Lord Jesus Christ 3. For Examination or Trial distinguishing the Non-Lovers of Christ from such as do sincerely love him 4. By way of Entreaty or Exhortation That as you would escape this Curse be careful that you get this Love to Christ 5. For the Comfort Encouragement and Joy of such as love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity above all CHAP. VII Vnder the first Vse we might learn these Lessons or deduce these Ten Corollaries I. GOD only hath power to curse any of his Creatures He that made us can only really and effectually make us a Blessing or a Curse Sin might meritoriously subject us to the Curse but God only can inflict all the Curse that Sin doth deserve Wicked men might wish others accursed and do but their wishing them to be so doth not make them so By cursing others they might sooner bring a Curse upon themselves than upon those whom they do curse let them beware of this that cannot speak of some persons but with a Curse in their mouths Psal 109.17 As he loved cursing so let it come unto him as he delighted not in blessing so let it be far from him 18. As he clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment so let it come into his bowels like water and like oyl into his bones That Cursings as well as Blessings belong to God Balaam himself did teach Numb 23.7 And he took up his parable and said Balaak the King of Moab hath brought me from Aram out of the mountains of the East saying Come curse me Jacob and come defie Israel 8. How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed or how shall I defie whom the Lord hath not defied Therefore when we find holy men of God in Scripture using Imprecations and Curses we must not draw them into Example to fill our Mouths with Curses against any for there is not the same reason betwixt us and them 1. When they cursed they had the gift of discerning of Spirits whereby they perceived such were designed by God unto destruction as a Reward of their cursed Sinnings against whom they used such fearful Imprecations of Eternal Damnation Acts 8.20 Peter said unto him Thy money perish with thee because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money 21. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter for thine heart is not right in the sight of God 23. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity The like is to be said of David's cursing of his slanderous Enemies under the person of Doeg Achitophel or Judas praying against his Person Family Name Honour Estate and Eternal Salvation Psal 109.6 Set thou a wicked man over him and let Satan stand at his right hand 7. When he shall be judged let him be condemned and let his prayer become sin 8. Let his days be few and let another take his office 9. Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow 10. Let his children be vagabonds and beg let them seek their bread in desolate places 11. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath and let the stranger spoil his labour 12. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children 13. Let his posterity be cut off and in the generation following let their name be blotted out c. 2. The Imprecations of such men in Scripture might be taken rather as Predictions than as Curses or at least imprecating Predictions They speaking by the Spirit of God foretold what Curses would be inflicted by God upon them for their Sin and in a way of sin overtake them 3. There is a Ministerial and a Magisterial cursing The one is to make any thing or person accursed as the desert of Sin the other is to pronounce wish or declare any thing or person accursed and this is all that men can do Therefore though men pronounce Anathema against some without cause as the Pope and his Councils against Protestantâ— we need not be terrified therewith else the most happy men might be the most accursed 2 Sam. 16.12 It may be the Lord will look on mine affliction and that the Lord will require me good for his cursing this day II. This doth teach us the evil nature of Sin and what a cursed thing it is as being the meritorious cause of all the Curses that befall any of the Creatures of God If Sin had been kept out of the World curses had never come into it But Sin made way for the Curse and brought it in the commission of sin was the introduction of the Curse Gen. 3.14 And the Lord said unto the serpent Because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattel and above every beast of the field 17. Cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life Sin and the Curse are so linked together that Christ only that can take away the Sin can remove the Curse Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us If Curses be heavy Sin cannot be light and if the Curses be great that are due to Sin Sin that procures them cannot be so small a matter as the most make of it Would you flee from the Curse and yet run into Sin would you escape the Curse and yet live in Sin what is this but as if you would drink poyson and hope you shall live run into the fire and imagine you shall not be burnt Do you cry out under the Curse as a grievous pain and yet look upon Sin as the greatest pleasure Is the Curse dreadful and do you look upon Sin as delightful Is the Curse intolerable and can Sin be profitable Oh learn to look upon Sin through the Curse and then Sin will appear to be a cursed thing