406 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VXII. [SeR. XLVI.
tection. Therefore ia these two acts lieth our safety, in that of redemption and conversion. In short, these two acts do both endear us to Christ, and Christ to us. They endear us to Christ ; by redemption his people are his dear purchase ; if they miscarry, his purchased people miscarry, therefore he will not lose them ; they are his own, being bought with the price of his blood, and every one will provide for his own, 1 Tim. v. 8. The world will love its own, John xiii. 19. Besides, by conversion we are his own by covenant and near relation. We are his spouse ; the kindness of espousals is above other kindness : Jer. ii. 2, ' I remember the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals.' The day of conversion is the day of espousals, Cant. iii. 11. Then we are married to the Lord, that we may bring forth fruit unto God. And both these acts doth endear Christ to us ; for the glory of his grace and love to sinners doth eminently appear in our redemp- tion ; then he commended his love to us in the great things he purchased and suffered for us. Besides, in conversion, then his love is applied to us, and he taketh us with all our faults ; he spake comfortably to- us in our ears, and sanctified our souls, and brought us back again to God, and so to our duty and happiness. We can never forget this kindness of his espousals.
[4.] He hath loved us ; it not only compriseth the foundation laid, but implieth also some experience on the saint's part. When we con- eider what he hath done for us already, we may be the more confident of what he is now, and will be to us hereafter. Christ's love is not only seen in our first entrance into covenant, and the eminent passages of our redemption and conversion, but there is an uninterrupted course thereof, from the time of our first closing with him till our final per- fection in glory. His whole dealing with them is love ; it is to be read in every dispensation of his and condition of ours ; it is to be read ia the continual supports, gracious helps, daily pardons, which he con- stantly vouchsafeth to us. Now the saints promise themselves more, because God hath done such great things for their sakes already : 1 Cor. i. 9, ' God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellow- ship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord ; ' and 2 Tim. iv. 17, 18, ' Not- withstanding, the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me ; and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and preserve me to his heavenly kingdom.' When you have tried Christ so often, cannot you yet trust in him ? How often hath he performed promises to thee, heard thy cries, helped and saved thee in thy distresses, confuted thy unbelief, and shamed thy disgraceful tears and cares ? Shall all these experiences of his love be forgotten ? Nay, one mercy is the pledge of another : 2 Cor. i. 10, ' Who hath delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver ; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.' Tlierefore whatever troubles come upon us, we are more than con- querors from him that loved us.
[5.] This triumph is put into the mouths of a people deeply afflicted, or exposed to tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword ; it is these say, ' We are more than conquerors through him that loved us.' Partly, to show that Christ is not estranged from his people by their afflictions and troubles ; these do not vacate their interest nor cause his affection to cease — ' Whom the Lord loveth, he
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rebuketh and chasteneth,' Eev. iii. 19. He doth not cease to lov'e them, but rather is more tender of them, more willing to let out more of his love to them, the more they are wronged by others. And partly, also, to beget confidence. Christ's love is more powerful to save us than the world's hatred to destroy us ; for here, to the most direful effects of the world's hatred is opposed nothing but the love of Christ as a ground of triumph. We make too much of the world's hatred, if we think we are not safe enough in Christ's love : John xvi. 33, ' In the world ye sliall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace ; ' and surely Christ's peace should counterbalance all the world's troubles. Judge you where we are best provided for, by the world's friendship and Christ's hatred, or by the world's hatred and Christ's friendship.
2. The proof of the point —
[1.] By scripture. And there I shall produce two metaphors ; the first where Christ's love is compared to a banner : Cant. ii. 4, ' His banner over me is love.' A banner is a military ensign. The church is elsewhere described to be terrible as an army with banners, because of its order and strength. Now what is the banner under which the church fighteth with joy and victory, against sin, Satan, and the world ? Christ's ensign is his love to her, that love by which he redeemed us, and converted us, giveth us everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace; this is the love that giveth us victory over all tempta- tions. The other metaphor, where Christ's love is compared to the lining of a chariot : Cant. iii. 10, ' His chariot is paved with love ; ' meaning that chariot wherein the saints ride in triumph to heaven. Love doth all for us ; all the promises run like pipes with streams of love ; all providences, or Christ's dispensations towards his people, are nothing else but love.