in the rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God 8. But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned and when you come to that end will you not then acknowledge your selves to be Anathema Arg. 2. He that loveth not Christ is under the curses of the Law therefore he that loveth not Christ is accursed For if all the Curses of the Law lighting and abiding upon a man will prove a man an accursed man the man that hath no sincere love to Christ must be the man For tho the Law as a Covenant be not in force so that we are not to seek Salvation by it yet the penalty and threatnings of the Law are in full power against that man that submitteth not to Christ according to the Covenant of Grace for though Christ was made a Curse to redeem us from the Curse yet those only have the saving Benefits of that Redemption that have sound-Faith in and unfeigned sincere love to Jesus Christ If by the Law you would escape the Curse threatned by the Law you must do every thing contained in the Law Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them You cannot do any one thing required in the Law as prescribed by the Law and yet so slight Christ that you will not so much as love him and still think you are exempted from the Curse of the Law God will convince you to the contrary and except you hasten to love Christ before you die the Flames of Hell will convince you to the contrary but it would be your safer way now by the Word of God to be convinced to the contrary Arg. 3. He that loveth not Jesus Christ sincerely is under condemnation by the Gospel Therefore he that loveth not Christ is accursed The Gospel taken for the whole Doctrine of Christ hath its terrible tidings as well as comfortable Threatnings as well as Promises a Sentence of Damnation as well as of Absolution and more dreadful and intolerable than those of the Law And to whom do they belong and upon whom shall they be inflicted if not upon the Contemners of the Message of the Gospel and who contemn the Gospel-message more than they that will not be persuaded to love the Lord Jesus Christ Doth not the Gospel set forth Christ in his Excellency and Beauty to you Doth it not declare what he hath suffered for you Doth it not tell you what he hath purchased for you and will bestow upon you and is not all this to gain your Love to win your Hearts and Affections to Christ yet after all you slight him and for his Love and for his Sufferings you will not so much as love him Consider seriously what Christ saith concerning such John 3.19 And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil If the Law condemn you you might have recourse to the Gospel but if the Gospel condemn you whither will you go for succour Arg. 4. There is no way ordained by God for Final-Non-Lovers of Christâ— to escape the punishment of Sin and the Torments of Hell therefore such are in an accursed damnable Condition When man had broken the Covenant of Works God sent his Son to die and satisfy for the breach of that Covenant so that Salvation is not impossible and the escaping of the threatned Curse is not impossible And though you have sinned against the Gospel by not loving of Christ hitherto yet Christ hath so far satisfied for sins against the Gospel that upon your acceptance of Christ you might have Remission and Salvation but if you die without Love to Christ and Faith in him Christ did not satisfy for that Sin nor die for the expiating of the final violation of the Covenant of Grace or for the final-non-performance of the Conditions thereof So that you sin against the very remedy prepared to help Sinners out of their Misery and can you be saved that finally refuse the Saviour Can you escape the Curse that to the last gasp reject the only Remedy for besides this there is no other Heb. 10.26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin 27. But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation that shall devour the Adversaries 28. He that despised Moses's law died without mercy under two or three witnesses 29. Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despight to the spirit of grace Arg. 5. He that hath no love to Christ hath no faith in Christ he that hath no faith in Christ is condemned he that is condemned is in a miserable cursed condition therefore he that doth not love Christ is so Sound Faith and sincere Love are inseparable Graces Those that are Non-Lovers of Christ are Unbelievers and Unbelievers are condemned men Joh. 3.18 he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God Oh pity your Children your Parents your Friends and Neighbours that love not Christ for being destitute of Love they are void of that Faith that is a condition of Salvation and being void of that are condemned Persons Arg. 6. Those that have not sincere love to Christ are in the same condition in which they were born and you all say that is an accursed damnable condition For by nature all are children of wrath Eph. 2.3 and Children of wrath are cursed Children Some are so ignorant as to say they have loved Christ ever since they were born as if they were born with love in their hearts to Christ whereas love to Christ is not in us by the First Birth but by the Second not by the Natural but by the Spiritual Birth Our State by Nature is a State of bitterness and bonds as bitter as gaul Act. 8.23 And while you are in a State of Nature the World hath your Love and Sin hath your Love therefore Christ is not the Object of it for the World and Christ Sin and Christ cannot at the same time by the same man be superlatively loved It must then be granted that you were born without love to Christ and being in the same condition in which you were born you have lived hitherto without love to Christ and add but a third that you die without love to Christ and then the next moment after death you will see and say your Condition is accursed Arg. 7. Deceivers in the Worship of God are accursed those
faith so that I could remove mountains and have no charity I am nothing 3. And tho I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and tho I give my body to be burn'd and have not charity it profiteth me nothing Love therefore is above all these for all these without love are nothing 5. Love makes us most like to God for God is love 1 Joh. 4.8 And God loveth Christ above all the men on earth and above all the Angels in Heaven therefore calls him his Beloved Son Mat. 3.17 God loveth All men with a Common Love John 3.16 Tit. 3.4 Holy men with a Special Love Angels with an Higher Love Christ most of all who is the Son of his Love Col. 1.13 So our Love is gradual we ought to love all men with some degrees of Love Holy men and Angels with an higher Love and Christ with the highest Love And when we love as God loves our Love makes us most like to God 6. Love is the highest improvement of the faculties of our Souls 1. We have Vnderstandings to know God and Christ And Love to God and Christ is the highest improvement of all our knowledg for if we know him and not love him the more we know of him the more our knowledge doth increase our sin and will aggravate our condemnation 2. We have Wills to chuse the Lord Jesus Christ and when we chuse him Love is the improvement of our Wills in taking complacency in him who is the Object of our choice 3. We have Consciences that do dictate to us that Christ is best and best for us and then we improve those dictates when we love him else all those dictates of Conscience are lost and come to nothing 4. We have Memories wherein the Sayings of Christ to us the Sufferings of Christ for us and the Benefits of Christ bestowed upon us should be lodged and laid up and when we love him we shall love to remember all these things that we have by him and from him and himself that is Purchaser and the Donor of them But if our Love is predominantly placed upon any thing below Christ all the Powers of the Soul are debased the Reason of man is degraded in contriving the getting of such ignoble and fordid enjoyments as his highest end the Will is debased in chusing of them and the Memory in being stuffed with the remembrance of them forgetting God and Christ and better things so that a man is more a brute than a man without sincere Love to Christ 7. Love is the end of all other Graces and in which they terminate their Operations Our knowledge of Christ endeth in our loving of Christ our believing on him hoping in him trusting to him like so many streams at last run into the Love of Christ 8. Love is the Everlasting Grace that shall abide and be in use and exercise when the actings of other Graces shall cease There are some Graces suitable especially to our state of imperfection in this world To live by Faith to Repent and Mourn for sin to live in hope of the glory that is to be revealed to wait till we be possessed of the Mansions that are above to desire all the good that is promised to us but not yet conferred upon us But hereafter Faith shall be turned into Vision Hope into Fruition Desires into Possession waiting into Obtaining And then we shall thus believe no more nor hope nor desire nor wait but then we shall love still yea more than ever more abundantly yea perfectly without diminution continually without intermission and eternally without cessation in which respect among the three Cardinal Graces Love hath the preheminence 1 Cor. 13.13 Now abideth faith hope charity these three but the greatest of these is charity because it is the longest in duration So that those that love Christ sincerely here shall love him perfectly hereafter and be for ever blessed in that love But those that love him not on earth cannot love him in the other world and for want of such Love shall be accursed for ever CHAP. VI. The Application of the Doctrine THE last thing propounded in the method of this Subject is the Vse and Application of it to bring it down to our own hearts to work this truth upon our Minds Consciences and Affections And now O that God would help me and Christ would help me and the blessed Spirit of God and Christ would so help me and give me lively words a lively Heart lively and inflamed Love to blessed Jesus and your immortal precions Souls that I might speak and apply this great Truth as becomes a man that deth believe every one of you before God in this Congregation this day must be Anathema when Maran-atha if you live and die void of love to Jesus Christ as becomes a man that doth believe you must be blessed or cursed damned or saved for ever as you are prevailed with or not prevailed with to give Christ your Hearts and hearty love as becomes a man that doth believe your Everlasting Stare is much concerned in this one point that now is before us Alas Methinks I do foresee the great multitudes that this Anathema will fall upon Methinks I see the Lord a-coming methinks I hear the Trumpet sounding and the Voice calling to the Dead Arise and come to judgment Come ye cursed Souls that have been in the Infernal Lake and appear before my Bar come ye cursed Bodies awake arise and stand before my Judgment-Seat and let those cursed Souls be again united to those cursed Bodies and now be both cursed together and cursed for ever and let both be inseparably linked together to endure this Curse to all eternity Methinks I see them coming but unwillingly they come but with fear and trembling with horrour and amazement Now what is to do now now Maran-atha and now every one of us that loved not that Lord that now is come must be Anathema O woful Souls O miserable Sinners O cursed Caitifs What shall we now do and whither shall we now go do that we should have asked before this day that the Lord is come Do We should have done that which we did not do and now must go thither whither we would not go O that we might rather cease to be than to be what we must for ever be and go from whence we never must return and feel what will make us cry and roar toss and throw and be for ever restless and the more restless because hopeless and remediless O Sirs my Heart is pained my Bowels roul within me my Joints do shake with trembling for fear lest any of you that pray in this place and hear in this place should fall under this Curse when the Lord shall come The Uses of this Doctrine shall be 1. By way of Inference or Instruction what things from hence may be deduced and learned 2. For Reprehension or Reproof aggravating the Charge against such as love not the
more is contained in these explicatory words than I am able to explain Heb. 8.10 God hath promised the pardon of sins Heb. 8.12 That he will justifie us Ezek. 36.25 and take away the old Heart and give a new one the hard and stony Heart and give a soft and fleshy which shall not be a fleshly Heart ver 26. to give his holy Spirit to help to quicken to guide to comfort you ver 27. To give persevering Grace Jer. 32.40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me If God neither turn away from his sincere People nor they from God their Perseverance is sure that neither shall be is secured by the Promise of God Now these Promises concern the Lovers of God and Christ and to them shall be performed Neh. 1.5 O Lord God of Heaven the great and terrible God that keepeth Covenant and Mercy for them that love him and observe his Commandments The same words in Dan. 9.4 there are promises to them that love God and Christ and there are promises for the performance of those promises to such Deut. 7.9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments He did he doth but how long will he do so To a thousand Generations But what will he do to them that do hate him What Read and Tremble ye that are haters of God and Christ Ver. 10. And repayeth them that hate him to their face to dâ—stroy them He will not be slack to him that hateth him he will repay him to his face III. Predominant sincere love to Christ is an