indeed III. Sin doth cross and thwart the natural Principles which are graven by the finger of God upon the hearts of all men If you ask whether Sin be now in man's lapsed state according to the nature of man I answer with this distinction there is the corruption of Nature and so Sin is according to our Nature as natural for man to sin as it is for light things to ascend and heavy to descend and there are the Principles left in corrupt Nature and so Sin is still against Nature In corrupted Nature there are yet remaining Principles that beget an aversation from Misery and an inclination for the obtaining of Happiness desires to avoid the Curse and to procure Blessedness but Sin is a thwarting of both these that you cannot sin but you go against the very Principles left in corrupted Nature as preservatives to keep down the Corruption of Nature Who is there among you all but hath innate Desires to escape the Curse of the Great God or can you desire to be accursed by him Who is among you that hath
Love to Christ Necessary to Escape the CURSE AT His Coming By THO. DOOLITTLE M. A. Mat. x. 37. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me Mat. xxv 41. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels LONDON Printed for Tho. Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultrey over against the Stocks-Market 1692. THE EPISTLE TO Non-Lovers OF CHRIST Lamenting Their SIN and MISERY THat Glorious Person who is both Lord and Jesus and Christ hath suffered and done and promised such things that might gain the love of Sinners to himself and by these doth Plead with them to set their Affections upon him In opposition to him the World and Sin stand in competition with him for the love of man's Heart Christ calls Sinner Love me Sin and World cry aloud Place thy love on us The Spirit Word Ministers Mercies and a Well-informed awaken'd Conscience press hard for the Love of Man to Christ The Devil and the Flesh sollicit for the Heart of Man for Sin and World Love man hath and one of these he will Love both he cannot at the same time with a predominant Love for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other Ye cannot Love and serve God and Mammon Mat. 6.24 Predominant Love to the one is inconsistent with such Love unto the other 1 Joh. 2.15 Love not the world neither the things that are in the world If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him This considered what Thinking man can forbear to grieve abstain from floods of Tears and bitter Lamentation when he seeth that the Love of Man such a Noble Affection in it self is set so much on Sin that is so bad in it self and unto its Lovers and upon the World that proves a vexation to those that are so fond of it who Love and vex who vex at it and yet still continue and encrease their Love unto it and their vexation by it doth not abate their inordinate Affection to it while Christ that is the primary principal and most delightful Object of Love is slighted by so many even by the most Blind Sinners Do ye thus love Sin so vile and the World so contemptible and not Christ that is altogether lovely and desirable What perverseness is this that Christ that is best in himself and best for them should be refused and Sin that is worst in it self and worst to them should be embraced What folly and madness is this that Christ should be kept out standing at the Door when Sin and World are admitted in and Lodged and kindly Entertained in the chiefest Room of their Hearts Cursed doings When Sin should have no Love shall it have all When Christ should have all shall he have none When the whole World like that part the Earth should be as your Footstool shall it or any thing in it be set up in your Hearts as in its Throne How is it that ye are so much mistaken as to think ye see Beauty in Deformity and Deformity in Beauty it self Why is odious Sin so lovely and a precious Christ so unlovely in your Eyes Have ye considered what Sin is and what Christ is that ye have greater Love to that Work of the Devil than ye have to Gods own Son And this when Sin is so bad and vile that as Sin it cannot be loved by the worst of men till it be first disguised and dressed up with the appearance of Good and Christ so good that as Christ he is to be loved most of all When called invited and charged in the Name of God by the Ministers of Christ shewing you God's Call Invitation and Charge to love this lovely Jesus why do ye retort and say What is your Beloved above another Beloved O ye Teachers of Christ VVhat is your Beloved more than another Beloved that ye so charge us How long will ye say He hath no form or comeliness VVe see â—o Beauty in him that we should desire him How long shall Christ complain of you that ye hate both him and his Father And is not this complaint more grievous when ye hate him without a cause and do not love him when there is so much cause and reason why you should VVhat hath Sin and VVorld done for you and what did ever Christ do against you that ye love your sorest Enemies and hate him that would be your surest Friend Hath Sin afforded you Pleasures But how long will they last And what will ye do when the Pleasures of Sin are past and fled away and the Pains and Punishment for Sin are come and shall never never pass away Hath the VVorld allowed you its Profits But whose shall these be when ye are Dead and