the King of heaven would commend his loue vnto vs as the Apostle excellently expresseth it Rom 5. 8. In this saith Saint Iohn 1. 4. 9. was manifested the loue of God towards vs that he sent his onely begotten some into the world that we might liue through him manifested in this Why in what not so it is in every bit of bread we eate in every sup of aire we take in O but the noblest blessings of this life are such poore curtesies in comparison of what we hope for by Christ that Gods loue though most eminent too doe's scarse appeare in them being eclipsed by that most orient and everlasting blaze of his loue in Christ Wherefore to conclude my first consideration it is no wonder if the justice of God which is to see that his Glory receiue no damage require that our esteeme of this his greatest mercy which himselfe values so farre aboue all his other mercies should so far exceed our esteeme of any other matters though otherwise most excellent in themselues and deare vnto vs that our very esteeme of them may be but a disesteeme and a hatred if compared to our esteeme of his loue in Christ Consid 2. If a man professe never so much loue vnto Christ if hee doe indeed preferre him before never so many conveniences of this life yet if hee loue but any one thing in the world never so little better then hee doth Christ he doth him in effect as much dishonour as he that never lookes after him at all Thus much I intimated before but what I did but touch vpon and in reference to God the father I will now amplify with speciall references vnto God the sonne It is all one as I said before not to esteeme a pearle at all and to esteeme it lesse worth then a barley-corne in like manner though wee preferre Christ before never so many profits and pleasures yet if there remaine behind one darling contentment which wee are resolued to keepe whatsoever may become of his glory or our interest in him wee doe in the issue esteeme him not at all because wee still wittingly value him below that which is infinitely worse then dung in comparison of him When a saleable commodity is offered vpon reasonable price we vse to say that if it be not worth that it 's worth iust nothing Now our part in Christ is so infinitely overworth any thing that wee can possibly giue for it that by farre better reason wee may say that he that thinkes it not cheape bought with all that he hath even to his last breath indeed thinkes it worth nothing at all Let a woman loue her husband better then a million of men yet if shee loue but any one man in the world better then her husband hee will giue her but little thankes for louing him aboue so many others But to amplify this point more distinctly let vs briefly consider that transcendent pitch of loue we owe first vnto the benefits of Christ secondly vnto his person All those inestimable benefits which wee make account of by Christ may bee reduced to 2. heads 1. a ransome 2. an inheritance The ransome is from horrours and those torments which are infinite for smart variety and duration which wee haue all deserved a thousand times over and therefore the case being thus with vs though wee looked for nothing but such a ransome by our Saviour though he had procured vs only this that after this life wee should spend eternity in a Limbus vnacquainted with any paine or pleasure yea though hee had procured vs only the mortality of our soules that they might perish with our bodies I say this alone had beene beyond all proportion better for vs then the whole world seeing what would a thousand worlds doe vs good if after a while wee must bee packed out of them all into that place where we shall everlastingly curse the day that ever wee were borne or made reasonable creatures But now that besides all this wee make first account for an inheritance by him an inheritance immortall vndefiled reserved in heaven for vs seeing wee expected to be made heires with Christ in that glory which hee had with his father before the beginning of the world of that glory the least sparke of which if visible to bodily eyes would shame all the beauty pompe and bravery of the world and whatsoever the Magnifico's of the earth are proud of it is a stupidity worse then any madnesse to conceiue we esteeme sufficiently of such glorious hopes if vpon deliberate choice we make much but of any one indearement of this life which may any way hinder our assurance of them 2. for our loue vnto the person of Christ equity requires that we should loue him with a loue yet more overtopping then either our ransome or inheritance and therefore it will be yet a more intollerable extremity of madnesse to imagine we loue him with an acceptable degree of affection as long as we dare to bring the most louely obiect that wee can picke out of the store-house of nature within the compasse of a comparison with him I say reason requires that wee should loue his person more entirely then his benefits that wee should preferre his glory before eternall life it selfe Our Saviour is contented that our feare of misery and desire of happines should first enter vs into the loue of him that til we know him better wee should loue him onely for our owne sakes and his benefits but after that he hath sent his spirit to expound the mystery of his loue vnto vs more clearely to make vs lay to heart not onely what he hath purchased for vs but also how deare the purchase cost him how though he was rich yet for our sakes hee became poore that wee through his poverty might be made rich as the Apostle passionately deliuers it 2. Cor. 8. 9. how being every way equall with God Phil. 2. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was faine to emptie and strip himselfe as it were of all his royaltie that he might compasse these great matters for vs for whom hee had not the least reason to doe the least good when his spirit hath effectually melted our hearts with these considerations we shall perceaue our loving him chiefly for our owne salvation to be somewhat too grosse and mercenary loue being not much different from that of a woman who loues her joynture better then her husband or that of a sonne who loues his Father chiefly for his patrimony And though hitherto wee haue loued Christ only because wee hope to get by him yet now that we know what the kisses of his mouth meane that which we principally loue in him is his loue hauing before loued the giuer for the gift by a kinde of regresse in our affection wee henceforth striue to loue gift for the giuer But this point though many of Gods children knowe it to bee most
