and that God hath accepted the attonement for thee in him thou canst never love him as a brother or friend but rather feare him as an enemy or Judge pray therefore with the Desciples Lord encrease our faith and therefore ply the ministery of the word one* else I say againe thou canst never truely love him but as thou dost another man which thou knowest not whether hee love thee againe or no and so thou mayst hate him againe at some time or other for all that but labour for faith and that will breede love and then if thou love him he will surely love thee yea indeede thou couldst neither love nor beleeve in him were it not but hee loves thee first But thou wilt say how shall I know that I answer It is the Apostle Saint Iohns owne words or rather his words by that his Apostle wee love him because hee loved us first And besides his word though that were enough thou hast his seale he hath given thee his Sonne who hath given his life for thee and shed his most precious blood for thy salvation and would he have done this for thee thinkest thou if he had not loved thee no but herein is love not that wee loved God but that God loved us and sent his Sonne to die for us us* and even yet by his spirit hee still sues unto us for our love as a further testimony thereof Oh but thou wilt say I am not worthy of so great love for I am a sinner disobedient and rebellious But I answer what dost thou tell him of that what if thou wert the chiefe of sinners he knew that before he gave thee his Sonne and he gave him unto thee the rather because he knew thou wast so for he justifies the ungodly that is those that condemne and judge themselves to be so so that if thou wilt but beleeve in him and imbrace him it is as much as he desires of thee But thou wilt say it may be he is affected to this or that person and not to me to which I answer againe That his commission is generall Goe preach unto all nations baptizing them c. And so is his invitation too Come unto mee all you that labour c. so that if thou wilt but beleeve and come in unto him thou shalt be saved for he casts out none that come in unto him as you heard before Ioh. 6. 37. And when thou hast considered this then begin to argue and reason thus with thy selfe sith the promise is made to all I know I am one of that number and then thou wilt begin to love him for all thou art a sinner yea thou wilt love him so much the more for that to consider that for all that he loved thee Oh but thou wilt say I see I sinne dayly and hourely and that againe and againe against many vowes and promises against many mercies and meanes of better obedience But I answer what though thou dost remember that as there 's a spring of sinne and corruption in thee so there 's a spring of mercy and compassion in God and that spring is set open for sinne and for uncleanesse to wash and purge thee from the same so that still I say if thou wilt but love and beleeve in him he will love thee for notwithstanding all this hee still woes and sues unto thee for thy love and therefore stand no longer out with him but come in with all the speede thou canst make which that thou mayst the better doe thou must remove these two hinderances out of the way Strangenesse Worldly mindednesse First Strangenesse for strangenesse begets coldnesse of love whereas familiarity as I told you procures boldnesse in the day of judgment But thou wilt say how shall I come to be acquainted with God How why be much in his praise in hearing of the word and receiving of the Sacrament there is a communion of Saints you know and so there 's a communion of God with the Saints let us therefore be carefull to maintaine this communion betwixt us by having recourse unto him in his ordinances and seeking unto him for comfort in all our troubles and adversities Secondly Worldly mindednesse that also begets coldnesse of affection and want of love to the Lord Christ and therefore hee circumcises the heart that is he puts off all carnall and worldly affections from it that so thou mayst not love the world nor the things of the world but may love him with all the heart and with all c. for the love of the world is enmity with God so that if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him for you cannot serve God and Mammon and therefore our Saviour saith That we must not onely forsake but hate father and mother and wife and children and house and lands for his sake and the Gospells or else we cannot be his Disciples so did the Apostles we have forsaken all and followed thee Wherefore let us not set these things too neere our hearts but considering what it is that keepes us asunder as vaine hopes worldly feares fantasticke pride pleasures profits and the like let us cashiere them and cast them from us for what are all these and all such as these are but vaine things that cannot profit in the evill day And therefore as Samuel exhorts the people of Israel Turne not aside from the Lord unto them either to the right hand or to the left for they cannot profit because they are vaine But thou wilt say will God then be content with any love I answer no truely that he will not neither what then Answer First thou must love him withall thy strength and with all thy power with all the parts and faculties of soule and