Lodged in the Dust VVhat profit is there in all your Profits if ye gain them and lose your Souls Will not your Gain be your Everlasting Loss Is Christ the Admiration of Angels and is he your Derision Do they Adore him and do ye thus Despise him Do Holy Saved-Souls above delight and joy in their Love to him and in his to them and do ye turn away your Love and Alienate your Hearts from him and Love Sin and Rejoyce in that your Love Do Holy Souls beneath in this Imperfect State cry ouâ— Whom have we in Heaven but Christ or what is there on Earth that we desire like or love in comparison of him and do ye prefer your Lust and Fleshly Pleasures and Worldly Profits before him Have ye done so and will ye still Are ye so resolved Are your Hearts so hardened Your Minds so blinded And so enslaved to Sin and Satan Alas for you Were ye Born without love to Christ And have ye lived so long without love to him And will ye Dye at last without love to him Where are the Mourners that they may with flowing Tears bewail your Sin and Misery Why your Sin Because ye love not Christ Why your Misery Because you must be ANATHEMA when MARANATHA be Accursed when the Lord shall come Alas for you that are Ignorant of Christ for can ye love whom ye do not know Alas for you whose Hearts are full of love to a vain deluding VVorld and empty of sincere Love to Christ for ye must all be ANATHEMA when MARANATHA Accursed when the Lord shall come Let Angels blush Let the Heavens be ashamed Let good men weep Let the Earth mourn Let all the Creation of God sigh and sob and groan that the Son of God is not beloved by so many of the Sons of Men O my Soul where is thy love to these Souls empty of Saving-love unto thy Lord Where is thy sorrow for want of their Love Where are thy Bowels of compassion
that sinned but cast them down to Hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment And Epistle of Jude ver 6. The Angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day Not a word of a Saviour for them but of Mankind the Scripture speaks of abundance of love and mercy Joh. 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life Tit. 3.4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared and denieth that concerning Angels which it doth affirm concerning Man Heb. 2.16 For verily he took not upon him the nature of Angels but he took upon him the seed of Abraham Hath he done that for you which he hath not done for Devils and is not then want of love in you to him a greater evil than it is in Devils Let this shame you that ye are not lovers of Christ XII Not love Christ What do ye make of this but the beginning of Hell By the same reason as love to Christ is the beginning of Heaven Love to Christ is the employment of the Saints in Glory and to be without love to Christ is the frame of the Damned in misery So much of hatred to Christ is in you so much of Hell is in you before you be in Hell XIII Want of love to Christ Is not this the Daughter and the Off-spring of many foul abominations that are reigning in thy heart Doth it not suppose the predominancy of many other sins As 1. Doth it not suppose Ignorance of thy misery Sins deformity and of Christs beauty excellency and necessity 2. Doth it not suppose preceding Infidelity That thou dost not believe what God saith concerning Christ nor what shall be thy portion and thy everlasting miserable condition without Christ 3. Doth it not suppose a conceit of thy own Righteousness which if thou sawest to be insufficient would Christ be thus slighted and disregarded by thee 4. Doth it not suppose Self-willedness Thou wilt love what thou wilt love and not him thou shouldst love come on it what will Is it not plain wilfulness when thou canst give no reason why thou wilt not love Christ But because thou wilt not 5. Doth it not suppose predominancy of sinful Self love Carual Self thou wilt love and because this in dominion is inconsistent with the love of Christ thou dost omit the loving of him 6. Doth it not suppose fearlesness of God and of his Indignation If this did awe thee could Christ be thus neglected by thee 7. Doth it not suppose forgetfulness of Death and Judgment Of Heaven and Hell Couldst thou without horror think of dying without love to Christ When to dye so once would be to dye for ever Without trembling couldst thou think of Judgment when for want of love to Christ thou shalt certainly be damned whenever thou appearest at his Judgment-bar Or of Heaven when thou must never enter into it Or of Hell when thou must certainly be cast into it for want of love to Christ 8. Doth it not suppose great carelesness of thine own Soul For canst thou love thy Soul and not love Christ the Saviour of the Soul Canst thou take care of the Salvation of thy Soul and take no care to love him that is the purchaser and the donor of eternal Salvation Is such a litter of sins in the heart void of the love of Christ And wilt thou after this make so light a matter of it XIV Want of love to Christ Is it not the Mother of many horrid transgressions and the Nurse Maintainer and Fomenter of them Love to Christ shuts the door of the heart against the temptations of Satan the inticements of Sinners and the allurements of the World but the want of it sets it open unto all Love to Christ would be a Dam to the stream of Sin but the want of it is the plucking up the Floodgates thereof