his affection to Christ who is sick of love for him Love knoweth no reverence what it loveth it loveth and it knoweth nothing else Take all from me O Lord so thou leave me thy self saith St. Augustine 2. It is an elevating and transporting love Mens hearts thoughts and discourses are upon the objects of their love If a Woman love her husband she is ever thinking and talking of him in the time of his absence Absence is a short death Seâ—â—alt de usu passion which entails upon us as much sorrow as the presence of the beloved giveth satisfaction Talk with a man that is Love-sick you talk with a man that is not at home with a man that is absent from himself Extasim facit amor amatores â—uo statu dimâ—vit â—ui juris esse non sâ—ait sed inea quae amant penitus transfert 〈◊〉 de divinis nominib cap. 4. Deplicibus desideriis nemo incedere potest the soul is more where it loveth then where it dwelleth a man that is Love-sick for Christ he passeth through his ordinary employments and doth scarce heed them he passeth through the world as a man at randome he regards not the things of the world for Christ is gotten into his heart and draws up all his affections to himself Take a man that is sick for any earthly thing whether of Ahabs sickness who was sick for Naboths Vineyard or of Amnons sickness who wasted his Spirit in an impure flame burning in lust toward his Sister Tamar that which the soul is sick for it daily dreams thinks and talks of it so the soul that is sick of love for Christ will be as it were extasied and deaded to the things below and be wholly taken up with Jesus Christ He wisheth that all the parts of his body were turned into tongues to praise him or into an heart to love him he seemeth to torment himself that there are given to him two hands to act two eyes to see two ears to hear two feet to walk and but one heart to love he doth not prescribe any bounds to his love he is troubled that Gods greatness is so well known his goodness is no more loved and that having so many subjects he hath no more that love him he doth not prescribe any bounds to his love to Christ but makes it his sole desire and wishes that his heart were dilated that he might infinitely love him if it might be who is infinitely lovely 3. It is a pure and Virgin Love Cant. 1.3 4. Because of the savour of thy good ointments Modus amandi Christum sine medo Bern. thy Name is as ointment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love thee it is a chaste love not an adulterous love a love of Christ for himself and for his own sake for the savour of his precious ointments during the state of innocence man had no love save only for God and nature was so well tempered with grace as that all her inclinations were holy in this happy state holy love and self-love were as it were the same thing but since mans disobedience his love altered nature and he that lookt upon the glory yf God and his own good with the same eye began to separate them and forgetting what he owed unto God he even made a God of himself but now for a remedy of this mischief Jesus Christ is come into the world to banish self-love from our souls for as one well noteth his coming had no other motive nor his doctrine any other end then the ruine of this dreadful monster and he admits of no disciples who have not changed their self-self-love into an holy aversion a man cannot therefore be a good Christian nor can he have any strong affections to Christ who doth too excessively love himself Dost thou love Christ for himself or for the loaves Dost thou find a sweetness in his person in his doctrine in his offices in his death blood mediation resurrection and ascension dost thou love him for himself and not for any carnal respects then is thy love a pure and unmixt love 4. It is an obedient love If you love me keep my commandments saith Christ John 14.15 The greatest demonstration of our love to Christ is the love that we bear to his commandments David cries out Oh how I love thy Law I love it above gold Many there are now a dayes that profess much love to Christ yetthink themselves loose from his commandments but certainly he that doth not look on Christ as a Law-giver as well as a Saviour doth not love him Indeed nothing will so enable a man to keep the commandments of Christ as Love will do This is love and his commandments are not grievous therefore saith Austin Nullo mode sunt onerosi labores amantium interest ergo quid ametur nam in eo quod amatur aut non laboratur aut amatur labor August Love never finds difficulties the reason why men object difficulties is want of love Love neither frames nor accepts of excuses love finds no difficulties which it overcomes not love charmeth troubles mingleth pleasures with pains and to encourage us against all difficulties finds out inventions to make them either pleasing or less troublesome to us The troubles of men that love Christ vehemently are never troublesome and they never find pain in serving him whom they love or if they do they cherish it 5. It is a love that swalloweth up all other loves whatsoever There are three sorts of love one ever good the other ever bad the third of its own nature good but accidentally made bad and that which is ever good is this love to Christ which I am now speaking of that which is ever bad is the love of sin that which is of its own nature good but accidentally made bad is the love of those things which we may lawfully affect but we offend in them when we love them disorderly or excessively now this love to Christ swallows up the other loves for the one of them it quencheth and quite extinguisheth it even as water quencheth fire there can no evil motion come into the heart but if the love of Christ be there it will chase it out not at all giving it any place of rest or residence and for the other love it helps to order and rectifie that too teaching a man if he love any such thing yet to love it in due manner and in due measure not preferring his love of that above him for whose sake only he must love it be it parents or children husband or wise or friend be it credit pleasure or profit ease health life be it what it will be the love of Christ ruleing in our heart will so qualifie and moderate the love of these things that it will make it hold its due place and proportion ever reserving the predominance to him whom all creatures must serve chiefly it teacheth us that as God is to be
loved for his own sake so all other things for his sake and therefore in an inferiour and secondary place Christ must be loved first of all and most of all first in time and first in place many begin to look toward Christ and heaven when they can look no way else they serve sin the Devil the world first and themselves also before God reserving only the surrows and wrinckles of their old age for God but true Love honoureth Christ with its first fruits it gives God as I may so speak the Maiden-head of its love it s serves him first and none else before him And as first in time so first in place also it lets God have the first and best place it lets him have the highest and chiefest room in the heart it gives the priority to none else sets none before him none equal with him Amor meus Deus meus That which I make my love I make my God therefore covetous men are called Idolaters they make a God of their money though not because they offer sacrifices to it yet because their hearts and affections are set upon it the world hath more from them then God hath but a man that loveth Christ reserveth the first and the fattest for Gods use And as such a one loveth Christ first of all so likewise most of all as primarily so totally he divides not his love betwixt Christ and others Pharaob would have had the Israelites to have left their Cattle behind them when they desired leave of him to go and sacrifice in the Wilderness but what saith