The Glorious Epiphany with the Devout Christians Love, Chapter 16
CHAP. XVI. Of the mighty power and pleaſure of Love, when it is ſetled in the heart.
AND thus I am come to the end of this other part of my Diſcourſe: Wherein the reaſons of placing our beſt affections on the appearing of Chriſt have been ſo plainly deduced; that, as they cannot but be underſtood, ſo they cannot but move thoſe hearts, which do not quite turn away their minds from all conſideration of them. And that it ſhould be hard to do, one would think, if we have the leaſt acquaintance with the Chriſtian Religion. Which hereby moſt ſtrongly recommends it ſelf unto us, that it gives us ſuch great and glorious hopes; and entertains our tireſome Pilgrimage with ſuch delightful contemplations, of the joys and pleaſures we ſhall have in another world; eſpecially when we come to reſt with our Lord for ever.
No man that is in his wits, would be without the comfort of this expectation. It far exceeds all our preſent enjoyments: and is in it ſelf ſo deſireable, that we may truly ſay, Faith doth not beg to be admitted by us; but rather commands us to open our hearts and let it in; if we would have any conſtant pleaſure, and ſetled peace and ſatisfaction there, which nothing but the Chriſtian belief can eſtabliſh in us. And this is the miſery of all thoſe who do not faithfully receive the Goſpel; that as they ſhall miſs of the greateſt bleſſings hereafter, ſo they want the higheſt comfort in the world at preſent: Which is, to wait with aſſured hope for thoſe good things, which our Lord will give us at his appearing. By the expectance of which, we are not only a little pleaſed while we imploy our minds in ſuch meditations as theſe; but they put us into a ſtate of pleaſure and conſtant ſatisfaction, by drawing our hearts to Heaven, and placing us out of the power, though not out of the reach, of all worldly accidents.
For ſuch is the condition of man, as the Diſciples of Plato's School have well expreſſed it, that there are two effuſions and ecſtaſies, as we may call them, of his ſoul; two ſorts of inebriation (as ſome of them love to ſpeak) whereby he is diſpoſſeſſed of himſelf. By the one (which is a Divine rapture) we are carried out and placed above our ſelves: by the other (which is the witchery of ſenſe) we are hurried away, and thruſt down into a condition below our ſelves. Their meaning is, that man being of a middle nature, between Angels and Beaſts; by his intellectual part partaking of the nature of thoſe heavenly beings, and by his ſenſitive of the nature of the brutes; he may ſo apply himſelf either to the one or to the other, that he come, in great meaſure, out of his middle condition, and go either upward to the former, or downward to the later.
And this ſtrange feat is wrought by nothing elſe, but by the power of Love; which evidently intrances our ſouls, and tranſports us out of our ſelves: either to the celeſtial natures if it be Divine, or to the brutiſh, if it be founded only in the fleſh. By exerciſing our minds in the actions of ſpiritual life, and placing our affections on things above, we may deliver and infranchiſe our ſelves from a ſervile baſe condition; and approach nearer to the degree of Angels than of ordinary men. As on the contrary, by applying our minds and hearts wholly to corporeal actions, and addreſſing all our ſervices to the things of this world, we may ſo inthrall our ſelves, and bring our ſouls into ſuch bondage; that we ſhall ſink down into a vile eſtate, and become more like beaſts than men.
O ſtrange power of Love! which makes ſuch transformations! turning men either into Angels or into the moſt ſordid creatures. How careful ſhould we be to obſerve its motions? What diligence ſhould we uſe, to watch whither it goes; and to ſee that this mighty paſſion be directed to the moſt excellent good? And if we do but open our eyes to receive the light of the glorious Goſpel, and all the beauties that it preſents unto us, we cannot eaſily be deceived. There are a world of noble enjoyments to which our Saviour invites us; if we will vouchſafe to look upon them, and not be ſo ſottiſh, as to faſten our eyes only on a few objects here before us. He hath opened to us the Kingdom of Heaven; and tells us he will ſhow us all the glory of his Fathers houſe; if we will but wait a while, till he be ready to come, and fetch us thither. Why ſhould we not believe him, and daily look up unto him; with hearts full of joy that we are beloved of the Lord of life, and have a good hope to live together with him? What a change would this work in us? And how happy ſhould we be, to think of the far more glorious change, which the ſight of him will make; when by ſeeing him, we ſhall become what he is?