that Sin might run out of the heart into the life with a swift current Is not the absence of love to Christ the cause of many commissions of Evil Would it not bridle thy Tongue restrain thine Hands shut thy Eyes stop thy Ears and keep all these from being defiled with finful actings upon sinful objects Is it not the cause of the omission of good Of praying hearing meditation holy discourse What goeth before and what followeth after the want of love to Christ as flowing and proceeding from it maketh it a sin exceeding sinful XV. Love not Christ Have not then all the Ordinances of God been ineffectual as to thee Have not Ministers preached in vain and spent their labour for nought And hast not thou heard in vain And followed the means of Grace in vain when by all the means thou hast not got this Grace of Love What though thou hast obtained knowledge is not that knowledge without love to Christ vain knowledge What though thou art able to discourse of God and Christ and Heaven and the workings of the Spirit without love to Christ is it not though concerning such great and weighty matters yet vain discourse Have not all the calls of Mercy the workings of Conscience the wooings of Grace the pleadings of Ministers the intreaties of Love the knocking 's of Christ the strivings of the Spirit the waitings of Patience been all slighted and disregarded by thee Are not all thy Prayers lost and will not all thy Profession come to nothing and thy hopes of Heaven perish when for want of love to Christ thy Soul shall never enter into Heaven but perish everlastingly XVI Want of love to Christ Is it not a mark and brand of a graceless Man Is not the absence of love to Christ inconsistent with the presence of any other saving Grace Psal 31.23 O love the Lord all ye his Saints No love no Saint No Saint no Grace in thee If Loveless altogether Graceless for then 1. Thou art faithless for didst thou believe on him thou wouldst have sincere love unto him for where there is Faith it worketh by love Gal. 5.6 2. Thou art fearless of God Love and fear of God do sweetly concur Love is afraid to offend 3. Thou art sorrowless that is as to any holy godly sorrow For love to Christ would make thee sorrow for thy sin for the absence of Christ and love would cause thee to sorrow that thou lovest no more 4. Thou art also hopeless for there can be no solid ground of hope in him when there is no love unto him He that hopes for Heaven by the merits of Christ without love to the person of Christ his hope is a Fabrick without a foundation the Fools Paradise It is hope without a warrant and in the end when he misseth of the end of his expectation will be found to be no
a corrupt thing for I am a great King saith the Lord of hosts and my name is dreadful among the heathen That is strange then that it should be no more dreadful among his people that pretend to love him that they are not afraid to bring and offer such Duties to him as do so much provoke him and are so greatly displeasing to him that give him only words when they have a Male in their Flock an heart in their breast to give him 4. Such Obedience as is a proof of Love must be persevering to the end expressed not by stepping into Gods ways but by walking in them One that loves not Christ might step into a good way but he that loves doth walk therein Deut. 11.1 Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God and keep his charge and his statutes and his judgments and his commandments alway And 19.9 If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them which I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God and to walk ever in his ways Such then as have made great shews of love to Christ and now are revolted and have forsaken his holy Commandments by this might judge what kind of love it was to Christ that they once made profession of and more by their partial irksom and refuse Obedience might be convinced that their love to Christ is unfound and only supposed Love II. Do you love Christ while you maintain the Love of Sin in your Heart Can the love of Sin and the love of Christ dwell together in highest degrees Can the affection of love in that manner be carried out to two contrary objects at the same time And is there any thing in the World more contrary than Christ and Sin Is there more opposition between Light and Darkness extreamly Sweet and extreamly Sowre Can you love your Health and Poyson too to be in your Stomach Can you love Christ and yet love what he doth hate Can you love Christ and delight in Sin which took away the Life of your Lord Could you carry that Knife continually in your Bosom with delight that was the Instrument of Death unto your dearest Friend You might as soon look down upon the Earth and up unto the Heavens at the same instant as thus love Sin and Christ together Psal 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil and the hatred to Sin that proves sincere Love to Christ must be 1. Vniversal to the Darling Sin as well as others to the Sin that hath been to you as your Right Hand or Right Eye Hatred is to the kind he that hates a Toad It is not this one or that in particular but all He that Loves Christ sincerely hates Sin as a man hates a Toad not only as to the degree but also as to the extent all and every one Psal 119.104 I hate every false way 2. Implacable Anger might be pacified but Hatred