Moses non remanebit ungula there shall not an hoof be left behind so when Satan would perswade a lover of Christ not to give all to God but to leave something behind for him and his service he answereth him no there shall not an hoof stay behind he that hath given us all shall command and have all One of these two that entered into the land of Canaan was Caleb Philo Iud. and Philo the Jew etymologyzing his name saith it was quasi Col-leb which in the Hebrew signifies all heart thereby teaching us that Christ must have all our heart all must be given to him if we will enter into the heavenly Canaan 6. This Love is such as being placed upon its object the Lord Jesus it will not be willing to part with him upon any terms What we eagerly desire to have we fear to lose Quod vehementer cupis habere times perdere he that loveth money oh how loth is he to part with it You shall as soon wring water out of a stone as money out of his purse it was a sign Esau loved not his birth-right very dearly because he parted with it so easily but the man in the Gospel loved his sheep well and the woman loved her groat well that took such pains as they did to seek them out again when they had lost them Certainly Christ is worth keeping if you have him worth a seeking if you have lost him they that love him as they should will rather do any thing then part with him to others the matter is not great whether they part with Christ or keep him they are indifferent and the services they do him they do rather out of fashion than out of love he that serves a master whom he loves not his service is an hard task to him but they that love him heartily serve him cheerfully they will suffer no occasions to part them from him or if at any time they do chance to lose him they will never leave till they have recovered and found him A man who loseth his friend loseth one half of himself he is at once both alive and dead and death accords not with life save only to make him more miserable The absence of Christ is bitter to him to whom his presence is sweet See how restless the Spouse was Cant. 3. when she sought him whom her soul loved when she sought him and found him not she could never be at rest till she had got where he was and when once she had him she held him she would not let him go then till she had brought him home to her Mothers House to the chamber of her that conceived her A Love-sick soul desireth nothing more then the presence of Christ here and in Heaven here in the use of his Ordinances Word and Sacraments and they that do indeed love Christ do love to meet him in these in his Word that they may confer with him in his Sacraments that they may eat and drink with him Latatur ancilla ad vocem Petri laetatur anima ad voeem Christi The Damsel rejoyced at the voice of Peter and the soul rejoyceth that the voice of Christ but these are but his back parts the shadow of his presence hereafter then we shall have his presence in glory and this also all that love him do long for I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all saith holy Paul Phil. 1.23 and saith he the Crown of life shall be given to all that love the appearing of Christ as if none could love him that did not love his appearing CHAP. XIII THe second Use is for Exhortation Vse 2 Labour you to be vehement in your love to Christ labour every day for more communion with him Love is the liquefaction and melting of the soul toward her beloved here no excess is or can be vitious the object will warrant the greatest excess of love it is a sin in other things to be violent but not to be violent for the Kingdom of God it is a sin to be sick of love for a poor skin-deep beauty or for any worldly thing whatsoever but not for Christ True it is there may be some accidental errors about the greatness of a Christians affections to Christ when our hearts are so intent upon him as that we are impatient when he delayes the manifestation of himself to us but let me tell you if there be any errors in your love to Christ he will pardon them therefore let your affections be ardent and burning toward Christ Reason teacheth us that he is the Abysle of all perfections and the Center of all love so as a man need not fear committing any excess in loving him with all his might Consider the greatness of Christs love to us When the Lord Jesus did first look upon sinners how black did he see them to be but Christs banner over his people is love he loved us not according to what we were but according to what we should be by grace He hath loved us and washed our sins in his blood Rev. 1.5 What was there in man that could atract Christs love to him there was neither descent nor beauty nor parts nor riches not innocence and goodness Now that the love of Christ might be excessive he makes it to out run the wickedness and sinfulness that is in man
the yearnings of Josephs bowells over Benjamin his Mothers Son and of the true Mother over her child incaluerunt viscera they felt an agitation of their bowels Love the more vehement it is doth work the more sudden and sensible decay and languishing of Spirits as Amnon is said out of wanton love to wax lean from day to day and to grow sick for Tamar King 2 13. So here in Spiritual love you have the like expression O give me Wine to exhilarate Reynolds Treat de Passionibus and Apples to refresh those spirits that were as it were wasted and melted away by an extream out-let of love Hence I note Observ That true love carrieth out the soul after Christ with such vehemency that it is even sick for the want of Christ affections when they are strong will work disquiet when they obtain not what they are earnestly set upon when love is hindered it causeth a soul-sickness In handling of this point I will first shew what Love to Christ is Love to Christ is a supernatural grace wrought in the soul of a Christian by the spirit of God Descript through the knowledge of God in Christ and faith whereby we delight in Christ desire Union and Communion with him wish well unto him and rest upon him as the chiefest good where you have 1. The nature of it It is a supernatural vertue I call it a supernatural and heavenly love to distinguish it from other kinds of love there is a natural love Ista quam tu describis negotiatio est non amicitia quae ad commodum accedit Senec. Epist 9. which is naturally imprinted in us fastening us to those objects that are delightful to us this love is between Father and Child Husband and Wife c. There is a sensible love seated in the lower part of the soul and hath so much commerce with the senses from whence it borroweth its name as it alwayes makes impression upon the body and this it is which is properly termed passion There is a sensual and carnal love which may rather be called a fury then love there is worldly love when men are lovers of riches honours pleasures more then of Christ there is an immoderate self-self-love when men love their ease credit profit life more then Christ Yea many that pretend they love their friends they love them not so much for any vertue they observe in them as for the good they hope to reap by them Observe a man transfixed with any violent love you shall find a man whose mind is bewitched whose wit and reason is Ecclipsed all he beholds thinks and talks of is the object of his love but love to Christ is of a supernatural excellency it is a ray of Christs own love therefore he calls it his love Continue ye in my love John 15. 