to this end that you may not sin by departing from it but if any man do sin that he may presently return Saul was softned and melted when he heard the language of love from David who had watched over him to preserve him while he slept in the midst of that Army with which he made War upon him Is this thy voice my Son David said he then Open thine Eyes see the Divine Will with innumerable Eyes of love watching over thee in the midst of thy rebellions Open thine Ears hear the Divine Will wooing thee with the sweetest language of love in the midst of thy pollutions This will turn thee again to the Will of God to melt thy self into its Bosom when once this thought ariseth in thee that thou returnest to a Bosom of love ever open to thee Use. 3. Be in love with Holiness Holiness is a Conformity to the Will of God This Will is Love How easy is that Yoak How light is the Burthen How pleasant is the Law of Love Keep my Commandment and abide ye in my Love even as I abide in my Fathers Love saith Jesus Christ. To abide in the Divine Will to keep the Commandments of that is to abide in the Paradise of Divine love to dress it and keep it David saith of the Law of the Lord Psal. 19. It is more to be desired than thousands of Gold and Silver It is sweeter than the Honey and the Honey-comb In keeping it is exceeding great reward Hear O beloved Souls and be wise and be in love with Holiness In every command to Holiness God cometh to you in the Light and Purity of all his Divine Beauties in the Strength and Sweetness of all his Divine loves to make thee like himself to marry thee to himself In every act of obedience to this law of Holiness thy Person shineth with a Heavenly lustre by the shining forth of the unvailed Person of God upon thee thou receivest a kiss of Heavenly love immediately from the Mouth of God and returnest it again O tast and see Then you will say that this Heavenly Traffick is beyond that of all precious of all pleasant things No where such loveliness as this no where such love Holiness is a Conformity to the Will of God The Will of God is Love the Fountain and the Life of all Incorruptible Beauties of all pure and ever-flourishing Pleasures I have done with the second â—escription of Divine Love which defineth it to be the same with the Divine Will 3. Descrip. God is Love He who was the Disciple of Love who lay in the Bosom of Love and so best knew what Love is declareth Divine Love to be the Nature and Essence of God God saith he is Love He that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God dwelleth in him 1 Joh. 3. 16. As the Sea is a heap of Waters The gathering together of the Waters God called the Sea Gen. 1. As the Body of the Sun is a pure and simple Light so is God a Collection of Loves a gathering together of all Loves into one Spirit This is the Divine Nature an Unity a Purity a Simplicity of Love I shall endeavour to shew you by four Arguments that there is no name which doth so properly so fitly express the nature of God as this of Love 1. Argum. The first the principal Thing the beginning of all Things in God is Love Psal. 136. I intend a short Paraphrase upon this whole Psalm because it maketh so clearly and fully for my purpose being taken altogether from the beginning to the end of it If you would hear the Musick of Angels of Heaven if you would hear the living Harmony of the Divine Nature as it is all Love listen with a Spiritual Ear to this Psalm which is a Song composed entirely of this Subject of Divine Love If the Spirit of God assist me to sound forth aright the Heavenly Musick of this Psalm I do not doubt to make your hearts in your Bosoms to leap and dance to it by that time I have done First Take two general Observations concerning this Psalm 1. Gener. Observ. This is a Psalm of Praises and Thanksgivings the Work of Heaven a Heavenly Work But all the Praises here are attributed to all the Thanksgivings are terminated in Love and the Eternity of Love This is the burthen of the Song repeated in every verse this is that into which all the Strength and Sweetness of the sense is still resolved this maketh one half of every verse quite thorow the whole Psalm For his Mercy endureth for ever The Word in Hebrew signifieth alike Mercy Kindness Love That word endureth is added by the Translatours You may read the words with as full an agreement with the Original as I humbly conceive For his Love is Eternal But however this be if we adhere to the Translation Mercy is one of the sweetest tenderest largest names of Divine love 1. Mercy is Love condescending and descending from the heights of all Heavens above to the nethermost parts of the Earth to the nethermost Hell 2. Mercy is Love uniting itself to the vilest and most miserable Creatures which lie below which stick in the Mire and Clay in the bottom of the Pit There love sympathizeth with them maketh itself entirely one