planted in the Nature is irreconcileable Antipathy cannot be rooted out nor turned into Love A man might be angry at Sin that loves not Christ but be friends again might turn from it and afterwards return unto it but the hatred to Sin implanted in the new Creature is implacably bent against Sin that the words might have some place here by way of allusion relating the Love and Hatred of Amnon to Tamar 2 Sam. 13.15 Then Amnon hated her exceedingly Hebrew is with great hatred greatly so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her and Amnon said unto her Arise be gone With like detestation will the Lover of Christ pack away his Sin Arise be gone with greater hatred than before he loved it 3. Therefore it is mortal and destructive to Sin that is the object of it Esau hated Jacob because of the Blessing wherewith his Father blessed him and Esau said in his heart The days of mourning for my father are at hand then will I slay my brother Jacob Gen. 27.41 So the Lover of Christ that hateth Sin is resolved to be the destruction of it Shall not I be the death of that cursed Sin that was the death of my blessed Lord Shall I suffer that to live in my heart which would not suffer Christ to live in the World Did Sin shed my Saviours Blood and shall not I be avenged on my 〈◊〉 Did Sin make my Saviour Groan and Sweat in a bloody Agony and shall I take delight therein Was my Sin the Nails that did fasten him to the Cross The Spear that did pierce his blessed Side And the Thorns that Crowned his Sacred Head And shall I lodge it in my Bosom Did Christ in love unto my Soul dye for my Sin and shall not I in love unto my Lord cause Sin to dye in me III. Do you love Christ sincerely when the things of this World have the predominant degrees of your affections As Sin is not to be loved at all by them that love Christ so things that are good must not be loved above Christ nor are by them that love him Mat. 10.37 If any man love father or mother more than me he is not worthy of me Doth that Woman love her Husband with a sincere Conjugal Love that though she love him truly yet loveth another more than him Do you love Riches Pleasures Honours Relations Self Life more than Christ and yet sincerely love Christ As he is better than all greater than all more suitable more durable more sweet more satisfying than all other good things so he must be loved above and more than all 1 Joh. 2.15 Love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him Jam. 4.4 Ye Adulterers and Adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God Though one that is sincere in his love to Christ might not love Christ more than some other persons love him yet he loves Christ more than he loves other persons or things But do you love Christ more than you love other things and yet 1. Your thoughts are habitually set and actually run out upon other things more than upon Christ Can you think on the World with delight but not on Christ And love to have a thousand thoughts on other things for one you have of Christ It is a pleasure to you to think on your Pleasures your Profits your Children but a burden to you to think of Christ and keep your thoughts upon him Are not the thoughts much upon the object of love Psal 139.17 When I awake I am still with thee But if you cannot sleep in the Night your Head is full of the thoughts of the World because your Heart is full of the love of the World Is it not a sign the World and not Christ is loved as your Treasure for where the treasure is there the
For 1. Love to Christ will be the sweetest Love He that loveth other things and not Christ loves nothing but Vanity and to love Vanity will prove vexation He that loveth Riches hath vexing sorrow with his love fretting fears and perplexing cutting cares When thou lovest thy Relations if they be bad the more thou lovest the more thou art Wounded If they be good the more evil befalls them the more thou art grieved There cannot be love to other things without love to Christ but it will be bitter Love for thou wilt repent of that love or thou wilt not If thou dost then thou wilt find more forrow for it more bitterness in it than ever thou didst find delight and say Oh now it doth repent me that ever I loved the World as I have done my Pleasures my Sin as I have done But thou wilt never have cause to say I repent that ever I loved Christ Never was such a Word heard from the mouth of a sincere Lover of Christ if thou dost never repent of thy Love to the World and Sin that Love will certainly end in sorrow and with bitterness of Soul be fruitlesly lamented in Hell But what content satisfaction delight comfort joy there is in loving of Christ none can tell so well as he that loves him 2. Love to Christ is the safest Love No fear of Sinning in this Love except it be in the smalness of the measure of it but that is not to Sin in loving but not loving more You might fear and tremble in loving other things and say Do not I sin in this Is there not sinning in my loving 3. Love to Christ is the surest Love to other things is often turned into hatred Love to day and hate to morrow but this remaineth firm The Object is the surest Object neither Men nor Death nor Devils can take away the Object of this Love It is surest in the Habit and Principle the Power of God the Prayer of Christ the promise of both secure the preservation of it It