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A09984 Mount 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. Preston, John, 1587-1628. 1638 (1638) STC 20238; ESTC S115085 27,130 53

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finally Thirdly seekes and endeavours the protection and preservation of the thing it loves as it on the other side shunnes and avoids ought that might endanger the destruction thereof and if notwithstanding it meete with it interposeth it selfe betwixt it and that to defend it as the arme wards the blow from the head albeit it be to the wounding of it selfe And when these three concurre together when our love hath these three concommitants and is attended with these fruits and effects as you heard before that it thus desires the fruition conjunction preservation of Christ. Then may we distinguish it from all sensuall and carnall love for there be many sorts of love in the world but it is all but worldly love not spirituall and Heavenly love First ther 's a love of pitty as when we bewaile a mans case but hate his deeds so are Malefactors beloved Secondly ther 's a love of desire as when the stomacke desires sweete meates the eare delightsome sounds and the eye fine sights c. Thirdly ther 's a love of complusment when one lusts or longs after a thing with the whole heart or soule so as he cannot subsist without it as a woman with child lusteth and longeth after a thing she hath a minde to which she cannot fafely goe without Fourthly ther 's love of friendship when one man loves another for some courtesie or kindenesse he hath received from him Fiftly and lastly ther 's a love of dependance when a man loves God more then himselfe more then his life and depends upon him for all good things belonging to body or soule Or to be more briefe ther 's a naturall sinfull spirituall Love The first is betwixt parents and children and in it selfe is neither good nor evill The second ariseth from evill habits bred in the soule and it is most hatefull to God and makes us worse then the brute beasts The third is that divine gift and grace of God which the Holy Ghost puts into our hearts whereby we are more then men and desire Holy things for themselves and this is that love which the Apostle here calls for in this place Now if our love to the Lord Iesus Christ be such we shall further know it by these two things which alwayes proceede and goe before it as the former followed after it viz. humiliation for sinne past and faith in Christ for the time to come First humiliation for sinne past for till a man come to have a sight and sense of himselfe by reason of his sinnes he will never care for Christ and when he hath beene thus cast downe yet Secondly without faith in Christ whereby he applies him to himselfe and is perswaded that he is reconciled unto him he will not yet love him but rather hate him of the twaine Now the manner or meanes of getting of both these and so consequently of love into our hearts is by the preaching of the word of God by prayer and taking him when he is offered and given unto us in the same for that end But now we must take Christ as an husband takes a wife or a wife an husband out of love to their persons not to their portions and then shall we be the better subject unto him but except we be first humbled as was before said for our sinnes and consider in what neede thou standest of him how that without him thou must perish till then I say thou canst not sufficiently set by him nor love him aright but when thou knowest how necessary he is for thee how alsufficient and affectionate he is towards thee then thou beginnest to looke at Christ as a condemned person doth at him that brings a pardon for him whom he loves and longs after joyes and rejoyceth in And yet all this is but a preparative to our love of him it is faith that is the first fountaine whereby we so love him as that we can cleave unto him with purpose of heart to serve and please him in all things and this love which thus ariseth from faith doth not onely beleeve that Christ is mercifull and will forgive thee thy sinnes upon thy supplication and repentance unto him for the same but also that he is most fit and conformable for thee so that thou couldst finde in thy heart to be anathaematized for his sake and to be divorced from all things in the world for love of him And so much for the second thing also I come now to the last to wit Thirdly to the reasons why he is worthy to be had in execration and to be cursed even to the death that loves not the Lord Iesus Christ and they are chiefly these five First because when Christ shall come and be a Sutor unto us to love him and we refuse to doe it and to be reconciled unto him and receive him then he growes angry to the death you may see this in the Parable of the Marriage of the Kings sonne how wroth he was when he heard they had abused and beaten his servants which he sent to call them to the wedding and therefore the Prophet David bids us kisse the Sonne lest he bee angry and so c. that is as if he should say when he offers himselfe to kisse you with the kisses of his mouth be not too coy and curious but imbrace his offer returne his curtesie with the like kindnesse and kisse him againe lest he take it in great indignation at your hands and be so angry with you that you die for it Indeede when we knew not the Gospell he was content though we were froward and fruitlesse but now that he sends his Desciples to preach unto all Nations then if they bring not forth fruits worthy amendment of life he tells them the axe is laid unto the rootes c. Secondly because he that in old time brake the law was accursed now this was the Lords Commandement that we love him But you will say we are not able to fulfill the law of our selves and how then shall we doe it I answer ther 's a two-fold obedience Legall and Evangelicall that requires exact obedience in our owne persons but this requires no more but onely our endeavour and faith in Christ. Thirdly because he loves something else more then God and so commits Adultery now shee that in the old law did commit Adultery had a drinke of bitter water given her which made her belly swell c. so that shee died how much more worthy of death is he then that thus deales with God and going a whoring after it commits spirituall fornication Fourthly because that commonly belongs to Hypocrites they are a cursed crew to whom Christ shall say at the last day goe ye cursed c. Now all such as love him not are no better nor worse but wretched and damnable Hypocrites Fiftly because love governes the whole man it s as the Rudder of a ship which turnes