2. The efficient or worker of it is the Spirit of God we have it not from Nature but from the Spirit love is one of fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 Neither have we it from custome as Philosophers speak neither is it gotten by art or industry It is shed abroad upon our hearts by the Holy Ghost in us Rom. 5.5 Love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God 1 John 4.7 Now it is above the power of corrupt nature to love Christ 3. The object of this love is Jesus Christ the Spouse calls Christ him whom her soul loved Cant. 3. Christ is the object who is the Author of this love The objects of other loves are many times faulty and vitious Loves fancy may err in chusing an evil object but here it is not so for God and Christ are the only objects of this love 4. The grounds of this love that is through the knowledge of God in Christ and faith 1. Through the knowledge of God in Christ there must be a knowledge of Gods love to us before we can love him for as a stone that lies in the bowels of the earth is not hot till it be out of the earth and the Sun first shine upon it so we cannot love God till we first know his love toward us for our love is rather an effect then a cause of his love We love him because he loved us first 1 John 4.19 and we love not him till he hath first loved us If a man will love God in Christ he must first know God in Christ for our love to him is grounded upon our knowledge of God in Christ 2. A second ground of this love is faith there must be faith to believe the remission of our sins and that Christ loveth us in particular before we can truly love him The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart and good conscience and of faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1.5 So that true love to Christ must spring from faith Object But it may be said that the woman in the Gospel had many sins forgiven her because she loved much Luke 7.47 Here was her love first then follows the remission of her sins Sol. The word Because doth not note out the cause of pardon but only a sign that her sins were pardoned You are to understand it thus it appeared that many sins were forgiven her because she loved much such a man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lover of God because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beloved of God he loveth much because much is forgiven This crosseth the opinion of the Papists they say Love is the form of faith for they make a double love one without faith and such a wicked man may have another with faith and such a wicked man cannot have Object But they object That which gives the operation to faith is the form of faith but love gives the operation to faith In Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith working by love Gal. 5.6 where love say they gives the operation to saith Ergo love is form of faith Resp Love gives the operation of faith not quà causa sed quà instrumentum not as the cause but as the instrument Love is not the cause of faiths operation but love is the instrument in its operation Object But S. James saith As the body without life is dead so faith without works is dead James 2.26 therefore love which makes faith to work gives life to it and is the form of it Sol. The works of faith as love c. do shew there is faith as the Spirit shews there is a soul if works were not there would appear to be no true faith Object That which doth perfect faith is the form of faith but works as love and other vertues do perfect faith James 2.22 By works was Abrahams faith made perfect Resp Works do perfect faith not in actu primo sed in actis secundo not in regard of the first act but in regard of the second as a tree is said to be perfected by the fruit not that the fruit gives
the essence to the Tree but the fruit sheweth that it is a perfect Tree 5. The effects of this love follow 1. Hereby we do delight in God this sheweth wherein true love consisteth There is alwayes a delight and complacency in the thing beloved we read in this book of the Canticles of the bed of love the soul of a believer reposeth it self in Christ as in a bed of Roses therefore his love is grounded upon Experience he loveth God exceedingly as best deserving love above all other Magnes amoris amor Love we say is the Loadstone of love they easily delight most in him of whom they find themselves most beloved A carnal man saith he loves Christ but doth not delight in him he pretends to love him but doth not like him Christ is not an object suitable to his crooked heart therefore he often picks a quarrel with Gods dealings as if God were engaged to him for his love he excepts against Gods Providence as if it were too partial for giving too much to others too little to himself He takes Exceptions against the Law of God as if it were too strict for tying him up from seeking his own pleasures on the Lords day and at no time suffering him to make provision for the flesh Can any man love Christ truly unless he delight in him Who can love his Prince and dislike his Laws his Government Who can love his Image that delighteth not in his person nay where there is dislike upon distimilitude there can be no true love affection cannot subsist nor be constant without judgement nor love without conformity now where there is true love there is a delight in Christ and a constant affection toward him 2. Amor est unio amantis ad antatum It makes a man desire to be united to Christ to enjoy the comfortable presence of Christ to have fellowship and communion with him Love is a desire of Union to the person beloved Upon the affection and liking that we take of Christ it will beget a desire in us to possess and enjoy him Fruition is that which love seeks it is never at rest till it can joyn it self to the object that it loveth till it gets to enjoy and possess it some have therefore resembled love unto fire whatsoever you cast into the fire it is the property of fire to assimilate it to transform it into its own nature and likeness such is the operation of love it transforms a man into the nature of that which he loveth if it be a fleshly object that he loveth it makes him carnal if earthly it makes him earthly if heavenly it makes him heavenly 3. It makes a man wish well to Christ the honour of Christ is more dear to him then all the world than his own life Coeffet Tabul human passion yea then his own salvation as Moses could have been even contented to have been blotted out of the Book of life then that Christ should be dishonoured One defineth Love thus Love is a well-wishing which we testifie with all our power to those to whom we are enclined procuring them for their own sakes all the good we think may give them content The son of Antigonus being sick and none knowing what he ailed the Physitian discovered the cause of it to be his love to his Mother-in-law for still as she came into his presence his pulses fell to beat extraordinarily Thus in our love of Christ when we see any thing done which makes for the honour of Christ it will make our spirits to exult and our hearts to leap within us On the other side when we see his holy name prophaned and dishonoured his Sabbaths defiled his Ordinances contemned this will fill a man that loveth Christ with an holy indignation burst his heart with grief and force his tongue to speak for the honour of him whom his soul loveth You have heard of the son of King Craesus that was born dumb and never spake word in all his life yet in the Battel when he saw the life of his Father in danger the string of his tongue suddenly burst asunder then he cryed to the Enemy to save him it was the King that he fought withall As it was with him when he saw the life of his Father endangered so it is with him that truly loves Christ when he sees the holy Name of God to be dishonoured it goes to his heart to see it and makes him break through all resistances of nature and speak then for the honour of Christ though he never speak more 4. The soul resteth upon Christ as the chiefest good rest is the utmost end that love seeks after and having gotten it it rejoyceth in it without end It is so in Gods own love where he loveth he doth after a sort acquiescere he doth rest pleased and satisfied with it Matth. 