Chap. 2. Sett. 6. r,Looiung unto jjefu.s. Book IV. 463 behol<l my hands and reach hither thy hand and thruftitinto my fide, and be not fairhlefs, YJtt believing. 0 fweet condefcending words ! how far ?how lowwo~ld Jefus !loop to take up fouls ? and 0 my foul, are not thefe the very dealtngs of chnfl towards thee? he that called Thom.s to come near, hark how he calls on thee, Come netJr poor tremb– ling~ wavering, wandring foul; comf, view the Lord thy Saviour, andbenotfmthlefs~ but believing; peace be "~to thee? fear n?~ it .u I. He that called on rhem who palfed byro behold his {arrow in the day of .lus hmmltar IOn, ~oth now call on rbee to behold lus glory m the day of his exaltation; look well up~n h1m,doft d10U nor know lum? why h11 ha~ds were pierced his head was p1erced, h1s fide was p1erced, lus heart wa$ p1erced, With the flings of ;hy fins, and rbefe lllarks ~e rera.ins even afrer his refun~ction, rhar by rhefe marks rhou migbreft always know h1m , 1s nor the palfage to lus heart yet fland1~g open? if rhou knowefl him not by the face, the voyce, the hands; 1f thou knowefllum nor by rhe tears, and blood~ fweat, yet look 'nearer, thou maylt know him by .the heart, that broken healed heart IS b1s; that dead revived heart IS lus, that foul-pttytng melt– ing heart is his ; doubtlefs it can be nones but his, love and compallion are its certain fignatures. And is not here yet fewel enou~h for love. to feed upon? doth nor tlus heart of Chrifi even fnatch thy heart, and almofl draw 1t forth of thy brefl ? canll: thou read the hiflory of love any further at once? doth not thy throbbing heart heri: ll:op to eafe it felf? if not go on, for the field of love is large. 4. In this Apparrition to the feven, Jtfw faith to Simon l'e!er, [on of {onM, loveft thou me more than thtfe ?-Andhe faid to him the fecond time, Simon, fon of JonM Joh.ti.Ii 15 lovejl thM me? -- he faid to him the thirdtime, Simon, fon of {onM lovefl thou me? '1· ' Oh the loves of Chrifi in drawing out mans love unto himfelf ! bow often 0 my foul iJath Chrifl come to thy door, and knocked there for entrance? how ofren harh hefued for Love, and begged love, and asked thee again and again, Ah foul,doft thon love me, mort than thefe? come, tell me, d(lft thou love me, love me,love me.? come, wilt thou tak! mi for thy Lord? wilt thoJt delight in me M thy trtA[ure, thy happinefs, thy all? 0 fye ! lhall Chrifr raifed, a glorious Chrifi, thus wooe, and fue, and call, and will thou not anfwer as Peter did, TeA Lord, thouk_nowejlthAt !love thee.--TeaLordthou/znoweft all things, thou k!Joweft that I lwe thee ? nay, art thou not grieved t_hat Chrill: fhould ask the third rime for thy love ? art thou not afhamed out of thy 11upidity, and forc't to fay, 0 my bleffedLord, I have been too proud, too peevilh, but thy free grace, and undeferved love, bath beaten me out of all my pride, fo that now I fall down at thy foot-flool, and lay my felfflat before thee; at firft I wondered to bear Preachers ralkfo much of Chrifl, and I was bold to ask thy friends, what was their beloved more than another beloved ? but now I wonder that I could be fo long without thee, truly Lord, I am thine, only thine, ever thine, all that I am is at thy command, and all I have is at thy difpofing, be pleafed to command both it, and me? I might thus go on to confider other paffages in other Apparritions, but are nor tbefe enow ro draw thy love I oh what love was this! oh what humility was this? that Chrill: afrer his refurredion lhould converfe with men during the fpace of fourty days; worthy he was after fo many farrows, fufferings, reproaches, after fo cruel ignominious, and bitter a death, immediately to have rid his tryumph to glory · And for tho confirmation of his Difciples faith, he might have commanded the l.ngels to have preached his refurredion ; oh no, he himfelf would fray in perfon, he him– felf;Would make it out by many infallible proofs that ht was rifen again ; he him– felf ~onld by Ins own example learn us a lelfon of love, of meeknefs, ofpatience. in wamng after futferings for the reward. Methi•ks a few of thefe palfages lhould fet all our hearts on a flame of love; we love .earth,_ and emhly things, we dig into the veins of the earth for thick clay ; but tf Chn~ be nfenfit JOhr ajfe[fions on things •b•ve ; and not on things on the earth. Oh 1f rh• love of Chrifi were but in us, as the love of the world is in bafe «olof.J. r,>, worldling~, it would make us wholly to defpife this world, it would make U> to forget tt, as worldly love makes a man to forget his God; nay it would be fo frrong and ~rdem, and rooted in our fouls, that we fhoula-not be able voluntary and freely to thmk on any thing elfe but Jefus Chrill: ; we fhould not then fear contempt, or care for d1fgrace, or rhe reproaches of men 1 .we fhould not then fear death, or I Cor, If· ss. the gra~e, or hell, or devdls; but we fhould fing Ill triUmph, 0 death 1 where u thy s 7 • flmg-' 0 grave ••here u thy vrEfqry ?-- --now th<nkJ be toGod whrch gwe;h 1<4 viUory through Jefm Chrift oJtr Lord. SECT.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=