evidence of Gods special and peculiar Love to you How fain wouldst thou know that God doth love thee and Christ doth love thee Then thou saist thou shouldst not care though all the wicked in the World should hate thee and if I knew that God did love me it would resolve my Doubts expell my Fears lighten my Burdens sweeten my Mercies make me chearful under the Cross be a Cordial to me in Sickness and be Life to me in the Gates of Death Canst thou prove thou lovest Christ Then I can prove that both God and Christ do love thee for thy love to God and Christ is the fruit and effect of Gods and Christs love to thee God loveth first or thou hadst never loved at all God loveth us with a preventing Love never any prevented God and Christ in Love We love with a following Love Prov. 8.17 I love them that love me Joh. 14.21 He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him 23. Jesus answered and said unto him If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him 1 Joh. 4.19 We love him because he first loved us And now what Spiritual Comfort What Heavenly Joy What Ravishing Delights might a Lover of Christ take in this That God and Christ is a Lover of him because his Love is such that is above all Expression beyond all Conception above all Comparison Eph. 3.18 May be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height 19. And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge The properties of this Love will make your Joy to be abundant 1. Christ loveth his Lovers with a free Love ye had motives to love Christ his Beauty his Wisdom his Fulness The Necessity ye had of him the Good ye expected by him were attractives of your Love to him but what was in you to move Christ to Love you when ye were Deformed Polluted Guilty Condemned Poor full of running Sores and wallowing in your Blood Ezek. 16.6 And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live 8. Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time which might have been the time of loathing was the time of love As he hath Mercy because he will have Mercy so he Loves because he will Love Deut. 7.7 The Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because ye were more in number than any people 8. But because the Lord loved you 2. Christ loveth his Lovers with a pure Love The Love of most is Selfish-love loving others for their own ends and indeed there was something of Self in your loving of Christ that ye might be Pardoned by him and Justified and Saved by him But what can Christ gain by loving of you What advantage redounds to him Or what profit hath he thereby 3. Christ loveth his Lovers with an unparallel'd matchless Love Great was the Love of Jonathan and David great is the Love of tender Parents to their Children but Christs is greater than all Joh. 15.13 Greater love hath no man than this That a man lay down his life for his friends 4. Christ loveth his Lovers with a constant abiding Love for it is eternal and unchangeable The Love of Creatures is sickle and waveringlove sometimes sades and fails while they live or dyeth with them when they dye or when we dye their Love to us doth also dye At least they love us not as in that relation for Death hath null'd that relation But the Love of Christ is without end he doth Live for ever and he will Love for ever and neither our Love to him nor his to us doth dye when we do dye but after Death we love him more than ever and he doth manifest his Love to us more than ever Jer. 31.3 I have loved thee with an everlasting love IV. Christ makes the hearts of his Lovers the seat and place of his special Residence Lovers love to dwell together and Christ hath prepared Mansions for us that we might dwell with him hereafter but Christ through the greatness of his Love being impatient of so long absence till we come to be present with him in Heaven makes our Hearts a Mansion for himself that he might dwell with us on Earth till we are lodged with him in Glory Joh. 14.23 Jesus answered and said unto him If a man love me he will keep my words and my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Oh blessed Change When thou lovedst not Christ Satan the World and reigning Sin had their abode in thee These were the Lodgers in thy Heart that had the best Room and chiefest Seat in thine Affections While thou wast in the World and not in Christ the World was in thee and noâ— Christ While thou wast in thy Sin thy Sin was in thee as Lord and Ruler but now thou
the swarms of men therein that have no sincere Love to Jesus Christ Let all among you this day that are not Sensual Beasts or Incarnate Devils that have the Understanding and Hearts of men stand and wonder that tho Devils will not love the Lord Jesus Christ that a Man should deny him his Love Good Lord What a thing is this What cursed Wickedness is this What wonder that thou dost behold such a fight as this a Man without love unto thy Son and suffer him to continue to be a man or dost not make him a sick man a poor man a tormented pained man on earth or a Damned man in Hell But tho thou bearest with such a man is he not a wretched miserable man tho he be a rich and prospering man Oh what Punishment waiteth for him How do Devils hope for his Death that they might drag him down to that Hellish Crew where there is not one Lover of Christ amongst them all But what is he What shall he be that Loves not Christ What Anathema Maran-atha What is that The Explication will tell you SECT II. The Explication of Anathema Maran-atha Anathema where found in Scripture is usually Translated Accursed Acts 23.14 And they came to the chief priests and elders and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We have bound our selves under a great curse that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul i.e. with a Curse we have Cursed that is grievously Cursed or bound our selves with direful Curses Vers 21. The same word used Gal. 1.8 But tho we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him be Anathema accursed Repeated verse 9. Mark 14.71 But he began 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to curse and to swear saying I know not this man of whom ye speak Rom. 9.3 For I could wish my self Anathema were accursed from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh 1 Cor. 12.3 Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus Anathema accursed Not to love Jesus is to carry our selves towards him as tho he were Anathema but forasmuch as he is God over all blessed for ever whosoever loves not him shall be Anathema for ever This Greek word is used as the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cherem which is Translated utterly to destroy viz. 1 Sam. 15.9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fatlings and the lambs and all that was good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and would not utterly destroy them but every thing that was vile and