of all things for Christ then thy love is real 'T is recorded of the Hebrews and transmitted to posterity that they took joyfully spoiling Heb. 10.34 knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance They were glad they had any thing to lose for a Christ knowing they should lose nothing by a Christ They were glad of an opportunity to put off their worldly goods at so great a rate as a proof of the sincerity of their graces Our goods never go off at so high a price nor come to so good a market as when they are spoiled in a good cause These were not concerned for their Goods as Micah was for his Gods for they knew they were gracious here and that they should be glorious hereafter True love flies not like Chaff in the face of him that fans it Though I cannot dispute for a Christ yet I can dye for a Christ said the Martyr Is it superlative then 't is real Hath Christ no Competitor no Corrival then thy love is of the right Stamp As Christ bestoweth himself wholly upon a Christian so a Christian bestoweth himself wholly upon Christ True love keeps back nothing from Christ Illi non Christum amant qui aliquid plus amant for whom all is too little He loveth not Christ sincerely that loveth not Christ singularly that loveth not Christ superlatively Lovest thou me more than these John 21.15 17. was the question of Christ to Peter Lovest thou me more than thy Nets more than thy Fish more than thy Friends that are about thee Or lovest thou me more than these love me Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee was the answer of Peter unto Christ Peter was asked of the Degree of his Love but he answered as to the Truth of it he was asked as to the measure of it but he answered as to the manner of it he was asked as to the quantity of it but he answered as to the quality of it Canst thou say without a Check as one did Lord Jesus Ambrose plus quam mea meos me Substance Seed Self I love thee more than my possessions more than my Relations more than my self then thy love is right and real None to Christ saith the Psalmist none but Christ said the Martyr all in Christ saith the Apostle A lover of Christ must love nothing much but that Christ whom he can never love too much Ambrose on the Funeral of Theodosius observes that he died with these words in his mouth I have loved Dilexi dilexi I have loved which he conceived to be the Answer of the Emperor to the Angels asking him how he had behaved himself in the Empire I have loved I have loved That was enough to him and this will be enough to thee in a dying hour that the personal excellency of Christ hath been the Object of thy Love Thy Vote must be given for Christ Inf. 2. and his Church Art thou a lover of Christ give then thy suffrage for this Truth that the personal excellency of Christ is the object of the Churches love Be not afraid nor ashamed to own this though thou dwellest where Satans seat is Amnon was Lust-sick the man keeps his Chamber until he hath defloured his Sister Tamar Micah was Idol-sick if ye take away his Gods and the Priest though not worth the keeping he looks upon himself as a Beggar if not as a Bankrupt Ahab was Vineyardsick he must have the Vineyard of Naboth though he hath a kingdom to walk in he will set his foot there though he goes thorough the Blood of the Owner Judas was World-sick this Caitiff will betray a Christ though he hath but thirty seven shillings and six pence for this damnable act he undertook it for thirty pieces of silver each piece being one shilling and three pence But the Spouse is Love-sick Can. 2.5 Stay me with flagons comfort me with apples for I am sick of love I charge you Chap. 5.8 ye daughters of Jerusalem if ye see my beloved that ye tell him I am sick of love As if the Church had said ah my head-ake my heart-ake yea my heart-strings are ready to break for a sight of Christ for a smile from Christ Ah! whatever ye forget to tell him remember to tell him this that I am sick of love for him that I know not how to live another Day another Duty without a Sight of him without a Smile from him for his personal excellency is the Object of my love Had not Mary Magdalen a great love for Christ Much was forgiven her Luke 7.47 for she loved much Not that her much loving was the cause of her much forgiving but her much forgiving was the cause of her much loving and her much loving the consequent of her much forgiving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Particula non causativa sed allativa vel rationalis Not Causa praecedens but Signum subsequens This word for doth not signifie here a cause as if her Love was the cause of the forgiveness of her sins but a reason drawn from the Sign many sins are forgiven her and hereby you shall know it because or in that she