body Now it may be thou art a Magistrate a master of a family a Minister a Tutor or any other governour and then thou must doe God more service then another private and inferiour person thou mayst compell them that are under thee to love the Lord by thy authority and example God lookes for this I say at thy hands for to whom much is given of them much shall be required thou art but as a servant sent to market which must give an account for what hee hath received and the more money hee hath given him to bestow and lay out the more commodities his master lookes he should bring home with him for it so the more wit or understanding or learning or knowledge or authority and power thou hast the more love must thou beare unto Christ and shew it by thy bringing forth more fruits thereof unto him then others that have none of all these oportunities or not in so great a measure as thou hast this is the first thing Secondly thou must love him above all things in the world besides whether it be pleasure or honour
MOVNT EBAL OR A HEAVENLY TREATISE OF DIVINE LOVE Shewing the Equity and Necessity of his being accursed that loves not the Lord Iesus Christ. Together with the Motives Meanes Markes of our love towards him By that late Faithfull and worthy Divine JOHN PRESTON Doctor in Divinitie Chaplaine in Ordinary to his Majestie Master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge and sometimes Preacher of Lincolnes Inne PSAL. 31. 26. Love the Lord O all yee his Saints c. PSAL. 145. 20. The Lord preserveth all them that love him and scattereth abroad all the ungodly LONDON Printed by M. P for Iohn Safford and are to be sold at his house in Black horse Alley in Fleet-street 1638. A HEAVENLY TREATISE OF Divine Love 1 CORINTH 16. 22. If any man love not the Lord Iesus Christ let him be accursed yea let him be had in execration even to the death or let him be Anathema Maranatha THESE words have little or no dependance on the words before going which are these The salutation of me Paul by mine owne hand and the reason why he thus writes is because there were many false Apostles and counterfeit Epistles went abroad in the world if not under his name but hereby saith he you shall know me from them all even by this my salutation and subscription as by mine owne hand for in all my Epistles so I write The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with you all Amen Wherefore to consider them in themselves St. Paul hating those as we use to doe who speake evill of them we love doth here pronounce a curse against them that love not the Lord Iesus Christ and the reason why he doth so is because he cannot endure to heare him evill spoken of by any blasphemous tongue So that this then is the scope and drift of the Apostle in this place namely to commend Love unto us and above all other the love of the Lord Iesus Christ and to exhort us by all meanes thereunto in which exhortation let me desire you to observe with me these two reasons why we should thus love him Whereof the first is taken from the Necessity of it he is accursed that loves him not second is taken from the Equity or object of his love the Lord Iesus Christ. If any man love not the Lord Iesus Christ let him be c. There is not much difficulty in the words yet fome there is for clearing whereof I will shew you what is meant by these two termes Anathema Maranatha and so proceede for the first Anathema it is a Greeke word and it is as much as elevari suspendi to be lift up or be hanged and it signifies accursed by way of allusion to that opprobrious and cursed kinde of death which was inflicted upon notorious and hainous Malefactors who for their offence were hanged up upon a tree gibbet or any such engine according as it is said cursed is every one that hangeth c. which place is againe alledged by this our Apostle St. Paul to prove that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is c. Secondly for the word Maranatha it is an Assyrian word taken from an Hebrew root which signifies execration or cursing and therefore I so rendered it in the reading of it unto you now in that the Apostle useth two words of diverse Languages for the fuller expression of this his so fearefull a malediction and curse as if one word were not enough or that out of his zealous affection he could not so content himselfe with it we may note that by how much the more the curse is greater by so much the more grievous is the duty omitted from which premisses we may make this conclusion or draw this point of Doctrine viz. That he is worthy to be curst yea to bee curst â—ith all execration that loves not the Lord Iesus â—â—rist For the further unfolding and opening whereof consider with me these three things following to wit First what Love is in generall Secondly what love to the Lord Iesus Christ is Thirdly some reasons why he is worthy to be accursed that loves him not of each of these in their order and first of the first What Love is in generall and for that take this briefe description of it viz. Love is an inclination of the will whereby it inclines to some good thing agreable to it selfe First I say its an inclination of the will where we may take notice of two things both of the subject or seate which is not any inferior part or faculty