climb up those steps which God hath made for us by which we may ascend into these Chambers we must blame our selves if we abide below But this is not alwaies the cause in some cases we must have recourse to Gods prerogative and must rest in this Even so O Father because it pleaseth thee Some Souls are dignified with a special communion and familiarity with God so was Abraham Moses David yet possibly if we look into the records we have of their lives we shall find more blots in some of them then in some others who we do not read were taken up into such eminent degrees of favour We cannot give just reasons and accounts of all Gods acts of Grace it is enough that God wills them In the mean time if we find but a good hope through grace an heart changed and cleaving to God if we can say with Peter Lord thou that knowest all things knowest that we love thee though we cannot boast of such special providences as others nor of such visions of peace nor of so quick an hearing of our prayers tho we dare not pretend to be such favourites of Heaven yet let us not be discouraged possibly as to us the Lords time is not yet come possibly it never will come God is a great Soveraign and unquestionably free as to these things he knows what is best for us he will deny no good thing to us We may say of the whole Family of God as the Queen of Sheba said of Solomons 1 Kings 10. 8. Happy are thy Men happy are these thy Servants which stand continually before thee and heaá¹™ thy wisdom There are some of Gods Servants that as to these enjoyments are more happy then others but there are none but are happy none but have reason for ever to admire the difference which God hath made betwixt them and others to admire what God hath done for their Souls bringing them out of the horrible Pit if they have not if they cannot see reason to rejoice in such a prospect of Heaven as othershave yet they have reason to rejoice in an equal deliverance from Hell I will shut up this discourse with two words of exhortation 1. The first directed to those who can say with the Spouse The King hath brought us into his Chambers 2. The second to those who walk with God but have not yet arrived at this Are there any who can speak the language of the Spouse and glory in this not only that they are brought home to Christ but that the King hath brought them into his Chambers the Lord hath dignified them with some special favours and manifested himself more to them then unto others the following words of this Text will let them know what is their duty I will saith the Spouse be glad and rejoice in thee and remember thy loves more then Wine 1. Be glad and rejoice in God we are often called to for this rejoycing in the Lord Psal 33. 1. Psal 97. 12. Phil. 3. 1. 4. 4. and in many other Texts Such is the portion of Gods Children such their state and condition that they have a continual cause of rejoycing and giving of thanks be they under what circumstances they can there is ground enough for them in all things to give thanks but they are more eminently obliged to it when they are under the highest manifestations of Divine Love This rejoycing in the Lord is I conceive opposed both to a carnal joy in sensual objects and also to a rejoycing meerly in that ease and satisfaction which the good thing giveth us for which we rejoice As now suppose a rich man giveth a poor man 20 s. it is one thing for the poor man to rejoice in the gift as suited to to â—his necessitous circumstances another thing to rejoice in the love and favour of the giver This is now the duty of the spiritual man he ought not only under the manifestations of divine love to rejoyce in the Lord more then in all the world and all the affluences and contentments of it which is expressed in the next phrase we will remember thy loves more then Wine and is commensurate to what David saith Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me for thou shalt thereby make my heart more glad then in the day when their Corn and Wine increased I say this is not enough for a Soul thus dignified he ought more to rejoice in the favour of God shewed him in these specialties of his favour then in the ease and satiâ—faction which the mercy received giveth unto his Soul And herein lieth the purity of the spiritual mans joy nor is his joy genuine and perfect till it come to this pitch 2. The second phrase in the Text expressive of this dignified Souls duty is We will remember thy loves more then Wine The term remember is taken in Scripture in a great latitude and expressive both of all that affection which is due to the remembrance of the object and of all that practical duty which is consequent to it I shall touch a little upon both these and that very shortly for I shall God willing speak to both these expressions in order more fully 1. Remember Christs loves with the remembrance of the heart I shall instance but in one fruit of this and that is faith Remember his loves so as for them to trust in God more and to cast the care of thy Soul in an hour of distress the better upon him upon consideration of thy past and present experience We are too ready both to forget our sorrows and to forget our comforts to forget our sorrows by giving our selves a liberty to the same sins for which we have smarted and to forget our comforts by giving liberty to the same dejections and despondencies again after the experiences of Gods favour 2. Remember Christs loves practically so as to make them obligations upon your Souls to a close walking with God See the example of David Psal 116. 1 9 12 18. But I shall speak all this over again when I come to handle the next words and shall therefore add no more My second Branch of this Exhortation shall respect those whom God hath not thus far dignified the Lord hath as they hope admitted them into his family but he hath not yet brought them into his Chambers Some communion with God they hope they have and an heart that panteth after a more full and near communion with him but this they have not yet attained to they walk in the dark and see no light the Lord giveth them an heart to pray but they cannot glory in such a full and quick return of prayers as others have they have not that inward joy and peace which as to some Souls is consequential to believing the question is now what they should do what their duty is under their present circumstances I will open it in two particulars 1. Certainly they ought not to despond
reason to question it doubtless those that lie most in Christs Bosom here shall sit nearest him upon his Throne hereafter I shall shut up my discourse with four or five directions in this case First Labour to understand the various emanations of special and distinguishing Grace how many ways the Sun of Righteousness may shine upon Souls with healing in his Wings I am afraid many talk of Grace special distinguishing Grace who do not understand it as they ought to do Study to understand Christs saving looks upon Souls and to distinguish them from other looks which have no such saving vertue and evidence in them Christs saving looks upon Souls are either such as evidence pardon of Sin or contribute to the change of the heart in first or further degrees of holiness Or comforting us with the view of our own sincerity take a right notion of Christs kisses Be sure in thy desires of further Grace thou forgettest not to be thankful for what thou hast the least token of love for good to thy Soul is more worth than the world ther 's nothing little in Grace I before observed to you the passions of some Christians who are ready to overlook all that God hath done for their Souls if they want some particular dispensation of Grace which their hearts are set upon Make use of what thou hast To him that hath shall be given It is a saying which our Saviour applyeth to the parable of the sower Mat. 13. 12. Luk. 8. 18. and to the parable of the Talents Mat. 25. 29. In the two first places the meaning may be To him that hath in actual possession so it may be conceived as a promise of further grace to those who have any thing of the truth of grace but in the 25. Mat. 29. it is plainly to be understood of such as make use of and improve what they have for it is spoken with reference to those Servants that had ten Talents and had gained other ten and five talents and had gained other five In thy desires of more Grace distinguish betwixt necessary and comfortable influences betwixt manifestations of the Spirit given thee to profit withal and such as are given thee to make thy life more easy and cheerful the first thou mayest beg more absolutely and be as earnest for them as thou wilt The latter must be asked with more explicite submission to the will of God they being such as are not only not necessary to thy glorifying of God under all circumstances but not necessary to the eternal Salvation of thy Soul such for which the wisdom of God may see more reason under some circumstances to with-hold from thee and that in order to thy edification and improvement in holiness As to such influences though thou oughtest to desire them and to pray for them yet thou oughtest also to be content to wait for them David did so His Eyes failed while he said When wilt thou comfort me Wait upon God in all his own institutions The Ordinances of God are usually called means of Grace because they are usually made use of by God as means in and by which he communicateth his Grace in the several influences of it to our Souls These Ordinances are the Word Sacrament and Prayer The first Grace is usually dispensed to us upon reading or hearing the Word of God and so is further Grace also Therefore the Apostle Peter commands us to desire the sincere Milk of the Word that we may grow thereby I had saith David perished in my affliction if thy Word had not been my delight The Law of the Lord saith David is perfect converting the Soul the Testimony of the Lor d is sure making wise the simple the Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart the Commandment of the Lord is pure inlightning the Eyes Psal 19. 6. 7. Christs love is a thing different from the Word but it is shewen to the Soul in the use of the Word Infinite instances might be given you of Christs kissing Souls manifesting his special love to Souls is it which I mean by it in the reading and especially in the hearing of the Word there it is that is in the use of that that he usually speaks to the hearts of Men and Women hence the Apostle tells us that the holy Scriptures are able to make the Man of God wise to Salvation and are profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instructions in righteousness Yea and for patience and comfort too Rom. 15. 4. For whatsoever things were written before were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope The Sacrament that is another mean the Sacramental believing eating of the Bread and Wine is an eating of the flesh and a drinking of the Blood of Christ a feeding upon all Christs fulness as Mediator Prayer is a mean of all Grace whatsoever God hath promised in a way of Grace is all promised upon this condition That he will for it be inquired of by his People Walk humbly and uprightly before God The humble he will teach saith the Psalmist Psal 25. and to the humble he will give more Grace Ja. 4. 6. 1 Pet. 5. 5. he dwelleth with those that are of a contrite and humble Spirit to revive the Spirits of the humble and the hearts of those that are contrite and for the upright he hath told us that he will with-hold from them no good thing But this is enough to have also spoken to this Proposition There is another term in the petition of the Text. which I shall take notice of she prayeth not only that her beloved would kiss her and that not with one but many kisses but she adds of his Mouth But of that hereafter Sermon V. Canticles 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth I Told you in the close of my last diseourse that I should not yet leave this Text because of the last words of his Mouth which we must either be allowed as a Pleonasme and superfluous or to contain in them yet some further spiritual Instruction The Jews say there is not the least tittle of the Law upon which great things do not depend nor do I fancy the allowing of more Pleonasms in holy writ than must necessarily be allowed I shall therefore take notice of what Origen and Beza and divers others have before me noted from the addition of these words That the believing Soul thirsts after a communion with Christ in his Word Mr. Ainsworth taking special notice of the term kisses understands the Doctrine of the Gospel which is the Word of Reconciliation as kisses are amoris reconciliationis symbola the tokens of love and reconciliation I am sure the notion is in itself true whether the sense of this Text or no. The Law worketh Wrath faith the Apostle the Doctrine of the Gospel alone speaks love and peace Christs Spouse here
good pleasure yet he breatheth upon he teacheth no Souls but those Souls that are willing and desirous to learn and to be instructed It is true it is he who first maketh them willing who first enclineth their Ears to hear but he first prepareth the Heart and then causeth his Ear to hear as to Prayer so in hearing he first circumciseth the Ear of a man and enclineth him to hear his Statutes and then he teacheth them He dealeth not with us as with Stocks and Stones but as with rational Creatures in a rational way Attend unto the word which thou goest to hear No teaching no good is to be expected from any teaching where the person only lends an Ear but suffers his Mind extravagantly to wander here and there The Schoolmaster hath no Patience for such a Scholar I am sure God hath no Blessing for such a Soul as in hearing doth not hear nor encline his Ear to Understanding The Scholar gets little by his Master or Tutors reading upon an Author if the Scholar attendeth not to the Text of the Author The Spirits teaching is but a Commentary upon the word it bringeth to remembrance the things which we have heard from God The Soul that attends not to the word which he reads or heareth can expect nothing of the Spirits teaching the word is not like to dwell in that Soul that will not suffer it to come so much as over the Threshold into it I mean into its memory or notion Take heed of Vexing the Spirit in its Teachings It was laid to the charge of the Israelites Isa 53. 10. that they vexed his holy Spirit They vexed the Spirit by an afterwork rebelling against his word not being obedient to what they were taught But men may in hearing vex the Spirit in its Teaching either by Non-Attendency suffering their hearts to be wandring elsewhere when God in his word is teaching the Soul this vexeth any Father or Master in teaching a Child but of this I spake before And not only so but by not giving a special regard to its special Instructions Scarce any of us but in hearing shall find some notions of truth some particular passages that God sets more particularly home and do in a special manner affect the Soul The not observing them or quick forgetting of them is a special vexing of the holy Spirit in its Teachings of our Souls Work together with the Spirit in calling to remembrance what you have heard Talk of the Law of the Lord when thou liest down and when thou risest up when thou sittest by the walls of thy House when thou goest out and when thou comest in The Jews had Phylacteries Rolls of the Law fastened to their Garments to keep the Law in their mind perpetually Our Saviour blamed them for their broad Phylacteries and narrow Practice but he blamed not the means to keep the Law of God in their minds only they used them to a wrong and false â—nâ— used them not to the end for which they made them Follow the word with Prayer Do not only pray for the Spirit before thou hearest but pray for the abidings ofâ— it after thou hast heard to bring to thy remembrance what thou hast heard from God Labour to practise what thou hearest The Master or Tutor is weary of teaching the Scholar to whom he hath read Lecture after Lecture but yet he will do nothing but on the contrary how chearfully doth an ingenuous Master teach that Scholar that to his utmost pâ—tteth in practice what he hath read to him and then cometh to his Tatâ—r begging to be further taught and instructed The Spirit of God will give over that Soul that pretends to be ever learning and yet never comes to any practical Knowledge of the Truth He that is not a meer hearer but a doer of the Word also is the man that shall be blessed indeed Sermon VIII Canticles 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for his Loves are better than Wine I Have done now with the matter of the Spouses that is the Churches or the particular believing Souls prayer in this her first Petition I have nothing as to the petition it self to consider but the form of it As to the matter we have found that the thing she would have is Some Special distinguishing favour Some token of God for good to her which might speak him to love her with the Love of a bridegroom to a bride a Husband to his Wife I have shewed you that she asketh modestly but a kiss thereby letting us know how precious the least of Christs Special distinguishing love is to the truly believing Soul Not that the least dispensations and measures of grace will satisfy the Spiritual hunger and thirst of a pious Soul it is one thing for a pious Soul to prize and value the least another thing to be satisfied and fully contented with it she therefore mentions Kisses in the Plural Number as well to signifie the variety of gracious Influences as their frequent Emanations I have further taken notice of her particular desire after a communion with God in his word especially Gospel Doctrines and that not only a more external Communion with God in reading hearing and thinking upon it But the more reall internal Spiritual communion with God in his word which the Soul hath by the teachings of the Spirit She desires not onely to hear the words of his mouth but to be kissed with the kisses of his mouth I have now nothing to do but to consider the form of her words and see if from thence we can gain any further Spiritual Instruction The words are first Vox volentis the Language of a Soul that was willing to receive these impressions if she were not willing she would not have made them the matter of her request Secondly They are Vox cupientis not onely the Language of one that was willing but of one inflamed with a desire after the object willed and proposed They do not express a bare velleity with an indifferency as to the thing They sound a great deal more then He may if he will kiss me with the kisses of his mouth Lastly They are Vox petentis the language of one upon her knees begging it of God as the great thing which she sought after And as I observed to you in the opening of the words she begs reverently modestly humbly boldly fervently The form of her Petition speaketh a well ordered Prayer a Prayer according to the Rules which God hath given us for putting up our Supplications Hence results the Proposition Prop. That believing Souls are not only very willing but exceedingly desirous of a near spiritual communion with Christ and to obtain it will use rightly ordered Prayer In the Proposition here are three things predicated of such a Soul as is the Spouse to this glorious Bridegroom 1. It s willingness that the Lord should have a near and spiritual
shalt make my heart more glad then theirs when their Corn and Wine and Oil increaseth Those who are critical in words in the Latine Tongue distinguish between Voluptas and Gaudium Pleasure they make to be nothing but the Sensual Appetites Satisfaction 't is common to Beasts as well as Man Gaudium or Joy they make to be the procede of the satisfaction of the rational Appetite the first is meerly sensual and beastly the latter alone becometh a Man who is a reasonable Creature I am sure that Mirth which is in the Soul of man that Exhilaration of his Spirits which ariseth from the sense and apprehension of the Love of Christ unto the soul is a Satisfaction to the Rational Spiritual Appetite so the nature of it must be more Spiritual more Suted to the reasonable creature then any Wine or indeed any created comforts can be 2. Wine is of excellent use to allay our thirst and in Physick and Chirugery under deliquiums c. This is a great execellency that is in it Prov. 31. 6. Give wine to those of heavy hearts In Chirurgery it is of use to wash and cleanse wounds c. Hence you read in the Gospel of the good Samaritane that he put Wine and Oil into the wounds of the man that was fallen amongst thieves But in this respect are not the loves of Christ good before Wine Wine onely satisfieth the cravings of nature the drought of the body for want of moisture If a Soul hungers and thirsteth after righteousness Wine will not allay that thirst the Loves of Christ will and surely the thirstings of a Soul are far greater wants than the want of liquor for the body Wine may be of some use in Deliquiums and failures of the Vital and Animal Spirits But if the Soul fainteth for Gods Salvation Wine is of no use the Loves of Christ are Wine may wash and purify the wounds of the body and keep them from putrefaction but the Loves of Christ alone can purify the wounds of a Soul and resist putrefaction there He was annointed to preach glad tidings to the meek to bind up the broken hearted to appoint to them that mourn in Sion Beauty for Ashes and the Oil of gladness for the Spirit of heaviness Isaiah 61. 1 2 3. 3. Wine will make a man forget his affliction Prov. 31. 6 7. Give wine to him who is of a heavy heart let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more but now wine doth this by bringing a man unto a kind of stupefaction or temporary deliration and the Affliction must be meerly external and not in extremity Wine makes a Man forget his affliction onely by putting him besides himself The Loves of Christ have a proportionable effect upon the Soul but of a far more high and excellent nature Let a Soul be bowed down to Hell and not know what to do Let but the Loves of Christ shine upon it in the sealing of any promise it forgets all its poverty and misery The Soul will rejoyce in Sufferings glory in tribulation c. the Martyr cries out that the fire is but as a Bed of Roses So that you see there is never a good quality in Wine but something proportionable to it only infinitely excelling is to be found in Christs loves My last demonstration of the truth of this Proposition is this Wine though it hath many excellent qualities yet hath it also some ill qualities The Loves of Christ are not such There is an excess in Wine saith the Apostle Eph. 5. 18 19. Be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess It is a mocker saith Solomon it will intoxicate breed many diseases many a one perisheth by drinking too much Wine But no Soul ever perished from the excess of Christs love to it no Soul ever contracted any distemper from it he you filled with the Spirit saith the Apostle in the same Text where he tells us there is an excess in Wine Much of what I have said concerning the excellency of the love of Christ above Wine taken in a literal sense is as true concerning it in its figurative sense as it may be supposed and interpreted to signify and created comforts they only are suited to our External wants only they are but temporary and uncertain they also have some ill qualities attending them I shall therefore add no more Doctrinally By way of application We may in the first place observe in o what a degree of debauchery the generality of the Sons and Daughters are fallen Nothing more becomes a Man or Woman considered as a reasonable Creature than to discern aright betwixt things that differ and to judge aright concerning them and accordingly to make our Election and to guide our practice But supposing what you have heard to be truth where is the man of many that rightly discerneth rightly judgeth or aright guideth himself in practice where is the man that judgeth the loves of Christ better than Wine How many are there that judge Wine better then the loves of Christ Wine not in the figurative sense as it signifies all outward created comforts but in the literal sense as it signifieth nothing but the juice of the Grape fermented and a little refined from its dregs doth not every one thus judge that useth Wine immoderately that sits bibbing at a Tavern until the Wine inflameth him Christ by his Apostle Paul hath said Eph. 5. 18 19. Be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess How many are there that tarry long at the Wine that go to seek mixt Wine that look upon wine when it is red when it giveth its colour in the cup when it moveth itself aright till at last it biteth like a Serpent and stingeth like an Adder till it causeth woe and sorrow and contentions and wounds and redness of the Eyes as Solomon Speaketh Prov. 23 29 30 31. and yet have no sense of the Loves of Christ no thoughts of it make no enquiries after it take no course for the obtaining it Do not those poor wretches Love wine better than the Love of Christ that will not abate life a cup of wine to gain it Those that for an intemperate cup of wine will be disobedient to the rule which Christ hath given them My Soul in this contemplation even akes to think what will become of drunkards by whom I mean not those only who reel in the streets and are intoxicated with Wine but those who take a greater pleasure in drinking than in praying or hearing the word of God or obeying his will 2. But if we extend the notion of wine further to signify all sensual Satisfactions all created comforts Lord how many are there in the world that in this betray their folly and discover the corruption and debauchery of humane nature How few are there in the world that do not prefer some creature or other before the loves of Christ indeed as the Poet-saith Trahit sua quemque voluptas
call Love We naturally love what we apprehend good though we view it but at a distance from us Many a man that hath no Learning nor is ever like to have it yet loves Learning as it hath in it an innate Excellency as it is an ornament to him that hath it and makes him more useful to the world than his Neighbour In Christ's excelling graces which dwell in him eminently and essentially there is such a lustre and brightness and glory that to make the Soul take a complacency in him there needeth no more than that it be enlightened to see know and understand Christ Hence it is that many a Soul convinced of the filthiness of sin and of the fulness of that Excellency which is in Christ before ever it have received him so as to apprehend its Interest in him yet loves admireth him passionately desireth a part and portion in him saith within it self Oh that my Soul were brought unto Christ Oh that this Christ were my Christ my Jesus c. 2. But there is not only a transcendent goodness and excellency in Christ's Name but also a Relative Goodness Our reasonable Natures force us to love any thing which appeareth to us to be Good and Excellent but we much more love it when we discover in it a suitableness to our state and condition and the more goodness and suitableness we discern in any Object in proportion to our state and wants the more a great deal do our hearts cleave to it and long after it Now every Child of God is apprehensive enough of the proportion which the Name of Christ bears to the wants the various wants that it hath It wants a Mediator a Saviour an Advocate an Intercessor and this that Soul is sufficiently sensible of and therefore its heart cleaveth unto Christ and cryeth out Whom have I in Heaven but thee Or what have I upon the Earth to be compared with thee This Soul seeth that there is nothing in Heaven or Earth that so suiteth the Soul of a Child of God as Christ doth Hence his love to him is stronger than the Grave and his jealousie burns like fire 3. The Virgins must needs love Christ upon the discoveries of himself to their Souls because these discoveries command and teach the Soul to love him Our love to Christ proceeds you see upon rational grounds but not wholly upon rational Principles for we are taught of God saith the Apostle to love one another and if without a Divine Teaching we cannot love our Brethren whom we have seen we shall much less love Christ whom we have not seen Indeed this is the first cause of any love from our carnal hearts to Christ at all it is true No Sacrifice from our hearts flameth or can ascend towards God until fire hath first come down from Heaven and kindled it when indeed love is thus kindled in the Soul the fire increaseth in the Soul as the apprehensions of Christ's Excellencies and discoveries of himself do increase in the Soul from the experiences we have of God or the improvements of our Reason upon Revelation to shew us more of the Excellency of Christ I come now to the Application In the first place This may convince us That even amongst Professors there are many that glory in appearance and not in reality They are no Virgins they have no love for the Lord Jesus Christ The world it is to be hoped is not so full of such as go for Virgins in a carnal sense and are none as it is of such as go for Virgins in a spiritual sense and are none Unmarried they are but you must understand it only with reference to Christ who is the only proper adequate match for a reasonable Soul they are without Christ indeed but not without a-Mate First Too many are Whores instead of Virgins You shall in Scripture observe that sin especially Apostacy is compared to Whoredom and those that live in sin to such as live in Adultery God of old complained of his People that he was broken with their whorish heart Ah! how many Professors are there in the world of whom we may say the same God is broken with their whorish heart How many spots are there in our Assemblies How many of our Virgins that have at least such black spots upon their faces as cannot be allowed to be the spots of God's Children Some are gone a whoring after other Gods Reconciled they call it to the Church of Rome Oh! tell it not in Gath publish it not in the Tents of Askelon that Protestants should ever again lick up that Vomit and be so sottish as to adore a piece of bread for God or fall down before a Graven Image Blessed be God there are not many whom God hath thus given over I mean not many Professors though too many that have been baptized into the Name of Jesus Christ But how many more have defiled themselves with damnable or at least very dangerous Opinions You read of the Daughter of Jephtah that she went up to the Mountains three months to bewail her Virginity The Mountains are places of solitude How were it to be wished for many that they would go and sit alone that they would go up to the Mountains of Solitude and bewail the loss of their Spiritual Virginity They were sound Christians in appearance but they have lost their soundness They were fond of Ordinances and Duties but they have cast off Duties and Ordinances They were of the number of Virgins as we thought and we were bound in charity so to think we judged by the outward appearance but they have defiled themselves Secondly Many are wedded and no Virgins We do not call married Women Virgins 'T is true they are not so in one sense as the notion of a Virgin signifieth a solute or single person but yet they may be so in another sense as the notion of a Virgin signifieth one that is pure and chast But now if you can imagine a Woman married to a Beast or married incestuously this marriage would spoil her Virginity in the fairest notion of it The Soul married to Christ is yet a Virgin for she is married but to one Husband and him the proper Husband for a poor Soul so that that Soul is yet a Virgin But now the voluptuous sensual Soul that is united to a base and sordid lust or the covetous worldly Soul that is united to the gain and filthy lucre of the world is no Virgin no more than an incestuous Wife is in any notion a Virgin and how many of these are to be found in the Tents of persons professing to Religion How many Demas's who have forsaken and forgotten their Religion and have embraced the present World Judas's who have betrayed their Master and their Brethren for a few pieces of Silver Surely the Soul the high-born Soul of man is of too noble an extract too spiritual a substance to be united to the Earth This is
Bed-chamber 2 Kings 6. 12. An inward Chamber Judg. 3. 24. A Bridegrooms Chamber Joel 2. 16. A Summer Chamber Judg. 3. 24. It is also used Prov. 24. 4. Prov. 7. 27. Job 9. 9. and in many other Texts It plainly signifieth the more inner secret retired part of the house where Persons can be most private and most secure The King hath brought me into his Chambers that is into the places of most private secret communion with him where I can be most private free and secure but yet for the clearer explication of the words we will more strictly enquire upon two things Qu. 1. What is here meant by the Kings Chambers Doubtless it is spoken in a figure The House in the Heavens not made with hands is not as our Earthly Houses divided into rooms and stories by partitions let us therefore rightly comprehend the notion of a Chamber and we shall without much difficulty understand the priviledge in which the Spouse doth glory Three things will give us the notion of a Chamber 1. It is a lofty place elevated from the Earth you know that you ordinarily call those rooms in your Houses Chambers which are above the lower floor 2. It is a place of privacy any one is admitted into your lower rooms but very familiar friends only into your Chambers when those of the same family would be more retired and private they chuse Chambers for that privacy our more hidden private fellowship with our friends or near relations is in our Chambers 3. A Chamber is a resting place we eat and drink and have our ordinary converse with our neighbours in other rooms we lie down and rest in our Chambers These three things I should think may make us to understand the Spouses meaning in this metaphorical expression and what it is that she glorieth in The Lord my King hath heard me and taken me up into the nearest degrees of close private communion with him where my Soul enjoyeth him in the most heavenly free and most familiar manner Qu. 2. But how cometh the Spouse thus soon to glory who but now was praying that the Lord would draw her and facitly complained for the want of the manifestations of his Divine Grace how soon is her tone altered she but now groaned as one that could not get up the Stairs now she glories that she was brought into the Kings Chambers To which I answer two things 1. Possibly she speaketh but in the dialect of Faith you know the Apostle calleth Faith the Evidence of things not seen It like God calls the things that are not as if they were and often forgets the future tense and speaks in the Present or Praeterperfect Tense The believing Soul while it is in the dungeon of a desertion being assured the Lord will do it can say The Lord hath brought me into his Chambers And thus those must necessarily understand it who with Piscator by the Chambers understand Heaven and Glory 2. But I rather think the words are to be understood as they lie before us She is heard while she is speaking while she prayeth Lord draw me she is drawn and is in Heaven e're she is aware of it thus the learned Mercer expounds it If you understand the words in the first sense They speak the vertue and efficacy of faith the believer by vertue of it can look upon things as done which yet are to be done why because the Soul eyeth the promise and knoweth that he who hath promised is both able and faithful If a debt be owing to you from an able and an honest man you say it is as good mony as any in your purse you count you have so much as that debt maketh addition to your estate Gods hand is an able hand and he is faithful the Soul may count upon it that it hath so much either in Grace or glory as the Lord hath promised it If you take the words in the latter sense as I shall do they inform you of the efficacy of Prayer spiritual fervent prayer it availeth much while the believer is speaking God is answering I proceed to the latter part of the Text. We will be glad and rejoice in thee and remember thy loves more than Wine we have heard the Spouses petition Draw me she prayed for Divine Grace that might both sweetly and powerfully draw her Soul after Christ We have heard her promise which I told you might be considered as an argument to enforce her Petition an argument drawn from the glory of God and the concern of it in the answer we will run after thee A prayer for the best things and to receive them for the best end to make her more holy We have heard how well pleasing her petition was she had no sooner prayed but God answereth and she recognizeth her answer My Lord the King saith she hath brought me into his Chambers now she cometh to shew the effects this quick and gracious answer had and would have upon her She mentioneth three The first as some if not too critically distinguish respecting her heart We will be glad 2. The second respecting the action of the whole man We will rejoice in thee 3. The third respecting the record of it We will remember thy loves more than Wine This now distinguished her spiritual affection from a foolish transient passion We will exalt or be glad the Radix 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is very often used in Scripture I will point you to 3 or 4 other Texts from whence you may gather the sense of it Is 65. 19. And I will rejoice in Hierusalem and joy in my People Pro. 23. 24. The Father of the Righteous shall greatly rejoice Psal 21. 5. The King shall joy in thy strength So Psal 2. 11. Psal 13. 11. My heart shall rejoice in thy Salvation Psal 16. 9. Zech. 9. 9. Forster thinks it rather signifieth the expression of the Joy of the heart by some outward gesture than the meer internal affection It doubtless signifies the highest affection of the heart upon its union with its desired object We will be glad the Radical word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to rejoice and to be merry and is very often in the old Testament used to express the gladness of the heart Exod. 4. 14. The rejoicing of a Virgin in a dance Jer. 31. 13. I shall not insist upon that critical distinction which some make betwixt these words restraining the one to the inward affection the other to the more outward expression nor do I think it will hold but clearly both these are expressed by these two words whither distinctly or jointly I shall not determine and the sense is this O Lord thou hast heard my prayer thou hast granted the request of my lips thou hast brought me into thy Royal Chambers admitted me to Spiritual secret and most sweet communion with thee Our hearts shall be most highly affected with thee and our outward man most
his Spirit but thy Soul is yet unquiet and impatient it is thy duty yet to wait upon God to chide down thy tumultuous and unquiet thoughts all the risings up and murmurings of thy Soul against God to adore and to admire God where thou canst not see or understand him to acknowledge Gods goodness and holiness though thou canst not discern his goodness as to thee in this particular Thus did David Psal 22. 3. after he had complained that he had cried in the day time and the Lord did not hear and in the night season and was not silent v. 3. he saith But thou art holy O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel This is most certainly our duty under such providences as these are we must not look in this life to understand all Gods ways and methods of providence much less the reasons of them that is a piece of knowledge reserved for another world all that we have to do is to observe and study them and where we cannot find them out to admire and adore them and to wait upon him that wrappeth up himself in thick darkness and hideth his face from the House of Jacob. This waiting doth not only signify a passive quietness silence and patience but an active doing our duty Waiting on the Lord and keeping his way are put together Psal 37. we ought not to leave off praying because in our apprehensions at least our prayers lie by without answer much less to slacken our course of holiness but to resolve as the Church did for Zions sake so for our own sake not to hold our peace we have for this an excellent president in the example of the Church Psal 44. 17. All this is come upon us saith she yet have we not forgotten thee nor dealt falsely in thy Covenant Our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy way though thou hast sore broken us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death then she concludeth with prayer v. 23 24 25 26. Awake why sleepest thou O Lord arise cast us not off for ever wherefore hidest thou thy face and forgettest our affliction and oppression For our Soul is bowed down to the dust our belly cleaveth to the Earth Arise for our help and redeem us for thy mercy sake Sermon XXV Cant. 1. 4. The King hath brought me into his Chambers IF any asketh who is this King whom the text speaks of as the question soundeth like that Psal 24. v. 8. Who is the King of glory So the answer must be much the same The Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in Battel the Lord of Hosts he is the King of Glory He is the King of Nations for all the Nations of the Earth are the work of his hands and he hath a Native Lordship and dominion over them He is the King upon the holy hill of Sion the King of Saints they have chosen him he ruleth in them and reigneth over them they have chosen him he hath subdued their hearts unto him and hath chosen them for his peculiar people this is the King of whom the Church and the believing Soul here speaketh and saith The King hath brought me into his Chambers It is the same Person of whom she spake v. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth To whom she said v. 3. Draw me and we will run after thee There she spake to him as her beloved here she speaketh of him as a King there she prayed for something that she wanted here she praiseth and giveth thanks for something she had received I have already taken notice of the alteration of her stile of her so sudden giving thanks upon the quick return God had made to her prayers I come now to consider the mercy or good thing she had received which she expresseth in the same metaphorical dialect which she useth throughout this Song The King hath brought me into his Chambers when I at first opened the whole verse I endeavoured to find out what this mercy was in the receit of which the Spouse triumpheth in this text I then considered Chambers as places more lofty then others and and of more privacy and secrecy and from thence concluded that the Spouse by this phrase signifieth some special favours which she had received from God some special and more near and intimate degrees of fellowship and communion with God into which her beloved had taken her The Proposition I offered from the words for my further explication was this That the Lord Jesus Christ hath Chambers in which he sometimes entertaineth the Souls of his people He hath a favour for them all Rooms in his House for all the sizes of his people but he hath Chambers for some or into which he sometimes takes up the Souls of his Saints the subject of my discourse will be such special favours as God sheweth to some Souls or to the Souls of his people at some times This is evident in holy writ Abraham was called the Friend of God Moses is called his Servant emphatically Moses my Servant is dead David the man according to Gods own heart Solomon was named by God Jedidiah a man beloved of God There are four degrees in the love of God as it respecteth the Children of men 1. He hath a Philanthropy or general love which he sheweth towards all He leaveth not the Heathen without witness In him all men live move and have their being from him they have fruitful times and seasons which fill their bellies with food their hearts with gladness their bellies are filled with his hid treasure The patience of God leadeth them to repentance The invisible things of God even his eternal power and God-head are made known to them by his works of Creation by the things which he hath made 2. He hath a more special love for his Church This is seen in his more special providence exercised towards his whole Church which are more watched over and preserved by a common providence then any other body of people are They have also the Oracles of God the Ordinances of God and means of grace and this latter is certainly an effect of the death of Christ 3. He hath yet a more special love for all those within his Church who are effectually called whose hearts God hath seized and subdued to himself they are made partakes of more special grace being called justified and sanctified and such who shall hereafter be most certainly glorified 4. But there is yet another specialty of Divine love even amongst those who are made partakers of special saving graces some are more specially favoured in this life and shall be more eminently then others glorified in that life which is to come These more special favours to the Saints that are all made partakers of the same saving grace are the subject of my present enquiry 1. Some here understand the mansions of glory but they are forced to make an