loved much The particle for in our common Dialect is used as a note of the effect or Sign there is Fire for I see smoak this Tree liveth for it sprouteth Much was forgiven her therefore she hath loved much The whole scope of the Parable is to shew that he loves most unto whom most is forgiven and not contrarily that most is forgiven unto him that loveth most The Antithesis in the same verse necessitates this Comment Those words but to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little supposeth this Thesis because much was forgiven her she loved much Christ must be loved Inf. 3. or the Soul must be damned There are many things without which we may be and yet live well and do well and dye well but if we be without love to the personal excellency of Christ we cannot live well nor do well nor dye well Love to the personal excellency of Christ is indispensably necessary unto Salvation That God who hath appointed the end hath also appointed the Means that shall lead unto that end We may be without possessions and without Relations we may be without an Affluence and a Confluence of these lesser and lower things and yet live well and do well and dye well yea we may be without such Degrees and pitches of Grace and yet live well and do well and dye well but there are other things without which if we be we cannot live well nor do well nor dye well now they are these Repentance There must be Repentance towards God If persons live and dye without Repentance they cannot live well nor doe well nor dye well As there is sorrow which worketh wrath so there is a sorrowing according to God
good is the Object of Hope Though God or Christ be the immediate Object of hope yet there are subordinate Objects of hope as the Word of God and the good things of God yea all the good things of God relating to this life and that which is to come But this Good which is the Object of Hope must be promised good all promised good In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lye promised before the world began Or rather Tit. 1.2 from the beginning of ages Gen. 3.15 in that famous promise of the blessed seed Non ab aeterno sed ante multa saecula Grotius Not from eternity saith one but before all ages As there is a Hope by which we lay hold which is the Grace or Act of Hope so there is a Hope upon which we lay hold which is the Good for which we hope the Object of hope God himself and all the good things which he hath promised This hope may be considered two wayes for the grace acting in us or for some promised good upon which the grace acts If therefore we take promised good to be the object of hope then it falls under a two fold Notion Hope looks at that which is good No man ever did or can hope for that which is evil of it self or to him if it appears so to be though many have hoped for that which is indeed so and hath proved so to them in the event and issue Hope hath for it's Object some good future and possible Future Hope springeth from the apprehension of some good that is to come The Object of Hope is some future good but the Act of Hope is a present good and that is present pay to bear our charges in waiting 'T is a future good that is Hopes Object not something had but something to have not something in Hand but something in Heaven yea especially Heaven it self for as Christ is the Object of Faith and Christians the Objects of Love so Heaven is the Object of Hope For the hope which is laid up for you in Heaven The Object of Hope is a future good for that which a man hath already in his possession or doth already enjoy he cannot be said to hope for Enjoyment swallows up hope or rather perfects it Thus the Apostle argues Rom. 8.24.25 Not saved Ro but Spe. we are saved by hope Not by the Grace or Act of Hope but we look for salvation promised and for salvation to be performed What follows but hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for but if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it Possible As future so possible good is the Object of Hope 'T is some possible good or such a good as we have good grounds to attain for impossibilities are rather the Object of Despair than of Hope Now that is a possible good which is a promised good for the Apostle having asserted a hope laid up in Heaven connecteth and connexeth this Col. 1.5 whereof ye have heard before in the word of the truth of the Gospel Whatsoever God hath laid under promise is possible and attainable now what good is it that is for the good of those actually his that is not laid and left under promise That Heaven into which all will run as all the rivers run into the Ocean is under promise Fear not little-little flock so the Greek for it is your fathers good pleasure to give the Kingdom Luke 12.32 