of the soule but the will one of the most supreme and potentest of all the rest And what is the nature and property the quality and condition of it it is elicita non coacta not forced but free inclined not constrained for voluntas as say the Phylosophers est libera the will is of a most absolute and free power so that though a man may be compelled to doe something against his liking yet he can never be forced to doe any thing against his will at lest his will cannot be forced that like a Queene in her Throwne is alwayes free Secondly I say its an inclination of the will unto good aut verum aut apparens either for that it is so indeede or at least for the present appeareâ— and seemes so to be unto it according to 〈◊〉 trite and true axiome of the Schooles too bonum est objectum voluntatis the Adequate object of the will is onely good yet not every good neither but bonum sibi conveniens such a good as is agreeable to it selfe that onely is the object of love Now by this you conceive the second thing what love to the Lord Iesus Christ is and it is nothing else but an intensive bending of the mind unto Christ as the most necessary and suitablest thing for it that may be the Summum bonum the chiefest good of all that it can desire so that it desires and loves nothing like him Now the properties whereby we shall know whether our love to the Lord Iesus Christ be such or not are especially these three First it alwayes desires to have the thing it loves cannot be contented with any thing else but him as being the proper Center of the soule which is never at quiet so long as it is out of his place agreeable to that of a Father Fecistinos Domine ad te inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescit in te Thou hast made us O Lord and our heart is never at rest till it rest in thee it is his fruition that gives it satisfaction againe as it desires the fruition of him so it desires as much Secondly the conjunction and union with him to be one with him and he with us and therefore it hates whatsoever may hinder it and seekes whatsoever may helpe it therein and being thus once conjoyned and enjoying it it
they all which was an argument that he loved much because he was in labour much and so when our Saviour asked Peter whether he loved him he puts him to worke and sets him his taske saying feede my sheepe and last of all Eighthly whether thou wouldest not onely doe but suffer much for his sake as David when his wife Michal laughed at him for dancing before the Arke he was contented to beare it because he did it to the Lord and so the Apostles rejoyced because they werâ— counted worthy to suffer for his name And Saint Paul likewise when the people intreated him with teares not to goe up to Ierusalem because he should be bound as Agabus had signified by the spirit unto him answered them Why doe yee rent my heart I am ready not onely to be bound but also to dye for c. But thou wilt say I have no such occasions now adayes if I had I know not what I should doe But I answer is it so hast thou no such occasions yes thou hast occasions enough as when he takes away thy wife thy child thy friends thy goods thy good name c. if then I say thou canst beare it patiently with Iob and say it is the Lord giveth and the Lord c. or with Ely it is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good then thou lovest him and yet thou must doe more then that thou must not onely beare it patiently but ioyfully too as you heard before the Apostles did lay thy selfe to these rules then and try impartially whether thou love the Lord Iesus Christ or not and forthy further helpe and more infallible notice thereof to know whether thy love to him be pure and unfained or whether it be false and counterfeit take these more particular proofes of it for assure thy selfe if thou love him aright as we touched before that then First thou wilt be content with nothing but love againe so that as Absolon though in hypocrisie said when as David had fetch'd him out of banishment and confined him to his owne house that he might not see the Kings face what doe I here seeing I may not see the Kings face so wouldest thou say out of love to the love of God what doe I here since I cannot behold the faire beauty of the Lord Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon mee or else what good will my life doe me but if thou doe so then thou shalt make my heart more joyfull and more glad then they that have had their Corne and Wine and Oyle increased Secondly thou wilt love the brethren for they are like him though he exceede them in the degrees and measures of goodnesse as the Ocean doth a drop of a bucket this is a pregnant proofe hereof and therefore deale squarely with thy selfe herein And the reason why thou canst not love the Lord if thou love not the Brethren is because its an easier matter to love man whom thou hast seene then it is to love God whom thou hast not seene for use we know makes them comlier and hansomer wherefore Saint Iohn saith If any man say he loves God and yet hates his Brother he is a lyer he deceives himselfe and there is no truth in him But thou wilt say thou lovest them well enough Dost thou so then thou wilt love their company for what we love and delight in we are never well