Man loves Christ by knowing, and knows Christ by loving. Man's love is answerable to his light. He cannot love much that knows but little ; he cannot love little that knows much.* As a man rises higher and higher in his apprehensions of Christ, so he cannot but rise higher and higher in his affections to Christ. Again, the daily mercies and experiences that they have of the love of Christ, of the care of Christ, of the bowels and compassions of Christ, working more and more towards them, cannot but raise their affections more and more to him. As fire is increased by adding of fuel unto it, so is our love to Christ, upon fresh and new manifestations of his great love toward us. As the husband abounds in his love to his wife, so the wife rises in her love to her hus- band. The more love the father manifests to the child, the more the ingenuous child rises in his affections to him. So the more love the Lord Jesus shews to us, the more he is beloved by us. Christ shewed much love to Mary Magdalene, and this raises in her much love to Christ. ' She loved much, for much was forgiven her,' Luke vii. 47, 48. As the Israelites, Num. xxxiii. 29, removed their tents from Mithcah to Hashmonah, from siveetaess to swiftiness, as the words import, so the sweetness of divine love manifested to the soul makes the soul more sweet, swift, and high in the exercise and actings of love towards Christ. A soul under special manifestations of love, weeps that it can love Christ no more. Mr Welch, a Suffolk minister, weeping at table, and be- ing asked the reason of it, answered, it was because he could love Christ no more. The true lovers of Christ can never rise high enough in their love to Christ ; they count a little love to be no love ; great love to be but little ; strong love to be but weak ; and the highest love to be infinitely below the worth of Christ, the beauty and glory of Christ, the fulness, sweetness, and goodness of Christ. The top of their misery in this life is, that they love so little, though they are so much beloved. • (7.) The seventh property. Seventhly and lastly, that love that
' This is clear throughout the whole book of Cauticles, as all may run and read. * Amat Deua ? non aliunde hoc habet ; sed ijpse est unde amal. — Augustine.
Rom. VIII. 32-34.] heaven on eaeth. 481
accompanies salvation, is open love, it is manifest love, it is love that cannot be hid, that cannot be covered and buried. It is like the sun, it will shine forth, and shew itself to all the world. A man cannot love Christ, but he will shew it in these, and such like things as follow :
First, Divine love makes the soul even ready to break, in longing after a further, clearer, and fuller enjoyment of Christ. The voice of divine love is, ' Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly,' Rev. xxii. 20. * Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe, or to a young hart upon the mountain of spices,' Cant. viii. 14.' ' I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, which for me is best of all,' Philip, i. 23. It is a mercy, says Paul, for Christ to be with me, but it is a greater mercy for me to be with Christ. I desire to die, that I may see my Saviour ; I refuse to live, that I may live with my Redeemer.
Love desires and endeavours for ever to be present, to converse with, to enjoy, to be closely and eternally united to its object, Christ. The longing of the espoused maid for the marriage day, of the traveller for his inn, of the mariner for his haven, of the captive for his ransom, &c., is not to be compared to the longings of the lovers of Christ, after a further and fuller enjoyment of Christ.'*
The lovers of Christ do well know, that till they are taken up into glory, their chains will not fall oif ; till then their glorious robes shall not be put on ; till then all sorrow and tears shall not be wiped from their eyes ; till then their joy will not be full, their comforts pure, their peace lasting, their graces perfect ; and this makes them look and long after the enjoyment of the person of Christ.^
It was a notable saying of one, * Let all the devils in hell,' saith he, * beset me round ; let fasting macerate my body ; let sorrows oppress my mind ; let pains consume my flesh ; let watchings dry me, or heat scorch me, or cold freeze me, let all these, and what can come more, happen unto me, so I may enjoy my Saviour.'
Secondly, Love to Christ shews itself by working the soul to abase itself, that Christ may be exalted, to lessen itself to greaten Christ, to cloud itself that Christ alone may shine. Love cares not what it is, nor what it doth, so it may but advance the Lord Jesus ; it makes the soul willing to be a footstool for Christ, to be anything, to be nothing, that Christ may be all in all.*
Thirdly, That love that accompanies salvation, sometimes shews itself by working the soul to be cheerful and resolute, to be patient and con- stant in sufferings for Christ: 1 Cor. xiii. 7, ' Love endureth all things.' Love will not complain, love will not say the burden is too great, the prison is too dark, the furnace is too hot, the chains are too heavy, the cup is too bitter, &c., Acts xxi. 13. A true lover of Christ can slight his life, out of love to Christ, as that blessed virgin in Basil, who, being condemned for Christianity to the fire, and having her estate and life offered her, if she would worship idols, cried, ' Let money perish, and life vanish, Christ is better than all.'
' *^^ m3, Flee away speedily, my beloved.
' Austin longed to see that head that was crowned with thorns. [Confessions. — G.] •* God hath reserved the best wine, the best things, till last. * Rev. iv. 10, 11 ; John iii. 26-31 ; Philip, iii. 7, 8. VOL. II. H h
482 HEAVEN ON EARTH. [ROM. VIII. 32-34.
So Alice Driver said, ' I drove my father's plough often, yet I can die for Christ as soon as any of you all.'^ That love that accompanies sal- vation, makes a Christian free and forward in suffering anything that makes for the glory of Christ.
Fourthly, that love that accompanies salvation, shews itself by work- ing the soul to be pleased or displeased, as Christ is pleased or dis- plmsed. A soul that loves Christ hath his eye upon Christ, and that which makes Christ frown makes him frown, and what makes Christ smile makes him smile. Love is impatient of anything that may dis- please a beloved Christ.