True faith is rooted in the promise and fruited with peace A believer hath something in hope though little in hand much in the promise though little in his purse The Cause of it The mercy of the Father and the merit of the Son Free-grace is the moving cause the Action and Passion of Christ the meritorious cause Free-grace is the moving cause of this Gospel-Hope Free-grace is the wheel that sets all a going in the Heart Primum mobile yea the wheel that sets all a going in Heaven All good is from God and is an Act of his Free-grace May the Apostle speak Every good gift the temporal and smaller and every perfect gift spiritual and greater is from above and cometh down from the father of lights Jam. 1.7 with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning The active and passive obedience of Christ is the meritorious cause of this Gospel-hope As all this promised good is grounded upon the mercy of the Father so upon the merit of the Son The Socinians say that Christ dyed only as an Example that he did not satisfie divine Justice by his active and passive obedience Are not many not only breathing the Veins but also letting out the Vitals and bleeding to death this blessed and sacred truth that Christ by his active and passive obedience hath given satisfaction to the Father for all given unto him by the Father If God be reconciled certainly then he is satisfied but God is reconciled Reconciled to God but how Rom. 5.10 thorough the death of his Son There was a concurrence of Christs active and passive obedience in order to Satisfaction and Salvation There must be the Action of Christ A Christ must do Man would be doing though it was to his undoing for he sinned against a negative precept and did that which was prohibited The Woman gave unto me and I did eat Now as Man would do so Christ must do as Man did that which was prohibited so Christ must do that which is imposed I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do John 17.4 Christ for His hath exactly answered what the Law perfectly required Christ hath fulfilled the righteousness of the Law for his and Christ is fulfilling the righteousness of the Gospel in his It is written that when Christ had upon the Cross received the Vinegar John 19.30 he said It is finished Now the Prophesies of him were finished saith one Aug. Now his pilgrimage and the wrath of God were finished saith another Chrysist Now the Jewish Law and Sacrifice was at an end saith a third Jansenius Here is the Action of a Christ There must be the passion of Christ A Christ must dye As there must be his active so there must be his passive obedience As Christ did so Christ dyed and so satisfyed Is not Redemption a Good a great Good a Soul Good This is by Christ Eph. 1.7 In whom we have redemption thorough his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace Man had sinned God was offended and would be satisfied the same way that he was offended that is by the Sinner or by the Surety by the Person or by the Proxie by the Creature or by Christ Now 1 Pet. 3.18 Christ hath suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God That he might bring God down to
pessimi that a close Enemy is far worse than an open The Psalmist had his Enemies without and against them he prayeth upon the account of his hope Deliver me Psal 71.4 5. oh my God out of the hand of the wicked of the unrighteous and cruel man for thou art my hope oh Lord God thou art my trust from my youth Would ye have a formal Plea against enemies within at the Throne of Grace Live then and dye in the Act and exercise of Hope As those who have a Gospel-Hope have enemies without so within and these are the worst Ah Soul they are the Sauls within the Achans within the Goliah's within the Sons of Zerviah within that are the greatest and the worst enemies Against these also doth the Psalmist pray upon the account of making God the Object of his Hope And now Lord what wait I for my hope is in thee Deliver me from all my transgressions Psal 39.7 8. make me not the reproach of the foolish AS Gospel-Faith so Gospel-Hope appears In sacred Writ now greatly this endears That Holy-Place should Death arrest to morrow Where Tunes of Joy admit no Tones of Sorrow A Gospel-Faith goes first but follows then A Gospel-Hope which decketh lapsed Men. Though Gospel-Hope hath various Acceptations In Gospel-Lines all worthy Contemplations In silence pass I them This little Tract Of Gospel-Hope suggests the Grace or Act. A Gospel-Faith is Logick unto Man And Gospel-Hope his Rhetorick but can Man Hoping be and not believing then May Pictures in the Fire be drawn by Men. Faith 's cried up as Doctor in the Schools Yet cried down by many graceless Fools Hope 's cried up as Captain in the Wars In Consort