with them in their low estate 3. Mercy is Love making a mutual and strange exchange with those loathsome and lost Souls Iâ— taketh to itself their guilt shame weakness and woes It giveth to them its own Righteousness Strength Beauties Joys and Glories Thus Mercy is the circle of Divine love as it cometh forth from Heaven and Eternity goeth down to the lowest depths of Time and the Creation then ascendeth again till like the Sun it return thither where it first arose Poor and broken Spirits who lie at the utmost ends of the Earth mourning as outcasts hope evermore in Eternal love wait for it The love of God will find you out it will meet with you and take you in its way For Divine love is Eternal It encompasseth Heaven and Earth Time and Eterty His Mercy endureth for ever 2. Gener. Observ. This Psalm comprehendeth all things in it Created or Uncreated the Nature of God the Persons of God and of Christ the Wonders of God the Works of God the Works of Nature Grace and Glory It comprehendeth all things Then it maketh the ground and Crown of all to be Love this is brought in to every particular in each verse as the Reason Rule Result of all For his Mercy endureth for ever for his love is Eternal It is a maxime in Nature that all motion is founded upon something unmoveable This is the Divine Maxime upon which Heaven and Earth standeth all motions in the heart of God and in the Creature of Grace and Nature are founded upon the unmoveableness the unchangeableness of eternal Love O blessed Love O blessed God who is this love O blessed Soul which with a spiritual Eye created
which Eternal Love bringeth forth to itself within itself as its own Essential Form and Image This Glory this Life-Image of Love is that which it is forming in every Aegypt Sea Wilderness and Canaan The Heathen represented the Nature of this thing by Venus the Mother of Love the Seeds and Life springing by a Cupid Love the Child of this Mother Gen. 1. 2. It is said that the Spirit of God moved upon the Waters The Paraphrase upon that Scripture maketh it to be an allusion to a Dove which is the Bird of love sitting upon her Eggs and hatching her young ones The Holy Spirit is often in Scriptures represented by a Dove Eternal Love is of a Truth that Almighty Spirit which at first sate upon the whole Creation to form it and moveth upon it thorow all times to cherish and govern it Love is the Mother of all above All things are the Off-spring of Love a Race of Seminal and Springing Loves Mercy Love runneth along with the whole with each particular of the whole thorow the length of Eternity itself This is still the Burthen of the Song For his Mercy endureth for ever 2. The Works of Grace These are the second sort of Divine Works and these also are the Works of Love These are divided into three Ranks 1. The constant abode of the Soul in the Heart of God Who remembred us in our low estate v. 23. Thou O broken Heart Art sinking by ignorance by unbelief by thy fall from God thou art sinking still deeper into the Darkness and Filth of this World and thy Lusts. Still thou sinkest into the Power and Horrours of the Devil Now thou sayest the Lord hath forgotten me he hath cast me off for ever Yet he remembreth thee in thy low estate Still thou art in his Thoughts thou art in his Heart as a Pillar in the Temple of the Divine Nature which is Love never to go forth Thy Person is ever before him with a Sweet and deep Impression upon his Spirit never to be rased out What hath done this It is Eternal Love This is the Light of the Divine Mind which continually presenteth thee to it in the dress of its own Beâ—uties This is the sweet force of the Divine Will which holdeth thee fast in itself which beareth thee in its Arms thorow all conditions and will not let thee go for ever This is the Reason why He remembreth thee in thy low estate For his Mercy endureth for ever 2. The bringing us back into the Bosom of God This is the second Rank in the Works of Grace And hath redeemed us from our Enemies For his Mercy endureth for ever v. 24. It is Eternal Love in the Bosom of the Father which hath sent Jesus Christ forth from thence for us and to us that he may be our Sacrifice our Ransom and our Redeemer It is Eternal Love in the Person of Christ which cometh down from Heaven to make itself a Sacrifice for us to the Justice and Wrath of God It is Eternal Love in the Person of our Iâ—sus which descendeth upon the Earth as a Field of Blood to undertake the Fight with the Powers of Darkness that he may reskue us and redeem us from all our Enemies on Earth and in Hell It is Eternal Love in the Person 〈◊〉 Iâ—â—us Christ that gâ—veth itself a Price for us that one Pearl in which Hâ—â—ven and Earth with all the treasures of the Creature and Creator lie to puâ—chase us to itself It is Eternal Love in the Person of our Heavenly Bridegroom that giveth itself to us to cloath