(2. j The second property. Secondly, That love that accompanies sal- vation is obediential love, it is operative and working love} The love of Christ makes a man subject to the commands of Christ : ' If any man love me, he will keep my commandments ;' and again, ' He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me,' John xiv. 21. Divine love is very operative : Ps. cxvi. 1, ' I love the Lord,' says David. Well, but how doth this love work ? Why, says he, 'I will walk in his ways, I will pay my vows, I will take the cup of salvation, I will offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and I will call upon the name of the Lord as long as I live,' vers. 2, 9, 13, 14, 17. Divine love is not stinted nor limited to one sort of duty, but is free to all. He that loveth flieth, he that loveth runneth, he that loveth belie veth, he that loveth rejoiceth, he that loveth mourneth, he that loveth giveth, he that loveth lendeth, he that loveth beareth, he that loveth waiteth, he that loveth hopeth, &c. Heb. vi. 10, ' For God is not unrighteous, to forget your work and labour of love.' Love makes the soul laborious. That love that accompanies salvation is very active and operative. It is like the virtuous woman in the Proverbs, that set all her maidens on work. It is never quiet, but in doing the will of God. It will not suflfer any grace to sit idle in the soul. It will egg and put on all other graces to act and operate. Love sets faith upon drawing from Christ, and patience upon waiting on Christ, and humility upon submitting to Christ, and godly sorrow upon mourning over Christ, and self-denial upon forsaking of the nearest and dearest comforts for Christ, &c. As the sun makes the earth fertile, so doth divine love make the soul fruitful in works of righteousness and holiness. He that loves cannot be idle nor barren. Love makes the soul constant and abundant in well-doing : 2 Cor. v. 14, ' The love of Christ constraineth us.'^ It doth urge us and put us for- ward ; it carries us on as men possessed with a vehemency of spirit, or as a ship which is driven with strong winds towards the desired haven. Natural love makes the child, the servant, the wife, obedient ; so doth divine love make the soul better at obeying than at disputing. A soul that loves Christ will never cease to obey till he ceases to be. That love that accompanies salvation is like the sun. The sun, you know, casteth his beams upward and downward, to the east and to the west, to the north and to the south ; so the love of a saint ascends to God above, and descends to men on earth ; to our friends on the right hand, to our enemies on the left hand ; to them that are in a state of grace, and to them that are in a state of nature. Divine love will still be a- working one way or another.'
' I have read a story of an elephant, who being fallen down, and unable to help him- self, or get up again, by reason of the inflexibleness of his legs, a forester coming by, helped him up ; wherewith the elephant, by the very instinct of nature, was so affected, that he followed this man, and would do anything for him, and never left him till his dyirig day. Ah, sirs, will not divine love make a man do more ?
* fu^xH' Love's property is to do eternally. It is an eternal, lasting principle, and actions will last as long as principles ; its action is as abiding as itself.
^ Bealus qui amcU le, et amicos in ie, et inimicos propUr ie. — Augustine : Confess.
478 HEAVEN ON EARTH. [ROM. VIII. 32-34.
(3.) Tlie third property. That love that accompanies salvation is a sincere and incorrujyt love : Eph. vi. 24, ' Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.'' The true bred Christian amat Christum propter Christum, loves Christ for Christ ; he loves Christ for that internal and eternal worth that is in him ; he loves him for his incomparable excellency and beauty, for that trans- cendent sweetness, loveliness, holiness, and goodness that is in him ; he is none of those that loves Christ for loaves, neither will he with Judas kiss Christ and betray him ; nor yet will he with those in the Gospel ciy out, 'Hosanna, Hosanna,' one day, and 'Crucify him, crucify him,' the next. Mat. xxi. 9, 15. They love Christ with a virgin love : Cant. i. 3, 'The virgins love thee.' They love thee in much sincerity, purity, and integrity ; they love thee for that fragrant savour, for that natural sweetness, iPor that incomparable goodness that is in thee. So ver. 4, ' The upright love thee,' or as it is in the Hebrew, ' Upright- nesses love thee,' Dnt5'"'0 Uprightnesses being put for upright ones, the abstract for the concrete ; or, ' They love thee in uprightnesses,' that is, most uprightly, most entirely, most sincerely, and not as hypocrites, who love thee for base, carnal respects ; who love thee in compliment, but not in realities ; who love thee in word and tongue, but despise thee in heart and life ; who love the gift more than the giver. That love that accompanies salvation is real and cordial love, it is sincere and upright love, it makes the soul love Christ, the giver, more than the gift ; it makes the soul love the gift for the giver's sake ; it will make the soul to love the giver without his gifts. And verily, they shall not be long without good gifts from Christ, that love Christ more than his gifts.*
Vespasian commanded a liberal reward should be given to a ivoman that came and professed that she was in love with him ; and when his steward asked him what item he should put to it in his book of accounts, the emperor answered, Vespasiano adamato, item to her that loved Vespasian.' Ah, Christians, shall Vespasian, an heathen prince, reward her liberally that loved his person ? and will not the Lord Jesus much more reward them with his choicest gifts, that love him more than his gifts ? Surely Christ will not be worse than a heathen, he will not act below a heathen ! He shall never be a loser that loves Christ for that spiritual sweetness and loveliness that is in Christ ; Christ will not live long in that man's debts.
(4.) The fourth property. Fourthly, That love that accompanies salvation is a vehernerd love, an ardent love. It is a spark of heavenly fire, and it puts all the affections into a holy flame : Cant. i. 7, ' Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest?' &c. This amiable, amorous, pathetical compellation, 'O thou whom my soul
^ l» iipSa^fia, word fof word, in incorruption, or with incorruption ; t. e. that love Christ in sincerity, and not feignedly and hypocritically.