and be dejected and conclude against themselves as if they had no share in the love of God much less to repine and murmur against God Against murmuring I offered you some considerations under the first branch of application Against condemning your selves or concluding against the goodness of your spiritual state I shall offer something now There is no ground at all for any such conclusion from these providences The Child 's right to the Father is not to be determined from the portion much less from any particular expression of the Fathers affection if the Child be begotten by the Father if owned by him as his Child this is enough tho some other Child may have more smiles and some particular expressions of kindness which it wanteth If a Christian hath any evidence that he is born again not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of the will of God born again of the Spirit by the incorruptible Seed of the Word this is enough to entitle him to a Sonship if he hath received the Lord Jesus Christ this John 1. 12. gives him a right to be called the Child of God and this new birth is discoverable by the new features in the Souls face the Souls assimilation to God in holiness If these things be found it is a most unreasonable conclusion to conclude against thy Sonship for want of some special favours bestowed upon others and not upon thee so as there is no ground for thy reprobating thy self upon this account and concluding against thy spiritual state because of thy want of some degrees of spiritual priviledges by others enjoyed nor hast thou more ground to despond and to deject thy self as if thou never shouldst attain what thou hast not as yet attained David sets us a rare example in this case Psal 42. 5. Why art thou cast down O my Soul why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance The longest night hath a morning following there commonly is a circulation in Divine Providence and as to the Soul of man day and night Summer and Winter follow one another as by a Covenant he that doth not grieve willingly nor willingly afflict the Children of men will not be alwaies crushing the Prisoners of the Earth nor suffer the Souls which he hath made to fail before him 2. As thy condition will prompt thee to endeavour to amend it and to make the case of thy Soul more easy so I would have thee look upon it as thy duty St. Paul had not attained but he forgetting what was behind pressed forward to what was before unto the price of the high calling It is the state of our Souls that we are not perfect neither as to action nor as to fruition but it is all our duty to strive after perfection both after a perfection with respect to action which the Apostle calls a perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord and a perfection as to fruition as to the enioyment of God you have heard that the King of Glory hath Chambers in which he entertaineth some of his peoples Souls admitting them to a fuller further and sweeter enjoyment of himself then others have Let therefore no Christian sit down fully satisfied till he get up into these Chambers I have shewed you a Christian ought to be so far satisfied as if God pleaseth to chain him for a time in a lower room my meaning is to lay a necessity upon him to live beneath these Mountains not to repine murmur against God not to conclude against his spiritual state and interest in God not to despond and defect himself and conclude that because it is now dark it shall never be light with him but yet he ought not to be so far satisfied as not to look after higher degrees of enjoyment of and communion with God There are all the arguments imaginable to be pleaded in this case Whether from profit or pleasure or honour c. But those are so obvious that I shall but wast time to inlarge upon them Every Soul that hath any spiritual sense will acknowledge the desirableness of this But will some Souls say what shall we do that we may attain them I have but four things to offer in this case with which I will conclude 1. Study to abound in active grace The grace I am speaking of is that grace wherein man is partly passive Active grace is that by which we are inabled to our duty in obedience to the will of God the Stairs by which Souls ascend to the Kings Chambers mentioned in the Text as I have interpreted it are the steps of universal holiness which the Apostle calls an holiness in all manner of conversation The promise of Gods shewing his Salvation Psal 50. 21. is made to him that ordereth his conversation aright and the promise of Gods manisesting himself to his peoples Souls is made to them that love Christ and keep his Commandments It is true God sometimes useth his prerogative and hides his face from the most pious and holy Souls for a time and shutteth out their supplications from him you have instances in holy writ as well as in our daily converse but it is past all controversy that those enjoy most of God who walk most with God and the closest walking is the most sweet and comfortable walking Study therefore to excell in holiness that 's the first 2. Behave thy self well in the lower Rooms Look to thy self while God keeps thee in a dark condition that thou dost not add to thine own Chains and lengthen the hours of thy darkness affliction is Gods School by which he fits us for consolation Dost thou ask me what I mean by behaving thy self well I answer short 1 Being watchful and striving against sin those corruptions especially which thou shalt discern most busie in such an hour such as murmuring unbelief impatience c. 2. Keeping up thy hope and saith in God so did David as I shewed you Psal 42. 5. Blessed are they saith our Saviour who have not seen and yet believed 3. Humbly acknowledging thine iniquities thy unworthiness to receive the least mercy or look of grace from God 4. Panting thirsting after fuller degrees of communion with God thus David Psal 63. 1 2. My Soul longeth my flesh thirsteth for thee to see thy power and thy glory c. 3. Abstract thy self as much as thou canst from the world You shall observe that the Servants of God have chosen Mountains places of solitude and removed from the noise of the world when they designed any acts of more special communion with God so Christ often went into a Mountain to pray And God oft chose such places more specially to communicate his mind to his people It was in the Mount God talkt with Moses face to face as a man talks with his friend Divines have observed that those Persons who have enjoyed
that understand you have Souls under an ordination to an eternal Existence that know the state of the Soul by nature and have tasted also how good the Lord is to you to whom Christ is precious and whom you will easily acknowledge your chief Joy I am calling to you but for the exercise of an habit with which God hath indeed indued you the exerting of a power with which God hath blessed you the using of a right which God hath given you There are amongst others two great causes why Christians do not so rejoyce in Christ as they ought to do 1. The first is Their giving too much way to unbelief and despondency Though we cannot increase our own Faith without special grace assisting yet we may promove our unbelief favouring our despondency and cherishing our doubts and giving way to our groundless fears and forgetting the Covenant of Grace not saying often enough to our Souls Why art thou cast down O my Soul c. 2. The second is Their too much carnality or worldliness Where almost is the man to be found that cannot rejoyce in his worldly Affluences although he wants the sense of the Love of God in Christ or that if he were tried would not find it an hard matter to rejoyce in God if the Fig-tree did not blossom and there were no fruit on the Vine How ready are we to rejoyce in our creature-comforts when we have them more than in the Love of Christ to our Souls whence is this but from our too much savouring minding and living upon Earth and earthly things Is the hearing of Prayers such a matter of joy to a gracious man how should this engage us 1. So to pray that we may receive an answer of them from the Lord 2. To look after our Prayers and the answers of them that the sense of such an answer may excite our joy in Christ As to the first I have spoken so fully to it under the first Doctrine I handled from this Text that I shall not need again to inlarge upon it here I shall only inlarge upon the second Foolish Children that shoot Arrows and never look after them lose that pleasure and content in their game which those have who observe what becomes of their Arrows and how near they come to the mark to which they are directed and levelled Formal Christians who send up Prayers to Heaven and never look after them never consider whether the Lord answereth them yea or no lose that pleasure and satisfaction which the Soul hath that watcheth his Prayers and with David when early in the morning he hath directed his Prayers to God as Psal 5. 3. looketh up You read of the Prophet Habakkuk when chap. 1. he had been putting up his Prayer to God he resolveth chap. 2. v. 1. to stand upon his watch and to set himself upon the Tower watching to see what God would say unto him Here now comes in a considerable question viz. How a Christian shall know whether God hath heard and answered his prayers yea or no The difficulty lies upon two things 1. Vpon God's different ways of answering 2. In regard we may receive the good things we receive from God meerly from him as a God full of pity and tender compassion seeing and pitying the misery and needs of his creatures as our Saviour saith He hears the young Ravens when they cry unto him Not as from a God in Christ reconciled and hearing us upon the account of his Truth and Promise and the Intercession of Christ Now the answer of those Prayers only which are answered upon the account of Christ and testifications of the Love of God in Christ can bring the Soul to a gladness and rejoycing in Christ upon that occasion and motive As to the first 1. I see no reason for a Soul that hath been importunate with God for some good thing which it hath not yet received if it finds it self satisfied under the want of it and content to submit to the Will of God in the denial of it and to resign up it self to his good pleasure as to the collation of it upon him I say in such cases as these I see no reason for a Christian to question whether this answer be from God as a God of Truth and Faithfulness fulfilling his promise to the Soul His promise to his people is to with-hold from them no good thing that is nothing which shall be truly and really good for them considered in their circumstances Now where a sensible good is with-held and denied that a real good may be bestowed and the Soul is also brought to see its own mistake in the desire of that sensible good and to acquiesce in the good pleasure of God in not giving it nay to acknowledge that it is better for it not to have it and is quiet and satisfied certainly this is one of the clearest answers of our prayers and no Soul ought to question but this is a return of prayers Let us put a case Suppose a Christian lying under the power of some mortal disease under which he hath often prayed that if it were possible God would make the bitter Cup of Death to pass from him Still he or she groweth weaker and weaker worse and worse as to his or her bodily state but they find within themselves a further contentedness with the good pleasure of God a power to glory in their tribulation and to rejoyce in the hopes of that glory of God to which its affliction is bringing it a desire not to be unclothed meerly and free from its pain but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up in life What reason now hath a Christian to suspect whether this be in answer to its prayers and slowing from God as a God of Truth fulfilling his Word seeing as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5. 5. He that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God who hath also given us the earnest of the Spirit It is a good thing here that is given the Soul it is given it by God it is he who hath wrought the heart into this frame It is given in upon and after earnest prayer and though it be not the very thing in specie which we asked yet it is in value more abundantly compensating the things we asked and finally the thing which we did ask we asked with submission to the Will and Wisdom of God so that as to these kinds of answers I take the case to be clear 2. As to the giving in of such spiritual mercies as we have begg'd of God in their kind whether they be peace of Conscience strength against temptations power against corruptions sensible consolations more freedom and liveliness unto and in duty there is as little reason to doubt because they are the very good things we a kt 2. Of such a spiritual nature as God doth not use to give them to Souls that are strangers to him 3. The matter of
is full either of such as are excessive drinkers of Wine or Merchants for it but how thin is it of such as have any remembrance of Christs love who as the Apostle tells us died to redeem us from our vain conversation 1 Pet. 1. 18. For we were not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold from our vain conversation but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish who can be said to remember Christs love more then Wine that lives in those sins which crucified him who was the Lord of life Yet is not this the course of the most Men and Women who never think of their dying Saviour to restrain them in their drunkennesses debaucheries in their greatest excesses of Riot Nay how many are there that seldom take the love of Christ into their thoughts the love of their cups and of their Harlots hath made Christs loves to be utterly forgotten by their Souls for how can they say that they remember Christs loves above their lusts that will not quench one lust for his sake they in whom the remembrance of Christs death will not extinguish one vile affection one spark of pleasing lust will not the most of men and women yea such in whose ears the loves of Christ are published every Lords day be found perishing for preferring the very lees and dregs of Wine before the loves of Christ I mean for preferring the basest and most sordid kind of pleasures and satisfactions of the flesh for such are those pleasures which are no more than the gratifying of the sensitive appetite 2. Do not most mens discourses and practice betray them to remember Wine I mean their profitable things before the loves of Christ How much is the world and the things of the world the discourse of all companies upon all occasions how few are the discourses concerning Christ and what he hath done for us an hours discourse of Christs loves in a Pulpit upon the Lords day is thought proportionable to six days discourse about our earthly occasions do we not even grudge the Lord a seventh part of our time for the remembrances of his loves the Lords day is a day to call to remembrance Christs loves It was the day of his resurrection by which he compleated mans redemption the Ministers work is to help us in our remembrance of his loves We have besides our attendance upon the publick ministry a private duty this day incumbent upon us viz. To remember him who died for our sins and rose again for our justification I beseech you consider whether your remembrings of Christs loves upon the Sabbath day bear any proportion to your remembrance of your worldly interests other days I mean not for the proportion of time spent in the one and the other God hath indulged our infirmity in that he hath set apart a seventh day only to himself but examine this whether you remember the loves of Christ on the Lords day as you remember your worldly concerns on any of the other six days do the loves of Christ come into your thoughts as much on the week day as the world comes into your thoughts on the Lords days I sear there