us to form us to act us to be a Crown of Divine Glory upon us to be a Fountain of all Spiritual Loveliness Life Grace Purity and Joys in the midst of us Thus it redeemeth us from our Captivity and Shame Thus it maketh us a Bride fit for itself coming forth ready trim'd out of the Heaven of its own Embraces 3. The nourishing of us in the Bosom of God This Work of Grace cometh in the third Rank Who giveth food to all Flesh For His Mercy endureth for ever Mark how these answer one another Mercy Food All Flesh For ever Eternal Love is both the Feeder and the Food If God give Food If everlasting Mercy Eternal Love in the Divine Nature and Form give Food This is Food indeed not the Flood of a Shadow or a lie My Flesh is Meat indeed my Blood is Drink indeed saith our Lord Jesus The Lord speaketh not this of his Humane Nature For of this he saith in another place The Flesh profiteth not but the Spirit quickneth It is Eternal Love which is the Flesh of Christ the strength and substance of the Divine Nature It is Eternal Love which is the Blood of Christ the Life and Sweetness of the Divine Nature This is that Meat indeed and Drinâ— indeed which Love giveth for Food to all Flesh in its Bosom to nourish it to Eternal Life I have passed thorow the second Sort of 〈◊〉 Works the Works of Grace 3. Works of Glory O give thanks unto the God of Heaven For his Mercy endureth for ever v. 26. and last The Psalm begun with Goodness as its ground of Love v. 1. It closeth its Musick with Heaven as the Crown of Love The natural Heavens the Heavens of the first Creation are not intended here These were mentioned in the body of the Song and pass away These are the last and highest Heavens the Heavens of Glory the high and holy places of Eternity These Heavens are all made of Love All the precious and incorruptible Substance all the unexpressible and pure Sweetnesses All the Divine and unfading Beauties of these Heavens are Eternal Love All the Praises given to God as he appeareth in these Heavens with all his Saints and Angels all his Joys and Glories round about him are attributed to Eternal Love the Root the Flower the Fruit the only reason and rellish of all O give thanks to the God of Heaven For his Mercy endureth for ever For his Love is Eternal The midst of Solomons Chariot is pavâ—d or flameth with Love Cant. 3. The Center of Heaven is a Love-fire All the Spirits and Spiritual Glories of it are Immortal flames of Divine Love 2. Argum. Love is the end of all Things with God This is the second Argument to prove Love to be the proper Name of God and full expression of the Divine Nature Love appeareth to be the last end of all things three ways 1 All the Works of God end in Love 2. All the Attributes and Exâ—ellencies of God serve his Love 3. God resteth in his Love 1. All the Works of God end in Love Psal. 145. v. 9. His tender Mercies are over all his Works The word Mercies cometh from the Belly the inward parts the Womb. It signifieth the very heart of Love where it first liveth and never dieth where it lyeth warmest and hath the strongest pulse It signifieth Love in its Center and
for it is our preservation in the midst of powerful lusts within and potent Enemies without If all good men could but make a shift to tollerate one another this wicked World must be bound to endure them all Could they but hold together and love one another No forreign violence could break them Goodness is stronger then Evil and therefore the good thus united and in an Association Must be too powerful for the Evil with all its Plots Conspiracies and Force What a root of mischiefs have the Divisions of good men been in all ages to themselves From hence we may derive all the Evils we feel and those also we fear When the sheep push and run heads against one another the Shepheard saies we shall have foul weather We have already seen the truth of this observation and I am affraid must feel it once again 'T is easy to presage a storm when so much ill weather appeares in the Spirits faces and actions of men God grant it may prove but a storm for from the animosities that are yet between good men and an implacableness of Spirit which is started among us we have cause to fear a Deluge These Reader are some few General considerations to impress a little upon thy mind that moderation which is thy Duty and every good mans Right how different soever his Notions and Opinions may be from thine I might now add some others which more particularly relate to our excellent Author but I have already too much exceeded the bounds of my own intentions and thy patience nor would I willingly depart from the Modesty of my first Resolution which was to do nothing in this service that might pretend to pass for a Preface to these following Discourses I therefore leave the Book itself to open thee its own unspeakable worth as thou readest it And I perswade my self when