3. ult where speaking from heaven and testifying of his beloved son he saith Hic est filius meus dilectus and what he meant by it the following words do declare in quo mihi complaceo or inquo acquiesco in whom I am well pleased or do rest satisfied that is the sweet effect that love hath where it obtains fruition it receiveth full satisfaction Other objects do not satisfie us and no wonder they be flying and transitory What certain aim can a man take when he shoots at a flying Fowl Such be all terrestrial objects when we aim at them and hope to catch them as Solomon speaks of riches they take the wings of an Eagle and fly away from us Jesus Christ is an object more continuing and therefore gives more contentment In setting our loves upon him we find rest and peace it is not so when we set our hearts upon other things our hearts are then full of restless agitations and motion The inferiour part of the elementary Region that is toward the earth is the seat of Winds and Tempests but the upper part that is toward Heaven that is ever said to be calm and peaceable in like sort are our hearts and souls when the love of them doth propend toward these inferiour and earthly things they be full of unquiet agitations tempestuous and troublesome but when they be higher raised viz. to Christ and Heaven-ward then they be calm and quiet there is rest peace solace satisfaction and abundance of tranquility CHAP. XI IN the second place I shall shew what this Love-sickness is and whence it ariseth Love-sickness is a strong impulsion of love in the soul after Christ and a most vehement thirsting after him upon the sense of the want of him It is observable that in this Book of Solomons Song the Spouse is said twice to be sick of love once in the absence of Christ once in his presence In his absence when the Watchmen that went about the City smote her and wounded her and the Keepers of the walls took away her vail from her then she chargeth the
Christ is so good as he cannot be loved so much as he ought to be and let a man do his utmost he is obliged to confess that the love of Christ doth far exceed the greatness of mans love CHAP. XIV ARE any of you sick of love for Christ Vse 3 then let me excite you with the Love-sick Spouse in my Text diligently to seek after him whom your soul loveth and let me tell you for your encouragement that the Lord Jesus will freely bestow himself upon all those that are sick of love for him and that earnestly pant and seek after him to that end seriously weigh these following particulars 1. Christs giving himself to those that were never sick for him nor sought for him at all I was found of them that sought me not Isa 65.1 So he gave himself tendered and revealed himself to those that never heard of him and into whose hearts it never came to begg such a gift of God how much more then shall they find him that are sick of love for him and earnestly seek him being revealed and tendered to them in the Gospel their want and need of him being discovered to them Seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened to you ask and you shall receive Shall such receive that never asked how much more shall they receive that ask and cry after him If the door of Gods free grace be opened to such who never knocked at the gate of mercy how much more will he open the door of mercy to such who in the sense of misery shall knock earnestly for mercy It is said of a Roman Emperour Sucton that he would never suffer any Petitioner to go from him with a sad countenance Christ that is full of such bowels of compassion put all the tendernesses and bowels of all the compassionate men in the world into one none can be so tender as his heart is he will not suffer his Petitioners to go from him with a sad countenance Jesus Christ may defer his grace but will not give an absolute denyal 2. Consider that Christ doth as it were wooe poor sinners to seek and sue unto him he doth as it were put up his bills unto us when we go to prayer that we would earnestly pray to his Father that he might be given to us which is a manisest proof that he will freely bestow himself upon such as thus seck for him God calls to us in this manner Call unon me in the day of trouble ask and you shall receive seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened to you What are these but wooing commands and begging commands it is a remarkable phrase Cant. 2.14 O my Dove that art in the clefts of the rock in the secret places of the stairs let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely Lo here he takes pleasure in beholding his people praying to him mourning and lamenting after him therefore he wooeth his Spouse with prayers requests and petitions to pray unto him the prayers of his people are his delight the praises of Angels and Saints in heaven and the prayers and praises of the Saints on earth is all the musick Christ delighteth in so in the answer of Christ to the woman of Samaria John 4.10 If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water Christ there did as it were beg of her to seek him for living water he manifested to her what he was what he would give unto her and give it her he would if she would but ask it of him The same in effect he speaks to every one of us if you would ask of me I would give you living water Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it open thy heart wide open thy desires wide and I will fill thee with mine hidden treasures 3. Christ so far condescendeth as to seek to us to receive him he follows and pursues rebels with entreaties to make up their peace with God then much more will he give himself to them that shall pursue him with intreaties I am come saith he to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel My great errand into the world is to seek those that are lost to bring them bak again But note that place 2 Cor. 5.20 Now then we are Embassadours for Christ c. Ministers are Christs Embassadours and our commission is to treat a peace between an angry God and sinful men the word that we preach is nothing else but an Embassy of peace the Gospel is called a word of reconciliation but here are the expressions of wonder and astonishment as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead to be reconciled unto God God himself by the mouths of his Ministers entreats you we are the Mediatours of peace between you and him what arguments we use to draw you to Christ are Christs arguments when we command you it is as though God commanded you when we exhort you it is as though God exhorted you so when we pray when we threaten c. so we pray you in Christs stead when we pray you by all the mercies of God by all the bowels of Christ by all the love of Christ manifested in giving himself for you by his sufferings it is as if Christ did in his own person lay open all that he done and suffered for you and entreat you to be reconciled Now shall the God of infinite glory and Majesty so far condescend as to beseech us and to pray us to be reconciled will not he then freely bestow himself upon us when we are sick of love for him when we beseech him and diligently seek him 4. Consider he makes a gracious Proclamation inviting all excepting none out of it manifesting his readiness freely to bestow himself on every one that shall seek unto him John 7.37 In the last day that great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried saying If any man thirst let him come to me and drink Where the greatest concourse of people was there the Proc amation of mercy was published If any among you thirst after living waters let him come to me and drink let him that will come He every one that is thirsty come and buy without money the poorest sort are the most acceptable customers so Prov. 1.20 21. Wisdome crieth without she uttereth her voice in the streets she crieth in the chief places of concourse in the openings of the gates in the City she uttereth her words without in the streets in the high street among the press in the Congregation in the assemblies Why doth wisdom make such publick Proclamation It is 1. To shew his freeness and readiness to receive all that come and to refresh every thirsty soul that cometh to him 2. To take off all excuses
of keeping my lusts I must have Christ or I perish eternally CHAP. IV. STay me with Flaggons c. Mark what the Spouse saith here before my Text he brought me into his banquetting house or Wine-cellar and then She cryes out Stay me with Flaggons c. Hence I note That the more we enjoy Christ Observ and are sensible of the worth of Christ the more we shall desire after him none are so eager after Christ as those that have had most communion with him Where there is no knowledge of the worth of Christ there is no desire after him Swine trample upon pearl because they know not the worth of pearl Gadarens preferred their Swine above Christ because they valued them above him Carnal hearts see no worth and excellency in the Ordinances of Christ they see no worth in the priviledges of Christ they see no worth in the wayes of Christ no glory in grace no glory in an holy profession no worth in his people Greg. Homil. Maltum deseruit qui voluntatem habendi dereliquir A sequentibus tanta relicta sunt quanta à non sequentibus desideraripossunt All that is spiritual is above the ken of a carnal eye his grace is spiritual his comforts are spiritual his priviledges spiritual Carnal hearts judge nothing excellent but what is pompous What the world counts excellent Christ calls for a forsaking of and what the world counts dishonourable Christ calls for the taking it up Therefore one of the Fathers said that the Apostles foregoing nothing had yet foregone very much since they had foregone their own desires and that dispoiling themselves of a passion which in their greatest poverty gave them a right to all riches they might boast to have forsaken all things for Jesus Christ Matth. 19. This shews a great difference between earthly and heavenly things Vse 1 Earthly things are alwayes desired when we want them desire ceaseth when we have them A man that wants bread and drink and any necessaries oh how he loveth it when he wants it and what strength of desire doth he put forth after it but when he hath it and hath taken his fill of it as the Israelites did Manna he soon loaths it All vain fashions all sensual delights and pleasures with which the hearts of the children of men are so much taken up after men have a while taken their fill of them they soon grow weary of them they soon grow sick of them though before they were sick for them But it is otherwise with heavenly things we love them most when we do enjoy them and do most desire them when we have most of them Christ is so sweet Attonitus novitate mali divesque miserque Effugere optat opes quae modo voverat odit Ovid. Mot. 11. de Mida that a Christian never thinks he wants him till he doth enjoy him he is so far from thinking he hath too much that he never thinks he hath enough of Christ the more he hath the more he doth desire As for outward things as to the desire of them we are often like that Prince who repented his having wished for riches and was afflicted for having obtained them his desire became his punishment he abhorred that which he desired and finding himself poor in the midst of plenty Cui enim assecuto satis fuit quod optanti nimium videbatur Senec. Epist 118. he prayed to be delivered from an evil which he himself had procured Absence of outward good things puts a valuation upon them and their presence makes us to despise them they appear as one saith great to our imagination when they are far off but when they draw nearer they lose their false greatness all their advantages vanish away as shadows before the Sun and we turn our valuation into disesteem our love into hatred and our desires into detestation Blessed are they that still hunger and thirst after Christ and his righteousness they shall be satisfied Matth. 5.6 Angels and glorified Saints though they are full of Christ and of God yet they desire more of him CHAP. V. I Observe further that the Spouse is sick of love for Christ and even fainteth for him in the house Wine Whence we may learn That at the time of special communion with Christ in his Ordinances Observ our desires should be the more enlarged after him Our desires in time of holy duty should be as wings to raise us up to God and as chains to fasten us to him God hath endowed us with holy desires only to come by the good which we have not and which is most necessary for us they are helps in our necessity they are as one observeth the hands of our will and as those parts of the body do labour for all the rest so our desires after Christ do take pains for all the affections of the soul and do by their diligence the more oblige our love to Christ our minds should alwayes be holy but more especially in the time of Gods Worship for then we come to meet with God then should we list up our hearts to God and mount up to heaven upon the wings of faith and an holy affection This may give a check to those that come to the Ordinances of Christ Vse but do not desire after communion with Christ in his Ordinances their hearts and thoughts run out after other things All men desire happiness and salvation by Christ who is the object of eternal happiness but he is below their thoughts their desires their endeavours Their lusts their pleasures these earthly and sensual contentments do swallow up their desires even then when they draw neer to God in his Ordinances God complains of such My people have committed two evils They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters a running streaming and inexhaustible fountain a million of creatures cannot draw it dry yet I am forsaken Jer. 2.13 I am undesired I am a forsaken fountain They chuse broken cisterns that is creatures which are cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water hold no joy no comfort no life these things are desired and all run with their pitchers to these broken cisterns They have committed two Evils saith the Lord two great evils it is but one action yet two great evils an aversion from God and an inordinate conversion to the creature a rejection of an immutable God and a choice of a mutable creature When we come to the Ordinances of Christ the Lord Jesus bespeaks us as David did Saul 1 Sam. 24.15 After whom is the King of Israel come out after whom dost thou pursue after a dead dog after a flea So Christ saith you are now come into my presence and pretend to draw neer to me in a more solemn manner then ordinary After whom do your desires run out after these dead things these dead dogs these fleas not after me a living God What answer will ye make to Christ when he shall put