is none of us all can say that in this thing our hearts are clean I hope I speak to many who remember the loves of Christ and will never suffer his dying love to go off their thoughts But when we come to these comparative examinations to enquire whether we remember his loves more then we remember our sensual or sensible objects ah how short do we come of the duty of Christians yea of what our selves will own and consess to be our duty Happy is that man that doth not condemn himself even in the thing which he alloweth to be his duty But I had rather spend my time in persuading my self and you to our duty which according to my explication of the text and this propositionwill lye much in two things 1. In a full and perfect remembrance of the Loves of Christ 2. In a remembrance of them proportionable to that degree of goodness and excellency in them I say first in a Scriptual remembrance a full and perfect remembrance of the Loves of Christ I am afraid that we satisfy our selves too much in a Notional formal remembrance of Christs Loves and so please our selves in hearing the Gospel read opened and applyed to our Souls in a formal keeping of the Lords day the day which God hath set apart for us to call to our minds all the acts of our redemption compleated in his resurrection some Churches aware of Peoples awkness to this Spiritual duty have thought fit to appoint other days for a more solemn remembrance of his incarnation and death Nor have I any thing to say against any Christians that will set apart any Special times to remember any Loves of Christ though I do not know that Christ hath left any power to his Church to impose particular times of this nature But alas this is the least part of our duty in the remembrance of his Love We may have a day to remember it in we have such a day every week we may have helps to remember it by The holy Scriptures the Ministers of the Gospel that Preach Christ to their People are such helps But if in these days if with these helps we do not set our selves to meditate of the Loves of Christ to turn our thoughts from other things to the contemplation of and meditation upon the Love of a Christ incarnate the Love of a Christ dying and riseing again from the dead if we do not study to get our hearts affected suitably to such Love with love faith hope c. we do not so live as a People that remember Christ died for our Sins declining whatsoever is contrary to his will and Law in the Gospel do what in us lyeth to promove his honour Glory we are so far from Satisfying our Duty by this formal remembrance of his Love that we are the greatest forgetters of his Love The Jews who never owned him as their Redeemer the Heathen who never heard of his name nor of what he was or did for Sinners can in no propriety of Speech be said to forget his Loves The Christian only the loose Christian the formal Christian he who hears every day of the dying Love of Christ yet goes on to defy him to crucify him afresh and to put him to open shame or he who every Lords day hears the sound of the Loves of Christ and reads of it yet never meditates upon it never suffers his soul by contemplation to pierce into the heights or sound the depths of it whose heart is never truly affected with it so as he hath any Love kindled in his soul towards Christ no breathings after him who exerciseth no faith no hope in him he that lives not in his measure up to it leaving his vain conversation worshiping God in the Spirit
rejoycing in him living up in a close obedience to his Law this is the man that forgetteth the Loves of Christ But yet if there be a Soul that hath experienced the Loves of Christ in a particular application to it self that hath given it self a liberty to the flesh and walked in a contrary course to what the Law of Christ requireth this Soul yet more forgets his Loves because he had a deeper impression of them upon his heart the Love of Christ made an impression only upon the others Ears but it hath entred into this man's Soul He is the greatest forgetter of his Love You shall observe in holy Writ that all sin is exprest under the notion of forgetting God Psal 50. 22. and in a multitude of other Texts and this not only because a forgetting of God is the cause of all the Violations of his Law which we could not violate if we remembred God as we ought to do but because indeed all sin in God's account is an actual ' forgetting of him God accounts us to know to remember no more than we are affected with and live up unto Therefore Christians let us make it our business not only to call to mind the Loves of Christ but to remember them in that sense which God calleth a remembrance of them 2. Let us not satisfie our selves with a bare remembrance of his Loves but labour to remember them more than Wine more than the most sweet and pleasant the most gainful and profitable things which this world affords Think that you hear Christ speaking in your Ears in the language in which he once spake to Peter setting all the pleasant and gainful things in the world before you and then saying to you Christians Love you me more than these Let me shew you the reasonableness of this 1. Consider if thou canst not say so Thou dost not answer the Loves of Christ in any degree I am now speaking to such as are Christians not in name and profession only but in deed and in truth Such a one may suppose all the fallen Angels under Christ's Eye even those Legions in the Air and in the bottomless Pit Creatures in their Original more perfect and glorious than man but fallen from their first Integrity and think he heareth Christ saying to him Poor Soul I have loved thee more than all these I died not for these I died for thee I took not upon me the Nature of Angels but the Nature of the seed of Abraham 2. He may suppose all the Heathen Nations under Christ's Eye The great Emperours of Turkey Persia China and other parts of the world with the millions of Souls under their jurisdiction and think that he heareth Christ again saying to him Poor Soul I have loved thee more than these Thou hearest my Gospel Read and Preached every Lord's Day hast thou not seen hast thou not heard These great Nations of the world and all the great Rulers of them never heard the joyful sound I was never Preached in their Streets they were never wooed never intreated to come to me that they might have life I have loved thee more than these Further yet thou mayest fancy all the prophane men all the sensual and carnal men all Hypocrites all unregenerate men whose hearts are yet locked up under unbelief under Christ's and thy Eye and suppose that thou hearest thy great Lord and Saviour saying to thee Poor Christian I have loved thee more than all these They are yet wallowing in their native blood as thou wert before I passed by thee in my time of love and said unto thee live they are yet Children of wrath in an hourly danger of having it come upon them to the utmost I have plucked thee out of Sodom Thy heart by nature was as hard as theirs as much prejudiced against thy own salvation I have made thee to differ I have loved thee more than all these May I rise one step higher to commend the Love of Christ to thy remembrance thou mayest fancy all that glory which Christ had with his Father from before the beginning of the world all the blessed company of Heaven all the riches of Christ's glory and felicity before his and thy Eye and fancy that thou hearest Christ say to thee My poor creature I have in a sense and for a time loved thee more than these I left my Father's Throne and right Hand him whom I was alwaies before brought up with him I left all to come down from Heaven to Earth to take thy flesh to be born of a Virgin and to be laid in a Manger to live a poor and contemned life in the world to die a shameful and ignominious death and all this to purchase for thee Eternal Life and Salvation and to redeem thee from thy vain conversation Have I not loved thee more than these What doth the Apostle say less than this when he saith 2 Cor. 8. 9. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor that you through his poverty might be made rich In what degree then canst thou be said to answer the Loves of Christ if when there is set before thee no more than the pleasures of sin which are but for a season the profits and enjoyments of this life which thou canst have no more than a Lease for Life of if thou canst not say Yea Lord thou that knowest all things knowest that I remember thy Love more than these Either this intoxicating Wine of sinful lusts and pleasures how gratifying soever they be to my fleshly appetite or this pleasant and gainful Wine of worldly Riches Estate Honour Preferment c. Oh that Christians would think of this 2. The second Consideration is yet more dreadful viz. He is not worthy of the Loves of Christ who doth not remember them more than Wine What Christ sometimes said of Love is as true concerning this remembrance of his Loves which is an act of Love Matth. 10. 37. He that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth Son dâ— Daughter more than me is not worthy of me And what he saith there of natural Relations is doubtless as true concerning sensible Enjoyments in this world Riches and Honours c. which are objects of your love much beneath reasonable creatures in nearest relation to uâ— It is certainly as true That man or woman that remembers any sensible Enjoyment and is more affected with it than the Loves of Christ is not worthy of his Loves Certainly nothing more becometh us who pretend to be creatures endued with reason than to value things according to their measure and their true and just valuation You will say he is not worthy of a Jewel of great price that valueth a Pebble before it And by the way this will be enough to convince us all that we are saved by Grace and have what Love we have from Christ freely
not to desire or to be willing to remember the kindness of a friend whose kindness we have abused Sin puts the tast of Christs love out of the Soul A remembrance of Christs love so as to be in any measure duly affected with it is incompetent with wilful and presumptuous sinning None but the holy and heavenly Soul remembreth the loves of Christ 5. Lastly Wait upon God in ordinances in hearing the Word in the Holy Sacrament of his Supper The ordinances of the Gospel are not only means of grace but great helps to Christians memory as to Christs loves we preach a Christ crucified there his loves come to our ears in the Supper you have a representation of a Christ crucified there his loves his dying love is set before your Eyes both are helps to the mind of that man or woman who desireth to feed his thoughts upon the loves of Christ But to shut up all Pray that is a general prescription in order to the obtaining of any mercy from the hand of God amongst other blessed effects of the holy Spirit of God promised by Christ to his Disciples this was one John 14. 26. He shall bring to your remembrance the things which you have heard of me it is the influence of the Spirit of grace that quickneth and inableth us to bring Christs love to our remembrance our Saviour hath taught us how to obtain this blessed remembrancer Luke 11. 13. He giveth his holy Spirit to them that ask him Sermon XXX Cant. 1. 4. The Vpright love thee Or Heb. Vprightnesses love thee STill it is the Spouse that speaketh She had prayed Draw me and promised that being drawn both she and others would run after Christ She had received a gracious answer to her prayer The King had brought her into his Chambers In this she hath Triumphed We will be glad and rejoice in thee For this she hath covenanted that she would remember the Loves of her Beloved more then all the pleasant or profitable things in the world Which she expresseth under the Metaphoricall notion of Wine Now lest any should say to her Why so fond O thou fairest amongst women to justify her self in this rapture of Joy this extacy of love she may be conceived to add these words The upright love thee or as the Hebrew is Uprightnesses love thee the words may be variously rendred with consistency enough to the Grammar of the Hebrew text 1. Uprightnesses or right things love thee The Same word is used Psal 17. 2. Thine eyes shall behold right things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be right or to appear so The word is used in the form that it is here Psal 9. 9. He shall judge the World in righteousness and the People 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in uprightnesses It is used Prov. 1. 3. Is 33. 15. Prov. 2. 9. Psal 75. 2. If we expound the phrase as it is literally according to the abstract Righteousnesses or Right things the Question will be whether it should be read as in the Nominative case Uprightnesses love thee or as in the Oblique case which the Heb. prefix seems to import In Uprightnesses they love thee accordingly the sense will be very different for if we read it as in the Nominative case the import of it seems to be to set out the Excellency of her beloved as he who was the very seat of all excellent things in whom did all fulness dwell even the fulness of the God-head all righteousness all Equity whatsoever is good If we read it as in the Ablative case as the prefix in the Hebrew seemeth to guide us The import of it seems to be to express to us the nature of the Saints love to God which is not in word or in tongue onely but in deed and in truth in uprightnesses that is as Buxtorf expoundeth it Rectissime fortiter most intirely intensely sincerely thus I say it denoteth the truth and reality of the believing Souls love to Christ 2. But our translators have thought fit to translate it otherwise conceiving the abstract here put for the concrete Uprightnesses for upright men possessed of uprightness this is very usual in the Hebrew dialect and indeed in most languages so the sense is this Do not wonder that I love Christ and am so affected with the injoyment of him there is never an upright Soul in the world but loves him all upright Souls love him Thus the Proposition is plain Propos Upright Souls love Christ To this I shall Speak in my ordinary method by Explication Confirmation Application Under the first I shall give you the true notion of Uprightness and an üpright soul shew you in what sense the Proposition is true The Question may well be propounded Who is the upright who is the righteous man For the Psalmist tells us the Apostle Rom. 3. confirmeth it There is none righteous no not one and although God at first made man upright Eccles 7. 29. Yet the world is so warped by men seeking out to themselves inventions that the prophet Micah 7. 2. Tells us there is none upright amongst men To resolve this difficulty I shall first give you two or three distinctions concerning righteousness or uprightness without which we shall hardly understand the true notion of an upright man 1. There is an uprightness of heart Psal 32. 11. Shout for joy all you upright in heart so Psal 94. 11. Judgment shall return unto righteousness and all the upright in heart shall follow it And there is an uprightness of way or conversation Prov. 29. 27. The upright in his way is an abomination so◠Psal 37. 14. The wicked man seeketh to slay such as be of upright conversation Indeed it is true there is no man who is upright in his heart but he will also be upright in his way for the upright directeth his way Prov. 21. 29. but there is a seeming uprightness of way when the heart is not upright with God Prov. 14. 12. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death The Proposition must be understood of such as are upright not in their way only seemingly but both in heart and in way 2. Secondly there is a Legal and there is an Evangelical righteousness or uprightness The legal righteousness or uprightness lyeth in a full and perfect conformity to the Law of God In this sense it is as true That there is none righteous no not one none upright amongst men as that there is none who liveth and sinneth not against God for the least Flye maketh this box of ointment to stink all Sin is crookedness and the least crookedness spoileth this rightness But then there is an Evangelical righteousness and uprightness and thus every Soul that is justified by grace through the imputation of Christs righteousness is a righteous Soul and every Soul that is Sanctifyed and renewed the bent of which is towards
