step one step towards Heaven then go to him who is able to work this desire in thy soul It is the complaint of a Christian O they are troubled because they cannot fetch a good desire from their own souls and one falls another sinks a third shakes and they are overwhelmed with discouragement What a wretched heart have I faith one I grace No no the world I can desire the life of my childe I long for and I say with Rachel Let me have honor or else I dye but I cannot long for the unconceivable riches of the Lord Jesus Christ and will the Lord shew any mercy upon me Is it thus remember now desires grow not in thy garden they spring not from the root of thy abilities O seek unto God and confess In truth Lord it is thou from whom come all our desires it is thou must work them in us as thou hast promised them to us and therefore Lord quicken thou this soul and inlarge this heart of mine for thou onely art the God of this desire Thus hale down a desire from the Lord and from the Promise for there onely must thou have it The smoaking flax God will not quench flax will not smoak but a spark must come into it and that will make it catch fire and smoak thus lay your hearts before the Lord and say Good Lord here is onely flax here is onely a stubborn heart but strike thou by thy Promise one spark from heaven that I may have a smoaking desire after Christ and after grace SECT. 5. A Love of Christ VVE have run through two affections Hope Desire and the next is Love A possible good stirs up Hope a necessary excellency in that good setleth Desire and a rellish in that good setled kindles Love Thus is the order of Gods work If the good be absent the understanding saith It is to be desired O that I had it then it sends out Hope and that waits for that good and stays till it can see it and yet if that good cannot come then Desire hath another proper work and it goes up and down wandring and seeketh and sueth for Christ Jesus After this if the Lord Jesus be pleased to come himself into the view of the heart which longeth thus after him then Love leads him into the soul and tells the Will of him saying Lo here is Jesus Christ the Messiah that hath ordered these great things for his Saints and people The Motive or ground of this Love is Gods Spirit in the Promise letting in some intimation of Gods love into the soul thus Psal. 42. 8. The Lord will command his loving kindeness in the day time This is a phrase taken from Kings and Princes and great Commanders in the field whose words of Command stand for Laws so the Lord sends out his loving kindeness and saith Go out my everlasting love and kindeness take a Commission from me and to go that humble thirsty and hunger-bitten sinner and go and prosper and prevail and settle my love effectually upon him and fasten my mercy upon him I command my loving kindeness to do it Thus the Lord doth put a Commission into the hands of his loving kindeness that it shall do good to the poor soul yea though it withdraw it self saying What I mercy will Christ Jesus accept of me No no there is no hope of mercy for me indeed if I could pray thus hear thus and perform Duties with that enlargement and had those parts and abilities then there were some comfort but now there is no hope of mercy for me We demand Is this your case is it thus and thus are you thus humbled and have you thus longed for the riches of his Mercy in Christ Lo then the Lord hath put a Commission into the hands of his loving kindeness saying Go to that poor soul and break open the doors upon that weary weltering heart and break off all those bolts and rend off that veil of ignorance and carnal Reason and all those Arguments Go I say to that soul and chear it and warm it and tell it from me That his sins are pardoned and his soul shall be saved and his sighs and prayers are heard in heaven and I charge you do the work before you come again Here is the ground of Love Gods love affecting the heart and setled upon it it breeds a love to God again We love him because he loved us first The burning-glass must receive heat of the beams of the Sun before it burn any thing so there must be a beam of Gods love to fall upon the soul before it can love God again I drew them with the cords of a man even with the bands of love God lets in the cords of love into the soul and that draws love again to God He brought me into the banqueting-house and his banner over me was love stay me with flaggons comfort me with apples for I am sick of love When the banner of Christs love is spread over the soul the soul comes to be sick in love with Christ Now this love of God doth beget our love in three particulars First there is a sweetness and a rellish which Gods love lets into the soul and warms the heart with you shall see how the fire is kindled by and by As when a man is fainting we give him Aqua-vitae so a fainting sinner is cold at the heart and therefore the Lord lets in a drop of his loving kindeness and this warms the heart and the soul is even filled with the happiness of the mercy of God Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth saith the Spouse in the Canticles for his love is better then wine The kisses of his mouth are the comforts of his Word and Spirit the soul saith O let the Lord refresh me with the kisses of his mouth let the Lord speak comfort to my heart and this is better then wine Secondly as that sweetness warms the heart so the freeness of the love of God let in and intimated begins even to kindle this love in the soul that it sparkles again God setteth out his love towards us seeing that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us This commends the love of God the Lord sends to poor and miserable sinful broken-hearted sinners and saith Commend my mercy to such a one and tell him That though he hath been an enemy to me yet I am a friend to him and though he hath been rebellious against me yet I am a God and Father to him When the poor sinner considers this with himself he saith Is the Lord so merciful to me I that loved my sins and continued in them had it not been just that I should have perished in them but will the Lord not onely spare his enemy but give his Son for him O let my soul for ever rejoyce in this unconceiveable goodness of God! Be thy heart never so hard