thou hast duly perused it and well observed those excellent rules by which our Author governs himself throughout these discourses That admirable temper and Spirit That pleasant and powerful tendency to holiness and spirituality that is every where to be found in them Whatever thy thoughts may be concerning some of his sentiments thou must needs have a great love for his memory There is not in the universal Nature of things a more intimate Sympathy then that of Truth and Gooodness they are really one They are for ever inseparable They differ only as the seal and the stamp Goodness being but the Impression of Truth This consideration I must confess has so far prevailed with me that I cannot defend my self from thinking there must be something of truth in all our Author has here delivered to us whilst I find there is so much goodness in it all And now Reader according to custom I should spend a great deal more of thy time in a long Apology for having already taken up so much of it But in my Opinion to excuse this matter is at once to abuse my self and thee For it was in my power not to have given thee all this trouble if for the sake at least of some Readers I had not judged it reasonable so to do and if thou thinkest otherwise it is still in thy power to escape as much of it as thou pleasest I chuse rather to take my leave of thee with this serious Request to the That thou wouldst read these Heavenly Discourses with the same Divine Love which first brought them forth from the fountain of all Loves It is not by the sagacity of our own Natural understandings but by being rooted and grounded in Love that we come to comprehend Spiritual truths That this Love may abound in thee yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment or sense that thou mayst approve things that are excellent Is the hearty prayer of Thy Well-wisher and Servant I. WHITE MAT. XVIII 3. Except ye be converted and become as little Children ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven IN the First Verse the Disciples of our Lord measuring the State of Things above by the Principles of Reason and the Fashion of this World make this Inquiry Who should be Greatest in the Kingdom of God as if Ambition must follow us into Heaven there also to make a Hell Our Savior would undeceive those whom He lov'd by answering not so much to their Proposals as their Principles Therefore He gives them a full Description of the Christian Mystery which is exprest in the words of my Text Except ye be Converted and become as little Children ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven This Description hath Three Parts 1. A Rise to a Kingdom 2. The Race towards it 3. The Royalty itself 1. The Rise to the Kingdom lyes in these words Except ye be converted The Greek word signifies a Turn or Change from the present Principles and Forms of things to another vertue and view 2. The Race to the Kingdom is thus set forth and become as little Children Diminutives are signs of Affection Delight and Dependence as that One of those little Ones that believeth on Me Mat. 18. 6. 3. The Royalty itself is magnificently describ'd Ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Kingdom of Heavn hath a Twofold Signification Sometimes it is generally taken for both States of Grace and Glory one being the Inchoation the other the Consummation Man in one being as a King Elect in the other a King Crown'd Sometimes it hath a particular sense and points out one peculiar State of Liberty and Spiritual Glory as Rom. 14. 17. The Kingdom of God consisteth not in Meats and Drinks but in Righteousness Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost So again 2 Pet. 1. 8 11. If these things be in you and abound a large entrance shall be made for you into the Kingdom of Heaven The Reason of the Expression in both senses is because God is both the King of Believers and their Kingdom either in Fleshly Types or in his own Spiritual Appearance These three Parts thus opened afford us three Doctrines for our Discourse Doct. 1. The first Rise to true Religion is a Conversion or Change Doct. 2. The second Course of things in Christianity is a Childhood or Sonshing Doct. 3. The third Degree in Christianity is an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven or the Royalty begun Doct. 1. The first Rise to true Religion is a Conversion or Change This is the first Doctrine and I begin with it David ' s language makes it good Psa. 51. 13. Then will I teach transgressours thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee He that will pass from the dismal Depths of sin and Woe to those Heights of Strength Holiness and Sweetness in God must make his first Motion a Conversion a Change from a Descent to an Ascent from going Outward to the Circle to go Inward towards the Center of things which comprehends and casts forth all the Circles The Explication of the Point will be its fullest
