Endearments in one Breath and also in the right Order Song 2.16 My Beloved is mine and I am his God is the Ocean from which Love first flows out and to which it always streams back Love when it hath descended from Heaven to Earth hath finished but half its Course but when it ascends from Earth to Heaven the Circle is compleated 2. This Love which is the Product of God's is virtually all Obedience both as it inclines and disposes unto all and as it comprehends all in it 1. It disposes and inclines to all Obedience When the Heart is melted by his Fire within 't is easily cast into the mould of any Precept whatsoever As it puts us upon keeping the Commandments of God so it keeps them from being grievous 1 John 5.3 Obedience can neither be partial nor burdensome where-ever this Love of God dwells but it fulsils the Charge which David gave to Solomon of serving God with a perfect Heart and a willing Mind 1 Chron. 28.9 2. It comprehends all Obedience in it self The end of the Commandment is Charity c. 1 Tim. 1.5 Both Tables are reduc'd by Christ to two Commandments and Love is the grand Inscription of them both Therefore Love is styled the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 All the Duty which we owe to God and to our Neighbour is included in Love to each And indeed we cannot walk in God's Truth unless we walk in Love to one another as well as to him Our Alienations from our Brethren speak our distance from Christ the Center of our Union The nearer any Lines in a Circle come to the Center the nearer they are one to another but the further they go from the Center the more they run out one from another III. To Apply this What are we to be inform'd of and exhorted to I. Vse Information 1. If our Obedience be excited by the Love of God then the Love of God prevents our Obedinence If we did first give to God he is able infinitely to recompence it again above what we can think but who is it that hath first given unto him Rom. 11.35 There is not one whose Heart God hath touched that will dare to pretend it We do not commend our selves to God but God manifests himself to us The Love of God was not purchas'd even by the Obedience of Christ much less by ours 1 John 4.10 Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins The sending of the Son was the Effect of the Father's Love and therefore the Son 's coming could not be the Cause of it How then can we procure what Christ did not His Love is not bestow'd upon us for our Service but is the incentive to it 2. 'T is blasphemy against the Love of God to reproach is with being the Parent or Nurse of carnal Security They that have the Kingdness of God in their Eye can take no Encouragement from thence to set any wicked Thing before them for Sin tends to Cloud that Light wherein we rejoyce If God be well pleased with us it lays the greater Engagement upon us to walk worthy of him How absurd is it to say that when God communicates his Thoughts of Peace the Soul is embolden'd to new Acts of Treason As if Men should lay aside the Fear of God because the Secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Psalm 25.14 Or as if the Spirit of Adoption took Men off from Obedience to God when they are call'd to be Followers of him as dear Children Eph. 5.1 3. They that by loose and disorderly Practices give any occasion to such Blasphemers have a great deal of Sin to answer for besides their own If any of us Cause this way of Truth to be evil spoken of we bring the guilt of those Calumnies upon our selves It will be an heavy load to a tender Conscience if sound Doctrine is arraign'd through our unmortified Corruption How do we wrong the Purity of the Gospel when we turn the Grace of our God into lasciviousness For the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation teacheth us the contrary Tis. 2.11 12. What is this but to change the Glory of God into an Image made like to unclean Spirits Wo to those Libertines by whom this offence cometh What Jealousie and Rage does that Adulteress deserve who impudently abuses her Husband's Love 4. The Grace of God in us is a comforting Evidence of his Love to us Though Holy Walking is no Foundation for Trust we may reflect upon it as a Token for good 'T is said of the way of Holiness that the redeemed shall walk there Isa 35.8 9. as Mary Magdalen's Pardon is concluded from her Affection so if God enables us to make straight Paths for our Feet 't is a sign that he hath set his Heart upon us As all Obedience issues from the Spirit so the Gift of that Spirit is a Testimony of peculiar Favour Ezek. 39.29 Neither will I hide my Face any more from them for I have poured out my Spirit c. 5. A denial of the possibility of Assurance is injurious to Holiness The first and best Christians were such as could say we have known and believed the Love which God hath to us 1 John 4.16 And they that