PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes — Volume 2
Richard Sibbes · 364,886 words · 367 reading sections
Section 121
Now, if the ordinances of Christ, the word and sacraments, and the shutting sinners out of the church, if these things be vilified as powerless things, it shews a degenerate, wicked heart, not acquainted with the ways of God. If we have a mean esteem of men that suffer for Christ and stand out for him, if we account th…
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A Christian soid seems to glory as it ivere in Christ. * This is my beloved, and this is my friend, 0 ye daughters of Jerusalem.' But to unfold more fully this point, there be three or four ends why the church thus stands upon the expression of the excellencies of Christ, in par- ticular and in general. 1. The one, t…
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These and the like reasons there are of the large expressions of the church, of the excellencies of Christ. ' This is my beloved, and this is my Mend, 0 ye daughters of Jerasalem.' But we will single out of these reasons for use, that which I think fittest for us to make use of. Let us then oft think of the excellenci…
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And desire also to this purpose, the spirit of revelation, that which Paul prays for, Eph. iii. 18, ' that we may know that knowledge that is above all knowledge, the height, depth, and breadth of God's love in Christ.' So sweet is God in the greatest abasements of his children, that he leaves such a taste in the soul …
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Let us learn this heavenly wisdom, to advantage ourselves this way, by improving all good opportunities whatsoever whereby we may learn ; for God works by outward means. Good company and good discourse, these breed excellent thoughts. As, therefore, we love our souls, take all ad- vantages wherein the Spirit of God wor…
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The next observation out of the words, because it is the especial, which works upon the daughters of Jerusalem, is from the large exphcation of Christ. * That is, ' taken.'— G 168 BOWELS OPENED. [SeRMON XVIII. That ivhich most of all stirs up holy affections to search after Christ is the large explications of his ex…
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Men are pleased with answering the bill of accusation against them thus : Ai'e we not baptized ? and do we not come to church ? &c. What do you make of us ? Yet they are abominable swearers, and filthy in then* lives. To such I say, the more God hath lift you up and honoured you in the use of the means, the more just s…
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' To gather lilies.' Christ is said to gather these lilies, that is, he will gather them together. Christ will not have his lilies alone, scattered. Though he leaves them oft alone for a while, yet he will gather them to congregations and churches. The name of a chm-ch in the original is Ecclesia (t). It is nothing but…
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Use 2. In the next place, observe, after this temporary desertion, Christ visits his church tvith more abundant comfort than ever before. Now, the church cannot hold, ' My beloved is mine, and I am his ;' and Christ cannot hold, but falls into a large commendation of his spouse back again. As she was large in his comm…
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First, I sa}', the union, viz., the union of persons, which is before aU comfort and communion of graces, ' I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine.' Christ's person is ours, and our persons are his. For, as it is in marriage, if the person of the husband be not the wife's, his goods are not hers, nor his titles of h…
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2. Then, again, these words, ' I am his,' implies mutual love. All is mutual in them, mutual propriety, mutual peculiarity, and mutual love. I love Christ so as I love nothing else. There is nothing above him in my heart, as Christ loves me more than anything else, saith the church, and every Christian. He loves all, a…
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6. Likewise there is implied a mutual complacency in these words. By a complacency I mean a resting, contenting love. Christ hath a com- placency and resting in the church ; and the church hath a sweet resting contentment in Christ. Christ in us and we in him. A true Christian soul that hath yielded up its consent to C…
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But when is the time that he comes ? Compare this with the fonner chapter. He comes after long waiting for him. The church waited for him, and waited in the use of all means. She runs to the watchmen, and then in- quires after him of the daughters of Jerusalem. After this she finds him. After we have waited and expecte…
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Obj. Oh ! may some say, this is but a speculation, — Christ is yom-s. A man may want and be in misery for all that. Alls. No ; it is a reality. Christ is ours, and all things else are ours. He that can command all things is mine. Why then, do I want other things ? Because he sees they are not for my good. If they were…
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180 BOWELS OPENED. SeEMON XIX« weak men, I am thine, I am thy child, I am thy spouse, &c, shall we attribute more pity and mercy to ourselves than to the God of mercy and comfort, who planted these affections in the creature ? Shall he make men tender and careful over others, and shall not he himself he careful of his…