FINIS THE TRIALL OF our sincere loue to Christ EPHES. 6. V. 24. Grace be with al them that loue our Lord Iesus Christ in sincerity I WIL not discourage your attentiō with a tedious repotition of what I haue heretofore in another audience deliuered vpon this Scripture something must needs be recalled to guid your attention into the ensuing discourse to knit that vnto a former but I wil not trouble you with a word more then the necessity of methode shall enforce me vnto To winde vp then as much as is necessary in a breife introduction We liue in an age of a Presumption as peremptory as vniversall they are rare men that make any question of their salvation and which is most to be pitied they are for the most part such as haue least reason I am perswaded there was never yet any time when men were generally more confident in their hope of heaven or lesse able to giue a wise reason for it insomuch that it may be but too probably conjectured that to one that perishes through dispaire there miscarry hundreds through presumption This generall presumption stands vpon these two general suppositions 1. That Grace that is all the gracious precious promises of God concerning a better life doe infallibly appertaine to all such as loue Christ Iesus in sincerity that is to all such as are true serious resolute Christians 2. That wee our selues are all such men that we are all Christians good enough to serue the turne though wee are not so forward and exemplary though we keepe not such stir with our profession as some others doe The first suppositiō is out of all question and can never bee brought into disputation by those which submit to the Scriptures it being the scope not only of my Text but also of the whole Gospell ye a of the Law and the Prophets So that with reverence bee it spoken it shall bee as possible for God that is the eternall truth it selfe to lye as for that supposition to fayle any man who observing the conditions of it casts himselfe vpon it so that in strict propriety of speech it is not of it selfe any prop of presumption but only by accident as it's subject to mis-application by vs. Well then presumption stands more directly and leanes more heavily vpon the second supposition and therefore all our care must bee every man for himselfe to see that wee are not mistaken in our account at home to bee sure wee are all such men as wee deeme our selues to be that is such Christians as may vpon good sufficient grounds lay clayme vnto and plead interest in all the glorious promises in Christ Iesus Vpon this I observed all the conditions required on our part and by consequent the whole tryall of our assurance to be comprised in this sincerity of our loue towards him and farther for the exact triall and through examination of this I imposed vpon my selfe the handling of three most cōsiderable points which make vp it selfe and evidence vnto vs the sincerity of our loue vnto Christ 1. The true immediate ground or originall of it 2. The requisite degree or intension of it 3. The especiall fruits and effects of it Concerning the originall of our loue vnto Christ amōgst many insufficient deceauable grounds of it I vndertooke the discovery of one which I foūd to be most dangerous and vniversall to wit natural instincts of religion in generall restrained to Christianity by birth education This discovery I haue already elsewhere at large as God enabled me performed In the second place I promised a declaratiō of the true proper and sure ground of sincere loue vnto Christ this by the assistance of the blessed spirit you shall haue paid at this time Well then what is the most immediate and proper ground of the sincere loue of a poore sinner vnto his Saviour Iesus Christ I answere out of the question when in earnest hee finds himselfe to bee a miserable sinner and apprehends Christ Iesus to be his gracious Saviour and one of whom hee stands in infinite need Or to to deliuer it more fully it is a cleare distinct particular tender apprehension of his owne infinite wants and miseries by reason of sinne of those miracles of loue mercy which Christ hath performed to cure these and supply those that as freely purposely for him as for any man elfe To cleare and confirme this excellent point I will as God hath directed my meditations 1 First proue it to be so 2 And then demonstrate why it is so That it is so appeares by sundry places of holy Scripture out of which I will cull some few which seeme to me most pregnant and pertinent First I loue the Lord saith holy David Psalm 116. 1. marke his reason because hee hath heard my voice and my supplications But what kinde of supplications were these vpon what occasion were they made you may see both v. 3 4. The sorrowes of death compassed me about and the paines of hell gate hold vpon me then called I vpon the name of the Lord O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soule These were my supplications which the Lord hath heard and therefore I loue him yea because he hath inclined his care vnto me in these my spirituall agonies I will call vpon him as long as I liue 2. we haue an eminent place 1. Ioh. ◠19. We loue him marke his reason because he first loued vs. True some may say God hath loaded vs with innumerable expressions of his loue in our creation and preservation and we doe reciprocally loue him for them but what 's this to the loue of Christ To omit as impertinent to this place that in some sort we owe both our creation temporall preservatiō vnto Gods loue in Christ seeing it is not probable but the whole frame of nature should haue beene dissolued presently vpon the fal had not God of his mercy intended a Redeemer for mankinde to be revealed in the fulnesse of time but to let this passe S. Iohn in these words because he first loued vs vnderstands that loue of loues that boundlesse incomprehensible loue of God wherewith hee hath loued vs in Christ as it plainly appeares by comparing 9. 10. veries In this that is in this infinitely more then in any mercy of creation or preservation was manifested the loue of God towards vs because that God sent his onely begotten sonne into the world that we might liue through him Herein is loue that is herein infinitly more then in any thing else not that we loued God but that he loued vs and sent his sonne to bee the propitiation for our sinnes To recollect and to bring it home to the point in hand when as the fame S. Iohn speakes v. 16. Wee haue knowne and beleeued the loue that God hath to vs when we find our selues to have been eeven dead men and that God sent his Son that we might live