The Spiritual Man at first lies hid under the Natural Man as Seed under the Ground So St. Paul speaks of it Gal. 3. 19. Wherefore then served the Law it was added because of Transgressions till the Seed should come to whom the Promise was made and it was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator While a Man lives under the Law the Seed of Promise is not yet come that is the Spiritual Man which is One with Christ and so the Promised Seed is not come up or put forth in the Soul But it lies hid under the Ministry of Angels which restrain Sin by inward Impressions and outward Dispensations of the Good or Evil Things of this World and it lies hid under a Mediator which is the Earthly Image of God according to this Creation in which God stands as a Mediator between Man and Himself in the Spiritual Image which is the Heavenly Person of Jesus Christ. God in this Earthly Image Heightens and Suppresseth Sin by his Divided Appearances of Mercy and Wrath by his Divided Administrations of Allurement and Terror Reward and Punishment Thus God as a Mediator stands between Man and the Person of Christ hiding that Person together with the Spiritual Man which is in Christ from Man And so God converseth with Man at this Distance after this manner till the Seed come in which God and Man are no more Two but One Spirit in Jesus Christ. This is the First State of the Spiritual Man 2 Secondly the Spiritual Man breaks forth thorow the Natural Man appears in it and together with it Gal. 2. 20. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I live is by the Faith of the Son of God c. Christ and the Spiritual Man are joyned together by an inseparable Union When these break forth in a Man yet clothed with Flesh they draw the Person of a Man to have his Life in themselves as in his proper Principle They shew forth themselves to him as that Appearance and Image of Things in which he is to dwell The Principles of Nature are now as a Death to a Man so far as he abides in them The Fleshly Image of Things is a Prison or an Inchantment or a Whorish Woman to him He loaths the Embraces of it though he cannot quite shake it off A Saint now labours to crucify and casts off both these Yet while he is shut up in them he comforts himself in he casts himself upon the Spiritual Man and the Life of Christ which dwell in These together with him and look forth thorow these as thorow the Lattices upon him 3. The Third State of the Spiritual Man is that in which he is Absolute free from the Bonds of the Flesh no more Comprehended by but Comprehending the Natural Man in himself St. Paul speaks of this State 2 Corin. 5. 2. In this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven As Jesus Christ is at the same time Blessed and Glorious in Heaven yet withal living in thy Flesh who art a Member of Him and suffering with thee So thy Spiritual Man even while it is streightned here below in thy Natural Life is at Liberty above in Heaven in Jesus Christ. This Man at once comes down from Above in its full Glory upon thee and breaks forth from Below from out of thy Fleshly Life to a full Liberty And this is the House which comes down from Heaven to cloath thee that thou mayst not be naked But this House from Heaven doth not cloath thee till thy Earthly Tabernacle be dissolved in Death as appears by the first verse of that Chapter cited next before 2 Corin. 5. 1. When our Earthly Tabernacle is dissolved we have a House not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens These are the Three States of the Spiritual Man The First of these is the Legal State of a Christian. The Second is the Evangelical State before Death The Third is the Angelical State that State to which we cannot come but by Death or a Change instead of Death when as Jesus Christ speaketh We shall be as the Angels in Heaven Thus much we have spoken of the First Distinction 2. Distinct. The Second Distinction is upon the Spiritual Man in the Evangelical State or upon an Evangelical Christian in this Life He also hath Three Distinct Growths St. Iohn speaks of all Three in One Place 1 John 2. 12. I write to you Little Children because your Sins are forgiven for his Names sake v. 13. I write unto you Fathers because you have known Him who is from the Beginning I write unto you Young Men because ye have overcome the Wicked One. I write unto you little Children because ye have known the Father v. 14. I have written unto you Fathers because ye have known Him that is from the Beginning I have written unto you Young Men because ye are strong and the Word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the Wicked One The Apostle doubles his mention of all Three Growths for Certainty and Efficacy that we may take the more Clear and Distinct notice of it He placeth the Two Extreams the Children and Fathers First Then he puts the