Pofterity of Adam? He tells us the Reason, Deut. vii, 7, 8. He loved you, because he loved you. Do you think he loves you for your Beauty, O black and ugly Sinner? Nay, he bodes his Love and Kindness upon you in the Gofpel freely, not for your own Beauty's Sake, but for his own Name's Sake: And his Grace, Love, and Good-will, as releaved in the Gofpel, is to be believed with Application to your felf, for no other Reafon but because it is his Will and Pleafure. His Love must make you beautiful, but cannot find you fo. And if you cannot believe his Grace and Good-will to you, because you have no Beauty, you're but rejecting the Reafon of his Love, defpifing the Freedom of his Grace, and ftanding upon the Terms of the Old Covenant of Works, fighting the Grace of the New Covenant: This is fuch a natural Difeafe to Mankind, that even Believers in Christ, when they are helped to perform Duty with any lively Frame, are ready to fay, with Leah, Jacob's Wife, when the brought forth feveral Children to him, Now my Husband will love me, because of my Fruitful nefs; fo fays the Believer, when he is helped to bring forth Fruit unto God, and finds his Spirit revived in Duty, his Soul ftrengthned, his Heart enlarged, and a great deal of Comfort there, O now, fays he, my Husband will love me, because of my Fruitful nes: But what comes of it? the Perfon having fuch a legal Sett, the Lord, to correct it, takes away all Fruitfulness out of his View, in a Manner, and leaves him barren; O, fays the Believer then, where is my former feet Hearing, and fweet Praying and Praifing, and fweet Meditation? Why, the Lord has cut off thefe, that he may cut off your legal Pride of being loved for your Beauty and Fruitfulness, and that you may return to your firft Husband, for then was it better with you than now; you must begin, Believer, where you began at firft, and think of his loving you merely becaufe he loves you. They that build their conjugal Comfort only, or mainly, upon their Righteouinefs of Sanctification, and fo fecretly hanker after the : the Law, will find their Souls very unfettled, even up and down with their changeable Frame. But again, (11.) I might ask, What think ye of his Loveliness? O. Is he white and ruddy in your View? O fee how the Spouse describes him, Song v. 10. and downward, in the Beauty of his Head, his Locks, his Eyes, and all and every Part of him; his Belly, or Bowels of Mercy His Mouth is moft fweet, fays fhe. O the Words, the Smiles, the Kiffes of his Mouth, his kindly Embraces! I have read of one Agatho, that was a Man fo holy, that with a Kifs he cured One of his Leprofy; whether that be true or false, yet what I intend by telling it, is true, That fuch is the Virtue of Ghrift. that a Kifs of his Mouth, a Smile of his Countenance, will cure the Soul of fpiritual Leprofy; yea, a Word of his Mouth will do it, Now are you clean through the Word that I have spoken, John xv. 3. Again, (12.) What think ye of his Favour and his Bleffing? Surely, if you efteem him duly, you will think his Favour is Life, and his Loving kindness better than Life, and that his Bleffing only makes rich. Especially, What think ye of these Bleffings and Benefits that cannot be enjoyed by Feeling but by Faith, nor by Sight of Senfe but by the Sight of Faith? We walk by Faith, and not by Sight, fays the Apoftle. But it is the Fault even of Believers, that they can hardly believe they have any more than they feel; and hence, when they are in the Darkness of Desertion, they think they have nothing, they have loft his Favour, because they do not feel it; they have loft his Righteoufnefs, because they do not feel it But remember, that when Afaph faid, Hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious? hath be in Anger Shut up his tender Mercies? he added, This was my Infirmity. You know, in a House where it is dark all Things are there that were before, tho' you fee them not; fo it is with you, Believer, tho' you be in Darknefs, all is to the fore: Do you think all is caufe you cannot fee it? Well, you never walk by Faith, but by Feeling; nay, he that walks in Darkness, and hath no Light, let him' truft in the Name gone, be of the Lord, and stay himself upon his God. The Name of the Lord is to the fore, his God is to the fore, the Object of Faith is to the fore as much as ever, and the Juft shall live by Faith. Will you not believe the Sun is in the Firmament where it was, becaufe a Cloud hath come and intercepted the Light of its Beams? Why, fays One, but my Mifery is, when I'm in the dark Night, I fear it was all but Delufion that ever I met with, and that there was nothing real or faving in it. This I find is a common Thought among ferious Souls; but all that I fhall fay to it, is by enlarging the former Similitude; ask a Man when it it dark Night, How do you know that ever you faw the natural Sun? it may be you was but dreaming, and deluding your felf; it was nothing but a ftrong Imagination. Why, fays the Man, I am fure I faw it, because my Eyes were dazled with the Light of it, and I was warmed with the Heat of it, and I faw to work by it, and by the Light of it I faw every Thing about me. So may you fay, Believer; when a dark Night