THE TRIALL OF A CHRISTIANS SINCERE LOVE VNTO CHRIST By M r WILLIAM PINKE M r of Arts late Fellow of Magdalen Colledge in OXFORD 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. Ep. ad Rom. THE THIRD EDITION AT OXFORD Printed by LEONARD LICHFIELD for EDWARD FORREST Anno Dom. 1636. TO THE HONOVRABLE AND TRVLY Noble Lord the Lord GEORGE DIGBY Sonne and Heire of the Right Honourable the Earle of BRISTOLL Right Honourable and my very Good Lord THAT I haue presumed to present to your Lordships Patronage these few Sermons of a deceased worthy friend it is not so much the acknowledgment of those great favours and noble respects wherewith you were pleased to grace Him and since his death haue vouchsafed to extend to mee your vnworthy servant as a due consideration if in Dedicatiōs matchablenesse be to be regarded how properly and peculiarly they doe belong to your Lordship both in respect of the Authour and the Argument The Authour was one whom for his singular dexterity in the Arts depth of iudgement sharpnesse of wit and especially his skill in languages Hebrew Greeke Arabicke you were pleased to make choice of for one of your Readers during your abode at Magdalen Colledge in Oxon in which time you so obliged him by the abundant testimonies of your good affection to him that He oft professed to mee how great iust an interest your merits claimed in all his studies and labours This which you here see is but an Essay to some master-peece which you might haue expected if he had liued to finish what he attempted in the Greek Antiquities obseruations on the Hebrew Text. For the matter it being a Theame of the weightiest businesse in Christianity the ground-worke of all which if it bee not first rooted in the heart all other our conclusions and speculations in Diuinity will bee but like the building a Castle in the ayre and may giue the soule content perhaps of a rare speculation but cannot of a powerfull experimentall soule-quickning and soule sauing Religion The Argument I say being such as I could not harden my selfe against the requests of some who desired the publishing thereof for the good many soules might reape by it so neither could I thinke any fitter to Patronage a Theam of piety than one who shewed himselfe amongst vs both a Patron an example of it I would be as farre from flattery as you are from the want of it and I would not you should looke your selfe in a false Glasse ouerweening in any man is a thing that exposeth to secret contempt whensoeuer the weaknesse shall be espied but Great men so much the more by how much they are the more obserued and haue occasion oftner to come vpon the stage You remēber what manner of man he was serious in his studies deuout strict in an holy conuersation the things you loued in him and imitated A singular O men when Noble mē begin betimes to be countenancers of goodnes and good men so perseuere to doe like a good Obadiah the Church shall blesse you and God shall honour you For those that honour him he will honour and them that despise him hee will couer with shame either by bringing on them some notable judgement or by giuing them vp to such headlong courses and filthy vices whereby their honour shall be stained their estates wasted themselues and their posterity ruined it being not vnusuall with God to punish men by their owne deuices and sinnes wherein they delight And so doth your Lordship perseuere to doe I will not load your modesty with a slender report of your owne worth What perhaps I ought to say your Lordship may guesse by what the people doe say of you and what I should commend vnto you if I were able or worthy by what the world expects from you I know there is nothing more vaine then to liue by opinion by what men say or expect opinion is but an ill rule and gouernesse of our liues and actions another mans measure being too long or too short for me yet this vse we may make of it when men begin to applaud and take notice of that which our selues haue the greatest reason to study affect it may serue to raise our vertues to an higher pitch than our own priuity could lightly bring them the loue practise of any good increasing with the acceptance it findes abroad But I forget what I haue in hand I close all with apprecatiō of all happinesse to your Lordship the God of Ioseph double vpon you the blessings of Ioseph Blessed let him make you for the precious things of Heauen and of the deep that coucheth beneath for the precious things of the Earth the fulnesse thereof but especially for the good will of him that dwelt in the Bush Doe worthily in Ephratah and bee you famous in our Isreal The seeds of Vertue and pious education wherewith your tender yeeres haue beene seasoned let them budde and yeeld their pleasant wholsome fruit in their seasons I still trespasse Moneo quod facis Spondes digna tuis ingentibus omnia coeptis Shirburn Iul. 7. 1630. Your Lordships humble and deuoted seruant WILLIAM LYFORD To the Reader COurteous Reader I here present thee with some peeces fragments of an intire and iust discourse intended by the Author concerning that vsefull worthy Argument the sincerity and triall of a Christians loue to Christ It was the glory of the last age that among other miracles God blessed it with the resurrection of Leraning it being being a time wherein liued and flourished men famous for learning and piety who sent abroad into the world many large volumes for the vindicating of Gods true Religion and worship from Barbarisme Errour and Superstition And 't is a part of the happinesse of this our Age that beside the same truth still maintained it hath sent forth many famous Treatises concerning the nature of faith the power and practise of Religion Amongst which this would not haue beene of the least note if the Author himselfe had liued to finish it A continuation and perfecting whereof I cannot hope for from others much lesse dare I presume to attempt it my selfe as euer loathing that soloecisme Hor. Art Poet. vt turpitèr atrum Desinat in piscem mulier formosa supernè Take therfore these Sermons as they were deliuered and left by him What is done in them I had rather should appeare to thy iudgement in the serious reading then from my opinion of them onely let mee intreate thee to read them with the same spirit they were written for that 's the way to profit by other mens works and content not thy selfe to trifle away some odde houre in thē but reserue them to some of thy most retired thoughts and seuerest meditations so maist thou by Gods blessing finde something to strengthen the assurances of thy hopes by Christ and to encrease thy future care and loue to sincerity In which