have had the same Spirit of Faith have always approved themselves the greatest Saints in all succeeding Times but to say that this their belief was a Delusion is in effect to say that all their Religion was a Cheat too which in this more degenerate Age is hardly to be matcht To stake Men down to uncertain suspended waverings about their Interest in the Love of God is to destroy the most quickening Motive to Obedience 6. The Christian Life is as far from being uncomfortable as from being irregular What greater Pleasure can there be than to be constantly influenc'd by the Love of God to the Service of God A dull and sowre Complexion does not belong to real Christianity Psalm 97.11 Light is sown for the Righteous and Gladness for the upright in Heart Though Cain's Countenance fall Abel's Race may lift up their Heads If there be any Consolation in Christ they that are his have reason to rejoyce and what more sure than that there is all in him and none out of him He hath a Chariet of Gold paved with Love for the Daughters of Jerusalem Song 3.10 What so delightful as to go up and fit with him in that Chariot II. Exhortation 1. Think not only on the Love of God in general but on the most affecting Properties of it in Particular Such as 1. It s Antiquity God loved us from Eternity before we were and before the World was and there have been Early discoveries of it there is the Love of God to us in our Childhood Hos 11.1 And his Kindness in our Youth Jer. 2.2 Which are both Seasons of Vanity The Loving Kindnesses of God
persuaded of his receiving us in the next World when we are Jealous of his rejecting us in this Who can look into Eternity without Horrour that now looks upon God as one afar off Though the Passage be safe it will be unavoidably Dark and Stormy though the Victory be certain yet the Conflict will be sharp and grivevous The last Enemy will terrifie though it cannot hurt and the Serpent will hiss though it cannot sting The deserted Believer enters into Peace when he Dyes but he goes out of the World with much Disturbance He is in Bondage as to his Frame though at Liberty as to his State he stands trembling on the Brink of the Grave because not upheld with God's Free Spirit Psalm 51.12 IV. How far may Believers be insensible of those Departings 1. They may not be instantly sensible of them they may not perceive God to be departed assoon as he is so they may conclude him to be still present when he is not We are not only incident to such mistakes but 't is possible to persist in them for a while and this is permitted by God though he does not give us up to such strong nor to such lasting Delusions as other Men. A Man in a swooning fit does not miss the Things which are taken from him just at that Moment when they are taken but afterwards he recollects what he had and considers what is wanting So 't is here at the very Time of God's Departure we may still Fancy that all Things continue as they were but after he hath been some time departed we shall discern a notorious Change 2. They may not be throughly sensible of them for a much longer Time When the Soul is in a drowsie Frame though it begins to be allarmed there is however some distance of Time before it can shake off its slumbers and perfectly open its Eyes Spiritual Distempers creep upon Believers by Degrees and so they go off again by Degrees also they neither seize nor leave us all at once but 't is most unquestionably true that they are sooner Contracted than Cur'd for the most Part. 'T is an easier Matter to stupifie than it is to rouse us A Saint may first be convinc't by the Effects that God is departed and yet some time may pass before he is duely humbled for the Causes of that Departure he may see in some measure what his Condition is a great while ere he seriously Reflects how he came into it 3. The Sense of God's departings may not abide so long upon them as it should do As it may need to be increas't after 't is wrought so it may need to be renew'd We are too prone to wear out Impressions of this Kind and to forget what we have felt This is contrary to what God expects from us the Church did not quickly lose the Taste of her Wormwood and Gall but cries out My Soul hath them still in Remembrance Lam. 3.19 20. God's joyful returns are not to deface the Memory of his mournful Departures 'T is good to call to mind what is past that we may the better enjoy and value and improve the Present When the doleful sorrow of God's Absence is gone there is a becoming Sense of it to be still preserv'd and retain'd V. How is it that Believers come to be so insensible of these Things 1. That which they are insensible of is some Reason of their insensibility When God departs it is not to be suppos'd that our spiritual Senses should be so vigorously Exercis'd as at other Times We know when our natural Spirits are obstructed and