Middle-State in the Last Place because that is the more Remarkable and Active in the World The Children are not yet grown up to the Conflict The Fathers are past the Brunt and violence of it For the same Reason in his Repetition he adds something when he speaks of the Young Men to encourage them Now let us speak a word or two particularly of Each of these Growths 1. The First Growth of an Evangelical Christian is his Child-hood The spiritual Man when it first begins to put forth itself in us suits itself much to our Natural Capacities puts itself into Fleshly Forms and Appearances as into Swathing Bands Yet it submits and subordinates all these Appearances to the Spiritual Appearance itself in the highest and most grown State It Owns That It Depends upon That It Directs its Growth to That Thus it is a Little Child and Knows the Father 2. Secondly an Evangelical Christian comes to be a Young Man This is then when thou comest to distinguish between the Fleshly and the Spiritual Appearances of the Spiritual Man or of Jesus Christ in thee When a Saint grows strong in Spiritual Appearances when he begins to abide firm in them then he sets himself against the Fleshly Appearances because the Devil hath his Chiefest Strength and Seat in them And now thou hast overcome the Wicked One when once thou hast discovered and discerned the Fleshly Appearances from the Spiritual Life itself When thou labourest to crucify the One as fast as it Grows up that thou mayst live more abundantly in the Other thou hast now taken from the Devil his most Principal Power and Engine He is now falling apace like Lightning from Heaven in thy Soul This is
all the Natures of Love and Wrath the two Contrary heads of all distinct Natures are Originally in God according to their Eternal Ideas or First Forms If Jesus Christ had not come forth into all these Forms and taken upon himself these several Natures in their utmost varieties and contrarieties he had wanted some parts belonging to his Person and been imperfect in his Relation as a Son a Saviour in his Office as a Representer a Reconciler Therefore as St. Paul witnesseth He descended first to the lowermost Parts of the Earth then He ascended above all Heavens and that for this reason that He might fill All Ephâ—s 4. 10. Thus he was made perfect by Sufferings The descent of Christ was the drawing of the Picture of the God-Head upon him in its lowest and outermost Mysteries or wonders of Glory in its Back-parts or Feet The Ascent was the Uniting of the lowest to the highest the bringing of the outermost into the bosom of the Innermost the drawing up of the Feet into the Bed into the rest and Glory of the head The Scripture holds forth the accomplishment of the same Mystery in our Persons after the same manner Jesus Christ went thorow these Sufferings as our Captain that he might lead us the same way to the same end that he might bring us as Sons to inherit the same Glory to fulfil all Righteousness all the goings forth of the God-Head in our selves thorow Christ Heb. 2. 10. St. James c. 1. v. 2 4. exhorts the Saints to account it all Joy when they fall into all manner of Temptations and to let Patience have her perfect work which would make them Perfect entire wanting nothing We were brought forth upon the uppermost parts the Face of the Earth in Paradise Let us now with Jesus Christ go down into the Deep to the lowermost parts of the Earth by Sufferings and Sorrows Let us patiently endure till we are carried thorow all the Chambers of Death and the innermost corners of that Cave of Darkness till we be carried out of all up into Heaven So we shall be clothed with all the Wonders of God and have his manifold Wisdom his Fulness displaid in our Persons as his Sons also together with our Saviour Willingly then Travel thorow the valley of Baca of Mourning and Lamentation as the way of Perfection the Accomplishment of the Mystery of God in you Now I have performed the first part of my promise which was to speak of the Nature of Spiritual Mourning There remains behind the Second part of my promise which is to speak of the Mixture of Spiritual Mirth and Spiritual Mourning I will direct you to this Mixture by Five Rules 1. Rule So grieve as giving Glory to God in your Griefs 1 Cor. 10. 31. Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the Glory of God whether ye Mourn or be merry let both be to the Glory of God Mourn not as questioning the Sweetness in the Will of God the Wisdom in the Counsels of God the Strength in the Power of God the Beauty in the Face of God the Pleasures in the Person of God the Infiniteness in all Grieve not to the Clouding but the clearing of the Appearances of God in your Spirit Let not your Sorrows be as a troubled Sea but as a Sea of Christal thorow which you may see the glorious face of God As the Beams of the Sun shining thorow red Glass so will the glory of God be appearing thorow your Sorrows It will beget a Pleasantness in your bloodiest Pangs 2. Rule Let your Mourning raise not ruine the Life of the Spiritual Man in you Though the Outward Man perishes the Inward Man is renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4. 