after this manner it had beene a thousand times better for him that Christ had neuer been borne into the world or at least that himselfe had beene borne in such an obscure corner of it that hee had neuer heard of him For his outward profession of and with all the prerogatiue of it with which hee contented himselfe without any hearty loue vnto him the faire offers of saluation which hee had and made nothing of shall presse him more heauily at the day of Iudgement then all his sins against the law though they were murders and adulteryes when for these very reasons it shall bee easier for Turkes Americans and Virginians then for him If you demand the reason of all this mischiefe it is because the not laying to heart of what Christ hath done for vs and the not-receiuing him being offered vs with the thankefull affections of loue and reuerence vnmixed delight and compleat content in him is the highest dishonour and basest indignity except wilfull Apostacy or malious blasphemy which can bee offered by a sinfull man to the most blessed and glorious Trinity Should I stand â—o recount and amplify euery circumstance of it I thinke I should both weary and amaze you Suffice it therefore onely briefly to consider how contempt offered to Christ and his Gospell reflects vpon all the Persons of the Blessed Trinity For the Father whosoeuer sets light by his Sonne doth most grosly vnderualue both his wisdome and his goodnesse For his wisdome The contriuing of mans redemption by the death of his Sonne in the fulnesse of time is so farre as is reuealed to vs the master-piece chiefe plot with reuerence bee it spoken which hath been from all eternity thought on by that infinite boundlesse wisdome of God blessed for euer whereby hee purposed to get himselfe farre more glory then hee did by the creation of the world when by a deliuerance so superlatiuely admirable hee should both saue mankind and astonish it This is that for which the Gospell is so often called the wisdome of God vnto saluation This is that mistery of Godlynesse which is great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the confession of all without controuersy 1 Tim. 3. 16. This is that illustrious mystery of saluation which the Prophets enquired after and searched diligently with the Angels to looke into 1. Pet. 1. 10. 12. Lastly this is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that wisdome of God which hath such curious variety in it Ephes 4. 10. Well then to come to the point when the time is come as it is come to vs who liue in this blessed noone-tide of the Gospell that God reueales to any man this astonishing mystery of his infinite wisdome when hee pleaseth to shew any man how admirably hee hath contriued his saluation for him by sending his own sonne to satisfy his iustice and therefore expects abundance of glory by it if that man now abase varlet created by God that hee might applaud his lesser works of creation shall behaue himsele so stupidly that hee forsooth can scarse haue patience to take a full view of his Sonne if hee can espie no such arte in the contriuance as may rauish him no such wonders as may withdraw his minde from those bawbles about which it was before busied O beloued this is an indignity to the glorious wisdome of God the Father beyond all expression of mortall eloquence 2. For his goodnesse and mercy God the Father from euerlasting beholding mankind in the vgly masse of corruption through their owne wilfull rebellion knew he must bee iust and yet desired to bee mercifull And when nothing might make these two stand together but satisfaction from one as infinite as himselfe that he might commend his loue to vs as the Apostle speakes Rom. 3. 8. hee resolued not to spare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sonne of his Loue as hee is called by a significant Hebraisme Col 1. v. 13. but to send him in similitude of sinnefull flesh to vndergoe that heauy businesse for vs presuming as it is in the parable that howsoeuer his other messengers had fared but ill in the world yet his Sonne the heire should bee entertained with reuerence O then can wee imagine with what hellish contempt they euen defye the loue of God towards them who look strangely vpon his Sonne who behaue themselues towards him as if his Father had sent him in a needles err and into the world or as if there needed not to haue beene all this care taken for them 2. In the next place it would bee an endlesse businesse to rehearse the indignities which are offered to the second person in Trinity Christ himself by such as call him Lord Lord but yet deale not honestly with him in their hearts Greater loue then this hath no man then that hee lay downe his life for his friend saith our Sauiour Ioh. 15. 13. True Lord it 's the greatest loue that one friend can shew another but yet thy loue was greater uÌ„to vs in that thou laydest down thy life for thy enemies yea in that thou vouchsafedst for our sakes to take such a life which thou mightst lay down Consider in briefe I beseech you how the Sonne of God out of meere obedience vnto his Father and compassion vnto vs rebellious wormes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 empâ—tied himselfe of the lustre of his Deity and in the forme of a seruant humbled himselfe to the death â—uen the most painefull and shamefull death of the Crosse Phil. 2. 8. Peruse the history of his passion yea of his whole life which was litle better then a passion obserue how throughly the sad predictions of a despised life and ignominious death Isa 53. were fulfilled in him how in euery point hee was made isch enaccâ—both a man of sorrowes draw into a Catalogue the rude discourtesies churlish affronts the â—euilings buâ—â—etings spittings torments agonies and the contradictions of sinners all along that is of sinnefull caytifes which hee indured with patience Lastly remember that all this befell him onely because the Lord laid vpon him the iniquity of vs all Isa 53. 6. where the Hebrew phrase is elegantly significant hiphgiah he hath made the iniquity of vs all to meet on him as our translators haue rightly expressed it in the margent Remember still I say that all this was but what wee had deserued and therefore we may well suppose him with pitifull moanes crying out vnto vs vpon the Crosse in the mouing language of Ierusalem Lam 1. 12. Is it nothing to all you that passe by behold and see if there bee any sorrow like vnto my sorrow Now beloued whosoeuer hee bee that hath read or heard all these things so punctually set downe in the Gospell that hee hath had his sauiour euen crucified before his eyes whosoeuer is conceited and he beleeues this history and yet cannot bleed within or weepe without for his sinnes which were the cause of it but can
