Looking Unto Jesus, Book 6 · Chapter 3 · Section 6
SECT. VI. Of loving Jeſus in that reſpect.
6. LEt us love Jeſus as carrying on the great work of our Salvation for us during his ſufferings and death. What! did he ſuffer and dye?Rom. 5.8. Greater love than this hath no man, that a man ſhould give his life for his friends;—but God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet ſinners, Chriſt dyed for us. Why here's an argument of love indeed, how ſhould we but love him, who hath thus loved us? in proſecution of this I have no more to do, but firſt to ſhew Chriſt's love to us, and then to exerciſe our love to him again.
1. For his love to us; had not God ſaid it, and the Scriptures recorded it, who would have believed our reports? yet Chriſt hath done it, and it is worth our while to weigh it, and conſider it in an holy meditation.—Indeed with what leſs than raviſhment of Spirit can I behold the Lord Jeſus who from everlaſting was cloathed with Glory and Majeſty, now wrapped in rags, cradled in a manger, expoſed to hunger, thirſt, wearineſs, danger, contempt, poverty, revilings, ſcourgings, perſecution? but to let them paſs: into what extaſies may I be caſt to ſee the Judg of all the world accuſed, judged, condemned? to ſee the Lord of life dying upon the tree of ſhame and curſe? to ſee the eternal Son of God ſtrugling with his Fathers wrath? to ſee him who had ſaid, I and my Father are one, ſweating drops of blood in his agony, and crying out on his croſs, my God, my God, why haſt thou forſaken me? Oh whither hath his love to mankind carried him? had he only ſent his creatures to ſerve us, had he only ſent his Prophets to adviſe us in the way to Heaven, had he only ſent his Angels from his chamber of preſence to attend upon us, and to miniſter to us, it had been a great deal of mercy; or if it muſt be ſo, had Chriſt come down from Heaven hnmſelf, but only to viſit us, or had he come only and wept over us, ſaying, Oh that you had known, even you in this your day the things belonging to your peace! Oh that you had more conſidered of my goodneſs! Oh that you had never ſinned! this would have been ſuch a mercy as that all the world would have wondered at it: but that Chriſt himſelf ſhould come, and lay down his blood, and life, and all for his people; and yet I am not at the loweſt, that he ſhould not only part with life, but part with the ſenſe, and ſweetneſs of God's love, which is a thouſand times better than life,Pſal. 63.3. Thy loving kindneſs is better than life; that he ſhould be content to be accurſed, that we might be bleſſed; that he ſhould be content to be forſaken, that we might not be forſaken; that he ſhould be content to be condemned that we might be acquitted; O what raptures of Spirit can be ſufficient for the admiration of this ſo infinite mercy? be thou ſwallowed up O my ſoul in this depth of Divine love; and hate to ſpend thy thoughts any more upon the baſe objects of this wretched world, when thou haſt ſuch a Saviour to take them up.—Come look on thy Jeſus, who dyed temporally, that thou mighteſt live eternally: who out of his ſingular tenderneſs would not ſuffer thee to burn in hell, for ten, twenty, thirty, forty, an hundred years, and then recover thee, by which notwithſtanding he might better and deeper have imprinted in thee the bleſſed memory of a dear Redeemer; no, no, this was the Article betwixt him and his Father, That thou ſhouldſt never come there; ſee but, obſerve but Chriſt's love in that mutual agreement betwixt God and Chriſt, Oh I am preſſed (ſaith God) with the ſins of the world as a cart is preſſed that is full of ſheaves, come my Son, either thou muſt ſuffer, or I muſt damn the world: Accordingly I may imagine the Attributes of God to ſpeak to God, Mercy cryes, I am abuſed, and Patience cryes, I am deſpiſed; and goodneſs cryes, I am wronged; and Holyneſs cryes, I am contradicted; and all theſe come to the Father for Juſtice, crying to him, that all the world were oppoſers of his Grace and Spirit, and if any be ſaved Chriſt muſt be puniſhed. In this caſe we muſt imagine Chriſt ſtepped in, nay rather than ſo, (ſaith Chriſt) I will bear all, and undertake the ſatisfying of all. And now look upon him! he hangs on the croſs all naked, all torn, all bloody; betwixt Heaven and Earth, as if he were caſt out of Heaven, and alſo rejected by Earth; he hath a Crown indeed, but ſuch a one as few men will touch, none will take from him; and if any raſh man will have it, he muſt tear hair, skin, and all, or it will not come; his hair is all clodded with blood, his face all clouded with black and blew, he is all over ſo pittifully rent, outwards, inwards, body and ſoul.—I will think the reſt; alas, when I have ſpoken all I can, I ſhall ſpeak under it, had I the tongues of men and Angels, I could not expreſs it; Oh love more deep than hell! Oh love more high than heaven! the brighteſt Seraphims that burn in love, are but as ſparkles to that mighty flame of love in the heart of Jeſus.