16. Let your Sorrows weigh down the Natural Man only as one of the Buckets that the Spiritual Man as the other of the Buckets may be lifted up If that Life which is Light in the Lord be lifted up by your Griefs It will draw up your Person and your Griefs themselves into the Pleasantness of its own Light 3. Rule Mourn in the Name of Christ Colos. 3. 17. Whatsoever ye do in Word or Deed do all in the Name of the Lord Iesus The Name of the Lord Iesus wraps up Four Things in it which I shall express by Four Rules in this present case 1. Mourn in the Power of Christ The Power of Christ is the Power of Eternal Life which carries an unexpressible sweetness along with it even then when it goes forth into the saddest operations Thy Tears will be a Spiritual Wine if they be the Fruit of this Vine 2. Mourn in the Image of Christ. Every thing is delightful to us which brings our well-beloved into our Thoughts though it be but as a Picture or Shadow of him Love delights in likeness especially to be itself made like that which it loves This will make thy Sorrows Comfortable to thy Heart and Glorious in thine Eye if thou Transferrest them upon thy self as in a Figure of Jesus Christ. 3. Meurn for Christ. Make him the end of thy Sorrows Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness sake Rom. 10. 4. Let Jesus Christ be the end of thy Griefs for thy Joys sake The End puts a Loveliness and Pleasantness upon the means and way to it If thy Sorrows be for Self and from Self-love they will be like Brine they will have a Gnawing Burning Saltness in them But if they be for thy Saviour and from his Love they will be Fresh and Sweet on thy Spirit as the Dew of Heaven on the tender Grass 4. Mourn as in Union with the Person of Christ. A Saiâ—t is a Name of Anointing which signifies Two in one the Ointment or Oyl and the Anointed the Sanctifier and the Sanctified He that Sanctifies and they that are Sanctified are of one Heb. 2. 11. They must also be in One. Our Griefs are never Saintlike or Holy if they be not in Consort and Fellowship with Iesus Christ. Rom. 8. 17. Joint-heirs with Christ if so be we suffer with him Our Sufferings are a Murther not a Sacrifice they are to Death not to Life if they be not in Union with Jesus Christ. If they be in Union with Christ that Union unites a Sweetness and Joy to them These are the Branches of the Third Rule 4. Rule Let your Grief be a Grace If your Grief be from Nature only it is carnal not spiritual it is such a Death as is a Sowing to the Flesh which will bring forth Corruption and Death Whatever is not of Faith is Sin Rom. 14. 23. If your Mourning be not a Grace in you one of the Daughters of Faith which is the mother of all Grace it is Sin and to be resisted by you as the Devil But if your Mourning be Gracious then it is a Sowing to the Spirit of which you shall reap Immortality Such Tears are Precious Seed Spiritual Seed which have the Sweet Rellish
of my Countenance or the Salvations of my Persons of my Persâ—n in every Form and Appearance and my God Psa. 42. 11. Thus do thou discourse with thine own Soul when it is overcast and bowed down with fear care or sorrows Why droopest thou my Soul Why doest thou mourn and groan Why art thou thus unquiet within me Look to thy Iesus I shall yet sing new songs of my Beloved and praise His Beauties these are the Spiritual wine that maketh glad my Heart the Oyl of Joy that maketh my face to shine He is a Million of Salvations and Heavens to me in every state He is my God Why art thou cast down O my Soul Lift up thine Eyes to the Person of Christ Is not this Anoynted One with all the Beauties of the God-Head ever before thee Doth not be continually encompass thee and shine round about tâ—ee with all variety of pleasantnesses and glories like the Rainbow round about the Throne of God Rev. 4. Is not His Desire towards thee that thou mayest rule over His Beauties and satisfie thy self at all times with these Breasts of Divine Sweetneâ—s Feed then like a Roe among these Lillies The Person of Christ is not His own but Thine Thou hast power over it and all its Heavenly Treasures Let Him then with all His Excellencies lye like a bundle of Myrrhe between thy breasts all thâ—â— dark Night breathing Sweetness into thy Spirit and as a Cordiall fortifying thy Heart against all assaults with a glorious Joy Here make thy self with all thy flocks of thoughts and affections to lye down O my Soul Here lose thy 〈◊〉 and this dark appearance of Things in these Lovelinesses of thy Saviâ—ur's â—ersâ—n which cometh forth like a Brdegroom out of His Chamber of Eternity 〈◊〉 His Father's Bosom like a Sun fresh in all His Morning-Beauties to run his race of Glory in thy Person and to swallow up that into the Circles of His Pure Light Reas. 4. I come now to the 4 th and last Reason why Jesus Christ is the Fairest of all things All Beauty is derived from Him Beauty any where in the Creature is an Image of the Divine Nature by which that maketh itself visible testifieth its Presence awakeneth the Soul to a sense of itself and to seek after it The Lord Jesus is the First Image of the Invisible God the Supream Beauty So every other Image is drawn from Him dependeth upon Him and is comprehended primitively purely in Him Every other Beauty is a Copy of Him taken from Him who alone is the Life Col. 1. 