bee moued to more tender passions by a Tragicke fable created by the braine of a Poet cannot sympathise with his Sauiour in that passiō which should haue beene his cannot by his serious cōpunction share with him in those agonies which should haue been all his owne cannot take these mercies so deepely to heart as with the earnest pangs of yerning affections to desire to bee crucified with Christ as S. Paul speakes of himselfe Gal. 2. 20. and to liue the rest of his life in the flesh by the faith of the Sonne of God who loued him and gaue himselfe for him questionlesse that man offers his Sauiour the most cutting iniury and does him the most villanous spight that it 's possible for a mortall wretch to offer vnto the Lord of Glory That mans ingratitude is more painefull vnto Christ Iesus then all the thornes were in his head and wounds him more deepely then the nayles did his hands and feete and therefore wee cannot imagine a lighter curse then Anathema Maranatha to bee due vnto him For by his sottish neglect of that death of which his sins aswel as any mans else were a cause he becomes guilty of the murther of the Sonne of God yea one of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I vnderstang 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and English it who crucifie as much as in them lies the sonne of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and expose him like a◠malefactour to publique shame Heb. 6. 6. 3 Lastly whosoever instructed in the Gospell doth not in earnest loue Christ Iesus hee vexes grieues the third person in Trinity the Holy spirit whose chiefe businesse here below is to worke our our hearts vnto the loue of Christ and as I said before to solicite the match betweene him and our soules And this is one reason why our saviour being to leaue this world speakes so much in Saint Iohn of what the comforter should doe for him after his departure He shall testify of me Iohn 13. He shall glorify mee 16. 14. Whosoeuer therefore makes the Holy spirit to labour in vaine not suffering his perswasions to make any impressions vpon his heart or to get thence any glory for him whose agent hee is but thinkes hee does Christ Iesus kindnesse enough in that he suffers himselfe to be called a Christian rather then a Iew or a Mahumetan or Protestant rather then a Papist In what a fit of discontent in what a chafe may we thinke doth that man send or rather driue away the spirit of Grace All that I haue said in this second consideration is comprised in that terrifying place Hebr. 10. 28. 29. which I know is there applyed vnto Apostates but wee must note that all hypocrites are Apostates in Gods fight and therefore what wee may apply vnto an Apostate in particular because hee discouers the rottennesse of his heart in the sight of men wee may apply vnto hypocrites in generall because there is in them the same evill heart of vnbeliefe though wee cannot so particularly smell them out the words are Hee that despised Moses Law died without mercy vnder two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose yee shall hee be thought worthy who hath troden vnder foote the sonne of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the blood of a common man or a malefactor not as the blood of a sacrifice and hath done despight vnto the spirit of grace Applic. You see the fearefully accursed estate of those professors of Christianity who deale falsely with their Saviour and loue him not at the heart you see vpon what slippery tearmes wee stand betweene the greatest curses and the greatest blessings If wee haue indeed made Christ Iesus our portion if wee haue beene so feelingly affected with his favours towards vs that now with the Spouse in the Canticles wee are even sicke with loue of him If as the Apostle prayes for the Ephesians Wee are so rooted and grounded in loue that we can bring good proofes that with a constant resolution we preferre the intellectuall pleasures which issue from his reconciled countenance before whatsoeuer else is most pretious and deare vnto vs O then we may hugge our selues as men over-joyed for as sure as God is God all his rich promises in Christ Iesus shall be yea and Amen vnto vs. But on the contrary if those heauenly raptures and glorious trances of sweetest entercourse betweene Christ and our soules sound as Phantastique dreames harsh Paradoxes vnto vs if wee stupidly content our selues with an empty profession of his name and heartlesse conformity vnto the outward garb of the Gospell never striuing either to expresse or to feele the inward power of it if wee goe on in a heavy sluggish dull manner never retiring vnto our Saviour but in some melancholy moodes which wee are quickly weary of blindly presuming of much from him and caring not how little hee hath from vs O then we most grossely delude our selues for the curse of curses Anathema Maran-atha doth most certainely belong vnto vs I presume almost there is not any man in this assembly but would thinke himselfe much wronged if one should seriously tell him hee did not loue Christ Iesus Not loue Christ Why we imagine wee all doe it naturally wee take it as the custome of the country to say so It is not my purpose to dishearten any man would to God that the least sparke of loue vnto Christ in any mans heart here were a glorious flame But yet I would haue no man to deceiue himselfe in this point then which nothing more easy nothing more dangerous God is not mocked he requireth truth in the inward parts and the exactest kinde of loue that can be imagined Doe you thinke beloued but that the Iewes in our Saviours time were confidently perswaded that they loued God they persecuted our Saviour indeed because they could not apprehend him to be the sonne of God but for God himselfe they made full account that they and none but they loued him aright Here was I dare say as strong a perswasion of loue to God if confidence would beare out the matter as in the greater part of Christians of their loue vnto Christ But behold how miserably they were deceaued Joh. 5. 42. our Saviour expressely tels them But I know you that yee haue not the loue of God in you The like grosse deceit of the Iewes may be observed in the same chapter about their loue vnto Moses why they were 〈◊〉 and naile for Moses The Law and name of Moses was the glory of their nation for which no doubt but many if they had beene put to it would resolutely haue lost their liues in our Saviours time as their ancestors had done before or their posterity since so that one would haue thought hee might haue sworne they loued Moses but yet when the matter
at quiet vntill we are initiated into some Religion or other The Ancient Epicures though it were the scope of their damned profession to bee altogether irreligious and the most contenting perfectiō they could proiect vnto themselues yet as wee may perceiue by such writings as they haue left vs they could neuer fully attaine vnto it but in spight of their affected Atheisme they were forced to betray many shrewd grudgings and terrible gripes of naturall conscience And though in the deniall of diuine prouidence vpon the supposall of which depends all religion they put a good face vpon it and seeme to laugh at the matter yet wee may perceiue they were still gawled with that formido oppositi and by those engraued principles were euer and anon stung to reall feare of that truth which they would faine haue mocked out of the world either as an ancient inuention of policy to keepe men in awe or as an inueterate slauery of vulgar ignorance The same inbred seedes of religion by which it pleaseth God to force a manifestation of himselfe euen vpon those who would faine haue no notice of him and in the most reprobate mindes to make Atheisme rather a wish then an opinion after so many successions of ages are no whit decayed but continue still as stirring and actiue in the hearts of men as euer they were since they receiued that vnhappy crush by the first transgression For the Creator of all things as the Psalmist tells vs Psal 33. 15. fashioneth the hearts of all men alike the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifyes together at once intimating that the hearts of all men though separated from one another by neuer so vast a gulfe of time or place are as exactly alike in respect of their originall inclinations as if they had beene all moulded at the same time The worship of a God then some kinde of religion is necessary vnto vs wee cannot shift it of but now the propensions of nature being blind and confused and there being a various multiplicity of religions in the world here ordinarily step in the lawes and customes of the countrey into which the wombe of nature first empties vs which shape our generall inclinations either to worship the true God or this or that Idoll and the true God after this or that manner Looke abroad into the world and obserue the swarmes of diuers contrary religions which either fill places apart by themselues or are promiseuously exercised amongst one another you shall perceiue them to bee nothing but the naturall instincts of religion in generall specificated into diuerse formes and fashions by birth and education For albeit there may bee many occasions of and difficulties in the first bringing in of a religion into a countrey yet after it hath once by countenance from supreme authoritie and other plausibilities insinuated it selfe into the acceptance and approbation of the multitude it thenceforth becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to vse S t Peters word and with an easie descent runnes downe the streame of succession being deliuered from Father to Son as naturally as the proper language manner of diet fashion of apparell or any other customes of the countrey Now amongst so many religions as in severall parts of the world are by custome conveyed and passed from one to another wee suppose there is but one which wee may dare to trust for our happinesse but one that can certainely doe our soules that good which most of them would seem to promise Neither will wee seeme to doubt but that this one sauing religion is that which consists in the knowledge of the only true God and whom hee hath sent Iesus Christ and therefore we will all seeme to bee much in loue with this heavēly profession before any other whatsoeuer If then wee will be sure not to cosen our selues in these perswasions not to over-reckon our selues in our loue vnto Christ and his Gospell here is a maine businesse for vs punctually to enquire how we came by this loue and liking vnto Christ vpon what motiue wee haue preferred this profession of Christ before such a multitude of Religions in the world You know that no art or invention can force waters to mount aboue their spring head in like manner it 's impossible that our affections vnto Christ should be more elevated more heauenly and spirituall then the originall from whence they streame If then being put to it by our selues or others we can think of no better reasons for our choice of Christianity then such as these because we had the fortune to be born in a place where Christ onely was talked of because we haue heard Turkes Iewes and Papists much spoken against and were ever told that this is the best religion because the King and Lawes haue banished all other Sects and haue established this profession of Christ which we haue alwaies beene brought vp in and could never see any harme in it if such sottish senslesse stuffe bee the best defence wee can make for our selues it appeares too plainely that our religiō is nothing but those common reliques of naturall instincts which I spoke of before christned as it were by humane lawes customes and that we are Christians upon no waightier inducements then wee might haue beene Pagans or Idolaters I tremble to speak it if an Indian should bee demanded why hee worshipped the Divell changing only the circumstances hee might giue as sufficient reasons as these for his most fearefull and horrible Idolatry But this example though it might square but too well to my purpose is too odious to be insisted vpon Aske a common Iew why he blaspheames our blessed Saviour why hee expects another Messias a Turke why he is circumcised why he is so devoted to Mahomet they wil both in effect giue the very same reasons of their blaspheamies and superstitions which a common ignorant Christian will giue why hee is rather a Christian then a Iew or a Turke justifie their damned hatred and detestation of Christ by the same arguments which cause him to professe speciall loue and service vnto him Nay you will say there is no Christian so barbarously ignorant but he may say more for himselfe then any of those vnbeleeuing misereants can he hath heard the holy Scriptures read beene made partakers of the blessed Sacraments he hopes to haue his sinnes forgiuen him by Christ though hee bee not able to proue it by formall argumentation hee knowes well enough that Turkes and all such as speake against Christ are accursed infidells I thinke indeed there are not many Christians but may say so much and perhaps more by wrote and taking it vp vpon trust but this is quite besides the purpose For I doe not now question the Christian in the duties or opinions of his religion but I cal vpon him for his speciall reasons which cause him to performe those duties or embrace those opinions He hath beene