if it have but the sense of this it cannot but stir thee to Humiliation Thirdly the greatness of the freeness of this mercy of God being setled upon the heart enflames it the sweetness warms the heart this freeness kindles the fire and when the greatness of the sweetness comes to be valued this sets the heart all on a flame the Apostle desires that the Ephesians being rooted and grounded in love might be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and height of the love of God in Christ as if he had said The unmeasureablenes of Gods mercy will blow up the soul and enflame the heart with admirable love of God again and will make the soul say What I that have done all that I could against this good God O it breaks my heart to think of it there was no Name under heaven that I did blaspheme and tear in pieces more then this Name no Command under heaven I so much despised as the Command of God and of Christ no Spirit that I grieved so much as the good Spirit of God and therefore had the Lord onely given me a look or spoken a word to me it had been an infinite Mercy but to send a Son to save me it is incomparable I could not conceive to do so much evil against him as he hath done good to me O the breadth of that Mercy beyond all limits O the length of that Mercy beyond all time O the depth of that Mercy below a mans misery O the height of that Mercy above the height of my understanding If my hands were all love that I could work nothing but love if mine eyes were able to see nothing but love and my minde to think of nothing but love and if I had a thousand bodies they were all too little to love that God that hath thus unmeasureably loved me a poor sinful Hell-hound I will love the Lord dearly saith David O Lord my strength Have I gotten the Lord Jesus to be my comfort my buckler and my shield if I have any good he begins it if I have any comfort he blesseth it Therefore I will love thee dearly O Lord my strength O how should I but love thee Me thinks there is a poor sincere soul that saith My understanding are not so deep as others my tongue runs not so glib as such and such I cannot talk so freely of the things of grace and salvation I have meaner parts and cannot inlarge my self in holy Duties and holy Services I cannot dispute for a Savior or perform such Duties as others can do yet sweet soul canst thou love Christ Jesus and rejoyce in him O yes I bless the Name of the Lord that all I have all my friends and parts and means and abilities are but as dung and dross in comparison of Christ Jesus it were the comfort of my soul if I might be ever with him Say you so Go thy way and the God of heaven go with thee This is a work of God that will never leave thee it is a badge and proper livery that the Lord Jesus gives onely to his Saints never a meer Professor under heaven ever wore it never any Hypocrite under heaven to whom God did intend it but onely to those whom he hath effectually called and whom he will save therefore though thou wantst all thou hast this to comfort thee in the want of all and thou mayest say I can say little for Christ my tongue faulters and my memory is weak yet the Lord knows I love the Lord Jesus This is enough David desired no more but what God was wont to do to his children that loved his name Do to me saith the text as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name I know thou lovest them that love thee and wilt save and glorifie them in the end I desire no more but this do as thou usest to do to those that love thy name And doth David a King desire no more sure then if thou poor soul hast so much as he had it is enough be quiet with thy childes part Thy lot is faln into a marvellous fair ground Some may say this is all the difficult How may I know whether my love be a true love or a false love How may I know that my love is of the right stamp Let every man put his love upon the trial and examine thus Whether doest thou welcome Christ and grace according to the worth of them if thou doest it will appear in these particulars 1. Observe the root and rise from whence thy love came canst thou say I love the Lord because he hath loved me then thy love is of the right mettle and know it for ever that that God which cannot but love himself he cannot but like that love which came from himself is thy soul affected and enlarged in love to the Lord because thou hast felt and retained the relish and sweetness of his grace canst thou say The Lord hath let in a glimpse of his favor and the Lord hath said in his truth he looks to him that trembles at his word the Minister said it and the Spirit saith it that my mercy is registred in heaven Oh how should I love the Lord my sins are many which I have bewailed my sighs and sobs I have put up to heaven and at the last the Lord hath given me a gracious answer Oh how should I love the Lord my strength dearly If it be thus with thee thy love is sound and will never fail 2. If thou entertain thy Savior as it beseems him thou must entertain him as a King and that is thus give up all to him and entertain none with him upon terms of honor but such as retain to him or be attendants upon him love all in Christ and for Christ but express thy love and joy to Christ above all He is as a King and all the rest are but as retainers he that loves any thing equal with a Christ it is certain he did never love Christ to set up any thing cheek by jole with Christ it is all one as if a man did put a slave into the same Chamber with the King which is upon the point to drive him away 3. The soul that rightly entertains Christ and studies wholly to give him contentment he is marvellous wary and watchful that he may not sad that good Spirit of God to grieve him and cause him to go away as displeased See this Cant. 3. 4 5. the Spouse sought long for her beloved and at last brought him home and when she had welcomed him she gives a charge to all the house not to stir nor awaken her love till he please When a Prince comes unto the house of a great man what charge is there given to make no noise in the night lest such and such a man be awakened before his time the soul when it hath received the