This saith he thou hast seen O God keep not silence O Lord be not thou far from me so Psal 38. 21 22. Psal 71. 12. Every Christians experience is a full proof of this so as the Proposition needeth no further proof only let me shew you the reason of it The great Reason is Because we are all of us more prone to live by sight then by faith The Apostle saith we live by faith not by sight He tells you what he himself and other Christians then did and what all good Christians should do The just saith the Prophet shall live by faith But through our infirmity we do live more by sight then we do by faith It is a lesson very hard to flesh and blood could we live more by faith there would be these two consequents to such a life 1. In the day of our sensible contentments we should live more upon the word and promises of God then upon any sensible comforts and enjoyments But it is hard for us to have a staff lent us and not to lean upon it so when it breaketh we come to see our errors and see more need of the influences of Divine Grace at such then at other times 2. We should see as much in God and in Christ to uphold and maintain our selves in an evil day as at any other times for the promises are the same and Christ in whom all the promises are yea and Amen is the same and Gods all-sufficiency is the same he is at all times the God that changeth not This being premised as the great and original cause we may conceive some further and more particular reasons 2. Because in this Noon all creature comforts fail yea and in some afflictions sensible spiritual comforts sometimes fail also In trials that are more external such as bodily afflictions persecutions c. outward comforts fail when the Sun shineth upon our Tabernacles and the rod of God is not upon us we are then ready to forget God when Jeshurun waxed fat he kicked up the heel when these outward consolations are taken away then the Soul beginneth to see that it stands in need of some other supports If the Affliction be some divine desertion then the sensible consolations of the Holy Spirit fail also what Daviá said in his prosperity Psal 30. 6. I shall never be moved we are all of us too prone to say in the day of our prosperity but as it fared him with v. 7. so it fareth with us when the Lord hideth his face we are troubled It is too natural even to the best of men not to know the God of our mercies in the day of our mercies It was Israels sin Hosea 2. 8. For she did not know that I gave her Corn and Wine and Oil. We do not so duly attend to that which we profess to know that our Soul strength and Soul comforts are from the Lord and hence it is that in the day when they are withdrawn we see a more special need of the presence and influence of Christ upon us It is the unhappiness and infirmity of humane nature that we seldom either understand our mercies or the Author and Fountain of them till we come to want them while we have health and peace and liberty while we have inward strength and quiet we neither understand the value of these mercies nor Eye God as we should do as the Author of them but in the noon time of our tryals and afflictions whether more immediately from God in bodily afflictions or divine desertions or more immediately from men then we both understand the value of our mercies and also what need we have of the presence of God with us and the influences of God upon us At other times we live very much upon our more sensible enjoyments now we have not them to live upon and so see a more need of a God and a Christ to live upon 3. Ordinarily at such a time Our lusts and corruptions move very impetuously A man never so well knows the lusts and corruptions of his own heart as in an evil day Natura vexata prodit Sâ—ipsam Anger a man we say and you will see his temper when God by his providence vexeth a poor creature as others will see something so he will see more what lusts and corruptions are in his heart The Devil knew this well enough when he replyed to God commending his servant Job Put forth now thine hand and touch him and he will eurse thee to thy face Now as every good Soul keepeth a watch upon his heart and observeth the motions of sin and lust in his Soul so he never seeth more of the need of the presence and influence of God upon his Soul then when Iniquities prevail against him When Paul cries out of the body of death he presently cries out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me 4. Lastly His Grand Adversary the Devil is never more busy then at such a time Times of afflictions are not only times of divine temptations when God proveth and tryeth his People whether they will adhere and keep close to him but of Diabolical Suggestions and temptations also When the Devil is making tryal whether he can pluck a Soul out of Christs hand and out of his Fathers hand The Psalmist calls the Devil The fowler and he knows hard weather is the best time for his purpose he first gets a commission against Job to take away all that he had saving his life onely and then his Wife cometh and persuadeth him to curse God and dye and he followeth him with many other Suggestions and temptations This was the reason of Saint Pauls writing to the Church of Corinth to restore the incestuous Person who by his order was cast out of their communion lest saith he he should be swallowed up of too much grief and Satan should have advantage against him for we are not ignorant of his devices We are never so sensible what need we have of our friends as when our enemies appear most busy most strong and active Hence it is that although a believer seeth a need of the presence and influence of Christ at all times yet he never seeth so great a need of him as in a time of great and sharp trials and afflictions when trouble is hard at hand I shall shut up this discourse with a Word or two of exhortation shortly This should ingage all of us so to behave our selves towards our Lord in the morning of our prosperity that we may not want his presence and influence in the noon of our trials afflictions and adversity It is a mighty folly in any of us to live as we had no Prospect of the ordinary or necessary contingencies of humane life Prudence quasi providence Solomon saith The wise man hath his Eyes in his head And these Eyes are imployed in looking forward as well as round about him at the present It is a great folly in
say it may be more or less God may more or less communicate himself to the Soul as to his influences of strengthening quickning comforting grace and the Soul that moveth from these principles may be able more or less to communicate itself to God in the exercises of meditation faith joy and delight in God Nay sometimes Gods influences may be so secret and indiscernable that the Soul may cry out as one forsaken of God and a stranger to him This hath so plentiful an evidence in Holy Writ as the truth of it cannot be disputed We find David Psal 22. 1. crying out My God! my God why hast thou forsaken me Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring and the Psalmist Psal 77 3. I remembred God and was troubled v. 4. I am so troubled that I cannot speak v. 7. Will the Lord cast off for ever And will he be favourable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever Doth his promise fail for evermore Hath God forgotten to be gracious Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies There are many instances of this nature in the Psalms we have an instance in this Song Cant. 5. 1 2. By night upon my Bed I sought him whom my Soul loveth I sought him but I found him not v. 2. I will rise now and go about the City in the streets and in the broad places I will seek him whom my Soul loveth I sought him but I found him not v. 3. The Watchmen that go about the City found me to whom I said saw ye him whom my Soul loveth So Cant. 5. 5. I rose up to open to my Beloved and my Hands dropped with Myrrh and my Fingers with sweet smelling Myrrh upon the Handles of the lock I opened to my Beloved but he had withdrawn himself and was gone my Soul failed when he spake I sought him but I could not find him I called him but he gave me no answer What do all these metaphorical expressions purport but this that there are times when the Soul finds a difficulty to maintain or discern its communion with God Sometimes God doth not as at other times breath upon communicate himself to the Souls even of the best of his people the faileur seemeth to be on Gods part for some just cause the Soul findeth some freedom to impart and communicate its self to God but findeth not Gods assistances influences and communications of himself to it as it desireth and as it hath experienced from God at other times this looks like the case of the Spouse in those two places of this Song before mentioned Sometimes again the Soul easily discerneth the faileur in itself it cannot meditate upon God It remembreth God and is troubled it cannot pray with any fervour nor exercise faith with any boldness this seems to be the case of the Psalmist Psal 77. That the thing is so evident let me therefore rather spend time to search out the reasons of such a dispensation on Gods part and affliction on ours 1. Oh Gods part we usually call such a dispensation a desertion so as the cause of it is the withdrawing of some divine influences from the Soul It was truly said of Augustine Deus non deserit etiamsi deserere videatur Though God seemeth to forsake yet he never wholly forsaketh any Soul to whom he is united it is the withdrawing only of some sensible manifestations of his love All divine desertions are either founded in Divine Justice or in the Divine Wisdom so as the account which can be given of any such dispensation on Gods part must fall under one of those two heads 1. When it is founded in Justice it alwaies is for the punishment of sin For though God upon the Covenant of Grace hath reserved no liberty to himself eternally to forsake his people no nor yet totally yet he hath reserved to himself a liberty for temporary afflictions of them you have as to this particular a fair copy of the Covenant of grace Psal 89. 26. 27 c. The Covenant of Grace was made with Christ from Eternity the tenour of it was revealed variously to Adam upon the Fall to Noah to Abraham to David in that Psalm you have the revelation of it to David v. 20. 21 22 23 24 25 26. He shall cry unto me thou art my Father my God and the rock of my Salvation Also I will make him my first born higher then the Kings of the Earth v. 28. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore and my Covenant shall stand fast with him His Seed also will I make to endure for ever and his Throne as the days of Heaven As this Covenant was made with Abraham and his Seed I am thy God and the God of thy Seed Gen. 17. So in the further revelation of it to David it is declared to relate to him and his Seed Now followeth v. 30. If his Children forsake my Law and walk not in my Judgments if they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments That is if they sin against me for all those phrases do but express sin then v. 32. Will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail My Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips God you see hath reserved to himself upon his Covenant of Grace with his People a liberty to visit their transgression with the Rod and their iniquity with stripes but no liberty utterlyto take away his loving kindness from them Afflictions which are there call'd a visitation with rods and stripes either respect the outward or the inward man Those which relate to the outward man are diseases pains persecutions c. Those which relate to the inward man are desertions and temptations which God permitteth though himself moveth none to Evil. Desertions are either total or partial as to the former God hath foreclosed himself by the Covenant of Grace in which he hath said He will never leave his People nor forsake them His loving kindness he will not utterly take from them nor suffer his faithfulness to sail Psal 89. 33. Partial desertions therefore are the only rod the only stripes which God hath reserved to punish his people with as to their inward man who break his Statutes and keep not his Commandments these must be the withdrawings of some manifestations of his love which are promised to those who love him and keep his Commandments Hence it is that as Sampson found the continuing influence of God upon him as to his bodily strength while he kept his vow and covenant with God as a Nazarite yet when he had betrayed himself to Dalilah and she had shaved off his locks he discerned that God was departed from him and he had not strength to do as at other times whatever he resolved so
