And it shall be fulfilled to ajl who offer it lii swit . and ni truth —
[Christ has solemnly pledged himself to this extent by an f
everlasting covenant" And he has fulfilled it to millions
of the human race, who were once as guilty, as polluted, and
'1 Eph. i. l;5. and iv. 30. e jer. xxii. 24. . T John vi. .37.
s Isai. Iv. 1. ii Rom. iii. 19. ' Ezek. xvi. 3 — 12.
•^ John i. 12. ' John xv. 1 — 5. "> John xv. 7. " Jer. xxxii. 40, 41.
as helpless as we Hence he chides the Church for her
doubts, after tliat he liad graven her on the palms of his hands" Who can tell the efficacy of fervent and be- lieving prayer? Our God and Saviour could as soon deny himself, as he could withstand it. Instead of rejecting our petitions on account of their being too large, he will approve of them the more, and answer them the sooner, on account of their comprehensiveness and extent: he has said, " Open your mouth wide, and I will fill itP:" "Ye may ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto yen's."]
We shall, however, be more certain of success, if we can follow her in,
II. Her pleas —
Two things in particular she urged on the con- sideration of her Beloved, in order to prevail on him to grant her request ; the one was, that she could not endure the thought of having a less interest in him than her relation to him required, yea, that her " jealousy would burn like coals of fire that had a most vehement flame;" and the other was, that her love to him zvas supreme and unalterable ; that it was " stronger than death ;" that " no waters could quench it, no floods drown it;" and that, if the richest monarch in the universe would '' give all the substance of his house" to engage it for himself, '' it would be utterly con- temned."
Now in these pleas we see,
1. What distress is occasioned by a doubt of Christ's love to us —
[To have it a doubtful point whether we be children of God and heirs of heaven, or children of the wicked one and heirs of hell, is a source of unutterable anguish to every man who knows :not what " a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God""." How bitterly did Job bewail his condi- tion, whilst he apprehended God to be his enemy ! " The ar- rows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit : the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me^" David likewise in many of his Psalms pours out similar complaints' Careless and ungodly
° Isai. xlix. 14—16. P Ps. Ixxxi. 10. q John xiv. 13, 14. ^ Heb. X. 31. s Job vi. 4.
* Ps. xlii. 1—3. and Ixxvii. 1—4, 7—9. and Ixxxvjii. 1—7. and cii. 1— (), 9—11.
855.] THE church's desire OF CHRIST's LOVE. 457
men can rest satisfied without any inquiries : but an awakened man cannot be so indifferent about his interest in Christ : to him suspense is death : he feels " a jealousy cruel as the grave," (which will never suffer its destined victim to escape,) and devouring, like a flame, which consumes all within its reach.]
2. What consolation arises from a consciousness of our love to him —
[Though there is no merit in our love to Christ, it greatly emboldens us in our addresses to him, and gives us a just ground to hope, that he will in due time manifest his love to us, and shed it abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. He has expressly said, "I love them that love me";" and has assured us, that, " if we love him, his Father will love us, and come and make his abode with us''." The very circumstance of our love to him is of itself, independent of all other evi- dences, a proof that he does actually love us : for our love to him is the effect of his love to us ; " We love him, because he first loved us^;" yea, " He loved us with an everlasting love; and therefore with loving-kindness hath he drawn us^." If then we have within ourselves an evidence, that our love to him is supreme, and that nothing which the world could either offer to us, or inflict upon us, would induce us to surrender our hope in him, we may rest assured, not only that he is ours, but that he will be ours even to the end. We may even make this an argument with him in prayer, as David did, " I am thine: save me^!" and as the Church of old did, "Now, O Lord, thou art our father : we are the clay, and thou our pot- ter : and we all are the work of thy hand : Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever : behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people^." Bearing us, as he does, on his shoulders, and on his breast, in his official capacity as our High Priest within the veil'', we may be sure that " he \vill never leave us nor forsake us*^," nor ever suffer any thing to "separate us from his love^]