relieved you it was Jesus Christ Oh therefore love him deal equally with him and as he deserves so enlarge your hearts to him for ever 3. Christ seeks our love Here is the admiration of mercy That our Savior who hath been rejected by a company of sinful creatures should seek their love for shame refuse him not but let him have love ere he go Had the Lord received us when we had come to him and humbled our hearts before him Had he heard when we had spent our days and all our strength in begging and craving it had been an infinite mercy But when the Lord Jesus Christ shall seek to us by his Messengers it is all the work we have to do to woo you and speak a good word for the Lord Jesus Christ yea and if we speak for our selves it is pity but our tongue should cleave to the roof of our mouth when the Lord Jesus shall come and wait upon us and seek our love O this is the wonder of mercies think of this O ye Saints The Lord now by us offers love to all you that are weary and have need What answer shall I return to him in the evening shall I say Lord I have tendred thy mercy and it was refused Brethren it would grieve my heart to return this answer O rather let every soul of you say Can the Lord Jesus love me In truth Lord I am out of love with my self I have abused thy Majesty I have loved the world I have followed base lusts and can the Lord Jesus love such a wretch as I am yet saith the Lord I will heal their back-slidings I will love them freely He looks for no portion he will take thee and all thy wants get you home then and every one in secret labor to deal truly with your own hearts make up a match in this maner and say Is it possible that the Lord should look so low that a great Prince should send to a poor Peasant that Majesty should stoop to means Heaven to Earth God to man Hath the Lord offered mercy to me and doth he require nothing of me but to love him again call upon your hearts I charge you and say thus Lord if all the light of mine eyes were love and all the speeches of my tongue were love it were all too little to love thee O let me love thee dearly If you will not say thus then say hereafter You had a fair offer and that a poor Minister of God did wish you well Alas be not coy and squemish the Lord may have better then you lie down therefore and admire at the mercy of the Lord that should take a company of dead dogs and now at the last say as the Prophet did Lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of Glory shall come in SECT. 6. A relying on Christ VVE are now come to the work of the Will which is the great wheel and Commander of the soul The former affections were but as hand-maids to usher in Christ and the Promises the minde saith I have seen Christ Hope saith I have waited Desire saith I have longed Love saith I am kindled then saith the Will I will have Christ it shall be so and this makes up the match the spawn and seeds of faith went before now faith is come to some perfection now the soul reposeth it self upon the Lord Jesus And this reposing or resting it self discovers a fivefold act First it implyes A going out of the soul to Christ When the soul seeth this that the Lord Jesus is his ayd and must ease him and pardon his sins then let us go to that Christ saith he it is the Lords call Come to me all ye that are weary now this voyce coming home to the heart and the prevailing sweetness of the call over-powering the heart the soul goes out and falls and flings it self upon the riches of Gods grace Secondly It lays fast hold upon Christ when the Lord saith Come my Love my Dove O come away Behold I come saith she and when she is come she fasteneth upon Christ saying My beloved is mine and I am his Faith lays hold on the Lord and will not let Mercy go but cleaves unto it though it conflict with the Lord Should he slay me saith Job yet will I trust in him The case is like Benhadads who being overcome by Ahab his Servants thus advise him We have heard that the Kings of Israel are merciful Kings we pray thee let us put ropes about our necks and sackcloth on our loyns and go out to the King peradventure he will save thy life Thus the Servants go and coming to Ahab they deliver the Message Thy Servant Benhadad saith I pray thee let me live and he said Is he yet alive he is my brother Now the men diligently observed whether any thing would come from him and did hastily catch at it and they said Thy brother Benhadad and they went away rejoycing This is the lively Picture of a broken-hearted sinner after he hath taken up arms against the Almighty and that the Lord hath let in Justice and he seeth or hath seen the anger of God bent against him then the soul reasons thus I have heard though I am a rebellious sinner that none but sinners are pardoned and God is a gracious God and therefore unto him let me go with this he falls down at the footstool of the Lord and cryes O what shall I do what shall I say unto thee O thou preserver of men O let me live I pray thee in the sight of my Lord The soul thus humbled the Lord then lets in his sweet voyce of mercy and saith Thou art my Son my Love and thy sins are pardoned These words no sooner uttered but he catcheth thereat saying Mercy Lord and a Son Lord and love Lord and a pardon Lord The heart holds it self here and will never away Thirdly it flings the weight of all its occasions and troubles guilt and corruptions upon the Lord Jesus Christ He that walks in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God that is if a man be in extremity hopeless in misery and walks in desperate discouragements yea and hath no light of comfort Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God As when a man cannot go of himself he lays all the weight of his body upon another so the soul goes to a Christ and lays all the weight of it self upon Christ and saith I have no comfort O Lord all my discomforts I lay upon Christ and I relye upon the Lord for comfort and consolation Who is this saith Solomon that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved Cant. 8. 5. The party coming is the Church the wilderness is the troubles and vexations the Church meets withal and the beloved is