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In brief, these words imply renunciation and resignation. ' I am his,' that is, I have given up myself to him, therefore I renounce all others that stand not with his love and liking. I am not only his by way of ser-vice, which I owe him above all that call for it, but I am his by way of resigna- tion. If he will have …
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4, Because naturally ourselves, being conscious of guilt, are full of fears from thence. So that if the soul be not persuaded first of Christ's love, it runs away from him, as Adam did from God, and as Peter from Christ, ' Depart fi-om me, for I am but a sinful man,' Luke v, 8, So the soul of every man would say, if fi…
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Use 4. To proceed to make an use of comfort to poor, douhtinri Chris- tians. ' I am my beloved's,' is the voice of the whole chm-ch, that all ranks of Christians, if they be true, ma}'- without presiunption take up. I have not so much faith, so much love, so much gi'ace, so much patience 184 BOWELS OPENED. [SeEMON XX.…
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(2.) Let us dwell on the consideration of his love to us, and of the necessity that we have of him ; how miserable we are without him, poor, beggarly, in bondage to the devil. Therefore we must have him to recover us out of debt, and to enrich us. For Christ's love carries him forth, not only to pay aU om- debts for us…
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(6.) Again, let us labour to walk in the light of a sanctified knowledge to be attained by the gospel, for as it is, ' the end of all oiu: preaching is to assm-e Christ to the soul,' 1 John v. 13, that we may be able to say without deceiving our own souls, ' I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine.' All preaching, I …
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And for those that have in some measure given themselves up to Christ, and can say, ' He is mine and I am his,' let them go on with comfort, and never be discouraged for the iufu'mities that hang about them. For one pai't of Chi'ist's office is to pui'ge his church by his Spirit more and more ; not to cast her away for…
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Cant. VI. 3.] ' he feedeth among the lilies.' 189 friends, that are false shepherds ; why should I be drawn away by them ? I desh-e to feed where thou feedest among thy sheep. Why should I be as one that turns aside by the flocks of those that are emulators to thee ? as antichrist is to Christ. Thus the church puts fo…
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Therefore you may see what kind of atheistical creatures those are, and how much they are to be regarded, that turn off all mth a compendium in religion, Tush, if we Imow that we must love God above all, and our neigh- bours as ourselves, and that Chi-ist died for all, we know enough, more than we can practise. They th…
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Now, to seal this ftirther, see what the Scripture saith in some parallel places. ' The Lord is my shepherd ;' and what is the use that David pre- sently makes hereof? Why, 'I shall want nothmg,' Ps. xxiii. 1. He will feed me plentifully and abundantly. The whole psalm is nothing but a commenting upon that word, 'the L…
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* This is the title of one of Thomas Powell's excellent practical treatises, viz. : — ' Salvo for Soul-Sores.'— G. t That is, celebration of the sacrament. — G. Cant. VI. 3.] * he feedeth among the lilies.' 198 stoBg with Satan and his temptations, were it not for the blood of Christ to quench our thu-st, and the bo…
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(/) P. 60. — ' God spake in me oft, and I knew it not.' This is the touching bur- den of the early chapters of Augustine's Confessions. (/*) P. 61. — ' Ballarmine makes this objection,' &c. An ignorat eos aperire non posse? An stultus non esset, qui ostium vicini pulsaret, si certo sciret neminem intus esse qui aperir…
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{t) P. 170. — 'The name of a church in the original is Ecclesia,' i.e., sx-xXriala. Cf. 1 Cor. xi. 18, and Robinson and Liddell and Scott, mib voce. (m) p. 173. — ' If Christ himself be mine, then all is mine.' The well-known hymn, ' If God be mine ' (anonymous), is little more than a paraphrase of these sweet words o…
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' Let him kiss,' &c. These words are the words of the spouse to Christ, containing in them two particulars. First, an earnest desire, in these words, ' Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.' In which note three parts. First, the person desiring, the church. Secondly, the person desired, Christ. THE SPOUSE.…
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Secondly, of the person desired, ' Let him.' Many make love to the spouse ; as the devil, the world, and the flesh. The devil and carnal persons make love to the soul, to draw her away from Christ, but she looks to Christ still. ' Let him kiss me.' She goes not as the papists do, to Peter and Paul, but to Christ and t…
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Doct. 1. For the first, as after the contract there is a more manifestation of love than was before, yet not a full manifestation of love tiU after the marriage, so Christ, though he do give his spouse a taste of his love here, and sends love-tokens unto her, some graces whereby his love is made more manifest than befo…
