Shepard - BT378 T4 S44 1660

,------------------------~--~-------------------------- \__£__\ theearth. Givenntor~ ~~::~;~~~:ot::e: So give rorheLord l. 'the love that is due umo him, that love that is fir for him. I what u that love the LordWollld have, which u fit for him? f!!!df. I,Beloved, I bop:ifyou think not your Blood to::ldeu for Chrifl, you will not l Anfw. think any love too much for Chrifl : Yet becau{e I would not have youa\m at an 1 uncertain mark, and !boot at a venture, I !ball finglcout rhat love which I ho;::e I your own Con!ciences cannot but fay is fir. And, J I I, I had thought to have fought for this from you, vi;,;,. Give the L)'lrd Jefus but that love, M more love than thou haft given to rhy lults,rhc Lord w'ill be contented with ir, Rom. 6. I9, As ye hNve yeilded, &c. fo now; bur rh.n it may be you-may think this love roo bafe for him , yet give him but this , and rhe Lord I I \ ) ~~eft· IAnfw. WQifld becomemed wirhir,and accept of it,; and rhofethJr !ball not, it lb.1ll be their Torment in Hell to think ofrhis word: Oh rhari had given the Lord Jefm that lo'fe I gave to my bafe lulls,I had hJd him,and been in Heavenwith him. Bur I wholly prelfe a·Second. :1. Do bur )ove him as he loverh thee, j. e. you cannot anfWer the grearne!Te ' of his love, bm do it for your meafure : If you cannon pay him in pounds , yet pay him in pence, and this is fit for him :· For I. He is worthy oflove, there is beauty in him why thou !bouldeR dc:fire him ; rhere is ·none in thee. 2. Thy love Jhall have a recompence , 2 Tim. 4· 8. he never can have recompence from thee. 3. He loves thee fir!l wirh his own love, now that is unreafonable noc to refletl: his beams , and rerum him his own again in fimilirude , if nor in parity. wherein ~tppe~~rs the love Qfthe Lord to m~, that fo I miiJ fee how to m1mijeft the lik! love to him? He harh loved rbee more than himfelf, more than his own honour, for he made himfelf of no reptttation, Phi!. 2. 7. more rhan his own comforts, he left the bofomof aFather, and bore the wrath of a Farher for thee; more than his own life, he faw thy neck upon the block, and Gods Axe up ro give the Bloody Faral firoke ; and he came in thy room, and loved thy life more rhan his own , loll his own before one hair of thy head lhould perilb, though he knew thee a Traytor ro God, ;md an enemy to himfelf, Rom. 5· Io. Rev. I, 5,6. if this be nor thus, woe to thee living, woe to thee dying. What m thou but a fad fpechcle hung up in rhy chains in this world for Angels in Heaven ro fee and tremble at, and for Devils, Sins, and eternal Sorrows, like Fouls of Heaven ro Prey upon. Now is it noditthat thou D1ould!llovehim more than rhyfelf? his honour more than thine, !lis confolations-more than rhiue own, his Perfon more rhan chine own , nay more than thy life? Rev. I2.I I, I have known rhem whom the Lord harh revealed this love to, char have thought ittoo little to do, and hence have wiJb•d they had been born in thofe Times that rhey might have laid down their lives for him: VVhere is now this love? Dorh nor felf-lovefwallow up all? Lord, what felf-feeking, felf-ferving, felf-minding, felf-honouring, felf-pleafing, and the Lord himfelf and his love forgot , as if mere were no Chrill, or in him no love. z. He hath loved thee when he might have' paffed byrhee, and loved others chat might have wane the Lord cowards them (I fpeakafterrhe manner of men) rather than rhee; men of.sre.trer place, gre.1rer gifts and. parrs, greater pomp in rhe world , but Rom. 9· jacob !ball be loved , E[111e hated : he bath palfed by Kings with their Crowns, and now fer his hetrt on thee aBabe, when wife ones know him nor ; foolifh, when prudent ones fee him not ; weak, when Hrong md mighty receive him no~. Ye.1, as the Apoltle fpeaketh, . I Cor.I.z!!. Bafe things, andthingswhichilreMt. God h.1th m.1de thee nothingin rhineo1~neies. Behold his loii.C,_and now do rhelike for him. It may befomrirne rhycatnaleye 'l fees ~re Glory in the creJture, than in Chrifl:; more in the honou{ of man, than 10 rhc: honour of a Chrifl, &c. And hence mighr'fl: fer thy hem on then rather

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