yet are these detesting Jars This Gospel-Hope appears a lovely Grace The Spirits Fruit in running of our Race 'T is an assured Hope with Approbation 'T is also an abiding Expectation For Object this hath God all promise-Promise-Good Both Possible and future understood 'T is on the Mercy of the Father founded And on the Merit of the Son 't is grounded DEscribed thus the Seeing may espy Its Nature Object Cause and Quality The Duty and the Mercy of a Soul Are herein found and that without Controul As there 's a true so there 's a Hope that 's vain All Hopeless ones are Christless ones Again We thorough Hope must on its Object live If to the Object we would Glory give Hope calleth for a Life in Print I 'le hasten That Envy now may not know where to fasten All hoping ones are happy ones and 't is From mount Gerizim Jesus speaks to His. False Hope false Objects hath but Hope that 's true Christ Jesus hath for Object truth doth shew False Hope doth go alone a blessed Train Of Graces hath true Hope and these remain False Hope short-lifed is and transient True Hope is living lasting permanent Would ye that God in you should take a pleasure Not stumbling others taking a right measure Would ye from others differ under Crosses And would ye sweeten all your bitter Losses Would ye have formal Pleas this is the Scope Live then and dye in Acts of Gospel-Hope But drawing to a Close I cannot grave it A Heaven 't is to hope it what to have it SECT III. CHAP. I. Whether there be a Gospel-Love and what this Gospel-Love is AS there is a Gospel-Faith and a Gospel-Hope so there is a Gospel-Love These three divine graces Faith Hope and Love are as it were a created Trinity and have as it were some glimering Parility of a Trinity uncreate Both Moralists and Divines say that Love is the Weight of the Soul it inclines us to this or that thing which way soeever the Affection goeth the Mind also goeth and the Action followeth This was the Definition of Plato concerning Love That it is an Ardor a Flame of a Soul dead in his own Body and living in another As there is a Love of Compassion with which an Enemy is to be loved Love your enemies So Mat. 5.44 there is a Love of Complacency by which a Friend is to be loved The Spouse loved to lean as well as leaned where she loved Who is this that commeth up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved Cant. 8.5 Love is referrible to God and Man To God As 't is referred to God so it signifieth His divine Essence God infinitely delights himself in his Son who is his wisdom in his Spirit which is his power in his Creatures 1 Jo 4.16 and in his Children God is Love He is Love in the Abstract he is as it were a Compound of Love His divine purpose Jacob have I loved Rom. 9.13 This is the foreknowledg of God and the good pleasure of his will To Man As Love is referrible to God so to Man and thus 't is reducible to three heads carnal moral spiritual Carnal There is a carnal Love which falls under a three fold notion and is reducible to three heads Sin Self World Sin There is a love to Sin and that 's the worst Love Though Sin be an evil yet there is a love to Sin Though it may be said of Sin as it is said of War Malum Complexum to be a complex evil yet there is a love to Sin Though the Name and the Nature of Sin be Evil yet there is a love to Sin Though Sin be a burdening and a breaking of God yet there is a love to Sin Jer. 5.31 The Prophets prophesie falsly and the people bear rule by their means and my people love to have it so but what will ye do in the end thereof Though Sin be a darkning of the Glory of God and a defacing of the Image of God yet there is a love to Sin Though Sin be a crucifying of the Son of God a grieving of the Spirit of God and the greatest injury to the Soul of Man yet there is a love to Sin Though Sin maketh Angels Devils Din vixi diu peccavi Aug. Beza and irritates a God to cast them out of Heaven into Hell yet there is a love to Sin Though Sin the plague of plagues did provoke that God who is infinite in Attribute as well as in Essence to turn Adam the Emperor of the Universe and his captivating Consort the Emperess of the Universe out of Eden into the wide World yet there is a love to Sin Though Sin be a cursed Inmate and a cursed Make-bate between God and Man between Man and Man between Man and Himself yet there is a love to Sin Though Sin hath been the unhappy Womb of all the penal and prodigious Judgments that have been in the World yet there is a Love to Sin Though Sin hath been daring of an angry Deity to rain as it were Hell out of Heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah ' yet there is a love to Sin Though Sin hath made that work in Countries in Cities in Churches in Families in Souls yet there is