O the joy that begins to ſpring up in my heart! O what raviſhing words are thoſe, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM; FOR WE SHALL SEE HIM AS HE IS? How ſweetly they enter into mine ears? How deliciouſly they ſpread and diffuſe themſelves all over my mind; and ſtrongly penetrate to my very heart? I am changed already. I am not what I was; but quite another man: All light and joy, all ſpirit and life, while I think of theſe things. And can I ever ſo forget them, as to be allured and drawn away, from my ſelf and my Saviour, from my enjoyments and my hopes, by any earthly pleaſures?
What compariſon is there between thoſe two ſtates I now deſcribed, that I ſhould be in danger of ſuch temptations? Is there any need to ask, which is moſt to be choſen? To ſuffer my heart to be touched with ſuch a ſenſe of Divine pleaſures, as to be raviſht out of my ſelf, and become more than man; or to expoſe it ſo to the ſolicitations of ſenſible delights, as to be inticed by them another way out of my ſelf, and transformed into the nature of the beaſts that periſh?
We are all deſirous and forward enough to climb higher; and our ambition tempts us to mount to as noble a ſtation, as it is poſſible to reach: And therefore let us aſcend, O my ſoul, to the Lord Jeſus; let us lift up our thoughts ſtill towards the holy place where he reigns; and look for the time of his appearing, to make us reign with him for ever. This is the moſt pleaſant object we can behold; or rather is a coliection of innumerable pleaſures, which all here meet together: and therefore cannot but be of mighty power to raviſh our ſpirits, and ennoble our natures, by making them divine. Hither let us vigorously and cheerfully bend our thoughts; let our hearts ſend many and many a wiſh this way; and then it will be as impoſſible for any thing to hinder us from being made heavenly, as it is to keep the ſtone from its centre, or the tendereſt heart from becoming like to that which it dearly loves.
Here we ſee what God the Father Almighty will do for his Son Jeſus; and what our Lord Jeſus will do for us, who depend upon his Love. We behold our ſelves here ranked among the Heavenly hoſt; changed into ſpirits; made perfect in love; crowned with immortality; beautified with the light of Divine knowledge and with unſpotted purity of heart; brought into the preſence of our Lord, and unto the ſight of God. On which incomparable happineſs while we fix our eyes, it muſt needs ſnatch us quite from all other things; and make us live out of our ſelves. But it will be only to place us above our ſelves; and, by a moſt deſireable departure from what we are, to put us into ſo bleſſed a condition, that we ſhall never wiſh to return to our ſelves any more.
And indeed the more or leſs our ſouls are drawn forth of themſelves either way, ſo much the harder or eaſier it is to go back into themſelves again. For if we be much raviſhed with theſe heavenly things, if we love the Appearing of Chriſt exceedingly, and attentively fix our minds in expectation of it; we ſhall have little mind to turn our hearts towards corporeal enjoyments, during the ſenſe and lively reliſh of thoſe Divine pleaſures, which have withdrawn us from them. And when the inclinations and neceſſities of our earthly Nature call us back again unto them, it will be with a remembrance of thoſe celeſtial joys ſtill remaining; which will preſerve our ſouls from immerſing themſelves in things below them. Juſt as when a mans heart is engaged in the ſtricteſt bonds of love, which have tied him faſt to a very agreeable perſon, whatſoever company he comes into, he will ſecretly ſteal out of it, to caſt a glance upon that beloved object: So will our mind be apt to look up towards Heaven (even when we are in the charming ſociety of that perſon) if the Lord and the glory of his appearing be our chiefeſt love and higheſt delight. As on the contrary, if we have but a ſlight touch and taſte of theſe heavenly truths, we ſhall be the eaſier diverted from them; and perſwaded to yield up our ſelves to ſeek our ſatisfaction in the cold enjoyment of theſe earthly delights.
And thus it is, in like manner, when men follow brutal pleaſures; the more ſtrongly they are raviſht with them and addict themſelves to them; the more they loſe the uſe of their reaſon and underſtanding, and the more uncapable they grow, being ſo attentive to theſe delights, to receive any guſt of nobler enjoyments. Whereas, if our taſte of theſe things be more ſuperficial, and we do not apply our minds with all their force unto them, nor dwell upon them; we ſhall be the eaſier called off from them, and ſtand in need of fewer importunities to quit their company, for better entertainments.
Which demonſtrates how neceſſary it is, that we ſhould indeavour to be well acquainted with the coming of our Lord; to believe it with an unſhaken faith; to perſwade our ſelves of it, as if we ſaw it; to ſet our hearts upon it, and place our comforts in it; that ſo it may have the greater authority over us, and command us irreſiſtibly from all things beneath us, and force us to give our ſelves intirely to our Lord Jeſus.