* That is, ' painstaking.' — G.
(a) P. 366. — ' Especially are we to make daily use of the death of Christ ; for howsoever the death of Christ be transient in respect of the act of it, as one of the ancients saith ; yet . . . .' The thought is common to Bernard and Augustine.
(6) P. 370. — ' Taste is the most necessary sense of all, saith a wise searcher of the mysteries of nature ; our life is maintained by taste.' Query, Bacon ?
(c) P. 373. — ' All . . . depends ... as Saint Austin saith, for now . . .' This great fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith, is constantly dwelt upon through- out the works of Augustine. G.
THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND HBEIM.
THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING.
NOTE.
' The Matchless Love and Inbeing ' appeared in the first edition of The Saint's Cordials, 1G29. It will be observed from the full recapitulation in the commence- ment of the first of these sermons, that the two so designated formed part of a series, expository, in all probability, of the whole chapter. These not having been preserved, accounts perhaps for the withdrawal of ' The Matchless Love and In-Being' from the after editions, of 1G37 and 1658, of the ' Cordials.' The title page will be found below.* G-
* THE
MATCHLES LOVE, AND IN-BEING.
In two Sekmons.
Whcreiti is shewed, ' That we may be Assured of Gods loue vnto vs :
Helpes for Weake Cliristians how to attaine vnto this loue :
Helps how to know that we haue it in vs :
That Christ is in all beleeuers : j How to know that Christ is in vs :
I How in a seeming absence he is discouered to be in the Soule : 1^ How to keepe Christ there, and how to recouer him being lost, &c.
[Woodcut here, as described in Vol. IV. page 60.]
Vpeightnes Hath Boldnes.
Ephes. 3. 17, 18, 19. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in loue. May be able to comprehend with all Saints, what is the bredth and length, and depth
and height : And to hioio the loue of Christ, which imsseth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulnesse of God.
LONDON,
Printed in the yeare 1629.
THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING.
SEKMON I.
I have declared unto them thy name, and Iicill declare it ; that the love where- with thou hast loved me may he in them, and I in them. — John XVII. 26. ,
The dependence we have heard heretofore, when I entered upon the first part of this verse. Our Saviour intending to have committed his disciples to the love of his Father, that they might be the fitter objects of his love, he sets down here his own care for the present, and for -the time to come ; for it is hypocrisy in prayer when we pray for that that we endeavour not. For as he prays the Father to take them into his charge, so he sets down his own care about them : * I have manifested thy name, and I will,' &c. The verse contains this blessed act of Christ.
1. What he hath done.
2. What he will do.
3. The end of it.
' I have declared thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.' ' I have declared, and will declare.' This I unfolded at large the last day. Among many other things, this one I observed, that we are in a jierpetaal projiciencij in this life. We never know so much, but we may know more, and we ought to know more. So that by consequence there is a perpetual necessity of Christ's prophetical ofiice. ' I have declared, and I will declare,' &c. We see the church in general f/rew to knowledge h>j degrees, till Christ, the Sun of righteousness, came gloriously in the flesh ; till John pointed at him with the finger, ' This is the Lamb of God,' &c., John i. 29. And as the whole body mystical, so every member ; we grow to knowledge by degrees. ' I have declared,' &c. Christ doth fit his work to our exigents. We need further knowledge, and he is bountiful to promise a further declaration. ' I have, and I will.' He is never weary of ivell-doing. As his love is infinite, so his expression is unwearied that comes from his love. A ground of special comfort, as we shewed, to all Christians, especially to the labouring, weak Christians, that their beginnings are pledges of further degrees. For Christ, where he is Alpha, he will be Omega ; and where he is the author, he will be the finisher of our faith ; where he hath laid the first stone, he will set up the roof at length. ' He hath declared, and he will declare.'
VOL. VI. B b
886 THE MATCULESS LOVE AND INHEING.
He is not such an unwise builder as will leave his work. He knows what he can do, and therefore we may enter upon all the means of saving know- ledge, with this confidence, that we have a teacher that will cari'v us along from one degree of knowledge to another. And let us never despair for any insufficiency of parts. It is no matter what the capacitij or the incripacity of the scholar he, ulwn there is such a teacher. When God is the teacher, it is no matter how dull the learner is, for Christ doth not only hring doctrine, but he brings wit, grace, and abilit}' to the inward man ; that is, not only a declaration, as man doth teach the outward man, but he unlocks and opens the heart, the ears of the inward man, as he opened Lydia's heart, &c., Acts xvi. 14. Let none distrust if they be conscionable* and careful in the use of good means. Many other things, I observed hence, which I will not be large in unfolding. ' I have declared to them thy name,' &c. ; that is, that whereby thou mightest be known. Now in the covenant of grace, God would be known by the sweet name of Father, by the attributes of mercy and love. That whereby he will be known is his name, his mercy in the covenant of grace in condescending to be our Father in Jesus Christ, together with the sweet attributes of love and mercy, from whence all spring. This is his name. Now he will not be known only to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; the God that brought them out of the land of Egypt, or out of the North ; but he will be known by the name of ' the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,' and our Father ; to be the Father of mercy, and the God of all comfort. Thus we must labour to present God to us now in his right name. This name makes all other names sweet that he hath. For being once gracious and merciful, and a Father in covenant, his power is ours, his wisdom is ours, and all is ours. Then this name of God is .set forth at large : 'Jehovah, Jehovah, merciful, forgiving iniquity,' &c., Exod. xxxiv. 7, ' I have declared thy name,' &c. But this I stood at large on.