is surest in the Act for if we be careful our selves no Men nor Devils can hinder our acting of this Love they might keep us from hearing of his Word but not from loving of his Person 4. Love to Christ is the Noblest Love Love to Pleasures to the World to Sin is base polluted Love this most sublime and raised it hath the noblest and the highest Object it carrieth the Soul in his Thoughts and Meditations after him into the highest Heavens and hath complacency in the highest Degree and shall have for ever the highest Reward 5. Love to Christ is the longest Love that shall never end Sirs ere long you will have done loving this World even ye that love it most and have your hearts most set upon it Ye that now have your hearts full of Earth when ye shall have your mouths full too and your Corps lye rotting in the Earth you shall have done loving of it Death that ends your life in the World shall end your love to the World which Grace never did Ye shall also have done ere long loving your Relations ye shall have done loving Father and Mother Brother and Sister and Husband and Wife and Children as now in that relation but the gracious Soul the Lover of Christ shall never have done loving of Christ It is sweet to have it but this doth make it more sweet to think he shall always have it Have it in Life have it at Death and have it after Death O blessed Love that shall never be lost but ever last While I was Musing upon this it came into my mind to consider what those that never love Christ in this World can love in the next and I could not imagine any thing that Damned Souls in Hell can Love If it be that I understand not nor am acquainted with the acting of their Souls nor State God grant I never may as they do I thought can they love God Christ the holy Spirit Angels Saints Their hatred to all these is and shall be more deeply radicated that is Rooted in them than ever upon Earth Can they love the place of Hell They wish they never had come thither Can they love the pains of Hell They grieve and groan under them and are weary to bear them Can they love the Devils in Hell They curse them for tempting them to Sin that brought them to that place Can they love their Companions in Hell They are an aggravation of one anothers misery Can they love their Sin in Hell Alas all that was pleasurable in it is gone and the pain and sting only doth remain Can they love their Beings in Hell They had rather dye than live and cease to be at all than to continue to be there I know not what it is that they can love O loathsome place where there is and can be no love O lovely Heaven where Love doth Reign where Love doth Live and the Life of them therein shall be for ever a Life of Love And in this World where Love is wanting so far it looks like Hell Where Love and that which is the best which is that which is to Christ doth prevail so far it looks like Heaven Dear Lord save me from Hell because there there is no love to thee nor to any thing that is good Sweet Saviour lead me in thy way to Heaven and bring me thither where Love to thee shall live and last for ever IV. Is it not great folly to love other things and not Christ For love ye will There is such an affection as Love in all your Hearts and something it will be set upon in this World what e're it be with Damned Souls in the next Now if Christ have it not the World will If Christ hath it not Sin will And do ye act as Rational Creatures as Men endued with Reason to deny your Love to Christ and give it to the World and Sin Set one over against the other and then tell me 1. Is it not great folly to love that which is worse than your selves and not that which is infinitely better Do ye think your Silver and your Gold is better than your selves as much as ye love it That your Houses and your Lands as bad as ye are are better than your selves But ye are not yet so good nor yet so bad but I hope ye will say and ackdowledge that Christ is better 2. Is it not great folly to love that which cannot love you again and not him that would Ye love your Gold but that cannot love you again The Cloaths upon your back the Furniture in your Houses ye love but these can make no returns of Love Ye give your love to them but ye receive no love from them Are ye not vexed when ye love a Man that doth not love you again nor return love for love And why are ye so well pleased and are so well contented in placing the very
cause of all this good to thee And should not Love in thee to Christ be the fruit and return of all this good from Christ to thee As the goodness and long-suffering of God should lead us to repentance for sin so also to love unto his Son Doth not the kindness of a man shewn to another beget love from him that receives it to him that doth confer it And shall not the kindness God for Christ's sake hath shewn to thee far surpassing the kindness of men allure and draw thy love to him Dost thou ask What shall I return to Christ that died to satisfie God's Justice to make Salvation possible to me I answer Love And what for the tenders of mercy and the offers of Grace made to me I answer Love And what must I return for his patient bearing with me that I am not dead and damned I answer Love Love Love And what must I return to Christ for my hopes of Heaven or eternal happiness Or if I have not well-grounded actual hope that yet I am not past hope but live