of the Lord Jesus and not an harlot I might have further added That the Soul that is so says so of noâ—e else 〈◊〉 and none but be shall lodg betwixt my breasts She is an harlot that speaks it in any sense less then exclusive If thou canâ—t truly say of the Lord Jesus Christ be shall lodge betwixt my breasts Thou also sayest He shall and none else shall not the sweetest lust I have nor the loveliest piece that the World can afford me not any thing contrary unto him nor any thing besides him That Earthly Object comes too nigh a Christian that comes between its breasts The heart is reserved for the Beloved Deal faithfully I beseech you with your own Souls the World is full of pretenders but I fear me exceeding thin of such as can say and say it in truth and say it cordially That Christ is he and he alone whom they desire should lodge and stay betwixt their breasts But enough for this Use I hasten to conclude Let us in the next place see what this Doctrine will afford us for the promoving our comfort or our holiness by way of Consolation or Exhortation and first for Consolation The term or Verb in the Text speaketh certainty but futuriety and the phrase denotes 1. The Spouse's leave 2. Desire 3. Confidence He shall lodge And thus considered to say nothing of the too Critical note that some make upon the term night as fignifying here a time of affliction in which Christ is an especial comfort to the Soul I say to say nothing of that because the word in the Text doth not necessarily imply a night yet the phrase thus considered the Text and Doctrine offer a great deal of refreshings to those appearingly forgotten Souls who cannot obtain the sensible abidings of Christ with them and are therefore ready to pronounce sadly against their Souls that God is not with them nor they with him As Gideon said If the Lord be with us why are we thus forgetting that God sometimes hideth himself even from the House of Jacob. Let such a Soul observe That the Spouse here doth not say He doth lie alwaies betwixt my breasts though it be true that Christ doth truly and constantly dwell in the heart of his Saints yet 't is often indiscernably to it but she saith He shall lie which imports 1. I will give him leave I will not drive him from my Soul my breasts shall be free and open to him 2. The Spouse's defire it is Vox cupientis 3. It speaks confidence it is Vox fidei the language of Faith which when it speaks properly alwaies speaks in the future tense for hope which is seen is no hope unless when it calls the things which are not in present fruition as if they were because of its being an evidence of things not seen Look as the true Wife is not â—lwaâ—es known by having her beloved Husband in her Arms but first By her readiness so to receive him Secondly By her desire of it as her happiness So is the true Believer not alwaies known by his or her sensible Enjoyments of the Lord Jesus Christ but by the openness of her heart to receive him 2. By the longing of the Soul after him 3. By the confidence of the Soul in him But lastly Oh that the same frame of spirit might be found in you even in every one of you who profess to have tasted how good the Lord is which was here found in the Spouse towards the Lord Jesus Christ that you would all say He shall lodge all night betwixt our breasts I but now told you it imported three things 1. Leave 2. Desire 3. Confidence 1. Lift up your heads O you gates stand ope you everlasting doors that the King of Glory may come in Stand open O my Soul to the Lord Jesus Christ keep your hearts free to the entertainment of the Lord Jesus Christ 2. Make it the business of your desire and prayer 3. Be confident that he will make his abode with you These might be three distinct branches but I have not time to speak fully to each of them For the two first I have prevented my self as to the Arguments which I should use to urge them Consider what I spake to the third Question in the Explication how honourable a thing it is to you how sweet and pleasant how infinitely advantagious and profitable thereis only to be added a word of Direction Will the poor Soul say How should I procure the abidings of Christ with me I mean his abidings as to his gradual Influences For your direction I will only turn you to that one Text Joh. 14. 22. where you shall be resolved from our Saviour's own mouth If any man love me he will keep my words and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Christ is ready enough to stay where he finds love but it must be real love such as is joyned with keeping of his words Be expressive then of your love to Christ 1. By voiding from your heart whatever may be offensive to his Majesty 2. By heightening in your heart a great esteem of him 3. By doing whatsoever he commands you Do you abide with him in a way of duty and he shall abide with you in a way of mercy according to that of the Prophet in the Book of Chronicles to the King God is with you if you be with him but if you forsake him he will forsake you if you be incertain and unconstant with him he will be so with you as to the gradual Influences of his Love With the froward he will shew himself froward 2. I told you it is the Language of Faith He shall lie Faith is the sacred Instrument by which Christ is united to the Soul and it is that by which Communion with Christ is maintained and preserved According to a Christian's Faith it ordinarily is unto it as to Divine Dispensations Faith merits nothing of Christ but it applieth much Believe and the abidings of Christ shall be established upon your Souls but you must know that this Faith must not be a dead Faith but such as works by love Though Faith and Holiness must not be confounded yet unless as to Instrumental efficacy in Justification in the act of justifying they can never be separated But thus much shall serve for this Verse Sermon LVI Canticles 1. 14. My Beloved is unto me as a Cluster of Camphire in the Vineyards of Engedi IT is agreed on all hands that it is the Spouse which yet speaketh and the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we met with from her in the former verse is enough to prove it and to let us know that she is yet speaking concerning her beloved It is also as well agreed that what she saith in this verse amounts to little more then what she had said in the 13. v. Only she expresseth the same thing under a new resemblance but it is
him I remember what the Jews said for their Centurion He hath loved our Nation and built us a Synagogue this I am sure of Christ hath loved mankind he hath purchased salvation for some of them O my Soul if thou beest forgotten of God yet love him who would so far humble himself as to pity dust and ashes 2. Hence secondly No wonder if there be some love to Christ appearing in those who have no share nor interest in him It hath been the assertion of some that Common grace and special grace differ not specifically but gradually I think the assertion amongst understanding men but a contest of Logical terms I no way doubt of the truth of this That an unbeliever may love Christ in a sense But the Love of the Child of God vastly differs being an infused habit and of another species Whatsoever is presented to us under the Notion of good whether so really or apparently is plainly the proper object of our love Now such may Christ appear even to an unbeliever who is far from having tasted how good the Lord is hence even in a carnal man there may be desires after Christ good wishes to the interest of Christ upon the Earth yea and he may do much for the Service of Christ either from a general Notion of Christs excellency or 2dly which I should have mentioned before from a supposal that he hath as good a share and interest in Christ as any other though in this possibly he may be mistaken And this is very useful for us to consider that we may not build too great confidences from such desires which we find in our Souls or any such external actions without a due inquiry after their Principle But enough of this I come to the positive part of the Proposition 2. That there is a peculiar excellency in Christ which the believing Soul sees and savours and is not discernable to others My beloved saith the Spouse is a Cluster of Camphire unto me They said to her in 5th of this Song v. 9. What is thy beloved more then another beloved O thou fairest amongst women what is thy beloved more then anothers beloved that thou so strictly chargest us She answers v. 10. My beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest of ten thousand c. For the opening of this I will propound two questions 1. What are those peculiar excellencies which the believer sees in Christ more then another sees 2. How comes the believing Soul to be more eagle eyed then his neighbour To the first 1. The believer sees further into the heighths and depths of redeeming love in the general then another man doth The heighth of redeeming love is too great for a reasonable man to take the Astronomer is lost at taking the heighth of this Star we must be strengthned with might by the Spirit in the inward man Christ must dwell in our hearts by saith and we must be rooted and grounded in love before we shall be able with all Saints to comprehend what is the breadth length and depth and heighth and know the Love of Christ which passeth knowledge The unbeliever living under the light of the Gospel is like the blind man whose Eyes Christ hath once touched and he seeth something of he excellency of Christ but alas he seeth men like trees Christ must touch him again before he sees things clearly the believer seeth Christ as another thing to what the unbeliever seeth 2. The believer discerns a particular respect of Christ to his Soul Ah this this is it which makes Christ as a Cluster of Camphire it is sweet to a rational Soul to see a Saviour Buâ— infinitly sweet for it to see him as its Saviour to cry out my Lord my God Propriety in a good sweetens it infinitly unto a Soul the believer sees Christ as his Christ his Saviour It is sweet to poor Creatures who are so far enlightened as to see the World lyeth in darkness to know that he is the true light enlightning all that come into the World but infinitly more sweet to the Soul when it sees that he hath enlightened it in particular A good woman to a reasonable man is pâ—etious and he loves her quatenus good and vertuous but if she becomes his Wife that strangely indears her to him and shews her a peculiar excellency in him 'T is sweet to a reasonable man that is enlightened to see that all the Sons of Adam are by nature under misery to see that Christ came to Redeem them from this misery and Curse but how sweet must it be for this Soul to apprehend that he hath redeemed it in particular from this misery I shall not need to enlarge further upon this which in so plain Doth any ask Qu. 2. Whence it is that the believing Soul seeth such a peculiar sweetness and excellency in Christ I answer 1. From that special illumination which attends regeneration There is a Common illumination and there is a special illumination the Common illumination is the work of Gods Spirit concurring with the Preaching of the Gospel inabling men to understand and give some general assent to what is there revealed but when the Lord comes to deal savingly with the Soul it opens the Eyes of the Soul to a fuller clearer and more certain sight of Gospel mysteries 1 Cor. 2. 10. God revealeth to his Saints by his Spirit those things which the Princes of the World though they heard the Gospel never knew what things Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor can it enter into the heart to conceive A Commonly enlightned Soul upon the Preaching of the Gospel may see the same things that a believer sees that Christ died c. But it sees them not so fully and clearly as upon special saving illuminations when the Spirit dealeth with the Soul as it were by demonstration and gives it to see a Christ crucified as it were before its Eyes There are two things especially which the Soul upon conversion doth doubtless see after a quite other manner then it saw them before conversion 1. The sinfulness and mischief of sin A man meerly reasonable may see the ugliness and sinfulness of some sins such as are contrary to the light of nature c. A man Commonly enlightned may see more of the sinfulness and danger both of these and of other sins but when the Spirit of God cometh savingly to work in the Soul it seeth the sinfulness and danger even of these sins after another manner sin then becomes exceeding sinful Rom. 7. 13. It then thinks it sees Hell fire before it and is dropping into it and so hath a clearer sight of the danger of it 2. The excellency of Christ is doubtless seen by it too after another manner Of this there needs no greater evidence than the Souls strange workings of affections towards him its groanings after him longings for an interest in him c. 2. This proceeds also from the Souls
For who is not guilty of a great Errour in this particular We think of sensible things more than of the Loves of Christ they are more the objects of our meditations the subjects of our discourses and the marks of our actions It is well for us that our Salvation doth not depend upon the perfection of our gracious acts and that we have another Righteousness than that of our own to appear in before God That when our Consciences check us in this particular and tell us that we do not remember Christ's Loves more than Wine yet the Gospel relieveth us by telling us that he was made of God for us Righteousness and we can remember that this Christ whose Loves we should remember after a better manner than we do is the Lord our Righteousness an High Priest that can have compassion on our infirmities he in whom we are compleat But yet neither will this relieve us unless we humble our selves before God for our failures in this particular Fly to him for pardon and endeavour even in this thing to perfect holiness and that bringeth me to the last thing I have to do viz. To offer you my Advice in order to the bringing up of your hearts to this just valuation and remembrance of these Loves of Christ 1. Labour to understand them We can meditate upon nothing but what we have some notion of we can remember nothing but what we have had some notion of There are the loves of God and the loves of Christ indeed the loves of Christ are the loves of him who thought it no robbery to be equal with the Father who is God over all blessed for ever but by the loves of Christ I mean the kindness which floweth to us from Christ as God-man united in one Person as our Mediator There is a love and kindness which floweth to us from the providence of God working either more generally and extending to all or more specially towards some There is also a love and kindness which floweth from Christ as our Redeemer Mediator Saviour Both these loves are to be remembred but the latter more especially are called the loves of Christ understand the loves of God in the effluxes of his good providence More especially understand the loves of Christ as the Saviour of Man there are also some of these more common to others some more special to some Of the first sort are the Gospel and the publication of it to us of the latter sort are those effects of grace which are wrought in us in the justification of our Souls the change of our hearts the renovation of our natures the strengthenings quicknings and consolations of the Spirit of Christ Labour to understand all your good things as coming from the hand of God and to understand the kindness of God in them see your good things as mercies as Divine gifts and then study them 1. In the suitableness of them to your States In this lies the nature of all good from this must be judged the degrees and measures of good that are in every grateful thing 2. In the freeness of them Freeness is indeed of the nature of grace take away freeness and you take away the nature of grace which must flow freely without any merit in the creature or it is no more grace but debt no more love but justice If you understand not Christ's Loves it is impossible you should duly remember them 2. Labour for to find the experience of the Loves of Christ in the best and most salvifiâ—k manifestations There is a love of God seen in giving us our Wine for it is God that gives us our Corn and Wine and Oil and multiplies our Silver and Gold We must look for higher things then these or else it is impossible we should remember them more then these The best manifestations of love must be discerned in the giving us those things which more suit our state and are suitable to greater wants Neither shall we effectually remember these till we find we have a propriety in them You will upon experience in all things find that it is propriety which gives us the sweetness in any good thing Supposs a brave and noble House or Estate we may look upon it and admire it and it may please us but it is propriety in such an estate that must make it sweet and pleasant to us We may have a kind of love for a Prince of whom we hear that he is just and merciful and endowed with many other qualities acceptable to humane nature but we shall not much delight in him nor remember his love until our selves have in some measure tasted and experienced it an interest and property in the love of another that is it which gives it an impression upon our Souls God hath commended his love to the world in sending Christ to die for sinners Christ hath commended his love to them in coming into the world and dying for them not for all but for those that shall believe in him men may talk of this love of Christ and use their Rhetorick a little about it in the magnifying of it but till their own Souls come to be washed with this blood till they come to have their iniquities forgiven and their sins covered it is not to be expected that his love should affect them much or sink any thing deep into their Souls so as to be revived by any effectual remembrance 3. Would you remember the loves of Christ as you ought to do more then Wine Set then your selves sometimes for soliloquy and meditation When the Sound of the Gofpel passeth into our ears we receive a little of it but transient things affect not much nor leave any great impressions upon us Meditation upon a Subject is the Souls standing and dwelling upon it it is like the digestion of our food there is nothing can be conceived a more rational means to affect the Soul with any thing or to make it fit for the memory to reflect upon then meditation One great reason why we remember the loves of Christ no better nor more is because we are not at leisure our heads are so unreasonably full of wordly cares and employments the cares of the world so choke and fill up our thoughts that we have no leisure to meditate or stand upon the thoughts of Christs loves or any spiritual objects Would Christians allow themselves more time to fix their thoughts upon spiritual objects to pierce into the depths of divine love to consider what Christ hath done for them in particular they would better remember them 4. Take heed of any wilful sinnings against his love Sinning as I told you before is usually set out in Scripture under the notion of a forgetting God and forgetting his loves Psal 78. 