18. All things are made by Christ invisible visible in Heaven on Earth Angels all were made by Him and for Him by Him as the Exemplar Cause for him as the End that thorow the Picture the Person Himself might as a Sleeping Seed stir up itself and spring in the Light of every understanding and sense in the Love of every Heart All Things are By Christ Two ways 1. As the Pattern of the Work 2. As the Power Working 1. Every thing is by Christ as the Pattern of the Work Our Lord Jesus is the Wisdom of God Wisdom is an Inward Image in every Spirit according to which it ordereth its way and fashioneth its work that the Whole may be One Piece and a Beauty may result from the agreement of all Parts in the unity of the whole as also from the Harmony of the outward Form and the Inward Image which by their mutual reflections pour forth pleasures and joys into the bosom of each other In Nature the Spirit included in the Seed of a Rose hath within it self the Image of a Rose-tree with all its proportions leaves and flowers beauties and sweetnesses several growths the bud and the full-blown Rose According to this Image the Seed putteth forth it self the Spirit in the Seed formeth it self upon the outward Matter and figureth the whole Plant in all the progress and perfections of it The Person of our Beloved is the onely Image in that Eternal Spirit which is God blessed for ever In this glorious Image doth He ride forth upon the face of the whole Creation from the beginning to the end In all His works of Power and Providence He consulteth onely with this Beautiful Image in His own Breast in which all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge all the Patterns of Beauty and Excellency are laid up He figureth this Image upon every Creature and Work he fixeth this Image itself in every Creature and Work which by the lustre of its presence putteth a Life in the Figure and giveth a gloss to it as the Sun-shine to a Flower Gen. 40. 38 39. We have the History of Jacob laying streaked and speckled rods in the Water-troughs before the Cattel When they came to drink they saw these conceived and brought forth their young streaked and speckled like to these Thus God the Father in all the Excellencies of the God-Head generateth Jesus Christ and setteth his Person before him When he cometh to drink of these waters of Life to take in and feast himself upon the Joys of his own Essence and of the Divine Nature he hath his Beloved Son in his Eye continually From this Beatifical vision he is filled with the Innumerable Forms of his Son's Beauties From this Fulness the Father becometh Fruitful and bringeth forth the Creation with all the Forms and changes of it in the Figure of these Eternal Glories 2. All things are by Christ as the Power working Job 38. 14. It is turned as Clay to the Seal they stand as a Garment How sweet and clear a Depth is this Text How doth Jesus Christ in it shine from the Face of every Creature and from the unfathomable Light of his own Person What is this it it is turned You shall see in the verse immediately before it is the Earth which frequently is taken for the whole Creation in the language of the Scripture as Heaven for God But what is this Seal to which the Earth is turned like Clay Two verses before will shew you that this Seal is the Day-light Luk. 1. 78. Zacharias in his Song expresseth Jesus Christ by this name the Day-spring These are his words The Day-spring from on high hath visited us As the Day-light when it springeth in the morning overspreadeth the whole visible World and setteth a new Form upon every thing so the Lord Jesus as a Seal by the presence of his Person with every Creature imprinteth the figure of himself in a beautiful Form upon it Thus it is turned as a Clay to the Seal Job addeth they stand as a Garment The Creation is spoken of first Collectively It then all the Creatures in particular distributively They. There are two rich Glypmses given us of the glorious Person of our Lord in the Creation by these words 1. As the whole Creation in general so each in particular is sealed with the entire Person of Christ. 2. All the Creatures are Sealed with the