without it nor cannot endure it out of our sight and therefore when the Psalmist had said That all his delight was in the Saints and upon such as excell in vertue if you would know how to know it was so he afterwards tells us That he was a companion of them that feare him c. Psal. 119. But thou wilt say againe though thou dost not love them yet God forbid thou shouldst be so bad but that thou shouldst love the Lord Iesus Christ. But I answer thee againe to that too If thou dost so then thou wilt love his appearing for if thou wish in thy heart there were no generall iudgement thou lovest him not say what thou wilt to the contrary as a loving and loyall wife cannot love her husband but shee will reioyce at his comming home when he is abroad and the neerer the time approacheth by so much the more ioyfull and glad will shee be Thirdly if thou love him thou wilt speake well of him upon all occasions and in every place where thou commest for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh so that if thou speake well of God but for fashion sake not out of any true affection but of feare thou lovest him not for he that loves him will be much in his praise as we have an instance in David so that if the heart be inflamed the mouth will be open thou wilt not be tongue-tied nor ashamed of him no not before Princes But thou wilt say I am no scholler I cannot speake eloquently if I could then indeede I should not be so afraid nor ashamed to doe it as now I am because I can doe it no better nor Rhetorically then now I can But let me tell thee for thy comfort let that never trouble thee speake as well as thou canst and thou needst care for no more for that will beget more and more love in thee and love that will make thee eloquent we have a notable presedent for this in the Spouse who because shee loved Christ see how shee sets him forth my beloved is all beautifull c* and it is most sure it will be so with thee if thou love the Lord thou wilt shew it by thy speeches for thou canst not well speake well of him whom thou lovest not but if thou hast no good thought of him thy words will bewray thee yea thou wilt not onely speake well of him and of his wayes but thou wilt also walke in the same nor wilt thou stand pausing upon it to consider whether thou wert best doe it or no but if it be about a good duty as suppose keeping of the Lords day hearing of the word c. thou wilt doe it without any more adoe yea though there were no promise nor profit to be got by it for else thou dost no more but as a servant not as sonne in hope of wages and not out of love looking for nothing for thy paines so did Saint Paul he would preach the Gospell though he had nothing but chaines and imprisonment for his labour and why will he so why because God commands it and its a good duty so that if thou make a question of it whether thou wert best to doe this or that good duty or wilt doe no more then thou must needs thou lovest not the Lord for he that loves him will doe whatsoever he can for him and yet thinke all too little when he hath done too Fourthly as thou wilt speake well
debt for thee when thou wast ready to goe to prison for it so that now the Lord begins to grow angry with thee if thou wilt not yet love him for all this and yet this is not all and therefore Thirdly consider also that he loves thee now as fire begets fire so doth love beget love therefore saith Saint Iohn we love him because he loved us first that is his love to us should make us love him againe but especially we cannot but love him if we consider in the last place Fourthly what his love is for its unspeakeable and passing knowledge we can never conceive the height and length c. All which what should it teach us but these two things First that if we will not love the Lord he will shew his wrath and make his power knowne upon us that we are but vessells of wrath fitted for destruction as it is said Againe Secondly it should exhort us to love the Lord Iesus Christ and therefore to provoke us thereunto we should often consider and thinke in these things what right and title he hath to us how much he hath done for us and how greatly he loves yea and more then all this wee shall thereby also have these and these things wee shall by this meanes reape these and these benefits First we shall have his spirit the spirit of truth the Comforter which shall leade us into all truth and enable us to fullfill his Commandements and with facility and ease whereas else they would be grievous unto us as for example Saint Paul would soone have beene weary of preaching and suffering so much as he did if he had not had this love in him and why doe parents thinke nothing too much for their children but because they love them therefore it is that though they bee froward and untoward yet still they beare with them if then we cannot finde in our hearts to be quiet untill they looke to the Lord like as the needle of a compasse which is toucht with a Loadstone will never stand still till it comes to the North-pole then may this be a testimony unto us that may distinguish us from Hypocrites and witnesse to our soules that we love the Lord Iesus Christ for they keepe the Commandements of God in some sort and abstaine from some one kinde of sinne but not out of love to him nor in any obedience and conscience of his word but in love to themselves Secondly this is a marke of thy Resurrection from the death of sinne to the life of righteousnesse hereby shall yee knew that yee are translated from death to life because yee love the brethren now yee cannot love them but you must love the Father that begot them Thirdly thou shalt get by this thy love to him for when thou givest him thy heart he will give it thee againe he will onely alter the object but let thee keepe the affection still onely it shall be better then it was before he will purifie it from all its corruptions and cleanse it from all its sins Nor shall this be any thing out of thy way it shall be as much for thy profit as ever it was before for when thy heart is set to keepe his Commandements when it inclines to his statutes as so hee will incline it then whatsoever thou dost it shall prosper so that as it s said of the Sabbath that it was made for man that is for mans good so may we say the same of all the rest of the Commandements that it is made for man that is for his good and benefit and therefore the promise of life and happinesse is made to all alike And here by the way take this difference along with thee to distinguish thy love from selfe love for that is all for it selfe but this is all for him whom thou lovest if then thou love the Lord for thine owne good it is selfe love but if thou love him for himselfe simply without any respect to the recompence of reward then is it true love indeede Fourthly wee shall receive much comfort by loving the Lord now what is that keepes us from loving of him but our pleasures we are loath to part with them and yet alas we shall receive much more and they farre more substantiall sollider and sounder comfort by loving of him then ever we should by loving of the world or the things of the world Now doe but thinke how good a thing it is to love one that is but like thee much rather shouldst thou love one that died for thee wherefore if thou wouldst have thy heart filled with joy and comfort love him for so thou shalt have joy unspeakeable and glorious And last of all if thou wouldst indeede unfainedly love the Lord Iesus Christ consider Fiftly that it makes thee a more excellent man then thou wast before for every man is better or worse according to his love as it is set on things better or worse now Christ is the Summum bonum the chiefest good and if thou love him thou art united unto him and to his God-head for love is of a uniting nature Thou wilt say these are indeede good motives to make us to love him but how shall I come by this love or by what meanes shall I get this love into my heart For answer whereunto I tell thee first of all that if thou canst but unfeinedly desire to love him thou hast halfe done this worke already and that thou mayst have such a desire meditate often upon those motives before This is the answer Christ himselfe gave to his Disciples when they asked him how they should get faith why saith he if you have faith but as a graine of mustard feed you should say to this mountaine be thou removed and be thou throwne into the midst of the Sea c. thereby shewing them the excellency of it that so he might the more enamour them with the love of it and make them desire it above all that they could imagine and thinke of besides in comparison thereof but if thou wouldst as thou sayst thou desirest to love the Lord Iesus Christ indeede with all thy heart with all thy soule and with c. I answer and add againe thou canst not use a better meanes to attaine thereunto and get the love of him into thy heart then these First pray unto God for it for all graces are his gifts they are meere Donatives and hee hath promised to heare them that aske in his Sonnes name and to give the spirit to them that aske it that is to give the gifts and graces thereof unto them nor is he any niggard for he giveth liberally and obraideth not But thou wilt say how doth prayer beget love I answer it begets it two wayes First by prevailing with God Secondly by familiarity with him First I say by prevailing with God so did Iaacob and the woman of Canaan for considering that
he hath condescended to their request that he hath granted their suite and heard their petition and that in such a matter as they are never able to make him any part of amends as the forgivenesse of their sinnes why then they thinke that to love him is one of the least things they can doe for him so Mary Magdalen loved much because much was forgiven her Secondly by familiarity with him we have a saying that nimium familiaritatis contemptum parit that too much familiarity breeds contempt and however amongst some men it may sometimes fall out so yet it s seldome seene amongst those that are intimate friends indeede or say it should yet I say it never so comes to passe betwixt God and the faithfull soule but by how much the more familiar and frequent they are together by so much the more fervent and indissoluble is their love and this is most certaine that a man that is a stranger may with thee well but cannot truely love thee till he be acquainted with thee so neither canst thou love the Lord as thou shouldst so long as you are strangers one to another and what brings us and