11. Psal 106. 13 21. the committing of sin frequently is like the continual dropping of water upon a thing which washeth and weareth out impressions upon it Besides it is natural to us
more of our passion and excesses of affection yet the reality and truth of our love may certainly be as well discerned rewards a spiritual and invisible object as to one that is more the object of our exteriour senses let us therefore try those measures and see how we will make up our judgment of the truth of our love to a fellow creature what is that which we call love but the delight and complacency and satisfaction of the Soul in an object beloved declared by the pantings and breathings of the heart after it when absent for an union or re-union with it the acquiescence and meltings of the heart upon it when present and an union with it is obtained or apprehended the Souls intercourse and communion with it and free communications of its self unto it its kindness to every person or thing to whom or which the object beloved hath any relation its patient and pleasing bearing his reproofs its readiness to go or run or do any thing at the will and command of such a person its standing up in the defence of him or her its rising up against any that would do them injury or that it hears speak reproachfully or diminutively of him It 's readiness to suffer any thing for his sake c. Surely by some or all these notes we may try our love to Christ and be as certain of it as we can be of the sincerity of our love to any fellow creature let me therefore desire you to propound these few questions to your selves 1. How far is Christ the object of thy thoughts We say 〈◊〉 amor ibi oculus where love is there the Eye will be the reason of that is because our thoughts are much imployed about the object of our love where our treasure is saith our Saviour there will our hearts be also the Psalmist therefore speaking of the wicked man who hath no love for God saith God is not in all his thoughts Psal 10. 4. So long as we live in the world the things of it are so much and so continually the objects of our senses that it is not to be expected but that our thoughts should in a great measure be exercised about the things of it so that I would not put the issue upon that whether the world or Christ have most of our thoughts but certainly Christ will be much in the thoughts of that Soul in whom the love of Christ is Te veniente die te decedente canebat saith the Poet of the lover the Soul that loveth Christ will think of him in the evening when he lieth down and in the morning when he riseth up and David had his waking thoughts in the night season with God God will not have all of the best mans thoughts because he is but flesh and hath some thoughts to take about what he shall eat and drink and put on but God will have much of his thoughts Christ will be much in the thoughts of that Soul that truly loveth him Secondly 2. How are the motions of thy Soul after an absent Christ Christ as to his person is alwaies absent that the Heavens must contain till the end of the World but he is or may be graciously present in his institutions and with respect to his gracious influences and with respect to both these he is often or may be absent the first makes up the desertion of a Church when it is general or a particular person when it is only the affliction of a particular Soul in some cases and by some severer providences kept from the ordinances of God the second is the particular desertion of a gracious Soul not as to necessary but as to gradual influences now how is thy Soul affected to Christ absent when thou canst not enjoy the Ordinances of Christ as thou hast formerly enjoyed them You see the heart and affection of David in this cafe in divers Psalms particularly Psal 42. Psal 63. Psal 84. what breathings what longings what impatience doth he there express So when thou suspectest his absence as to the particular special influences of his grace how doth thy heart move toward him doth it move as the heart of the Spouse moved in the third and 5th Chapters of this admirable Song Seeking him sighing after him enquiring of all like to inform thee how thou mightest recover thy lost peace being restless till thou hast recovered it This is a sign of love 3. How is thy heart affected in any presence or enjoyment of Christ What pleasure what delight and complacency hath thy Soul in the institutions of Christ in the manifestations of his love to thy Soul See the instance of the Spouse as to this Can. 3. 4. I found him whom my Soul loveth I held him and would not let him go until I had brought him into my Mothers House and into the Chamber of her that conceived me v. 5. 1 charge you O you Daughters of Hierusalem by the Roes and by the Hinds of the field that you stir not up nor awake my love until he please A rejoycing in the signs of his love being glad and resolving not again to part with him a fear of offending him and care to please him are all of them signs of a love to the Lord Jesus Christ 4. A freedom of converse and communion with him also speaketh love Christ proves himself his Disciples friend because he had made known to them whatsoever he had received from the Father Joh. 15. 15. Dalilab challenged Sampson for want of love to her because he had concealed his secrets from her The withholding of prayer from God the want of frequency freedom and boldness in prayer speaks want of love to Christ in the Soul frequency freedom and boldness holy boldness speaks a Soul full of love to Christ 5. What affections hast thou to those things and persons that have a relation to Christ that bear his image and superscription the Word and Ordinances of God the Ministers and People of God by this you shall know your love to Christ Again 6. How canst thou bear the reproofs of Christ Our nature doth not love reproof we must love those very well from whom we take reproof quietly Let the righteous smite me saith David it shall be as an excellent Oil which shall not break my head When a Christian can bear the verbal reproofs of Christs Word and Ministers and the real reproofs and chastenings of his rod It is a sign of love 7. What zeal hast thou for the honour and glory of Christ Canst thou not hear him reproached but that his reproaches fall on thee thy blood riseth and thy heart is troubled It is an argument of little love for God or Christ when we can patiently hear them abused and dishonoured Psal 69. 9. The zeal of thine house saith David hath eaten me up and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen on me 8. I must not forget that of our Saviour If you love me
keep my Commandments No Soul can so much as pretend to a love to Christ that makes no conscience of keeping the Commandments of Christ 9. The Soul lastly that hath a love for Christ will suffer any thing for his sake it will rather suffer the loss of all things then the loss of Christs favour By these and such like questions and notes as these it will be no hard matter for a Soul to judge of its love to Christ and by that it will be able to judge and determine concerning its uprightness In the last place doth every Soul that is upright love Christ and are the degrees of the Souls uprightness according to the degrees of the Souls love How do we then all stand concerned to love Christ In order to it 1. The Soul must be dispossest of other loves inconsistent and incompetent with the love of Christ Such is the love of all lust of any thing that is contrary to the will of God Such is the excessive and immoderate love of the world Love not the world nor the things that are in the world saith John 1. Joh. 2. 25. If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him in like manner we may say If any man love the world the love of Jesus Christ is not in him 2. Do what in thee lies to persuade thy self of the suitableness of Christ to the staâ—e and needs of thy Soul we love nothing but what appeareth good that is some way suitable to and convenient for us All we can do as to this is to read the Scriptures which alone give a true account of the state of Souls To hear them opened and applied to our consciences by able and faithful Ministers to meditate upon what we read and hear Christ must appear to our Souls an amiable object before we can love him 3. Lastly Pray for the Spirit of Grace both effectually to discover Christs loveliness to you and also to draw out your hearts to love him if we must be taught of God to love our Brethren whom we have seen we must much more be taught of God to love Jesus Christ whom we have not seen Those that think man hath a power in his own will to love God do not consider that we have not a power in and of our selves as we often find upon experience to love a creature whom yet it were our great interest to love O pray pray without ceasing that you may love the Lord Jesus Christ remember that the upright love him there is no upright Soul in the World but loves him 2. Thus thou shalt shew thy self to be upright Nothing more discovereth an upright heart then a sincere Love to Christ Now of how great moment it is for a Christian to discern his uprightness I need not tell you I shall conclude with a bare naming of some Scriptures containing promises made to uprightness leaving them to you at your leisure to meditate upon them Psal 7. 10. The Lord saveth the upright in heart Gods Righteousness belongeth to the upright in heart Psal 36. 10. The End of the upright man is Peace Psal 37. v. 37. Gladness belongeth to the upright in heart Psal 97. v. 11. The Generation of the upright shall be blessed Psal 112. v. 2. Light shall arise upon them in obscurity v. 4. They shall dwell in Gods presence Psal 140. 13. They shall dwell in the land Prov. 2. 21. The way of the Lord is strength unto them Prov. 10. 29. The integrity of the upright shall guide him Prov. 11. 3. His Righteousness shall deliver him v. 6. The upright in the way are the Lords delight v. 20. Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way but wickedness overthroweth the Sinner Prov. 13 6. Sermon XXXI Cant. 1. 5. I am black but comely O you Daughter of Hierusalem as the tâ—nts of Kedar as the Curtaines of Solomon v. 6. Look not upon me because I am black because the Sun hath looked upon me my Mothers Children were angry with me they made me the keeper of the Vineyards but my own Vineyard I have not kept IT is the Spouse in this excellent Song of Love that yet Speaks Twice we have heard her Speaking to her Beloved Once Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth begging some distinguishing token of his Special love Her heart suggesting to her that her beloved was far more ready to imbrace her then she was to run after him She spake a Second time Draw me and we will run after thee begging the sweet and powerfull influences of divine grace Here now she interrupteth her applications to her beloved with an Apostrophe to her companions whom she here calleth The Daughters of Hierusalem The verse contains a modest apology which the maketh for her self In which are considerable 1. The persons to whom she maketh it here stiled The Daughters of Jerusalem 2. The Apology it self I am black saith she as the tents of Kedar as the Curtains of Solomon c. In the latter is considerable 1. The thing which she apologizeth for That is her Blackness which she confesseth I am black saith she and illustrateth as the teints of Kedar c. 2. The arguments of her Apology or head from whence it is drawn They are four or five 1. The mixture of comeliness with her blackness I am black but comely 2. The Influence of heaven upon her The Sun saith she hath looked upon me 3. The oppositions she had met with on earth My mothers children were angry with me 4. Her worldly diversions and imployments They made me the Keeper of the Vineyards 5. Her own neglect But my own I have not kept Finally She pleadeth with them that they would not look upon her because she was black But what needed this Apology who faulted the Spouses blackness who questioned her comeliness This is not expressed in the letter of the Text but easily understood Patet quod dett axer ant ei nigredinem improper antes It is apparent saith Bernard that they did detract from her charging her with blackness Neither did the true Church of Christ nor any truely believing Soul ever want those that reproached them The man according to Gods own heart heard some telling him There was no help for him in God We must therefore Suppose our Spouse to have heard some saying to her to this purpose Canst thou think that Christ who is the fairest of ten thousand should kiss the with the kisses of his mouth Thee That art by nature an Ethiopian and by thy renewing actuall Sins hast made thy self much more black and ugly Surely when the King of glory humbleth himself to make love to his Subjects he will chuse one much fairer then thou art Did Aaron and Miriam wonder at reproach Moses because he had married an Ethiopian Num. 12. 1. And should not Christ be the wonderment of the whole creation if he should love one so black as thou art