(6.) It is a time of increasing our love to God, upon a twofold account.
First, AfSiction showeth us that nothing is worthy of our love bnt God ; whatsoever robbeth God of it soon proveth matter of trouble and distress to us. Our hearts are the more averse from God because tLey are inclined to the creature : Jer. ii. 13, ' For my people have com- mitted two evils : they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that will hold no water.' Men bestow their hearts on something beneath the chief good, which becometh an idol and false god to them, and which they respect and love more than God. Now the love of God cannot reign in that soul where the love of the world and fleshly lusts reigneth : 1 John ii. 15, ' If any man loveth the world, how dwelleth the love of the Father in him ? ' It is not in him. Now the great work of grace is to cast out the usurper, and to give God the possession of what is his own ; and therefore the heart must be circumcised before it be true to God : Deut. xxs. G, 'The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.' First the foreskin and fleshliness that sticketh so close to us must be taken off, before we can adhere to God as our proper and chief happiness. Now this is God's own work by his internal grace ; but yet he useth external means, and amongst the rest sharp afflictions, to wean us from the creature, and to show us that we do but court our own trouble and infelicity when we bestow our affections elsewhere ; for hereby God plainly demonstrateth that he is our all-sufficient and indeficient God. All-sufficient, as answering all our necessities and de- sires ; indeficient, our never-failing good, when all things fail about us : Hab. iii. 18, ' Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of my salvation.' And thus, by desolating the creature, doth he drive our foolish hearts to himself, that we may liave the solid delights of his love.
Secondly, This love of God is the comfort by which we are supported in all our distresses. The servants of God have never so much of the joy in the Holy Ghost as in their great sufferings; their delight in God is
VOL. XII. S
274 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. [SeR. XXXVII.
then purest and unmixed. God comforteth them when they have noth- ing else to take comfort in : Job. xvi. 20, ' My friends scorn me, but mine eye poureth out tears to God.' When all friends forsake us but one, that one is sweeter to us than ever. Humble moans to God giveth us ease and comfort, notwithstanding the neglect and contempt of man ; and when the world undervalueth, it is enough that God approveth. Our delights in God are often corrupted by a mixture of sensual delights, so tliat we cannot tell what supporteth us, God or the creature, our remaining comforts, the help or pity of friends, or God alone. There- fore, that the aflSliction may pierce the spirit, the Lord causeth it to be sharpened and pointed by the scorn and neglect of men, and their strange carriage towards us, that we may fetch our supports from him alone. That still we are not barred from access to the throne of grace, there is our cordial ; that we have a God to go to, to whom we may make our moan, and from whose love we may derive all our comforts ; 60 David speaketh feelingly in deep afflictions : Ps. Ixiii. 3, ' Thy loving- kindness^is better than life.' This supplieth all his wants, and sweeteneth all his troubles, and giveth more comfort than what is most precious and desirable in the creature. I will show you bow it helpeth to raise our love to God. There are two acts of love — desire after him, and de- light in him ; for we love a thing when we desire to enjoy it, and find contentment in it, being enjoyed.
1st. Desire is the pursuit of the soul after God, desiden^cm unionis. The great act of love is an affecting of union with the thing beloved. Now, because of our imperfect fruition of him in tliis life, love mainly bewrayeth itself by desires of the nearest conjunction with God that we are capable of; and the motions of grace tend to this end, to conjoin us to God, or to bring God and us together ; and to this end tend faith and hope, and ordinances and means, the word and prayer ; and so sacraments, that we may get more of God. When a house is a-building, there are scaffolds and poles and instruments of architec- ture used ; but when the house is finished, all these are taken away. So here are many means to bring us to God — there is faith and hope and ordinances ; but when we come to the vision and fruition of him, all these cease, and love only remaineth. In the heavenly Jerusalem love is perfect, because there God is all in all. But while the distance continueth, see how the hearts of the saints worketh : Ps. Ixiii. 8, ' My Boul followeth hard after thee ! ' All acts of the spiritual life are a further pursuit after God, that we may meet him here and there, and we may find more of him in every duty, and be united to him in the nearest way of communion that we are capable of : Ps. xxvii. 4, ' One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after ; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and inquire in his temple.' This was David's great desire, above all earthly desires whatsoever. But have the saints always this ardent and burning desire ? No, it is mightily quenched by the prosperity of the flesh ; when they have something on this side God to detain their hearts, they forget him, suck on the breasts of worldly consolation. You will find their desires are most earnest in affliction ; as David, when in a wandering condition : Ps. xlii. 1, 2, ' As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God ;