retire bodily Sense is taken away by it so in this Case when the Spirit of God hath left us there is more than ordinary dulness and benummedness which by that means seizes upon us The Soul is therefore unapprehensive of God's forsakings because God hath forsaken it and 't is a token for good that he is about returning when the Soul begins its enquiries after him 2. The Devil is very busie in contriving Diversions for us at such Times or in making us think that me are well enough though we should never be better than we are Satan hath a great many Deviees to keep us from attending to the Dispensations under which we are or else to misrepresent our Condition to us When a Believer is in his best Estate then his Work is to accuse and disquiet when a Believer is at his worst then he labours to Flatter and Deceive When God testifies his Love to us then he is suggesting Wrath when God is angry he speaks nothing but Peace 3. Believers themselves are oftentimes too much wanting in the careful Examination of their own State and so there happen sad Alterations and they know them not We are ready to trust too much to former Trials whereas we should be frequently communing with our own Hearts in order to a farther search It ought to be part of our daily Exercise that we may see what ground we get or lose Reviews of our spiritual Condition can never be superfluous but neglect of it may be very dangerous for so it is that many are brought extreamly low before they are aware VI. Vse I. Information 1. The Presence of the Blessed God is the spring of a Creatures Blessedness in both Worlds When John is describing the Happy State of the Church in Heaven or the happiest State of the Church on Earth he expresses it by this God himself shall be with them and be their God Rev. 21.3 If we have God with us we cannot be miserable if we have him not we must of Necessity be so 'T is an Heaven upon Earth to enjoy him an Hell upon Earth to want him 2. How great is their Misery whom God is at an Etcrnal distance from The Spirit comes and strives for a Time with many upon whom he never rests and when he once goes away he does not so much as strive more And then where no Fruit grew before there can no Fruit grow hereafter the Earth must always be as Iron when the Heaven over it is as Brass When the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul he came not again but an Evil Spirit in his Place 1 Sam. 16.14 3. The new Creature is no more able to sustain it self than the old Man to transform himself He restoreth my Soul he leadeth me c. Psalm 23.3 Restoring and Leading are both the Acts of God Believers are not like Engines which the Artificer sets a moving and then they are left to go by themselves All that God hath done for us in Conversion will be undone by us if he do not continue doing He that first makes the difference between us and others must keep it up to the last 4. God hath other ways to visit the Sins of his own Children than by Everlasting Destruction This is that Wrath of God which comes upon the Children of Disobedience Eph. 5.6 But there are milder Effects of fatherly
them and those that are below them 1. Creatures that are above them do Service to them Angels disdain not to be their Guardians while they are here as they are to be their more intimate and perpetual Associates hereafter Are they not all without exception the highest Orders of them sent forth as ministring Spirits on the behalf of the Heirs of Salvation Heb. 1. ult Who but they can look to be thus attended Angels of Light do gladly minister to the Children of Light they are deputed by our Heavenly Father to keep us in all our ways and at last to convey us home 2. Creatures below them are directed and over-ruled to serve them also Every one in God's great House on Earth shall though perhaps without your knowledge and against your will promote the Interest of those that are design'd to dwell in Heaven As all things are put under the feet of Christ our elder Brother Ephes 1.22 so we by him recover as much of our lost Dominion as we have real occasion for The whole Creation is more subject to the Heirs of God than to the common Men. 2. To shew that this Sonship of Believers is a Gospel Privilege It is so in a two-fold sense by way of opposition to the Law of Works and by way of composition with the times of the Old Testament Consider it either way it is truely and strictly Evangelical 1. In Opposition to the Law of Works No Soul was ever invested thereby with this blessed Privilege of Adoption This is plain because 1. The Law worketh Wrath and nothing else Rom. 4.15 It speaks no Favour to any Son or Daughter of Adam it breaths out Threatnings but is utterly silent as to Promises The Language of the Law is Judgment without Mercy extremity of Vengeance without any mixture of Kindness Therefore 't is said that as many as are under the Works of the Law who are in the first Covenant and adhere to it and rest upon it are under the Curse who are in the first Covenant and adhere to it and rest upon it are under the Curse Gal. 3.10 Adoption through Grace is perfectly concluded by the Law it will never make Men Children of God but pronounces them Children of Wrath. 