Love to Christ, Chapter 14 – Part
CHAP. XIV. The CONCLƲSION.
AND now (beloved Hearers) what is the iſſue of all that I have ſaid, and ye have heard, upon this Subject? Have I gained any of your love to Chriſt? Or are ye ſtill in love with the World, and Pleaſures, and Profits, and Honours, thereof? Are ye in love with Sin and Self, more than with Chriſt, after all the Arguments and Pleadings of Grace and Mercy for your Hearts, and hearty Love, to be placed on the bleſſed Son of the moſt bleſſed God? Did ye love Sin, and will ye love it ſtill? Did ye love the World, and will ye do ſo ſtill? Did ye not love Chriſt, and do ye not yet, and will ye not? is this the anſwer I muſt return to him that ſent me? Lord, I cannot gain their love unto thy Son; fain I would, but I cannot. I have asked them in thy Name, but they will not. I have ſtudied for this purpoſe, and Prayed and Preached for this purpoſe, but I have ſtudied in vain, and my Labour with ſo many is loſt Labour. I have delivered my Meſſage, but they will not hearken. I have entreated for their Love, not for my Self, but for thy Son, but many will not conſent. Why, Sirs! Did I find you full of Love to Self, and Sin, and World, and after all, muſt I leave you ſo? I found you void of the Love of Chriſt, and muſt I leave you ſo? Why then did I Preach, and why did ye Hear? Did ye come day after day reſolved, Say what I could, ye would do what ye liſt? Shall that bleſſed Jeſus, that hath been ſet forth before you, be ſtill thus deſpiſed, and ſet at naught by you? Did I find the Anathema upon you, and muſt I leave it upon you, till Maranatha? What if God ſhould ſay, he that after all theſe Entreaties, Calls, Invitations, to love Chriſt, yet loveth the World, Let him love the World; and he that loveth Sin, Let him love his Sin, Let him love his Pleaſures, Let him love what he will, ſince he will not be perſwaded to love whom he oſhuld? Oh dreadful Curſe! Oh heavy Wrath! Oh ſad preſage of the Curſe, that ſhall fall upon ſuch Souls when Chriſt ſhall come, and after that, lye and abide upon them for ever!
Speak therefore in thy Heart, Sinner, and return thine Anſwer, for it may be this might be to thee the laſt time of Asking; Wilt thou give Chriſt thy Love, or wilt thou not? Thy ſincere, not thy pretended Love? Wilt thou conſent and promiſe, before thou ſtirreſt out of this place, to love Chriſt more than all, beyond all, and above all? Or wilt thou deny him ſuch love, and keep it for, and place it ſtill upon thy old beloved ſinful Objects? Sayſt thou ſo? What, muſt I, to my Sorrow, and thy Woe, as to thee, end as I did begin? I had hoped I might have bid thee joy of thy new Love, and matchleſs Match, in thy conſenting to Love, and accept of this Bleſſed Jeſus for thy Lord and Husband; but if thou wilt not, I muſt ſay what I would not. Lord, I am loth to ſay it, but it is what thou dost ſay, and I cannot alter it; yet, if I muſt ſay it, let it be with a pained, and a ſorrowful Heart, and as my Mouth ſhall drop the Word, let mine Eyes drop ſo many Tears, whilſt at thy command I muſt pronounce, If any man love not the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, let him be Anathema Maranatha.