refuse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they destroyed utterly The Greek Verb signifieth such Cursing as when a man either sweareth voweth or wisheth himself to dye or to be given to the Devil except he And the Hebrew word that answereth to it signifieth Utterly to destroy to devote to destruction As much as to say If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be utterly destroyed devoted to destruction let the Devil take him and so he will by God's own Order and Command Mat. 25.41 Then shall he say unto them on the left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels Luk. 12.20 But God said Thou fool This night thy soul shall be required of thee In the Greek They shall require demand fetch away thy soul They What they The Devils that seize the souls of all that love not Christ whenever they dye 2. Maran-atha two Syriack words as some take them Maran that is our Lord. Nun finale est affixum primae personae ex pronomine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mar with Aleph is a Chaldee word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mara Lord and Nun only litera paragogica then Maran both in Chaldee and Syriack signifieth Lord. Atha written thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an Hebrew word written thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Chaldee thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Syriack word thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Arabick in all signifieth To come A man that loves not the Lord Jesus Christ shall be Cursed in all Nations in all Languages by all People all the world shall account that man to be Anathema Anathema Maran-atha some render it Let him be accursed till the Lord come or when the Lord comes or he shall have due Vengeance from the Lord when he comes Some thus Let him be accursed even till the coming of the Lord to his death's day even for ever and hath reference to that Prophecy of Enoch recorded Jude ver 14. Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying Behold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord comes with ten thousand of his Saints 15. to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have angodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him And all for want of Love unto him Learned men conclude That here is an allusion to the Jewish manner of Excommunication of which there were three sorts or degrees The Lesser The Middle Sort. The Greatest 1. The Lesser called Niddui Put out and in the New Testament they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Put out of the Synagogue and they hold that Cain was excommunicated this way 2. The second was called Cherem or Anathema when a scandalous sinner with Curses out of the Law of Moses was in the publick Audience of the whole Church without any limitation of time excluded from the Communion of it This thought to be the same called a delivering up unto Satan With this sort of Excommunication was the Incestuous person censured 1 Cor. 5.4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my Spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ 5. To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus 3. The greatest of all they called Samatha so called from Sem a name which they put for Nomen Tetragrammaton or Jehova and Atha comes Others derive it from Sham There and Mitha Death as if they should say There and then shall be death to the Non-Lovers of Christ The Syrians call it Maran-atha by which form added to the two former the excommunicated person as desperate and forlorn without all hope of pardon or restitution was left to the hands of the Lord to receive from him an heavy doom at his coming implying that they summoned the Excommunicated before the dreadful Tribunal at the last coming of the Son of God They say this sort of Excommunication the people of God used against the Amalâ—kites And with this highest degree of Excommunication
Love tried whether sincere or counterfeit MUST a man that loves not Christ sincerely be Anathema when Maranatha Must he love or be cursed if he do not Then as Christ did put the Question unto Peter Joh. 21.15 Simon Son of Jonas lovest thou me And 16. the second time and 17. the third time Simon Son of Jonas lovest thou me So do thou put this Question to thy self O my Soul lovest thou the Lord Jesus And when thy heart may forwardly return an answer ask it the second time O my Soul art thou not mistaken Dost thou indeed love the Lord Jesus And because the matter is of everlasting moment put the Question a third time and so often till to this Question O my Soul Dost thou sincerely love the Lord Jesus Thou hast such proof out of the Scripture as will hold trial when this shall be in question at the great day of Judgment But alas What great grounds of jealousie are there that the love of many is but supposed love to Christ that think they do that hope they do but indeed do not For whose conviction I shall desire them to give in a serious answer to the following Queslions as trials of the sincerity of their love I. Dost thou love Christ sincerely and live in wilful disobedience to the known commands of Christ Dost thou know his will and willingly every day act contrary to it and yet pretend to love him Dost thou slight his commands and love his person Doth Christ command thee to be the death of thy sins and thou suffer them to live and rule and yet love him Doth Christ command thee to pray continually and thou dost neglect it continually and yet have the face to say thou lovest Christ Doth Christ command thee not to swear profanely at all nor to take Gods name in vain and dost thou do this often in a day and yet defie that man that calls in question thy love to Christ But whatever be thy confidence I do declare to thy face it is a great and Soul-damning mistake for as Love and Obedience are conjoined in the Scripture so they are never parted in the true and sincere Lover Weigh these Scriptures and thou wilt find thy Love pretended to without obedience to be so light that it will be driven away by the evidence of the Word like chaff before the wind Exod. 20.6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments The same words repeated Deut. 5.10 and Deut. 7.9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations And 11.13 And it shall come to pass if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul Neh. 1.5 I beseech thee O Lord God of heaven the great and terrible God that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments Joh. 14.15 If ye love me keep my commandments 21. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is yes that is the man that loveth me 23. Jesus answered and said unto him if a man love me he will keep my words 24. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings Do ye see how in all these Texts Obedience is joined with Love If Love go before Obedience follows after and the latter is a proof of the former Then the man amongst you that is not openly profane but of a moral conversation and moreover a Professor will say as Saul did to Samuel Blessed be thou of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord 1 Sam. 15.13 But Samuel replied ver 16. What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the Oxen which I hear So ye say we love the Lord how do ye prove it Why we have performed the Commandments of the Lord. Have ye so What meaneth then the neglect of Prayer in your Families that I hear of What meaneth then your Idling away the Lords day or polluting it by worldly Discourse What meaneth I pray you the allowed dead Praying and dull performances not striven against nor lamented for But if you would not deceive your sell mind that that Obedience which proves sincerity of love to Christ must be 1. Vniversal and that in regard of the object all the Commandments of God those that are more hard as those that be more easie those that cross and condemn your best beloved sin as well as those you could more easily and readily part with those commands that respect the inward as well as the outward Man and do enjoin the manner as well as the matter of your Duties Psal 119.6 Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy commandments and Universal in regard of the subject that your obedience be done with the whole heart Deut. 10.12 And now Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in all his ways and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul 2. Obedience that is a proof of Love must be chearful for Love obeyeth with delight It is not a burden to Pray but a pleasure hard Duties become easie to Love and the time seems not long nor tedious As Jacoh for the Love of Rachel Gen. 29.20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed unto him but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as ones days translated as few days for the love he had unto her Seven years to love seem but as one day One day in an holy Duty to one that wanteth love seemeth as seven days if not as seven years which seem to pass away sooner and with more delight than one day spent in Flesh displeasing Duties where there is no love to take off the rediousness of it to the Flesh 3. Such Obedience must be the choicest Sincere Lovers of Christ will serve him with the best they have and in the best manner they can Love thinks nothing too good for God and Christ else it is but deceitful and pretended love Mal. 1.13 Ye said also behold what a weariness is it and ye have snuffed at it saith the Lord of hosts and ye brought that which was torn and the lame and the sick thus ye brought an offering should I accept this of your hands saith the Lord You bring Prayers but they are sleepy Prayers thus ye Pray Ye Pray but with your minds roving because of the prevailing habitual love ye have unto the World THUS ye Pray Could sincere Love find no better Service Give no better Duties than such for which a man is a Deceiver and Accursed v. 14. But cursed be the deceiver which hath in his slock a maele and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord
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
heart will be also Mat. 6.20 21. 2. Do you love Christ more than other things when your labour is more for other things than for Christ Did you ever take that pains that care to get an Interest in Christ as you have done for the Riches of this Life If you had might you not have had him whereas now you are without him You Sweat for the World you are Cold in your Praying for Christ you lay out your strength in working for the World you are sloathful in endeavouring after Christ you are lively upon the Exchange quick in your Counting-House with might and main you act in your Shop but dull in your Closet upon your Knees if you at any time are there so imployed Is this your love to Christ more than to other things Or 3. When your care is more to keep other things than that Christ you conceit you love Let Christ go to keep your outward Possessions and yet say you love Christ more who do you think will believe what you say Will not a man that loveth his Child more than his Gold and all his Goods if his House were on Fire lose all to save his Child So would you for Christ if you loved him more than all IV. Do you love Christ and never grieve nor groan nor repent for the Sin whereby you have dishonoured him Can there be love to any person without grieving for the unkindness that you have done unto him Doth a Child love as a Child that is not grieved because he did offend his Father If your Heart did burn in Love would not your Eyes flow with Tears If the fire of Love were kindled in your Breast would not the waters of Sorrow run down your Cheeks and make thee say Oh! What have I done that I so long have slighted this loving Lord Oh! What did I mean to stop mine Ears against his Calls of Love and Mercy That I let him stand without Door when the World and Satan were admitted in Did my Lord suffer for my Sins should I then have sinned thus against my suffering Lord Was he Nailed to the Tree for my sake and must I yet wound him more Oh! That I could not behold my bleeding Lord without a weeping Eye I am grieved dear Saviour I am grieved to remember how I slighted thee and trampled thy Royal Commands under my feet O Lord I blush and am ashamed that I did spurn against such tender Bowels that I did undervalue such invaluable Love and did prefer the Dung of this World before such an incomaprable Saviour But you can daily sin and your Soul not sigh nor sob nor grieve nor groan You can sin and rejoyce at the thoughts of it Jer. 11.15 When thou dost evil then thou rejoycest Thou canst sin and make a sport at it like a fool Prov. 14.9 Fools make a mock at sin Oh thou Loveless Sinner Did Christ bleed for Sin and dost thou laugh at it Was Christ serious and his Soul sorrowful even to the Death for sin and dost thou make a sport of it Hast thou a Sea of Sin and not a drop of Sorrow for it Surely thou art the man that hast not one Dram of sincere love to Jesus Christ V. Dost thou love Christ and live without communion with him And when he is absent from thy Soul art never troubled at it Doth not Love desire sweet converse and familiar entercourse with the person that is the object of thy Love Can Lovers be long asunder and not desire a meeting Canst thou account the presence of the beloved object a burden to thee Or is not his absence really so Dost thou think that he doth love thee that is weary of thy company or never desirous of it Or shuns the place where thou dost wont to be If indeed thou lovest Christ thou couldst be content to be without any thing than without him Thou couldst better be without thy health than without Christ without thy dearest friend next to Christ than without Christ that is to thee the dearest of all if thou dost love him Without thy Meat and Drink even thy necessary Food than