2. The Law convinces of Sin and Guilt but gives no Righteousness therefore Sonship cannot come by the Law For Adoption presupposes Justification and is consequent upon it The Children of God are all Righteous with a Righteousness that perfectly answers the Legal Demands viz. the Righteousness of Christ For in him shall all the Seed of Israel be justified Isa 45.25 But now all the natural Seed of Adam before they are adopted to God are Condemned for want of such a Righteousness The Law Sentence goes forth against them and takes hold of them as Guilty Sinners that have broken the Commandment can never keep it 2. in comparison with the Times of the Old Testament 'T is true the Believers in those times were the Sons and Daughters of God and they challeng'd their Privilege Isa 63.16 Doubtless thou art our Father but yet it was in so defective a degree that they seem'd more like to Servants than Sons and were trained up under suitable Discipline Hence the Apostle says ver 7. following the Text Wherefore thou art no more a Servant but a Son implying that thou hast been in a kind of servile but art now Translated in these New Testament Times into a more filial State Our Privilege of Sonship under the Gospel excels in Two Regards 1. As to clearness of Manifestation and Discovery The Children of Princes and great Persons many times know little of the Honour and Hopes which they are born to till they arrive at some competent maturity So the Ancient Believers understood a great deal less of Divine Benefits by Jesus Christ than we do now They like Moses had a Veil upon their Faces we behold with open Face if compared with them They were not strangers to the Covenant of Promise but their acquaintance with the things promised fell very short of ours All that is freely given us of God is now made more known and plac'd in a better Light 2. As to Fulness and Amplitude of Enjoyment The Merit and Influence of Christ's Death in all Points extended backwards as far as the First Ages of the World wherein any Believers lived but the Fruits of it then did not so abound as since his coming The Spirit was shed abroad and pour'd out then but not so richly and liberally as now He was given then more sparingly now in a larger measure And consequently their Fruition of this blessed Sonship was not equal to ours though they had such a Privilege they could not use it with so much advantage They were like Heirs in Childhood that have only some smaller allowance during that time we are like those upon the edge of Manhood who have more of their Estate in their own Hands III. How is this Gospel-Privilege discern'd by the help of the Spirit How do we come to know that we have it through the sending of him into ours Hearts Answ In six Propositions 1. The Spirit of God in his dealing with Souls does not ordinarily begin as a Spirit of Adoption but rather as a Spirit of Bondage This seems to be hinted Rom. 8.15 You have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to fear but you have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father This was written to actual Believers those that were called to be Saints and their not receiving of the Spirit of Bondage again after they had received the Spirit of Adoption supposes they had so received him before The Spirit of Bondage and Adoption are one and the same Spirit distinguish'd only by various Operations noting two different Effects of the same Cause Now usually the former of these does precede and introduce the latter while the Spirit is making use of the Law to bring us to Christ we see our selves in a miserable undone Condition when he hath fully brought us to Christ by the Ministry of the Gospel the Scene is alter'd and we perceive our selves to be the Seed which the Lord hath Blessed Strong Cordials are not so fit to be immediately pour'd into foul Stomachs There is a shaking which goes before the Establishment a making of Trouble before the speaking of Peace a Storm raised in the Soul before a comfortable Calm As Manasseh was taken first among the Thorns and bound in Fetters and carried to Babylon and then knew the Lord 2 Chron. 33.11 13. And as Joseph was sold for a Servant into Egypt and laid in Irons there which made way for his Enlargement and Preferment Psalm 105.17 18. c. so does our Exercise under a Spirit of Bondage tend to Liberty by the Spirit of Adoption if we are the Called according to God's purpose 2. The time of our continuance under a Spirit of Bondage before we receive the Spirit of Adoption with the