But muſt this be the Sentence I muſt leave upon you all, that at the beginning of this Text had no love to Jeſus Chriſt? What, is there not one amongſt you all that can ſay, Before I did love my Pleaſures, but now I love Chriſt? I did love my Sin, but now I love my Lord and Saviour? My love is turned into another Channel? I have found another object for my love? I would not for a thouſand Worlds have died before I had ſincere love to Chriſt? Not only one, but many of you, can ſay ſo, or elſe ye have baſely diſſembled, both with God, and this Congregation. Many of you that did not love the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, now do, or ye have been wretched Hypocrites, while ye have been Hearers of theſe Sermons; for what did ye mean by all thoſe Bills that ye did give in, day after day, ten or twenty in a day, acknowledging your former Sin, till now, in loving other things, and not Chriſt? Why did ye ſay, Ye never were convinced of the neceſſity of loving Chriſt before? I beſeech you, Why have ye ſo many, and ſo often, with ſuch earneſt Requeſts, even for Jeſus ſake, and as we had any love for your Souls, deſire Me, and the Congregation, to beg with Importunity, that God would give you ſuch an Heart now, that ye might love the Lord Jeſus Chriſt in ſincerity; above all, with a Superlative Love, with a Predominant Love, with all your Heart, and with all your Soul, that you might not be Anathema when Maranatha? Were not theſe your own Words? Did not the Congregation hear them Read? When I reviewed your Papers at Home, did not I ſind theſe Words, and ſuch like, whereby ye did expreſs the former Condition, and the preſent Deſires of your Souls? Tell me then, were ye in good earneſt, or did ye jeſt with God and Men, in deſiring Prayers that ye might ſo love the Lord Jeſus? If ſo, repent of your Hypocriſie; lament your double Dealings; bitterly bewail ſuch curſed Diſſemblings. If ye were in earneſt, and your Hearts, as well as your Hands, did guide your Pens, in Writing ſuch Deſires, and ye have indeed changed your Love; or rather, God hath turned your Love from Sin unto his Son, from the World unto himſelf, I ſhall have cauſe to bleſs God that I Preached, and ye heard what was ſpoken of this ſubject; then are ye my Joy, and Crown, and Rejoycing, both now, and at the coming of the Lord Jeſus Chriſt. And to you that have this love wrought in your Hearts ſo lately, and to all the reſt that had like love to him before, I wiſh all the Bleſſings that are contained in that Prayer of the Apoſtle, with which he concludeth his Epiſtle; and I this ſubject, Eph. 6.24. Grace be with all them that love the Lord Jeſus in ſincerity. Amen.
The BLESSING, to the Lovers of CHRIST.
THE Pſalm being Sung, all the People (as is uſual) ſtood up: I kept my Seat longer than ordinarily I was wont, which cauſed their Eyes to be the more towards me. Then I ſtood up and ſaid, Why ſtand ye gazing? Why are your Eyes ſo intent upon me? What can I ſay more? What more do ye expect? The Bleſſing? What! All of you? What! Whether ye love Chriſt or no? Alas! If God Curſe, how can I Bleſs? I have day after day, ſet Life and Death, a Bleſſing and a Curſe, before you, and muſt it not be with you according to your own Choice? If ye will be bleſt indeed, ye muſt love Chriſt; if ye will not love Chriſt, the Curſe, and not a Bleſſing, waiteth for you, though ye here wait for the Bleſſing. If ye would not go without the pronouncing of the Bleſſing, from hence to your Homes, love Chriſt; oh love Chriſt: Oh at laſt be perſwaded to love Chriſt, that ye might not go from Chriſts Bar to the Flames of Hell (without his Bleſſing) for ever. I have done for this time and Text, when I have ſaid the Words of my Text, If any man love not the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, let him be Anathema Maranatha; and let all the People that dare, (leaſt they ſhould wiſh a Curſe upon themſelves) ſay Amen. And for you that have ſet your Hearts on Chriſt above all, I beg from the Father of Mercies, that Grace might be with all them that love the Lord Jeſus Chriſt in ſincerity, and let all the People ſay, Amen.
What lively Countenances, what Affections, what Tears and Cryings, with the Spirits working, were cauſed, do not expect that I ſhould tell.
FINIS.
Books Printed for, and Sold by Thomas Cockerill, at the Three Legs in the Poultrey.
THere is now in the Preſs, and will ſuddenly be Publiſhed, An Expoſition of the Aſſemblies Shorter Catechiſm, with Practical Inferences from each Queſtion. By John Flavell, Miniſter of the Goſpel.
Charnock's Works in Two Vol. Fol.
Ruſhworth's Hiſtorical Collections, 3d Part, never before Printed; containing the Principal Matters which happened from the Meeting of the Parliament 1640. to the end of the Parliament 1644. in 2 Vol. Fol.
Geography Rectified; or Deſcription of all the World in all its Kingdoms, Provinces, Countreys, &c. Alſo Government, Commodities, Coins, Weights, &c. Illuſtrated with about 80 Maps. By Robert Morden, 4to.
The Morning Exerciſe at Cripplegate; or ſeveral Caſes of Conſcience Reſolved by ſundry Miniſters. In 4to.
A Supplement to the Morning Exerciſe at Cripplegate. 8vo.
Specculum Theologiae in Chriſto: Or a view of ſome Divine Truths, which are either Practically Exemplified in Jeſus Chriſt, ſet forth in the Goſpel, or may be reaſonably reduced from thence. 8vo.
Chriſtus in Corde: Or, the Myſtical Union between Chriſt and Believers.
Precious Faith, conſidered in its Nature, Workings and Growth. Theſe three by Edward Polhill of Barwaſh in Eſſex, Eſq
End of the text · Thomas Doolittle, Love to Christ (1692)