bestow my selfe on an other I answer it is not so the Lord bestowes himselfe wholly on thee Hos. 3 3. it is a borrowed speech I will be to thee alone I will have thee to be so to me so the Lord saith to every man I will be alone to thee and thou shalt be alone to me I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine This is the match that must bee betweene you And when you say the Lord is not wholly yours I say he is though he bestowe himselfe on many thousands besides You will aske how can that be I say that may be by reason of his infinitenesse for that which is infinite hath not parts and therfore he bestowes not himselfe partly on one and partly on an other but he bestowes all upon every one for he is infinite and hath no parts To expresse my selfe by a similitude a point hath no parts it is one indivisible let a thousand lines come to one point every one hath the whole and yet there is but one that answers all because it is indivisible and every one hath all So it is with the Lord though there be many thousands that God loves yet every one hath the Lord wholly he is to them alone and he lookes for and expects this at thy hands that thou shouldest be to him alone that thou bestowe thy selfe wholly on him thereupon all those words are put in Thou shalt love thy Lord with all thy minde with all thy heart with all thy soule The meaning is this when all that is in a man is

make your selves new creatures expresse your diligence therefore in labouring to adorne your hearts with graces that the Lord may take a delight to dwell in you be diligent also in cleansing your selves from all pollution of flesh and spirit that when the Lord commeth hee may finde no sluttish corner within you for the Lord hateth these As the Israelites were to goe with a paddle and cover every filthy thing because saith the text The Lord walketh among you so must we doe keepe our hearts cleane if wee will have the Lord delight to dwell with us we must be diligent to remove out of his sight whatsoever he hateth Lastly wee must be diligent in keeping his commands wilt thou say thou lovest God and yet doest disobey him and rebellest against him from day to day The Lord careth for no such love for indeede love cannot be otherwise judged of than in obeying to say thou lovest him and keepest not his commands it is but a dead love and a picture of love it is not love indeede it is but as the Apostle saith to doe it in word and not in truth for when you love him in deede you doe the things he would have you to doe Therefore so much diligence in keeping his commands so much love he that doeth most loveth most And so you see the conditions that are required in this love what a kinde of love it is that God will have at your hands or else he will not take it of you Now my brethren there remaines but one thing more wherewith wee will conclude this point that is now I have beene so large in shewing you what this love is wherein you cannot blame us if we presse you to it because it is one of the greatest and most radicall vertues faith and love therefore we have beene the larger in describing it to you I say now you have heard what it is what remains but this to shew you the great danger in not loving and that we wil make to be the last consectary that we will draw from this doctrine I say consider how dangerous a thing it is to neglect it the Lord you see requires it upon paine of damnation whatsoever you have yet notwithstanding if you have not this love you are not in Christ and so you shall be excluded Let no man thinke that this is exaction that it is a hard thing that the Lord requires it with this exaction for what is it that he requires If hee had required of you to offer sacrifice as he did in the olde law then the poore man might have objected he had not where withall if he had required us to fight battells the weake man might have said he could not doe it he was not able but now young and olde rich and poore all can love Besides if we consider who it is that requires this love is it not the great God of heaven and earth is it not the Sonne If hee had commanded thee the hardest thing in the world if he had said thou shalt cast thy selfe into the fire thou shalt sacrifice children to me you are his creatures and you must obey him But when he requires this onely at thy hands to love him is it not equall Besides when he requires this it is for your benefit for when you have given the Lord your hearts the Lord gives you them againe even as the earth the water it receives from the sea it returnes it better back againe in springs and fountaines and pure streames so doth the Lord give you your hearts backe againe when you have bestowed them upon him and withall he gives you leave to b●stow them upon other things to love all things that you may and ought to love and which is good for you to love therefore the Lord may require it upon this penalty for he askes but his owne and what hee hath deserved at thy hands therefore it is a most reasonable and equall request For what doth the Lord thy God require of thee saith Moses but onely that you love the Lord your God So I say to you what else doth the Lord your God require of you But againe know this that as it is a command full of equity and reasonablenes so the danger is the greater if you doe it it not and what that is I will shew you but by one place that is 1 Cor. 16.22 Cursed is hee that loves not the Lord Iesus yea let him be had in execration to the death That is the place I would have you consider that now when you have beene acquainted with this whole doctrine of love you might know the danger of not performing and doing it whosoever loues not the Lord Iesus let him be Anathema Maranatha he curseth him in two languages to shew that it is a peremptory curse But what is that to be cursed My brethren to be cursed is to be separated to be set apart or appointed unto evill so that all that love not the Lord Iesus they are men separated and set apart to evill so that no man may meddle with them no man may touch them to doe them good as the Saints and those that love the Lord they are set apart that no man may touch them for hurt so it is here when a man is cursed the meaning is this he is set apart secluded from all good things that none are to meddle with him hee is set apart for evill all things shall concurre together to doe him hurt this is when the Lord curseth any man and this is the case of every man that loves not the Lord Iesus Our businesse when we preach the Gospell is but to offer the Lord Iesus to you that is all that we have to doe and all that you have to doe that heare us is to take Iesus Christ to beleeve in him to love him Now saith the Lord if you will not doe this if you will not love him every such one let him be accursed Now when the Lord shall curse a man as Isaac said I have blessed him and he shall be blessed So whom the Lord curseth he shall be cursed and it is a fearefull thing if you consider it and therefore wee will a little open it and shew you wherein this curse consists Which I urge the more because it is an usuall thing among men when they come to consider their sinnes in particular wherewith they have provoked God to anger they looke upon this or that grosse sinne but this defect and omission of love they scarce put into the number of their sinnes But that you may know now what it is not to love him you may consider by the greatnesse of the punishment and that you see here is a curse Now that you may know what this curse is know that it consists in these foure things First it consists in this hee shall be separated from grace and goodnesse from holinesse