heauen in fiery Chariots had beene nursed and brought vp amōgst the Saracens vnlesse God had vouchsafed them a miracle for their conversion we cannot imagine but they would haue beene Saracens Suppose the deuoutest Saint of God at this day breathing had beene trained vp at the feet of some Iewish Rabbin if we looke no higher then ordinary meanes we must needs conceaue that with the hellish mallice of a Iew he would haue defied that blessed Sauiour of his whom now he worships day night I mentioned not that therefore to shew the weakenesse of the person but of such reasons of his Christianity as changing only the scene of his nativity and education might haue made him hotter against it thē now he is for it So that the only fundamentall reason why such a Christian is rather a Christian then a Iew Turk or Idolater is because Christianity bespoke him as soone as hee came into the world and permitted not those madde superstitions either to speake with him at all or not till it selfe had prevented them and gotten possessiō For we may obserue that albeit generally in the world errour keepes truth out of the soules of men by anticipation damming vp all the passages by which shee should enter with base preconceipts and odious prejudices yet in some corners where divine providence hath been pleased to allow truth an authorised setled residency it gets the start of errour and prevailes as much by prepossession here as errour doth in other places beating that away with the same clamours and out-cries by which it selfe is elsewhere baffled But this to speake more punctually is not a fight betweene truth and errour though by the vndiscerning vulgar it be mistaken for it but a kinde of blindfold combate betweene prejudice and prejudice or of custome against custome For in these cases though truth blocke vp errors way and so keepe that from stealing into the soule yet doth not she presently enter in her selfe but stands as it were before the dore displaying her resplendent rarities and admirable perfections and if for their sakes alone shee bee not earnestly invited to come in and importun'd to take vp her lodging there she vouchsafeth not to enter but at last flings away in disdain Men may imagine shee is gone in because they cannot heare or see heresie or superstition stirring with in but for certaine sauing truth never presseth into any soule vpon the bare advātage of being the first commer but for her owne singular worth shee lookes to be wooed importuned and with some violence haled in as the blessedst guest that could possibly haue come first or last But here may some demand if the summe of all this that hath beene spoken bee true to wit That our loue vnto Christ and his Gospell be not gotten by our birth and education amongst Christians what benefit is it to bee borne within the visible Church What prerogatiue to bee bred in the light of the Gospell I answere that it 's an advantage of inestimable value for which we all owe more thanks and praises vnto the Lord then our shallow braines and narrow hearts can possibly conceaue But we must wisely consider the proper end and vse for which it hath pleased the Father of lights to afford vs this blessed priviledge which is not that it should bee a cause but a meanes not a ground but an occasion of our loue vnto his beloued Sonne In our commō friendship we can easily distinguish betweene the contingent occasions of our acquaintance with a man and the immediate reasons of our affectionate loue vnto him those are accidentally offered frō without these are some speciall excellencies apprehended by vs to bee inherent in the person we affect those are but meanes to bring vs to the knowledge of these Even so in our spirituall loue vnto Christ Iesus blessed for ever the Lord hath gratiously planted vs within the sound of the Gospell given vs education in Christian rites and fashions and provided vs the testimony of the Church to tell vs that there is such a Saviour come into the world and to bring vs joyfull newes what vnvaluable treasures of mercy and glory hee hath brought with him to enrich all such as shall come vnto him pinched with the sense of their spirituall poverty Those are the meanes appointed to giue vs notice of these but these onely must bee the grounds of our affection vnto him To conclude this discourse albeit our loue vnto Christ be gotten by our naturall birth education be nothing worth in it selfe yet is it the ordinary rode which leades vs to the sight and sense of those transcendent perfections in him which will ravish vs with a more transcēdent loue of him Happy are we if that base vulgar loue be in time swallowed vp in a loue more celestiall and divine if that which can doe our soules no good while we rest vpon it become a manuduction vnto that which will certainely make vs blessed Had not the Samaritans beleeued at first vpon an insufficient ground the alarum of the woman they had not come to beleeue vpō the true their owne knowledge experience Had not the faithful soule which is now most sicke of a spirituall loue vnto her Saviour first loued him vpon heare-say and custome she had never felt in all probability those heavenly trances and vnvtterable ravishments with which now she is transported All that loue which wee professe vnto Christ betweene our first birth and the first pangs of the second is a loue arising only from nature and custome is tolerable in vs while wee are children being not so properly an errour as an introduction vnto truth I say it 's a hopefull preparation in children which are not yet come to that ripenesse of their naturall faculties that the ordinary means of grace the preaching of the Gospell may worke vpon on them But after they haue attained to maturity of reason and should beginne to haue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speakes their senses exercised to discerne betweene good and evill if they proceed still in such childish conceits of Christ Iesus drowsie affections vnto him as they sucked from their nurses breasts their loue beginnes now to be grossely sinfull and whensoever it shall please the Lord to thunder them out of that sleep of death wherein now they enjoy some cōtenting dreames they must penitently bewaile it amongst the other sinnes of their vnregeneracy I haue done with my discovery of the false ground of loue vnto Christ by naturall instincts of religion restrained to Christianity by birth and education Before I proceed to an application of this discourse I will insist vpon some opposite places of holy Scripture which will adde both light strength vnto the precedent discourse and I hope prepare your hearts to the ensuing application And first wee haue an excellent place Cant. 5. v. 9 where the Spouse that is the faithfull soule hath this interrogatory