2. If this be Chriſt's love to us, what is that love we owe to Chriſt? Oh now for an heart that might be ſome wayes anſwerable to theſe mercies! Oh for a ſoul ſick of love, yea ſick unto death! how ſhould I be otherwiſe, or any leſs affected, this only ſickneſs is our health, this death our life, and not to be thus ſick is to be dead in ſins and treſpaſſes; why, ſurely I have heard enough, for which to love Chriſt for ever. The depths of God's grace are bottomleſs, they paſs our underſtandings, yet they recreate our hearts; they give matter of admiration, yet they are not devoid of conſolation: O God raiſe up our ſouls to thee, and if our Spirits be too weak to know thee, make our affections ardent and ſincere to love thee.
Surely the death of Chriſt requires this, and calls for this: many other motives we may draw from Chriſt, and many other motives are laid down in the Goſpel, and indeed the whole Goſpel is no other thing than a motive to draw man to God by the force of God's love to man; in this ſenſe the holy Scriptures may be called the book of true love, ſeeing therein God both unfolds his love to us, and alſo binds our love to him; but of all the motives we may draw from Chriſt, and of all the arguments we may find in the Goſpel of Chriſt, there is none to this, the death of Chriſt, the blood of Jeſus: is not this ſuch a love-letter, as never, never was the like? read the words, For his great love wherewith he loved us, Epheſ. 2.4. or if you cannot read, obſerve the Hyeroglyphicks, every ſtripe is a letter, every nail is a capital letter, every bruiſe is a black letter, his bleeding wounds are as ſo many rubricks to ſhew upon record: Oh conſider it, is not this a great love? are not all mercies wrapt up in the blood of Chriſt? it may be thou haſt riches, honours, friends, means, Oh but thank the blood of Chriſt for all thou haſt; it may be thou haſt grace, and that is better than corn, or wine, or oyl? Oh but for this thank the blood of Jeſus, ſurely it was the blood of Chriſt that did this for thee; thou waſt a rebellious ſoul, thou haſt an hard and filthy heart, but Chriſt's blood was the fountain opened, and it took away all ſin, and all uncleanneſs; Chriſt in all, and Chriſt above all, and wilt thou not love him? Oh that all our words were words of love, and all our labour, labour of love, and all our thoughts, thoughts of love; that we might ſpeak of love, and muſe of love, and love this Chriſt, who hath firſt loved us, with all our heart, and ſoul, and might! what? wilt thou not love Jeſus Chriſt? let me ask thee then, whom wilt thou love? or rather whom canſt thou love, if thou loveſt not him? if thou ſayeſt, I love my Friends, Parents, Wife, Children; Oh but love Chriſt more than theſe; a friend would be an enemy, but that the blood of Chriſt doth frame his heart; a Wife would be a trouble, but that the blood of Chriſt doth frame her heart; all mercies are conveyed to us through this channel; Oh who would not love the Fountain?—conſider of it again and again, our Jeſus thought nothing too good for us, he parts with his life and blood, he parts with the ſenſe and feeling of the love of God, and all this for us, and for our ſakes; Ah my ſoul, how ſhouldſt thou but love him in all things, and by all means?
It is reported of Ignatius, that he ſo continually meditated on the great things Chriſt ſuffered for him, that he was brought entirely to love him: and when he was demanded, why he would not forſake Chriſt, rather than ſuffer himſelf to be torn and devoured of wild beaſts? he anſwered, that he could not forget him becauſe of his ſufferings; Oh his ſufferings (ſaid he) are not tranſcient words, or removable objects, but they are indelible characters, ſo engraven in my heart, that all the torments of earth can never raze them out. And being commanded by that bloody Tyrant Trajane to be ript and unbowelled, they found Jeſus Chriſt written upon his heart in Characters of Gold. Here was an heart worth Gold; Oh that it might be thus with us! If my hands were all of love, that I could work nothing but love; if my eyes were all of love, that I could ſee nothing but love; if my mind were all of love, that I could think of nothing but love; all were too little to love that Chriſt, who hath thus immeaſurably loved me; if I had a thouſand hearts to beſtow on Chriſt, and they moſt enlarged and ſcrued up to the higheſt pitch of affection, all theſe were infinitely ſhort of what I owe to my dread Lord, and deareſt Saviour. Come let's joyn hands, He loved us, and therefore let us love him: if we diſpute the former, I argue from the Jews, when he ſhed but a few tears out of his eyes at Lazarus's grave, then ſaid the Jews, John 11.36behold how he loved him, John 11.36. how much more truly may it be ſaid of us for whom he ſhed both water and blood, and that from his heart, Behold how he loved us; why then, if our hearts be not Iron, yea if they be Iron, how ſhould they chuſe but feel the magnetical force of this Loadſtone of love; for to a Loadſtone doth Chriſt reſemble himſelf, when he ſaith of himſelf; And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, John 12.32.will draw all men unto me.