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"^Tien the Spirit should witness and seal up the love, the love of Christ to their souls, by an inward kiss, they only content themselves with the out- ward, the bare hearing of the word. But where this -further desire of famiharity with Christ is not, there is but a barren soul, there is no taste of Christ's love. If …
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Use 5. Again, take everything to thine advantage, as his former love and favour, his power, fidelity, and stability. Take advantage from these, and plead for thy desires, as the woman of Canaan. Christ accounts her a dog. Mat. XV. 26. I am indeed so, saith she. She taketh advantage of his words, and thereby pleads for …
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208 THE SPOUSE. the soul hath communion with Christ ? All the world is nothing in com- parison. Now, then, seeing you cannot requite this love of Christ again, yet shew your love to Christ in manifesting love to his members, to the poor, to such poor especially as have the church of God in their families. As the woma…
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I. His comfort; and, 11. His courage; and, III. His care. I. His comfort. It was altogether in the Lord, whom he sets out in aU the beauties and excellency of speech he can. He propounds the Lord to him in borrowed terms. ' The Lord is my light and my salvation, the strength of my life,' Ps. xxvii. 1. So he fetcheth c…
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Now, in the words of the text that I have read, there is contained the A BREATHING AFTER GOD, 215 holy prophet's care and desire, set down first in general, ' One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that I wUl seek after.' And then a specification of that desire he specifies. What is that one thing he desired ? Th…
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Hence we may see that, There is a difference of degrees of things. God hath established in the world degrees of things. There are some good and some ill by his per- mission ; and of good, there are some that are greater goods, and some less. There are spmtual goods, and outward goods ; and of spiritual good, there are…
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Then, thirdly, he sets down this ' one thing,' to ' dwell in the house of God,' to grow in grace there ' as a cedar,' to be a ' tree planted there,' /ro7n the very nature of yrace, which is to unite things to the main. The Spirit of gi-ace sets before the eye of the soul heavenly spiritual things in their greatness and…
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A BEEATHING AFTER GOD. 219 promotion of the soul to the good things discovered ; so it supposeth a choice of good things. And choice supposeth an esteem of the things before we choose them ; and that supposeth a dehberate judging that works an esteem. So that it was no hasty, sudden thing this desire ; but it rose fr…
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5. Again, as they spring from the love of God, so they tend to the honour of God ; for what comes from heaven, goes to heaven back again. As waters that come from a spring, they go as high as the place they come from ; so holy desires, being kindled from heaven fi-om a spirit of love, they go to heaven again. The love …
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Quest. But to resolve one question. How shall I know whether my desire be strong enough and ripe enough or no to give me comfort ? Ans. I answer, if the desire of grace be above the desire of any earthly thinrj, that a man may say with David, ' One thing have I desired,' I desire to be free from sin, as a greater bles…
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* One thing have I desu-ed of the Lord.' The reason why we should, in all our desires, make our desires known to God, is to keep our acquaintance continually with God. We have continual use of desires of grace, and desires of mortification of corruptions, and of fi'eedom from this and that evil that is uj^on us. As ma…
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Let us make conscience, I beseech you, of this duty more than we have done, and never give God over for gi-ace ; for strength against our corrup- tions ; for his church ; for the prosperity of the means of salvation ; for those things that we have ground for ; let us never give him over till we see he hath answered om*…
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' That I may dwell in the house of the Lord.' It was generally propounded before. ' One thing have I desired, and that will I seek after,' with all my might. And what is that ? The speci- fication of it is this : VOL. u. p 226 A BBEATHING AFTER GOD. ' That I may dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.' His desire…
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Let us leam this for our duty, as weU as consider our comfort, in that the chm'ch is the house of God, let us carnj ourselves as ive should, decently, in the house of God. Those that are to look to the house of God, they should purge out all unclean corners, that God may delight to dwell in his house still, that we giv…
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4. But the especial reason why he desii-ed it, was because he knew God icas also present in his own house, and there is no good thing can be wanting where God is present. It is the presence of God that makes all things sweet and comfortable. What makes heaven to be heaven, but because God is there ? If the soul of a Ch…