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
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
accept of your love and you would know that he doth so suffer not any sluttishnesse any sinne and filthinesse to rest in your hearts but sweepe and cleanse them with the beesome of repentance from all such things And so hitherto of the necessity of your loving the Lord Iesus Christ together with the meanes motives and markes thereof and in all these the equity and justice of God how worthy hee is to bee accursed that loves him not now Secondly followes the object of this our love which is the Lord Iesus Christ who may be considered three wayes as being our Lord Saviour Messiah First as our Lord to whom of due we doe owe our love and obedience now as he that runnes away from his earthly Lord is worthy to be hanged for it so he that runnes away from the Lord Christ and will not love and serve him is most worthy to be accursed but I have spoken of this sufficiently in the former part of our text and therefore because I have beene so large therein I will now be more briefe in this and therefore so much for the first consideration we must love him also Secondly as our Saviour or Jesus and Redeemer who hath bought and chosen us unto himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good workes and therefore let us not deferre it for now are the last times the end of all things is at hand so that if yee doe not love him now it will bee too late hereafter to doe it if we would never so faine and its a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the living God Thirdly he is the Messiah the annoynted of the Lord the light that should come into the world the high Priest of the new Covenant ordained and consecrated of God to offer sacrifice for us even a peace offering of his precious body and blood to bee a reconciliation for us unto the Father and to set us at one againe with him who before were utter enemies one to the other haters of God and hated of him therefore is he also called our peace our Mediator and Advocate and the like but yet he is not onely made and appointed to be a Priest unto us to reconcile us unto his Father but withall a King too to rule over us and subdue us if so bee wee will not bee reconciled and come in unto him therefore these two words Lord and Iesus are here and in diverse other places elsewhere joyned together And so Saint Peter gives him two the like titles saying that he is a Prince and a Saviour not a Saviour onely but also a Prince to them that would not that hee should raigne over them So that wee must marke this then wee doe not preach Christ in the Gospell a Saviour onely but a Prince and a Lord also and they that love him must be content to take him as both aswell a Lord and King as a Iesus and Saviour as a wife takes her husband to honour and obey him aswell as to love him or have him keepe and cherish her in sicknesse and in health and thus if wee bee content to take Christ upon these conditions then wee shall have him with all his influences all the fruits and benefits of his passion but otherwise thou hast no part nor portion therein Christ shall profit thee nothing but thou art and shalt bee accursed to the death notwithstanding hee died It may be thou wilt say thou carest not for that But let me aske thee one question dost thou know what it is to bee so accursed if thou dost consider more seriously of it if thou dost not know it is this First he curseth thy soule and that in a double respect of Grace Glory First hee curseth it from the excellency of grace that is from the effectuall and powerfull working of it so that thou shalt bee never the better but rather the worse for all the meanes of grace and salvation and shalt goe on in thine impenitency and hardnesse of heart which cannot repent c. But thou wilt still say that 's nothing Is it not so then Secondly hee curseth thee from his presence in whose presence is the fullnesse of joyes and at whose right hand c. so hee did Caine the text saith hee went out from the presence of the Lord* that hee cast off all care of him as it were in this life so as let what would befall him hee would never pitty nor protect him But it may be thou wilt say that is nothing neither Is it not so is it not a great griefe for a man to be confind to his house so that hee must never come to the Court nor see the Kings face any more much more griefe then is it and a farre greater judgment must it bee for any poore soule to be excluded from the presence of the King of Kings And however for the present thou dost not now thinke it so much yet the time will come thou shalt finde it to bee one of the most fearefullest things that can bee when thou shalt behold Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdome of God and thou thy selfe out to have thy portion with the Devill and his Angels and therefore the Schoolemen are not afraid to say that the punishment of losse is greater then the punishment of sense But thou wilt say these are all spirituall things wee feele not these curses and so as wee have no crosses nor curses in our outward man our estates our goods and good name wee care not a straw for these wee neither feele nor feare them To this therefore I answer that you shall not escape so but even in your outward man in your body and goods shall you be cursed also for the earth shall not yeild her increase unto thee but the Heavens shall bee as brasse and the Earth as iron thou shalt sow much and reape little and thou shalt bee a vagabond and a runnagate upon the face of the earth all the dayes of thy life and whosoever meeteth thee shall slay thee as the Lord also said to Caine. But thou wilt say yet againe wee see no such matter as I speake of for you know them that love him as little as your selves and yet they thrive and doe well enough yea better then many other that love him a great deale better To which I answer it is true it may bee so they may proser a while but they shall be plagued at the last either here or hereafter in hell fire for evermore And now doe but consider seriously of Eternity what a lamentable thing it is that when thou hast beene there ten thousand times ten thousand yeares thou shalt yet be as farre from ever comming out or having of any end of thy torments as thou wast at the very first moment thou wentest thither and therefore remember for this purpose these two places of Scripture which here I desire thee