this question to you What evil didst thou find in me that thou desiredst me not How often have I gone about to melt thee with my love and did but look for thy desires of me and could not so much as obtain one desire from thee What will the sad consequence hereof be but this Christ will say to such you have often drawn neer to me in my Ordinances but me you affect not the Devil your own sins and the curse of God have oppressed you I came to fave you and have given you the means of grace and made a tender of my willingness to save you in the Gospel I came to save you out of the hands of your enemies but you have forsaken me the fountain of life and blessedness And therefore now what have you to do to take my Word within your mouths to draw neer to me when your hearts are far from me Do not such perish justly who desire not to be saved Is any pity to be shewn to such that come to Gods Ordinances and may have Manna and will not If they will but desire after after it they may have it If such be starved to death who will pitty them They might have Living-waters if they would ask after them but they will not Do not such persons justly perish in their sins This then may justly check us for the deadness of our desires and affections when we come to converse with Christ in his Ordidances Oh did we delight our selves in holy exercises and holy Ordinances how would they raise our hearts our desires and affections toward them This is one end why God hath ordained Ordinances namely to be as so many steps by which our affections may climb up to heaven hereby our hearts may have a strong intercourse with God though our persons be yet so far asunder Therefore whensoever thou drawest neer to God in any publick or secret duty let it be in hope to get neerer to God ere thou dost desist and when you go to read and hear the Word let it be with this desire and prayer that thou maist there meet with something that may raise thy affections neerer to God and give thee a fuller taste of his love in Christ CHAP. VI. STay me The Word in the Original is in the plural number She speaks to her friends and companions the faithful Ministers of Christ and other experienced Christians Stay me with some comfortable Doctrines and promises and with them comfort and refresh my languishing spirit the address is not directly to Christ himself Hence I note That the comforts of Christ to fainting Christians are often conveyed by the Ministery of man Observ he sends forth his Messengers to whom he gives the tongue of the Learned that know how to speak a word in season to a wearied soul This is one end why God hath set up the Ministery viz. that they may comfort those that are in spiritual distress Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith the Lord Isaiah 40.1 God will have his people to go to Ministers for comfort that are men like themselves and this is one reason why many people go heavy and sad all their dayes because out of the pride and stoutness of their Stomach they neglect and scorn to go to others for comfort they hide their wounds and bleed inwardly because they are unwilling to lay open their sores to faithful and learned Ministers and experienced Christians though the Lord he the God of all comfort yet for the most part he conveyes it to us by the Ministery of man True it is God sometimes doth immediately comfort them that are cast down he can comfort without means but he doth not but when means are wanting when we are debar'd of comforts then he comforts us in an immediate way but when means is to be had when we may have the benefit of the Ministery of the Word and of the Communion of Saints then God conveyeth comfort by means God will not comfort those immediately that neglect and despise the ordinary means of comfort hereby God endeareth the affections of people to Ministers and of one Christian to another when others can apply comfort to them from their particular case and experience in the like kind how welcome are the words and how sweet is the presence of a faithfull Minister and experienced Christian to them Let Ministers and Christians make it their business to comfort fainting souls Vse 1 It is the office of Ministers to strengthen the diseased sheep of Christ to heal that which is sick to bind up that which is broken c. Ezek. 34 4. It is to be presumed that God that hath called them to this work hath fitted them for it Hoord Serm. in Eph. 4.30 Ministers are better Read then private men for the most part are their Calling leads them to be continually searching the Scriptures and acquainting themselves with the methods of Satan and the means how to resist him and other holy matters which may enable them to be good Soul-Physicians Therefore let Ministers exercise themselves in cases of conscience that they may have experience in matters that concern the soul and be able to apply seasonable comfort to a languishing soul Every private Christian if he hath the Spirit of God he will in some measure be enabled to comfort others Two Irons if they be hot do close together immediately So when two godly Christians do meet in love and fervency of affection how do they heat and warm each other He that speaks experimentally to another he speaks so feelingly so spiritually so powerfully with so much evidence and demonstration and with so much authority to his Brother that it makes a deep impression upon him A faithful Minister and an experimental Christian will go about the work with love and tenderness of affection They that know what brokenness of heart for sin is will be ready to drop in oyle into a wounded Conscience and to apply comfort to them from their own particular case I was under the same tentations wherewith you are assaulted and thus I resisted and overcame them thus I was delivered from my doubts and fears such a promise such a Scripture satisfied me this or that gave me ease quickened and comforted me It is a Spiritual Divine and Angelical work to be able to comfort distressed consciences it is Gods own work it is he that putteth joy into the heart Psalm 4.7 He comforteth them that are cast down he comforteth us in all our tribulation he affects their hearts with some ravishing sense of his love and favour in Christ Christ hath undertaken to comfort them that mourn it is part of his office and work to which he is annointed Isaiah 61.1 2 3. It is the work of the Holy Ghost to comfort he is stiled the Comforter it is his work to make them cry Abba Father whom he brings into bondage to fear Angels likewise do comfort when Christ was in an agony an Angel
see what it is truly and fervently to desire after Christ I shall lay down these six Properties of true desires after Christ 1. They are most importunate desires therefore in Scripture they are compared to the strongest desires as to the Harts panting after the Water-brooks Psalm 42.1 As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so doth my soul pant after thee O God It is compared to the longings of pregnant Women my soul longeth verecunde desiderate as some translate from the Hebrew word in Psal 84.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a bashful and modest kind of wishing and Psalm 119. My soul fainteth for thy salvation It even pineth away with longing these desires are also compared to hunger and thirst both are importunate desires Oh that one would give me to drink of the water at the well of the gate of Bethlehem said David a Kingdome for a cup of water said Croesus and Lysimachus in their thirst Those who truly desire Christ will he at the door of Gods grace and will never give him rest night nor day till God give them Christ 2. They are such desires which nothing can satisfie but the proper object even Christ Jesus and in this respect compared to hunger and thirst which desires are satisfied with nothing but by their proper objects Offer Gold and Silver and no Bread to an hungry man he saith Give me Bread What good will Gold do me if I have no Bread Offer such a soul that thirsteth after Christ as the Devil did to Christ the glory of all the Kingdomes of the world and he will say what good will all this do me I must have Christ Wicked mens desires after Christ are like childrens crying for a piece of gold when they see it they will make a great cry but give them an Apple and that stills them they have their fits of longing after Christ but give them golden Apples they are content their desires after Christ are like Sauls Evil Spirit a little Musick on the Harp will lay their desires flat again 3. They are such desires as are proportionable to Christ whole Christ is the adaequat object of their desires in quantum est appetibilis Such men cry out O let Christ justifie me renue me sanctifie me Grace is as much desired as pardon of sin holiness as much desired as mercy let me have Christ to rule over me and