the Lord better acquainted together then prayer wherein as it were thou talkest familiarly with God even as a man talketh with his friend face to face this is the first meanes Secondly desire the Lord to shew himselfe unto thee as Moses did for this is a strong motive and meanes to make thee love him therefore saith our Saviour to his Disciples that him* which is as if he had said if you would know how you shall come to love me or my father it shall be by this way or meanes I will manifest my selfe unto you I will shew you my glory and then you cannot choose but love mee though you loved me not before Now the ordinary way and meanes whereby he reveales himselfe unto any one is by the preaching of the word which though it be but a dead letter in it selfe yet when hee puts life and spirit into it and opens our hearts as he did open Liddeahs thereby then we see and conceive his mercy and our owne wretched vilenesse whereupon we cannot but love him knowing how hee hath loved us and gave himselfe for us and therefore the Apostle prayeth That the God of our Lord Iesus Christ would give the Ephesians the spirit of knowledge wisdome and revelation that the eyes of their understanding being enlightened they may know what is the hope of his calling and the riches of the glory of his inheritance in his Saints* as if he had said if you know but these things then there is no doubt to be made of it but that you will love him as well as one would desire for this is one sure ground why we love him not or love him no better then we doe because wee know him no better we are ignorant of him and ignoti nulla cupido as it is said there is no love no longing desire after that which we know not or know not the worth and necessity of it as a sicke man hath no thought after the soveraigne druggs in the Apothecaries shop because hee is ignorant of any such matter whereas the skilfull Physitian seekes out and sends for them and as an ordinary rusticke cares not for a precious pearle but casts it away when he findes it which if an expert Lapidary had it hee would set much by it because he knowes the price and worth of it well enough and thence it is that when the Prophet David had professed his love to God saying I will love thee ô Lord my strength hee afterwards addes as it were the reason or ground of that his love towards him because hee bowed the Heavens and came downe What 's that why that he had made himselfe knowne unto him he had declared his power and might in his deliverance and that was it that made him love him if therefore thou wilt but desire I say to love him he will inflame thy heart with the love of him yea he will open the Heavens and thou shalt see him sitting on the right hand of God as Saint Steven did But thou wilt say all these are the workes of God and they extraordinary ones too but what must I doe for my part to have the love of God in my heart to which I answer First no it is no such extraordinary thing for God to reveale himselfe to his Saints it is an usuall manner with him but yet Secondly thou must doe these things thy selfe First thou must looke how he hath revealed himselfe in the Scriptures to be a most glorious and gracious God a mercifull Father in Iesus Christ slow to anger and of much mercy and now when we perceive him to be such a one we cannot but love him and long after him with all our hearts Secondly we must consider our owne misery this made Mary to seeke after him and were it not but that we stand in neede of him but that wee know wee are undone and damned without Christ wee should never care so much for him for the whole have no neede of the Physitian that is they care not for his skill nor his helpe but they that are sicke they that know their owne wants and weakenesses they know how to value and esteeme of him and so we when we see we are wounded by sinne and sicke unto death then will we enquire and seeke out for the spirituall Physitian of our soules Christ Iesus Thirdly we must humble our selves before him confessing our sinnes and that in particular as many as we can by the omission of such and such good duties and the commission of these and these sinnes especially we must confesse our beloved bosome-raigning sinnes so the Prodigall Sonne confessed that he had sinned especially against Heaven and before his father by ryotous living whereby he was unworthy to be called his sonne and did desire onely to be as one of his hired servants and now when he saw his father notwithstanding make him so welcome who had so meane a conceit of himselfe that he put a ring upon his finger and shooes on his feete c. then he loved him much more and so it is with Christ and us when we are once out of love with our selves and yet perceive that he loves us who are not worthy to be beloved then that makes us love him againe and the more lowly we are in our owne eyes the more highly doe we esteeme Christ and Christ us Fourthly and lastly thou must first of all get faith for as thy faith is stronger or weaker so is thy love more or lesse if thou hast but a little faith thou hast but a little love for faith is the ground of love as the promises are the ground of faith Now so long as thou dost not beleeve that he hath satisfied the divine wrath and justice of God for thee