Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

Thus all the Saints of God in the Old Teftament, Patriarchs, Prophets, and infpired Men expreffed their Love to God; the Beauty of his Creation, the Excellency of his Laws, the Pleafures of his Sanctuary, filled their Hearts with Joy, and their Mouths with Praifes, which lie difperfedly through thofe facred Volumes. But we have all thefe Epitomiz'd and collected into that rich Treasure of Piety and Devotion, the Inftructing and Delightful Pfalms of David, which, as they are filled with all the Doctrines of Faith and Truft, and Hope in God, with all the Motives of Patience, Submiffion, and Refignation to his Will, fo do they chiefly abound with the moft rapturous Expreffions of Divine Love. What a Vehemence and Eagerness of Defire; what a flaming Spirit of Zeal and Devotion do thefe Words carry with them? As the Heart panteth after the Water-Brooks, fo panteth my Soul after thee, O God. My Soul flieth unto the Lord before the Morning-watch, I fay before the Morning-watch. Lord, what Love bave I unto thy Law, all the day long is my Study in it. Whom have I in Heaven but thee? And there is none upon Earth, that I can defire in Comparison of thee. My Flesh, and my Heart faileth, but God is the Strength of my Heart, and my Portion for ever. Thus thofe holy Men loved the Lord their God, with all their Hearts, and will all their Souls, and with all their Minds!

[ocr errors]

St. Mat.l

13. 16. 17.

And if their Affections were fo warm'd with the Love of God, under that more dark and imperfect Difpenfation; how warm, how inflamed fhou'd our Love be to him, who have received a much clearer Revelation of his Will, greater Pledges of his Love, more powerful Energies of his Spirit? We, who have the Subftance, and have feen the literal Accomplishment of what they only heard and faw in faint Type and Figure. So our Saviour himself affures us. Blessed are your Eyes for ye have feen, and your Ears for they have beard. Verily, I fay unto you, that many Prophets and Righteous Men have defired to fee thofe Things, which ye fee, and have not feen them, and to hear thofe Things which ye hear, and have not heard them. The Words certainly refer to the Times of the Gospel, when the Defire of all Nations was to come according to the Promise of God, and the Predictions of the Prophets, and the Expectation of all Religious People fully fatisfy'd (who looked for the Redemption of Ifrael) in the Mission and Incarnation of the Son of God. This, This is that Stupendous Miftery of Love, which lay hid in the eternal Mind of God, from Ages and Generations, and was reveal'd to us in the fulness of Time, upon whom the Ends of the World are come.

"Tis not indeed for us to prie too curiously into that unfearchable Contrivance of God, though we can't, nor is it at all needful, we fhou'd fathom the Depths of that ineffable

My

Mystery; yet we may easily understand what the main Design of it was, viz. to restore us to the Divine Favour, and to render us capable of being the eternal Objects of his Love. That it hath in it whatever can move the Ingenuity and Gratitude, or engage the Repentance and Obedience of Mankind.

And here, I pray, let your moft devout and penitent Thoughts go along with me a little. What a furprizing Mercy was it in God the Father, to fend his only begotten Son out of his Bofom, who never tranfgreffed his Will at any time, who was the eternal Delight of his Soul! What a condefcending Love in God the Son, to leave all the Pleafures and Glories of his Father's Kingdom to converse with Sinners, to relieve the Wants, to fubmit to the Miseries, to die for the Redemption of a loft World; To fee him who was the Brightnefs of his Father's Glory, and the exprefs Image of his Perfon, putting on the Form of a Servant, converfing amongst Men in all the Freedoms of an Innocent, in all the Condefcentions of a Charitable, and all the Graces of a mortify'd Life; To hear him declaring the Will of his Father, with the moft Divine and Heavenly Eloquence, confirming the Doctrine of the Kingdom with the Power of Miracles, and the Demonftration of the Spirit, and during his whole Stay upon Earth going about, fpending himself in doing Good to the Bodies and Souls of Men.

Sure

Sure all this was enough, not only to engage the Faith and Love of thofe who had the Happiness to see him upon Earth; but of those alfo who should hear of his Fame, and Miracles, and gracious Deeds to the End of the World.

Once more; be pleased to take another View of him, and let your Thoughts attend him through all the Tragical Circumftances of his Sufferings and Paffion, and this will raife the Pitty and diffolve all the fofter Affections of your Nature into Repentance and Tears. Look upon him in his bitter Agony in the Garden, when his Soul was exceeding Sorrowful, even unto Death. See him in the Desertion of his Difciples and Friends, when they all forfook him and fled. Take your laft Profpect of him in his Apprehenfion and Captivity, when he was fhamefully infulted by the mercilefs rabble of the Jews, mock'd, fpit upon, fcourg'd, and with the last Degrees of Contempt, and Cruelty, infamoufly crucify'd between two Thieves. When you have reflected upon all these, than ask your felves, if there was ever any Love, like unto his Love, or any Sorrow, likeunto his Sorrow!

Oh God the Father! May all the Love and Praise that thankful Creatures can poffibly pay to their Creator. Oh God the Son! May all the Humiliation and Sorrow, that penitent Sinners can poffibly exprefs to their Redeemer, be the conftant Tri

bute

bute of our Lives: May we Love the
Lord our God, with all our Hearts, and
with all our Souls, and with all our
Minds; even with all the Powers and
Faculties thou, O God, haft put into our
Beings. I proceed now to the 3d Par-
ticular, which was this

3. That thus to love God imports, that we make him the great Object of our Fear; that the Authority and Awe of his Prefence, govern all our Actions and Defigns.

I do not mean fuch a fuperftitious, flavish Fear, as haunts Men's Minds, and terrifies them with unaccountable Doubts and Scruples, Nor fuch a Fear as is folicitous and anxious about the future Events and Occurrences of this World, and renders them uneafy, miftruftful, and difcontented under divine Providence. Nor fuch a Fear of Death and Danger, as St. Paul tells us, make them all their Life time fubject to Bondage. The Love of God cafteth out all thefe Sorts of Fear.

But there is a fear of God which is confiftent with, and by which our Love to him is made perfect. And that is, an Ingenuous, filial, obediential Fear, ruling in our Hearts by a lively Faith, and a familiar Senfe of his continual Care, Prefence, and Infpection over us. This will engage us to love him fervently, to reverence him fecretly, to obey him chearfully, to difcharge whatever we defign ør undertake faithfully, and with a good Con

fcience,

43

« ElőzőTovább »