without Christ How is it then that thou canst take up contentedly without Praying and without Hearing or with these without Christ in them Is it not for want of Love Lovers have their fainting Fits ready to faint and dye away when the object cannot be enjoyed Cant. 2.5 Stay me with flagons comfort me with apples for I am sick of love Cant. 3.1 By night on any bed I sought him whom my Soul loveth I sought him but I found him not 2. I will rise now and go about the City in the streets and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth I sought him but I found him not 3. The watchmen that go about the city found me To whom I said Saw ye him whom my soul loveth 4. It was but a little that I passed from them but I found him whom my soul loveth I held him and would not let him go The Soul in love with Christ is restless in his absence and never leaves seeking till it find him and having found him holds him fast by Faith and Love and will not let him go The Soul that loves doth long doth thirst doth breathe and pant after the beloved object for what is desire but love in motion as love is desire at rest And though a gracious heart finds complacency and rest in love to Christ yet if Christ be not enjoyed Love cannot rest but moveth in desiring of him like David Psal 42.1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soul after God 2. My soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God And is early and earnest in seeking after him and every full condition to him is empty and every fruitful state to him is barreh and he seeth weakness and disgrace in all worldly Strength and Honour till he is filled and made fruitful by the enjoyment of Christ and doth see his Power and his Glory in his Ordinances Psal 63.1 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is 2. To see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary VI. Do you love Christ and yet hate what he doth love Doth not true love make you love such as are beloved by him whom you do love Do you love Christ and hate his Word Did not David that loved God esteem his Word for the sweetness of it more than Honey Psal 119.103 And for the worth of it more than Gold Psal 119.72 Do you love Christ the Lord and take no delight in the Lords-day that is set apart for the commemoration of the wonderful work of mans Redemption and filling us with joy at the remembrance of his Resurrection Can you idle away this day
he will not be entreated Surely the infinite distance that there is betwixt God and Man might fill us with wonder that God should become a Suiter to man for his love when there is not so much distance between Man and Nothing as there is between God and Man and yet he is pleased to stoop so low to urge us to consent to him that we might be advanced as high as Heaven who else must be plunged into the depths of Hell On what is this that the Creator should seek to be loved by the Creature The Lord to be loved by the Servant The King of Saints to the Subjects of Sin that he might have our Heart and Love Whereas if we did consider that our striâ—test Service to him would be our largest Liberty our having of him our only Happiness our missing of him our greatest Misery we should know it were our Interest to prostrate our selves at his Feet to lye at his Door with Prayers and Tears with Cries and Calls with Grief and Groans to make it our daily Suit to him that he would love us and give us an Heart to love him Man was first in departing from God and in removing of that love that at first there was betwixt God and Man yet God is first in seeking the renewing of Love else Man would always hate and never love him And that God should seek to Man for his Love and be denied might be astonishment to the Angels in Heaven and make matter of joy if they be capable of any joy to the Devils in Hell that Men that may love Christ and will not might be as miserable as themselves to whom he is not propounded as an object of Faith Love or Hope But whether you will love or not love him God hath commanded me and others of his Ministers to lye hard at you for your Love he hath given us a Commission to make a motion of love betwixt Christ and you in order to your matching with him Mat. 22.2 3 4 c. and hath committed to us the Word of Reconciliation and made it our Work to Wooe you for your love unto his Son and to try to gain your consent 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20. And if you will love him to espouse you to him 2 Cor. 11.2 This is my Message and for this end am I come this day If I do not ask you I hazard my Soul if you deny you lose yours God therefore grant that I might so ask that you may not deny that both your Souls and mine might Love and so be Saved For the gaining of your Love for Christ I shall use these Arguments propounded by way of Question and when you have given a right Answer to them I hope Christ will have a good Answer from you CHAP. XI Twenty Motives or Pleas that Christ might have the Love of your Hearts I. CAN you find a more excellent object for your Love than Christ If you search through the whole Creation of God is there any like to Christ Whatsoever you think who dare say there is Are Riches Honours Pleasures Relations which you have loved comparable to Christ whom you ought to love If Good be only the object of Love is not the best Good the best object Can you love the lesser Good and not the greater Yea the greatest of all Is not all the Goodness in the Creature but as a drop to the Sea as a Candle to the Sun as a Sand to a Mountain if compared to the Goodness there is in Christ If David were worth ten thousand of others 2 Sam. 18.3 is not Christ Davids Lord better than all the World Read Cant. 2.3 5 16. Prov. 3.14 15. Phil. 3.8 Dost thou waver in thy thoughts or hesitate about this Tell me First Is not Christ a Good most suitable for thee Is Liberty so suitable to a Captive Man or Bread to an Hungry Man or Health to a Sick Man or Ease to a Pained Man as Christ is to a Sinsul Man For 1. Art thou not lost undone in danger to be Damned Christ will be thy Saviour thy Keeper and Recoverer Luk. 19.10 The son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost Heb. 7.25 Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them Isa 63.1 Mighty to save 2. Art not thou ignorant dark and blind knowest not the way to Heaven and eternal Happiness and mightâ—st weary thy self to find the Gate of Life and yet miss of it when thou hast done all He will be thy Teacher and thy Guide and direct thee Infallibly to it He will Anoint thine Eyes and cause thee to see such things as never yet thou sawest ver 3.18 If he Anoint thine Eyes with his Eye-salve though thou wast born blind thou shalt have thy sight 3. Art thou not Sick and full of Spiritual Diseases Abounding with Soul Distempers Even sick to Death Nigh unto eternal Death He will be thy Physician who is so able and so skilful that never any yet that he undertook to Cure Died under his Hands for rather than thou shouldst dye of thy Disease he will make thee a Potion of his own Blood which if thou Drinkest thou shalt certainly recover Therefore he came to be a Soul Physician and gave this as a reason why he did converse with Publicans and Sinners That he might cure them Mat. 9.12 4. Art thou not indebted Owest thou not Millions to God Hast thou a Mite to pay If God demand satisfaction from thee will it not prove thy Damnation If Justice pursue thee Death Arrest thee will not Devils seize thy Soul and hale it to the Prison of Hell from whence thou shalt not be delivered till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing which will never be This Christ if thou wilt but love him will be thy Bail become thy Surety and make payment of thy Debt and give thee a Discharge 5. Art thou not polluted and unclean Hath not the Leprosie of Sin overspread thy Vnderstanding Will Conscience Memory and all thine Affections So that thou art defiled all over liest wallowing in thy Blood art cast out to the loathing of thy person and canst thou in this filthy case enter into the holy Kingdom of God If thou wilt give him thy Love he will take away thy silthy Rags and give thee change of Raiment Zac. 3.1 2 3. If thou wilt come to him with Faith and Love and say Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean he in Love to thee will say I will be thou clean Mat. 8.2 3. He will make for thee a Bath of his own Blood and his Blood shall cleanse thee from all thy Sins 1 Joh. 1.7 Yea though they be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wooll Isa 1.18 6. Art thou not a Captive to Satan and to Sin Drudging Elbow deep in
strength of your love on Worldly things where the return of love is not only not actual but impossible But would ye love Christ ye should have more love from him than ye give unto him if ye strive with all your might to love him with the utmost love ye can Joh. 14.21 23. Prov. 8.17 3. Is it not great folly to love that which can never satisfie you and not him that would satisfie your Souls for ever Did these things ye love ever fill your desires Did they ever give you full content How should they When God hath made your Souls capable of the enjoyment of an infinite good how can that which is finite fill them It is only an infinite good and not finite that can satisfie your Souls though they be finite all the Creatures cannot fill one For the Will of Man though it be subjectively finite yet it is objectively infinite that is for to be easie and plain in such a place as this and in such matters as these before you is best because for you most profitable and edifying though the Will in it self and in its own Nature because a Creature is finite and limited yet it is capable of making choice of God for its chiefest Good that is infinite and unlimited And God hath put into the hearts of Men desires after good that is eternal for they desire to be eternally happy but God hath not put this eternal goodness in any in all the things of this World for they are all transitory Therefore when ye look for satisfaction in the Creatures that ye love or in the loving of them ye look for that which God never put into them and nothing can give more than it hath and nothing hath more than God hath given it therefore to look for more from it than God by making it hath put into it may yield you vexation enough but no satisfaction at all Eccles 5.10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with increase This is also vanity 4. Is it not great folly to love that which ye must shortly part with and not him that ye might enjoy for ever Though ye have your heart full of Love to other Earthly things you shall not earry an handful of them into the other World Eccl. 5.15 As he came forth of his mothers womb naked shall he return to go as he came and shall take nothing of his labour which he may carry away in his hand 1 Tim. 6.7 We brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out but Death that carrieth the Lovers of the World quite away from the things they love shall set the Soul of a Lover of Christ nearer to him Phil. 1.23 For I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better The Soul that loveth Christ when by Death it is absent from the Body it shall be present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.8 5. Is it not great folly to love that which might leave you while ye live and not that Christ that would never leave you nor forsake you As ye are fure these things which ye love will be none of yours after Death so ye are not sure they shall be yours while ye live May ye not be rich to day and poor to morrow Well to day and sick to morrow In honour to day and in disgrace to morrow Was it not so with Haman Esth 6.10 11 7.9 10. When ye have Riches and love them ye are not sure to hold them Prov. 23.5 Wilt thou set thine eyes thine Heart and Love upon that which is not for riches certainly make themselves wings and fly away as an Eagle towards heaven The Hebrew Text is Wilt thou cause thy eyes to fly upon that which is not Riches fly away and the Worldly mans Heart and Love fly after them and though his Heart and Love be swift in their motion after Riches yet sometimes Riches fly so swiftly that their Lover cannot overtake them The pleasures of Sin and so the profits of the World are but for a Season Heb. 11.25 and when the Season is over they are gone but Christ would never leave you nor forsake you Heb. 13.5 6. Is it not great folly to love that which may prove an hinderance to your everlasting happiness and not him that is the purchaser and the promoter of it To love that which is often hurtful to the owners and always hurtful to the over-lovers of it and not him that never did his Lover harm but good Eccl. 5.13 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the Sun namely Richer kept for the owners thereof to their hurt This Solomon had seen and many have seen but that Christ should hurt any Man that hath him for his own was never seen Riches are thick Clay and Clogs to the Minds of Men and keep them down to Earth that they cannot rise to Heaven nor get so high while they live nor their Souls when their Bodies dye that they make Salvation exceeding difficult Mat. 19.23 Then said Jesus to his Disciples Verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of heaven 24. And again I say unto you it is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a Needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God but to love Riches and not Christ while a Man doth so doth not make Salvation only hard but impossible but the love of Christ makes Salvation not only possible but certain and easie 7. Is it not great folly to love that which cannot comfort you at Death and not Christ that both can and would Love what ye will besides Christ and not Christ it cannot be a stay to your departing Souls what will ye look to at Death for comfort your Riches Why ye are going from them with an heart full of love to them to love them and yet must leave them to leave them in loving of them will torment and vex you not support and comfort you To Pleasures that ye loved When ye lye a dying they are fled and past and gone To your Friends When ye are dying ye are taking your last leave of them To Christ Alas him ye never loved and the thoughts of that will be a sting more painful than the sting of Death V. Can ye do any thing less than love Christ or can ye do any thing more Is it not a small thing that Christ should have your Love for all those great things ye have and hope to have by Christ And yet Christ stands upon your love as greatest of all and all without love is nothing If Christ had asked you to lay down your Life for him had he required more from you than he himself hath done for you Had he called you to give your Bodies to be burned for him should ye not have done it How