govern me let him be my all in all Thy Law saith David is my delight that holy strict commanding Law that presseth men to that which is most contrary to their lusts is his desire and delight The wicked can say Lord thy mercies are my delight thy comforts thy joy thy salvation are my delight but not thy word nor thy holiness let Christ be presented to him that truly desireth him any way he cries out O give me Christ upon any terms give me the cross so I may have Christ tell him of forsaking all he cries out Farewell all things that I may win Christ 4. They are constant desires such a man longs for Christ at all times he longs for Christ as earnestly in health as in sickness in time of serenity as in time of eminent danger in time of peace as in time of trouble prosperity dulieth not his desires 5. They are such desires as are accompanied with an holy impatience of delay delayes do not dull but quicken a Christians desires after Christ in this respect they are also compared to hunger and thirst which are impatient of delay Tell a thirsty man he shall have drink the next week he is impatient O saith he I must have it now I may be dead before that time so let Christ go to put off such a soul he saith I will not be so put off Oh give me Christ now else I may be eternally undone How long Lord how long Do not stand off for ever Gods momentany delayes are accounted Eternal with a soul that ardently desireth after Christ one day is as a thousand years in his account 6. They are such desires as carry a man through all difficulties whatsoever hunger will break through stone-walls so will hunger after Christ break through the greatest difficulties that lie in the way When David cried out Oh that one would give me to drink of the waters of Beth-lehem three of his Worthies hearing of it charged through an Army of Philistines to fetch him some of that water Oh that one would give me to drink of these spiritual Flaggons saith a soul that thirsteth strongly after Christ Tell him of Bears and Lions Bonds and Imprisonments in the way yet through them all he will go that he may drink his fill out of these flaggons but the sloathful man saith There is a Lion in the way and so goeth not forth at all 7. They are most industrious desires and indeed according to a mans industry so are his desires after Christ to this purpose consider 1. That true desires do put a man upon the diligent use of all appointed means to obtain Christ the Spouse in this Book of Canticles was restless till she found him whom her soul loved she ran up and down the Streets charged every one she met with to tell him she was sick of love a man that truly desireth Christ will run from duty to duty from Ordinance to Ordinance and is very earnest to see whether he can find Christ there lazy desires separate the means from the end they desire Christ but neglect the means neglect the Ordinances which are vehiculum Christi 2. True desires do put a man upon the diligent improvement of all opportunities as a thriving Tradesman layes hold on all advantages and opportunities if he hath an opportunity of doing or receiving good he doth not omit it 3. It puts a man upon constant endeavours not for a fit or a start or for a Mood in a good humour but it is his constant work to make sure of Christ as they say of the labour of an Husbandman it is labor actus in orbem his work is never at an end so it is with him that truly longeth for Christ 4. Right desires do put a man upon present endeavours after Christ he will not like the sluggard in the Proverbs cry Yet a little more slumber c. so damnation may seize upon him like an armed man as poverty did upon Solomons sluggard but no sooner are these holy desires wrought in the heart of a faithful Christian but they put him instantly upon seeking after Christ he cries out presently to his own lazy heart awake O my soul and seek out for Christ lest thou perish eternally CHAP. X. I Now come to consider the reason of the Churches importunate thirsting after Christ For I am sick of love Love where it is strong causeth a fainting or languishing desire toward the thing beloved Love is of all other the most inward and visceral affection therefore called by the Apostle The bowels of Love We read of
Daughters of Jerusalem thus go tell my beloved if ye find him that I am sick of love Here likewise in the house of Wine she is also sick of love there is an excitation of vehement affections to Christ sometimes through the absence of Christ sometimes in his presence the one is the sickness of hope the other the sickness of desire Hope deferred saith the wise man makes the heart sick and desires not fully satisfied do cause a languishing in the soul when Christ is either wholly withdrawn from the soul or the soul hath but a partial enjoyment of him it causeth this spiritual sickness The want of the thing beloved is a grievous torment to the lover Davids desire of enjoying God was such that it was even his death as it were to want God Pagnin Psal 84.2 it holds forth as Pagnine observeth that Davids soul either extreamly desired the Lord or even died upon the absence of God There is a kind of holy Antiperistasis a strong desire after Christ occasioned through the sense of his absence as we are hottest in seeking after precious things when they are absent and furthest from our enjoyment absence sets love on fire The impression of Christs kisses of his spiritual embracings and of his patient knocking 's at the door of the soul the print of his footsteps the remainders of the smell of his precious oyntments his shadow when he goes out of doors are coals to enflame the soul then is a Christians love to Christ strongest his bowels move the smell of his love like sweet smelling myrrhe is very sweet and piercing The Antients in their Hieroglyphicks painted Love with a Gate or Window in his Stomack wherein were written these two word procul propè afar off and at hand to shew that he that is a lover loveth as well in absence as in presence or rather his love burneth more strongly when he is absent from his beloved As the Harr panteth for the water brooks so my soul panteth for thee O God saith David Psal 42.1 2. My soul thirsteth for God even for the living God No Beast is more thirsty by nature than the Hart is and the Learned observe it is the female kind whose passions are more violent than the Males it is as if one should say no Hart nor Hind can thirst more after waters than his soul did after God and the word panting is to be observed by which David sheweth that he did not only work himself out of breath to enjoy God but also the little breath he had he spent it in breathing after God yea that he might shew his vehement desire he again repeats it My soul thirsteth for God even for the living God Moreover he sheweth his vehement grief for the want of Gods presence My tears have been my meat and drink continually as if he had said such abundance of tears fell from him that he might be said to feed upon them It is an Hell upon earth to be deprived of the presence of God in his Ordinances for what is the chiefest part of Hell but an eternal loss of Gods glorious presence and as the damned shall weep and wail for ever because they shall never enjoy God so the gracious soul will weep and wail as long as he is deprived of God in his Ordinances here upon earth CHAP. XII IS there such a vehement love in some Christians Vse 1 that they are sick of love for Christ then here you may see the cause why Churches at their first plantation and Christians at their first conversion are wont to be raised up to an extraordinary zeal for God it is because Christ hath shed abroad his love into their hearts and love makes them so zealous as they are Indeed carnal men stand wondering at so great a change that is wrought in a Christian that he doth not now run with others to the same excess of riot Many in Jerusalem were astonished at Paul that he in so short a time was so zealous for Christ that a little before was so mad against him that he was now become a Preacher of that saith which before he persecuted what was it that wrought so effectually upon his heart it was the love of Christ The love of Christ constraineth us 2 Cor. 5.12 there was a strong and secret compulsion upon the spirit of Paul that he could not chuse but be so affectionate toward Christ and his truth and else where he saith We can do nothing against the truth but all for the truth we cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard Try the strength of your Love to Jesus Christ Vse 2 there are many that pretend they are greatly in love with Jesus Christ that are but feigned Lovers therefore I shall give you the properties of this vehement love to Christ 1. It is a transcendent love such a man loves Christ above all other things he can look upon all things with Paul as dross and dung in comparison of him he desireth nothing else in comparison of him Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Psalm 73.25 God and be only was the object of his desire whom have I in heaven but thee Is not glory and happiness joy and peace in heaven is there not a Crown of righteousness a Crown of immortality and glory there are not these things desirable Is not the sight of and fellowship with Angels and the spirits of just men made perfect desirable no these are not the things which David desireth in heaven it is God only that he thirsteth for let me have God and I have all things without God and Christ even heaven it self is not heaven so upon earth are there not riches and honours and many other desirable things no saith he there is nothing on earth that I desire besides thee Vehement love to Christ drives away a Christians love to other things as the flower of the Vine dissipates Serpents An ancient Lover said that Love had made a Butt of his heart where as soon as it had shot all its arrows it threw it self as an enflamed dart into the bottom of his breast to set him all on fire I have read of another that was so full of love to Christ that when he saw an Epistle or Letter wherein the name of Jesus was not premised it much tormented him saying Saracens had more devotion for Mahomet a man of sin setting his name in the front of their Letters then Christians had for their Redeemer some took delight to ask him many questions From whence comest thou he answered from love Where dwellest thou in love Whom seekest thou after my love he answered them nothing but the word Love You may set bounds and limits to your love to the world to friends to one another Amor nescit reverentiam quod amat amat aliud novit nihil August but who can express the greatness of
them for a while and put them into great fears what should become of them but at last could refrain no longer but told them with tears I am Joseph your Brother whom ye sold so Christ suffers his people to long for him and they are in fears what will become of them but at last he will manifest himself to them I am your Christ your Saviour whom you seek whom you long after 2. Some obtain Christ sooner than others some lie a great while under terrours under desires under soul-sickness others but a little while some like the impotent man lie many years at the pool before they are put in others are put in within a while after they come to the pool Some lie like Christ himself but three dayes in the grave and then they rise triumphant Conquerours over their doubts sorrows fears and terrours over sin and Devils being assured that Christ is theirs others lie a long while in the grave of fears and terrours Some God leadeth into Canaan through a vast solitary dry wilderness others go but a few steps from Aegypt to Canaan Some feed on honey and are carried in Christs bosome to heaven saith a Judicious Divine and others are floating in floods of wrath and their first smile of joy is when the morning of Eternities Sun dawneth in at the window of the soul Rutherf in John 12. some sing and live on sense all the way and others go in at heaven gates weeping 3. A man may have Christ and not know it a man may be in the state of grace and not assured for assurance is not of absolute necessity to make a man godly it conduceth to the bene esse but not to the esse to the comfort of godliness not to the being of godliness Take an instance for illustration a King that is crowned in his Cradle is truly and rightly the King though he knows not so much for the present and while he is in the Cradle he is attended with Princes and Nobles that give him Royal respect and service so a man may be in Christ in the state of grace and not be assured of it 4. True and unfeigned defires after grace are grace Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Christs righteousness they shall be satisfied Matth. 5.6 Your very desires if they be true and constant do entitle you to the promise of righteousness constant desires are streams of those living waters that flow out of the bellies of true believers CHAP. XVII THe last Use is for comfort to poor distressed Christians that are cast down with the sense of the decay of their first love to Christ Vse 5 it is a strong temptation upon many Christians because they find their love abated and not to be so strong as it was at first therefore they question the truth of their conversion and think they had never any sound work of grace wrought upon their hearts 1. Christians in this life are like unto children Resp whose growth is not alwayes perceived by those that alwayes live and converse with them so a Christian grows in grace and in love to Christ though perhaps himself perceiveth it not 2. Though be may not have such a fair flourishing top and branch yet he may be better rooted than before have a deeper and stronger rooting in grace The Apostle Paul speaks of being rooted and grounded in love The affections of Christians to Christ at their first conversion are like the affections of new married persons at first their love seems to be excessive but after they have lived together some years in a married estate this excess of love this violent tide of affection abateth yet true love abideth still between them so a Christian may not have such violent pangs of love and such passionate affections to Christ and such strong expressions of love to Christ afterwards as he had at his first conversion yet true love may still abide in the soul 3. A Christian that is of long standing in Christianity is a more experimental Christian is more grave more solid and practical than he was before he hath now more ability to resist tentations to overcome corruptions to perform holy duties than at his first conversions Sym. desert soul then a Christian is nothing but love and affection but afterward more experimental and practical an Apple that is green and unripe may look as fair and be as big then as ever afterward but it hath not that sweetness that good juice and nourishment as it hath when it cometh to its full maturity A young man of twenty years old may be as big and lusty and more vigorous in complection than at any other time afterward but he hath not that solidity that judgement that gravity that experience as at the age of thirty or forty years So it is with a Christian at first he is but a babe but a novice a gristle in grace but after he cometh to riper years to be a grown man in Christ his love is more dilated and extended to al the duties of Religion to all acts of piety toward God to all acts of charity towards men and of sobriety toward himself So then this is no ground for a Christian that hath the truth of grace in his soul to bereave himself of all true comfort because he finds not his affections so strong toward Christ as they were or seemed to be at his first conversion FINIS