in hope that by the use of means I may have a lively hope of an incorruptible Crown I answer still Love Unfeigned Love sincere and hearty Love So love and then hope love strongly and then thy hope will be lively Love him thus and then in the next and last Use I will tell thee what comfort and joy this love may bring into thy heart CHAP. XIII Ten Springs of Spiritual Comfort flowing into the Hearts of the Lovers of Christ LOvest thou the Lord Jesus Blessed Soul Lovest thou Christ Happy Man Lovest thou him that is Lord and Jesus and Christ Joy in thy Love For great is the difference between the Lovers of Pleasures and the Lovers of Christ betwixt the Lovers of the World and the Lovers of Christ betwixt the Lovers of Sin and the Lovers of Christ For the Lovers of Pleasures shall be filled with pain when their Pleasures are gone but so shall not the Lovers of Christ for their eternal Love to Christ will be eternal Pleasure to them 2. The Lovers of the World shall lose all they love though they do not love to lose yet they shall certainly lose all they love but so shall not the Lovers of Christ for they love and long to see him and in seeing him for ever shall have and love him for ever 3. The Lovers of Sin shall be condemned for their Love must to their Lodgings in Hell where Love is a stranger but so shall not the Lovers of Christ but shall be taken up to their Mansions in Heaven and shall dwell in Light and Life and Love for ever Where Light shall be the Life of Love and their Life shall be the Love of Light and Love shall shine and sparkle in Light and Life for evermore Now we believe but do not see Christ nor ever have for we walk by faith and not by sight though we have not seen him yet believing we love him believing and loving without seeing brings rejoycing unspeakable and full of Glory Oh what will that Joy then be when believing shall be turned into seeing when we shall not believe and love but see and love That Joy that now proceeds from Believing and Loving is unspeakable but that Joy that shall flow from Seeing and Loving is unconceivable 1 Pet. 1.18 Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory I promised to shew you the Comfort the Blessings the Joy that Love to Christ will bring unto you but I confess plainly I am posed It is above my shallow understanding here is a Depth I cannot sound it here is an Height I cannot reach it here is a Length and Breadth I cannot compass it As in the love of Christ unto the believing Soul so in the love and joy that proceeds from the love of the believing Soul to Christ The one is without measure the other is above my measure How shall I speak that which is unspeakable and utter that which is unutterable Will ye excuse me then if I do not what I did purpose to do And will ye loose me from my Promise when what I did promise I find upon the attempt of performance it is above my Power Or will ye tye me to do because I promised what I am not able If so will ye pardon my Weakness wherein I shall come short if I tell you a way whereby ye your selves shall be able to supply my defect That is Do ye so believe and love that ye might feel what I cannot speak and find that by Experience which cannot be uttered by Expressions and taste that in your selves which I cannot declare with my Tongue The Tongue is the Instrument of Taste as well as of Speech and if ye would know the sweetness of Honey ye might do it better with the tasting of your own Tongue than by the telling of mine But yet that ye may see my Will to attempt where I want Power I will not be altogether silent concerning these unspeakable things For as we should labour to know the love of Christ to us which passeth knowledge Eph. 3.19 so we may endeavour to declare things that be unspeakable To speak things that be unspeakable is impossible but to speak something of or concerning things unspeakable wherein I must acquiesce is feasible Tho' I do not undertake to bring you all things speakable concerning these unspeakable things but these few follow I. Love to Christ is an evidence of the sincerity of your Hearts and of the truth of your Conversion He that loves the World is a worldâ—y man and he that loves his Pleasure most is a voluptuous man and he that loves Christ with a predominant Love is a gracious upright man Cant. 1.4 The upright love thee Such love to the second Adam is not sound in any man that is still growing upon the old stock of the first Adam This love to Christ was not born with us but wrought in us when we were born again This new Love only is in the new Creature Love to Christ is an evidence of your Interest in Christ Such predominant Love to the Lord Jesus so Spiritual was never found in any Heart that is only carnal The Proof therefore of this predominant Affection will be a demonstration of your Spiritual Renovation Christ sifting Peter concerning his sincerity after his Fall when sifted by Satan enquires after his Love to him John 21.15 16 17. Rom. 8.28 II. All the Promises of the Covenant of Grace shall be made good to all those that sincerely love the Lord Jesus These Promises are many great precious and all suâ—e to the Lovers of Christ God in the Covenant hath promised he will be your God and all that is contained in that Promise is unspeakable for it is more than that he will be your Friend your Father or bountiful Benefactor or however