of Desertion or Temptation comes on, the Tempter fuggefts, It may be ail was but a Delufion, Why, Man, were not your Eyes enlightned? was not your Heart warmed? did you not fee to work, and went on in your Work joyfully, the Joy of the Lord being your Strength? and did you not fee every Thing about you? You faw God in his Glory, you faw Sin in its Vileness, you faw Holiness in its Beauty, you faw the World in its Vanity, you faw the Crea ture in its Emptinefs, Chrift in his Fulnefs, you faw your felf in your Lothfomnefs; but now, when the Light is withdrawn, What think ye of Chrift? Is there no Sun, because it is fet to your View? Do you think it never fhone upon you, because it is not now fhining? What think ye of an abfent Chrift? do you think nothing of him because he is abfent? Surely, Believer, that is not thought like a Believer; Senfe is many Times denied you, that you may learn to be lieve more than you do. But, fay you, when he is not prefent with me, I cannot believe. I fhall tell you my Mind here, There is a powerful Prefence neceffary to Believing but there is a fenfible Prefence, that is not neceffary to it, but rather ufually comes in upon the Back of Faith. Now that powerful Prefence of God, that is neceffary to believing, does open up the Object of Faith, and draw out the Soul to the Embraces thereof: Hence, when a Man begins to think upon the proper Object of Faith, namely, Chrift's Righteoufnefs, God's Promife, the Truth of God, the Blood of Chrift; Power is fometimes infenfibly exerted, not by any outward open Violence upon the Man, but by an inward, fecret and fweet Inchantment, as it were: Ere ever he is aware, and before ever he knows that it is divine Power that is doing the Work, he finds the Object of Faith, that he is thinking upon, making Room for itself in his Heart, and drawing out his Soul as it were infenfibly to it; and thereupon comes in fenfible Presence on the Back of that, Eph. i. 13. After ye believed, ye were fealed. Now, if you fay, You cannot believe without his powerful Prefence, that is true; Divine Power must be exerted to every Act of Faith, but then this Power does ordinarily put forth itself infenfibly and unawares, while we are thinking on, or viewing the Object of Faith, Pfal. xxxix. 3. While I was mufing, the Fire burned The Spirit of God clears the Object of Faith, that being viewed and applied, the Heart is fet on Fire with it; there is his powerful Prefence ufhering in the fenfible Prefence. But if you fay, You cannot believe till you have his fenfible Prefence; that is to make Sense the Foundation of your Faith, and not the Word of God, For the Chrift of God: Therefore, in order to believe, let not your Question be firft, What find you in your felf? but rather, What think ye of Chrift? You'll find none of the sweet Effects of Faith, till you think on Chrift the Object of it. Again, (13.) What think ye of his invifible Glories? Faith is the Evidence of Things not feen. Faith fees not the Things that are seen and felt; fenfible Enjoyments, for Example, are not the Object of Faith, but Senfe: But Faith fees the Things N that that can neither be feen nor felt; it believes contrary to Senfe, yea, Things impoffible to Nature, and incredible to carnal Reafon, confidering only the Power of God, that speaks in the Word, as you fee in the Faith of Abraham. The greatest Glory of Chrift is invifible and incredible to Nature; therefore we do not think much of him, if our Faith does not terminate on Things not feen. Again, (14.) What think ye of his Tabernacles and Ordinances? Surely, if you think much of Chrift, his Tabernacles will be amiable to you. The Slighter of his Ordinances is a Slighter of Chrift, a Slighter of Prayer is a Slighter of Chrift, a Slighter of the Word is a Slighter of Chrift: He that defpifes you, defpifes me, &c. Again, (15.) What think ye of his Cause and Intereft, fuch as the much forgotten Reformation-work in Scotland, which our Fore-fathers established by folemn National Covenants? If, the more it is forgotten among Ministers and People, the more nearly it lies to your Heart, and the more you long for its Reviving, it were an Evidence you think fomething of Chrift, when others think little of him. But O, if theGeneration thought more of Chrift, there would be more Zeal for his Intereft, Honour, and publick Reformation-work! And perhaps the Confufions of our Day, the heavy Bondage we are complaining of through the Land, will never ceafe to grow to a Height of terrible Wrath, till we be brought to a Senfe of our Defection, and a humble Confeffion and Reformation. (16.) What think ye of his Cross, and of his Crown? Is his Crofs your Crown? Surely they think much of Chrift, that can fay with Paul, God forbid that I Should glory, fave in the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mofes thought his Crofs better than a Crown, efleeming the Reproach of Chrift greater Riches tha all the Treafures of Egypt. They that think much of Christ, must resolve upon it, that the World will not think much of them, but that they will be croffed, reproached, and nicknamed; but if Chrift was nicknamed for us, and endured the Contradiction of Sin Further, ner |