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230 A BKEATHING AFTER GOD. is taken for all the senses, inward and outward. It is no benefit to us, though there be beauty, if we have not eves to see it, all is lost ; therefore he desired to dwell in the house of the Lord, that he might ' see the beauty of the Lord.' Now, concerning the beauty of God, I will not s…
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Christ was never more lovely to his church than when he was most deformed for his church ; ' there was no fonn nor beauty in him,' Isa. liii. 2, when he hung upon the cross. Oh ! there was a beauty to a guilty soul, to see his surety enduring the wrath of God, overcoming all his enemies, and nailing the law to his cros…
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A BREATHING AFTER GOD. 233 to God's people. Thus you see in this respect, of the ordinance of the ministry, God is beautiful in his house. 2. Then likewise for the other ordinance, tJie sacrament, it is a sweet and dslightful thing. There is a wondrous beauty in the sacrament ; for there- in we taste the love of God,…
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(3.) And then in the pardon, and forgiveness of sins, and justification after — what a wondrous grace is that forgiveness of sins, and adoption to be the sons and heirs of God, ' fellow-heirs with Jesus Christ,' Rom. viii. 17, and thereupon to have angels our attendants. What beauty have we in justifi- cation, to be cl…
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236 A BREATHING AFTER GOD. Christ. In paradise there was waters, streams, the rivers of paradise, Gen. ii. 10 ; so there ' is a river that makes glad the city of God,' Ps. xlvi. 4, streams of grace and comfort that run through the church of God. In the church we are as plants by the rivers of waters, that bring forth…
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Now David here, he desires to behold God's beauty, to see or consider this excellency of God in his church, for to true delight these things must concur. There must be something sweet in the thing itself. There must be a power in the soul to apprehend it. There must be an affection in the soul to that good thing. If th…
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It is light that makes things that are beautiful to be beautiful to us. A blind man cannot judge of colours, nor a deaf man of sounds and harmony. A man that hath lost his taste cannot judge of sweetness, so that there must be senses, and the Spirit of God must reveal these things unto us. And likewise let us labom* m…
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240 A BEEATHING AFTER GOD. covers himself, and his excellevt things here, the more we should express ovr thankfulness in labouring to grow in knowledge ; for there is such a breadth in them, that we can never have enough of them, and there is such a daily exigence of spiritual things, of comforts and graces, that are …
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But to make it a little clearer. The church of God, take it in general for good and bad in it, and for the means of salvation that they had in some measure, it may be called a kind of visible chui'ch, though very cor- ruptly ; and so considered, our church, those that possessed our rehgion, was the best of that church …
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* Consult Pearson, and also John Smith, in loc. — G. t That is, ' choose not.' — G. A BREATHING AFTER GOD. 243 to Babylon ; being dazzled with the pomp of that church, not seeing the spiritual beauty of the ordinances of God with us. What think we of those that ought to join with visible congregations, that excommuni…
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Quest. If we find that we have little comfort and strength by the word of God, that we have not seen the beauty of it, what shall we do, what course shall we take ? Ans. 1. Wait still. Wait still at the pool for the angel's stirring, John V. 4 ; for God at length will discover his power by his Spirit ; he will dis- co…
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So blessed St Paul, he weighed things after this fashion. He was an excellent man, and had excellent privileges to glory in. Oh but, saith he, I accoimt all ' dung and dross ' in comparison of the excellent knowledge of Christ that he had, Phil. iii. 8. Our blessed Saviour, that was the most able of all to judge, he wo…
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A BREATHING AFTER GOD. 247 God, that God may be glorious in us by his Spirit, and strengthen us against Satan and our beloved conniptions. 2. And let 2is know ivhat our so^ds were made for. What are our souls more for than to dwell in the meditation of the beauty of God ? What are our souls made for, but for excellen…
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FINIS. NOTES. (a) P. 217. — 'Babylon was so taken,' &c. Consult Herodotus, I. 177, seq., with the annotations and illustrations of Rawlinson, in loc; also Xenophon, Cijrop. vii. 5. For very interesting explorations confirmatory of the fact of. Rich, ' Babylon and Persepolis;' Ainsworth, 'Researches in Assyria;' and C…
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Thine in the best bonds, J. H. * Isa. Ixi. 1. t Isa. xxx. 33. f Amos ix. 5, 13. § 2 Peter iii. 12. II Heb. xii. 18. ^ Judges v. 25. ** This J. H. was probably the John Hill who writes an 'Epistle Dedicatory' to Elton's work on the 'Ten Commandments,' entitled, 'God's Holy Mind Tovching Matters Morall,' &c. (4to, 16…
932 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1862); OCR text from Internet Archive. OCR may contain scanning/transcription errors. Verify quotations against page images when precision matters.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.