all my Love upon him His Name is the Lord Jesus Christ Lord Jesus Christ Oh blessed Lord Oh sweetest Jesus Oh loving lovely Christ Lord Jesus Christ Methinks the sound of his Name is Melody to mine Ears is Honey to my Taste is Light unto mine Eyes a sweet Perfume of precious Ointment it is Balm to my wounded Conscience it is a reviving Cordial to my sinking Spirit to my fainting Soul Methinks now you have told me his Name runs in my Mind I love to have it with love and reverence in my Mouth and upon my Tongue The Lord Jesus Christ will help me the Lord Jesus Christ will save me if I love him if I love him that is Lord and Jesus and Christ Oh if the very hearing of his Name hath given this hopes fain I would know more of him for surely the more I know of him the more my Love will be set upon him Oh that some would tell me more what he is and what I might do that I might love him That 's next IV. Get the Knowledge of Christ what he is and what he will be to thee and dwell on those thoughts till thou findest thy heart to glow to burn to flame in love to him And to this purpose consider 1. His Name Lord Jesus and Christ 2. His Relation to God yet given for Man 3. His own Excellencies and undertaking for you 4. His Affection and what he will be to you 5. His Benefits that he will confer upon you 1. The consideration of his Name hath much in it to attract and draw thy Love for he is 1. Lord. Even Lord of Lords and King of Kings the Blessed and only Potentate 1 Tim. 6.15 He is Lord by vertue of Creation he gave thee thy Being brought thee out of Nothing made thee a Man he gave thee Understanding Will Affections Now wilt thou love thy Father and thy Mother and not thy Maker He is Lord by right of Redemption when thou wast in thy Sin worse than Nothing in Bondage to Satan and Sin he bought thee out with his own Blood Act. 20.28 by giving his Soul for thine Isa 53.10 his Life for thine Mat. 20.28 himself for thee 1 Tim. 2.6 Let the thoughts how dear he paid for thy good draw thy Love He is Lord by universal Jurisdiction given by the Father Mat. 28.18 All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth Joh. 5.22 The father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son 27. And hath given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son of man Joh. 17.2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him Rom. 14.9 For this end Christ both died rose and revived that he may be Lord both of the dead and living Behold no Lord like this that hath power to judge and execute to damn and save a means this is to beget both fear and love 2. Jesus A gracious Name a Saviour Mat. 1.21 Thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin His very Name tells you what you might expect by him Jesus A glorious Name Phil. 2.9 Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name 10. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow all be subject unto him Jesus A precious Name Gant 1.3 This Name is a sweet Perfume more than all precious Oyntments Jesus A miraculous Name Acts 3.6 In this name the lame have been made to walk the blind to see the deaf to hear the guilty are justified the polluted are purged the aliens reconciled and sinners saved 3. Christ Anointed Psal 45.7 God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows Isa 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings If he hath been anointed to be a Saviour to lost Sinners should not the thoughts of this be an attractive of your love 2. To gain your love to Christ consider him in his relation to the Father who yet gave him foryou All Beings have some relation to God but none nearer to him than Christ who is God's own Son and that in a sense beyond all Angels that were the Sons of God by creation Job 38.7 Believers by Adoption John 1.12 Gal. 3.26 but Christ by eternal Generation Psal 2.7 Christ God's only begotten Son such an one he had but one and yet this only one was given for you O where is your love Is not this enough to kindle it in your hearts Christ was God's dear Son his very Darling his daily delight Prov. 8.30 The Son of his love Col. 1.13 And shall he not be the Object of yours Behold the Son of his love was given and came for the Children of Wrath. And is not he to be beloved upon that account and for that very reason Do men love the Sons of Princes and will not you love the Son of God Do you love your own Children your own Sons and Daughters and will you not love the Son of God He did not say Father since I am thy Son why should I suffer and die for thine Enemies Father I am thine only Son and thou hast not another in Heaven or Earth as I am why then should I be crowned with Thorns that Sinners might have a Crown of Glory But this only Son did die for Rebels the Son of God's Bosom lay in the Bosom of the Earth Dear Saviour Thou art worthy of every man's bosom-love 3. To attract and draw your Love consider how wonderful Christ is in himself and in his undertakings for you and then love him with wonderful love for if you should not love it would be wonderful Isa 9.6 His name shall be called Wonderful 1. Christ was wonderful in his Conception and Birth Isa 7.14 Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel Luke 1.35 The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Behold Mary a Mother and yet a Virgin Wonderful Mary that bore Jesus was a Sinner and yet Jesus born of her was without Sin or Spot Wonderful 2. In his Person He was Man and yet he was God he was God and yet he was Man 1 Tim. 3.16 Wonderful 3. In his Works and Operations He healed the sick without medicines he opened the Eyes of a man born blind with Clay and Spittle John 9.1.6.7 cast out Devils with a word did calm the raging Sea Matth. 8.26 27. All wonderful 4. In his Death and Passion Matth. 27.50 Jesus when he had cried again with a loud voice yielded up the Ghost 51. And behold the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom and the earth did quake and the rocks