to all those which loue Christ Jesus in sincerity But on the contrary if thy conscience start at these demands beginne to fumble at them making as if it did not vnderstand them if they driue thee to confesse that thou knowest no such matter by thy selfe why then my discourse will conclude thy pretended loue vnto Christ to be but a meere fancie and thy selfe for the present to bee but an vnhappy man To goe yet more particularly to work in this examination according to the methode aboue proposed Hast thou beene experimentally convinced in thy owne soule in what desperate case thou art by nature Hast thou clearly perceaued to be true in thy selfe whatsoeuer the Scriptures tell thee of the monstrous pronenesse of mans heart to any evill◠and vntowardnesse to any good Hast thou beene made to possesse the sinnes of thy youth as holy Iob was and haue the terrors of God stared thy guilty conscience in the face affrighted it almost into a bloody sweat and then hath there appeared as it were an Angell comforting thee Hast thou felt thy selfe a condemned man and even going to execution and hath Christ Iesus in the nick stept in with thy pardon both purchased and sealed with his owne most pretious blood If thou hast felt either these passages or some which may serue proportionably insteed of them to bee the canse of that which thou professest vnto Christ I dare not questiō the synceritie of it least with those Ezech. 13. I wound that soule which should not dye and make the heart of him sad whō the Lord hath not made sad I should wrong thee exceedingly not to beleeue that Christ is him whom thy soule loueth that with S. Pauls constraining loue a loue as strong as death which many waters cānot quēch neither shall the stoods drowne it Cant. 8. 7. But now on the cōtrary to conclude negatiuely from the former interrogatories to inferre the want of sincerity in any man for his not feeling those passages as they are verbatim proposed would be too rigid perhaps raise a tumult in a well setled conscience Onely thus much I le say if all of them sound as riddles and vncouth mysteries vnto thee if thou never knewest any thing like to what was proposed by thy selfe as I feare many haue not If thou knowest not what it meanes to come heavy laden poore in spirit hungry and thirsty vnto Christ why then I wonder thou shouldst bee so sottish as to conceaue or impudent as to affirme that thou louest Christ if thou wouldst haue vs vnderstand thee that thou louest him in sincerity I doe suppose that thou louest him vpon custome as thou dost the fashiō of thy country in which thou hast beene borne bred but so does the gretest part of the world defie him vpon as good a ground as that so does a Turke loue Mahomet one of the bafest misereants that ever was vpon as substantiall a ground as that But we speake of that transcendent loue of him which cannot possibly be due vnto any one else and which would be most due vnto him though all the lawes customes in the world should vniversally conspire to crye it downe dost thou professe such a loue vnto him and knowest not wherefore nor vpō what occasion thou wert moued vnto it It would vexe a man to the soule who knowes indeed what it is to loue Christ and how himselfe was brought vn to it to consider the confident stupidity of multitudes in euery place who will not be put out of their dreame that they meane as louingly to Christ as any man when as indeed they are not as yet come so far as to perceaue any proper reason why they should loue him or what reason he hath to expect any loue from them I knowe they will say they loue him because he died for them and they hope to be saued by him Alas these are words of course and as soone spoken as any other they say this because they were ever taught to say so and never liued among any that said the contrary Beloued it is not the saying of this or beleeuing it confusedly like some old story or tradition wil melt our congealed hearts into the loue of Christ No it must be through distinct feeling of it in our owne soules it must bee the experience of this which makes vs enamoured on him and sets our hearts a mounting towards him in those seraphicall flames of sanctified affection 2 The Originall of sincere loue vnto Christ being discovered and directions giuen for selfe examination concerning it a second vse shall bee for caution against many cozening semblances of loue vnto Christ which may make vs thinke a great deale better of our selues then wee haue reason which may easily bee discouered by trying them by this originall To instance in some particulars There is many a Ruffian in this kingdome who if he should heare a Jew blaspheaming Christ his blood would quickly bee vp hee would long to bee doing with him and bee hardly kept from hacking him in peeces O what a friend vnto Christ will such a man suppose himselfe to be he will conceipt he hath behaued himselfe like a Templer done him knights service and a hundred to one but in this humour he will call his companions to come and see the zeale which he hath for Christ Jesus But if there were any such swaggering Zelot in this assembly I would aske him these questions Dost thou not think a hot spirited Turk would haue fallen as foule vpon the Iew if hee had taken him vilifying his Mahomet Wouldst thou not vndergoe as dangerous a quarrell to winne the fauour or please the humour of thy mistresse Would'st thou not thy selfe or at least dost thou not know some who will quarrell as sternely about a pipe of Tobacco or the pledging of a health Lastly hast thou not suffered thy companions to blaspheame Christ in their oathes perhaps a whole day together and thy zeale all the while hath beene very well contented with it You see by these questions from what variety of carnall vnsanctified motiues this seeming plausible zeale may arise and therefore in all such cases it much concernes vs to haue an eye to the true originall of all duties of loue to consider not so much what wee doe as what makes vs to doe it and in a word to judge of our affections not by the heat but by the fewell For a second instance Many in reading the history of our Saviours life and considering his sweet debonnaire and vnoffensiue carriage withall the contradictiō of sinners the insolencie of proud and churlish miscreants which he endured with an vnimitable patience will find their hearts euer and anon rising in indignation against the Scribes and Pharisees and euen tenderly sympathizing with our Saviour These men may presently imagine themselues to bee deepely in loue with Christ but they may bee miserably mistaken Let them consult