Look what Harpalus once said, Qtiod regi placet, mihi placet, what pleaseth the king pleaseth me, that says a true lover of Christ, What pleaseth Christ, that pleaseth me.^ Holiness pleaseth Christ and holi- ness pleaseth me, says a lover of Christ. It pleaseth Christ to overcome evil with good, to overcome hatred with love, enmity with amity, pridfe with humility, passion with meekness, &c., and the same pleaseth me, says a lover of Christ. 1 John iv. 17, 'As he is, so are we in this world.' Our love answers to Christ's love, and our hatred answers to Christ's hatred ; he loves all righteousness and hates all wickedness ; so do we, say the lovers of Christ, Ps. cxix. 113, 128, 163.
It is said of Constantine's children, that they resembled their father to the life, that they put him wholly on.^ The true lovers of Christ re- semble Christ to the life, and they put him wholly on. Hence it is that they are called Christ, 1 Cor. xii. 12.
Fifthly, True love to Christ shews itself sometimes by working the lovers of Christ to expose themselves to suffering, to save Christ from suffering in his gloi'y; to adventure the loss of their own crowns, to keep Christ's crown upon his head ; to adventure drowning, to save Christ's honour from sinking. Thus did the three children, Daniel, Moses, and other worthies, Heb. xl
I have read of a servant who dearly loved his master, and knowing that his master was looked for by his enemies, he put on his master's clothes, and was taken for his master, and suffered death for him.
Divine love will make a man do as much for Christ ; it will make a man hang for Christ and burn for Christ: Rev. xii. 11, 'They loved not their lives unto the death.' Christ and his truth was dearer to them than their lives. They slighted, contemned, yea, despised their very lives, when they stood in competition with Christ and his glory, and chose rather to suffer the greatest misery than that Christ shoulcj lose the least dram of his glory.
Sixthly, That love that accompanies salvation shews itself sometimes by working the lovers of Christ to be affected and afflicted with the dis- honours tlmt are done to Christ: Ps. cxix. 136, 'Mine eyes run down with rivers of tears, because men keep not thy law,' Jer. ix. 1, 2. l^'o Lot's soul was vexed, racked, and tortured with the filthy conversation of the wicked Sodomites, 2 Pet. ii. 7, 8.* The turning of his own flesh,
' Clarke, as before, p. 504. — G.
' It is a saying in natural philosophy, that it is Naturaliftimum opnt viventis gtnerare tibi simile, the most naturtJ act or work of every living thing to produce another like unto itself. Ps. xlv. 7; and cxix. 104, 113, 128, 163. ' Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History.
* ijSxirrax'^f* signifies two things : (1.) the search and examination of a thing ; (2.) the racking and vexing a man upon the trial.
Rom. VIII. 32-34.] heaven on earth. 483
his wife, into a pillar of salt did not vex him, but their sins did rack his righteous soul : Ps. Ixix. 9, ' The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me.' A woman is most wounded in her husband, so is a Christian in his Christ. Though Moses was as a dumb child in his own cause, yet when the Israelites, by making and dancing about their golden calf, had wounded the honour and glory of God, he shews himself to be much affected and afflicted for the dishonour done to God. The statue of Apollo is said to shed tears for the afflictions of the Grecians, though he could not help them ; so a true lover of Christ will shed tears for those dishonours that are done to Christ, though he knows not how to prevent them.' It is between Christ and his lovers as it is between two lute strings that are tuned one to another ; no sooner one is struck, but the other trembles ; so no sooner is Christ struck, but a Christian trembles, and no sooner is a Christian struck, but Christ trembles : ' Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me V Acts ix. 4.
Seventhly, That love that accompanies salvation doth shew itself by working the soul to observe with a curious critical eye Ghrisfs coun- tenance and carriage, and by causing the soul to he sad or cheerful, as Christ's carriage and countenance is towards the soul. When Christ looks sad, and carries it sadly, then to be sad, as Peter was : Christ cast a sad look upon him, and that made his heart sad ; he went forth and wept bitterly.2 ^^^ when Christ looks sweetly, and speaks kindly, and carries it lovingly, then to be cheerful and joyful, as the church was in Cant. iii. 4, ' It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth : I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.' So the church in Isa. Ixi. 10, 'I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God ; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.'' A true lover of Christ hath still his eye upon Christ, and as his countenance stands, so is he glad or sad, cheerful or sorrowful. Tigranes in Xenophon coming to redeem his father and friends, with his wife, that were taken prisoners by King Cyrus, was asked among other questions this, viz., what ransom he would give for his wife ? he answered he would redeem her liberty with his own life. But having prevailed for all their liberties, as they returned together, every one commended Cyrus for a goodly man, and Tigranes would needs know of his wife what she thought of him. ' Tndy,' said she, ' I cannot tell, for I did not so much as look on him or see him.' ' Whom then,' said he, wondering, ' did you look upon X ' Whom should I look upon,' said she, * but him that would have re- deemed my liberty with the loss of his own life.'* So a Christian, a
• Though king Crcesns his son were dumb all his lifetime, yet when one would have struck at his father, the affection that he liad to his father broke the bars of his speech, and he cried out. Take heed of killing the king. You know how to apply it. [Cf. ISibbes, 701. vii. note i, p. 262. — G.]
2 l^bi amor. Hi oculus, as love came in by the eye, so it delights by the same door to run out to Christ.
3 ^>^\H ^W, in rejoicing, I will rejoice ; that is, I will exceedingly rejoice.
* Plutarch. Lucull. — G.
484- HEAVEN ON EARTH. [ROM. VIII. 32-34.
true lover of Christ, esteems nothing worth a looking upon but Christ, who hath redeemed him with his own blood.
Eighthly, That love that accompanies salvation, reaches forth a hand of kindness to those that bear the image of Christ.^ 1 John v. 1, 2, ' Every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. He that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen V