I will add one word more, notwithstanding there is such a revelation of Him in his word, in the book of creatures, and in the book of providences; yet the scripture says, "Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him?" (Job 26:14) So great is G.o.d above all that we have read, heard, or seen of Him, either in the bible, in heaven, or earth, the sea, or what else is to be understood. But now, That a poor mortal, a lump of sinful flesh, or, as the scripture-phrase is, poor dust and ashes, should be in the favour, in the heart, and wrapped up in the compa.s.sions of SUCH a G.o.d! O amazing! O astonishing consideration! And yet "This G.o.d is our G.o.d for ever and ever; and He will be our guide even unto death" (Psa 48:14).
It is said of our G.o.d, "That he humbleth himself when he beholds things in heaven." How much more then when he openeth his eyes upon man; but most of all when he makes it, as one may say, his business to visit him every morning, and to try him every moment, having set His heart upon him, being determined to set him also among his princes. "The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the Lord our G.o.d, who dwelleth on high, Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth! He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; that he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people" (Psa 113:3-8).
(2.) IF this G.o.d be our G.o.d; or if our G.o.d be such a G.o.d, and could we but attain to that knowledge of the breadth, and length, and depth, and height that is in him, as the Apostle here prays, and desires we may, we should never be afraid of anything we shall meet with, or that shall a.s.sault us in this world. The great G.o.d, the former of all things, taketh part with them that fear Him, and that engage themselves to walk in His ways, of love, and respect, they bear unto him; so that such may boldly say, "The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me" (Heb 13:6).
Would it not be amazing, should you see a man encompa.s.sed with chariots and horses, and weapons for his defence, yet afraid of being sparrow blasted, or over-run by a gra.s.shopper! Why "It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and" to whom "the inhabitants thereof are as gra.s.shoppers" (Isa 40:22): that is the G.o.d of the people that are lovers of Jesus Christ; therefore we should not fear them. To fear man, is to forget G.o.d; and to be careless in a time of danger, is to forget G.o.d"s ordinance. What is it then? Why, let us fear G.o.d, and diligently keep his way, with what prudence and regard to our preservation, and also the preservation of what we have, we may: And if, we doing this, our G.o.d shall deliver us, and what we have, into the hands of them that hate us, let us laugh, be fearless and careless, not minding now to do anything else but to stand up for Him against the workers of iniquity; fully concluding, that both we, and our enemies, are in the hand of him that loveth his people, and that will certainly render a reward to the wicked, after that he has sufficiently tried us by their means. "The great G.o.d that formed all things, both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors" (Prov 26:10).5
(3.) Another thing that the knowledge of what is prayed for of the Apostle, if we attain it, will minister to us, is, An holy fear and reverence of this great G.o.d in our souls; both because he is great, and because he is wise and good (Jer 10:7). "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name?" (Rev 15:4)
Greatness should beget fear, greatness should beget reverence: Now who so great as our G.o.d; and so, who to be feared like him!
He also is wise, and will not be deceived by any. "He will bring evil, and not call back his words, but will rise against the house of evil-doers, and against the help of them that work iniquity"
(Isa 31:2). Most men deal with G.o.d as if he were not wise; as if he either knew not the wickedness of their hearts and ways, or else knew not how to be even with them for it: When, alas! he is wise in heart, and mighty in power; and although he will not, without cause, afflict, yet he will not let wickedness go unpunished. This therefore should make us fear. He also is good, and this should make us serve him with fear. Oh! that a great G.o.d should be a good G.o.d; a good G.o.d to an unworthy, to an undeserving, and to a people that continually do what they can to provoke the eyes of his glory; this should make us tremble. He is fearful in service, fearful in praises.
The breadth, and length, and depth, and height of his out-going towards the children of men, should also beget in us a very great fear and dread of his majesty. When the prophet saw the height of the wheels, he said they were dreadful (Eze 1:18), and cried out unto them, O wheel! (10:13). His judgments also are a great deep (Psa 36:6); nor is there any "searching of his understanding" (Isa 40:28). He can tell how to bring his wheel upon us; and to make our table a snare, a trap, and a stumbling-block unto us (Isa 8:14, Rom 11:8-10). He can tell how to make his Son to us a rock of offence, and his gospel to be a savour of death unto death, unto us (2 Cor 2:15,16). He can tell how to choose delusions for us (Isa 66:4, 2 Thess 2:11,12), and to lead us forth with the workers of iniquity (Psa 125:5), He can out-wit, and out-do us, and prevail against us for ever (Job 14:20); and therefore we should be afraid and fear before Him, for our good, and the good of ours for ever: Yea, it is for these purposes, with others, that the Apostle prayeth thus for this people: For the comprehending of these things, do poise and keep the heart in an even course. This yields comfort; this gives encouragement; this begets fear and reverence in our hearts of G.o.d.
(4.) This knowledge will make us willing that he should be our G.o.d; yea, will also make us abide by that willingness. Jacob said with a vow, "If G.o.d will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father"s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my G.o.d: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be G.o.d"s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee" (Gen 28:20-22). Thus he considered the greatness of G.o.d, and from a supposition that he was what he had heard him, of his father, to be; he concluded to choose him for his G.o.d, and that he would worship him, and give him that honour that was due to him as G.o.d. How did the king of Babylon set him above all G.o.ds, when but some sparkling rays from him did light upon him: he calls him "a G.o.d of G.o.ds" (Dan 2:47), prefers him above all G.o.ds, charges all people and nations that they do nothing amiss against him (Dan 3:28,29): he calls him "the most high" G.o.d, the G.o.d "that liveth for ever"; and confesses, that he doth whatsoever he will in heaven and earth; and concludes with praising and extolling of him (Dan 4). We naturally love greatness; and when the glorious beauty of the King of glory shall be manifest to us, and we shall behold it, we shall say as Joshua did; Let all men do as seems them good; but I, and my house will serve the Lord (Josh 24:15).
When the Apostle Paul sought to win the Athenians to him, he sets Him forth before them with such terms as bespeaks his greatness; calling of him (and that rightly) "G.o.d that made the world, and all things:--the Lord of heaven and earth;--One that giveth to all life and breath, and all things"; One that is nigh to every one; "he in whom we live, and move, and have our being": G.o.d that hath made of one blood all nations of men, and that hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, &c. (Acts 17:24-28) These things bespeak the greatness of G.o.d, and are taking to considering men. Yea, these very Athenians, while ignorant of him, from those dark hints that they had by natural light concerning him, erected an altar to him, and put this singular inscription upon it, "To the unknown G.o.d": to shew, that according to their mode, they had some kind of reverence for him: but how much more when they came to know him? and to believe that G.o.d, in all his greatness, had engaged himself to be theirs; and to bring them to himself, that they might in time be partakers of his glory.
(5.) The more a man knows, or understands of the greatness of G.o.d towards him, expressed here by the terms of unsearchable breadth, length, depth, and height; the better will he be able in his heart to conceive of the excellent glory and greatness of the things that are laid up in the heavens for them that fear him. They that know nothing of this greatness, know nothing of them; they that think amiss of this greatness, think amiss of them; they that know but little of this greatness, know but little of them: But he that is able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; he is best able to conceive of, and, consequently to make a judgment concerning the due worth, and blessed glory of them.
This is both evident to reason; also experience confirmeth the same.
For, as for those dark souls that know nothing of his greatness, they have in derision those who are, through the splendor of the glory, captivated and carried away after G.o.d. Also, those whose judgments are corrupted, and themselves thereby made as drunkards, to judge of things foolishly, they, as it were, step in the same steps with the other, and vainly imagine thereabout. Moreover, we shall see those little spirited Christians, though Christians indeed, that are but in a small measure acquainted with this G.o.d, with the breadths, and lengths, and depths, and heights that are in him, taken but little with the glory and blessedness that they are to go to when they die: wherefore they are neither so mortified to this world, so dead to sin, so self-denying, so delighted in the book of G.o.d, nor so earnest in desires to be acquainted with the heights, and depths that are therein. No, this is reserved only for those who are devoted thereto: who have been acquainted with G.o.d in a measure beyond that which your narrow-spirited Christians understand. There doth want as to these things, enlargings in the hearts of the most of saints, as there did in those of Corinth, and also in those at Ephesus: Wherefore, as Paul bids the one, and prays that the other may be enlarged, and have great knowledge thereabout: so we should, to answer such love, through desire, separate ourselves from terrene things that we may seek and intermeddle with all wisdom (Prov 18:1). Christ says, "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine" (John 7:17, Isa 28:9). Oh! that we were indeed enlarged as to these breadths, and lengths, and depths, and heights of G.o.d, as the Apostle desired the Ephesians might.
(6.) Then those great truths; the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment, would neither seem so like fables, nor be so much off our hearts as they do, and are (1 Cor 15:35). For the thorough belief of them depends upon the knowledge of the abilities that are in G.o.d to perform what he has said thereabout: And hence it is that your inferiour sort of Christians live so like, as if none of these things were at hand; and hence it is again, that they so soon are shaken in mind about them, when tempted of the devil, or briskly a.s.saulted by deceivers. But this cometh to pa.s.s that there may be fulfilled what is written: "And while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept"
(Matt 25:1-7). Surely, the meaning is, they were asleep about his coming, the resurrection and the judgment; and, consequently had lost much of that knowledge of G.o.d, the which if they had retained; these truths, with power, would have been upon their hearts. The Corinthians were horribly decayed here, though some more than others: Hence Paul, when he treats of this doctrine, bids them "awake to righteousness," and not sin, telling them, that some among them had not the knowledge of G.o.d (1 Cor 15:34). To be sure, they had not such a knowledge of G.o.d as would keep them steady in the faith of these things (verse 51).
Now, the knowledge of the things above-mentioned, to wit, "this comprehending knowledge"; will greaten these things, bring them near, and make them to be credited as are the greatest of G.o.d"s truth: and the virtue of the faith of them is, to make one die daily. Therefore,
(7.) Another advantage that floweth from this knowledge, is, that it makes the next world desirable, not simply as it is with those lean souls, that desire it only as the thief desireth the judge"s favour, that he may be saved from the halter; but out of love such have to G.o.d and to the beauties of the house he dwells in; and that they may be rid of this world, which is to such as a dark dungeon. The knowledge of G.o.d that men pretend they have, may easily be judged of, by the answerable or unanswerableness of their hearts and lives thereto. Where is the man that groans earnestly to be gone to G.o.d, that counts this life a strait unto him: that saith as a sick man of my acquaintance did, when his friend at his bed-side prayed to G.o.d to spare his life, No, no, said he, pray not so; for it is better to be dissolved and be gone. Christians should shew the world how they believe; not by words on paper, not by gay and flourishing notions (James 2:18): but by those desires they have to be gone, and the proof that these desires are true, is a life in heaven while we are on earth (Phil 3:20,21). I know words are cheap, but a dram of grace is worth all the world. But where, as I said, shall it be found, not among carnal men, not among weak Christians, but among those, and those only, that enjoy a great measure of Paul"s wish here. But to come to the
SECOND PART OF THE TEXT.
AND TO KNOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST WHICH Pa.s.sETH KNOWLEDGE. These words are the second part of the text, and they deal mainly about the love of Christ, who is the Son of G.o.d. We have spoken already briefly of G.o.d, and therefore now we shall speak also of his Son.
These words are a part of the prayer afore-mentioned, and have something of the same strain in them. In the first part, he prays that they might comprehend that which cannot absolutely by any means be comprehended: and here he prays that that might be known, which yet in the same breath he saith, pa.s.seth knowledge, to wit, the love of Christ. And to know the love of Christ, which pa.s.seth knowledge. In the words we are to take notice of three things:
FIRST, Of the love of Christ.
SECOND, Of the exceeding greatness of it.
THIRD, Of the knowledge of it.
FIRST, We will begin with the first of these, to wit, Of the love of Christ. Now for the explication of this we must inquire into three things, First, Who Christ is. Second, What love is. Third, What the love of Christ is.
First, Christ is a person of no less quality than he is of whom we treated before: to wit, very G.o.d. So I say, not t.i.tularly, not nominally, not so counterfeitly, but the self-same in nature with the Father (John 1:1,2, 1 John 5:7, Phil 2:6). Wherefore what we have under consideration, is so much the more to be taken notice of; namely, that a person so great, so high, so glorious, as this Jesus Christ was, should have love for us, that pa.s.ses knowledge.
It is common for equals to love, and for superiors to be beloved; but for the King of princes, for the Son of G.o.d, for Jesus Christ to love man thus: this is amazing, and that so much the more, for that man the object of this love, is so low, so mean, so vile, so undeserving, and so inconsiderable, as by the scriptures, everywhere he is described to be.
But to speak a little more particularly of this person. He is called G.o.d (John 1:1). The King of glory (Psa 24:10), and Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8). The brightness of the glory of his Father (Heb 1:3).
The head over all things (Eph 1:22). The Prince of life (Acts 3:15). The Creator of all things (Col 1:16). The upholder of all things (Heb 1:3). The disposer of all things (Matt 28:18). The only beloved of the Father (Matt 11).
But the persons of him beloved, are called transgressors, sinners, enemies, dust and ashes, fleas (1 Sam 24:14), worms, shadows, vapours: vile, sinful, filthy, unclean, unG.o.dly fools, madmen.
And now is it not to be wondered at, and are we not to be affected herewith, saying, And wilt thou set thine eye upon such an one?
But how much more when He will set his heart upon us. And yet this great, this high, this glorious person, verily, verily loveth such.
Second, We now come to the second thing, namely, to shew what is love; not in a way of nice distinction of words, but in a plain and familiar discourse, yet respecting the love of the person under consideration.
Love ought to be considered with reference to the subject as well as to the object of it.
The subject of love in the text, is Christ; but forasmuch as love in him is diverse from the love that is in us; therefore it will not be amiss, if a little [of] the difference be made appear.
Love in us is a pa.s.sion of the soul, and being such, is subject to ebb and flow, and to be extreme both ways. For whatever is a pa.s.sion of the soul, whether love or hatred, joy or fear, is more apt to exceed, or come short, than to keep within its due bounds.
Hence, oft-times that which is loved today is hated tomorrow (2 Sam 13:15); yea, and that which should be loved with bounds of moderation, is loved to the drowning of both soul and body in perdition and destruction (1 Tim 6:9,10).
Besides, love in us is apt to choose to itself undue and unlawful objects, and to reject those, that with leave of G.o.d, we may embrace and enjoy; so unruly, as to the laws and rules of divine government, oft-times is this pa.s.sion of love in us.
Love in us, requires, that something pleasing and delightful be in the object loved, at least, so it must appear to the l.u.s.t and fancy of the person loving, or else love cannot act; for the love that is in us, is not of power to set itself on work, where no allurement is in the thing to be beloved.
Love in us decays, though once never so warm and strongly fixed, if the object falls off, as to its first alluring provocation; or disappointeth our expectation with some unexpected reluctancy to our fancy or our mind.
All this we know to be true from nature, for every one of us are thus; nor can we refuse, or choose as to love, but upon, and after the rate, and the working thus of our pa.s.sions. Wherefore our love, as we are natural, is weak, unorderly, fails and miscarries, either by being too much or too little; yea, though the thing which is beloved be allowed for an object of love, both by the law of nature and grace. We therefore must put a vast difference betwixt love, as found in us, and love as found in Christ, and that, both as to the nature, principle, or object of love.
Love in Christ is not love of the same nature, as is love in us; love in him is essential to his being (1 John 4:16); but in us it is not so, as has been already shewed. G.o.d is love; Christ is G.o.d; therefore Christ is love, love naturally. Love therefore is essential to His being. He may as well cease to be, as cease to love. Hence therefore it follows, that love in Christ floweth not from so low and beggarly a principle, as doth love in man; and consequently is not, nor can be attended with those infirmities or defects, that the love of man is attended with.
It is not attended with those unruly or uncertain motions that ours is attended with: here is no ebbing, no flowing, no going beyond, no coming short; and so nothing of uncertainty. "Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end" (John 13:1).
True, there is a way of manifesting of this love, which is suited to our capacities, as men, and by that we see it sometimes more, sometimes less (Song 7:11,12): also it is manifested to us as we do, or do not walk with G.o.d in this world (John 14:23). I speak now of saints.
Love in Christ pitcheth not itself upon undue or unlawful objects; nor refuseth to embrace what by the eternal covenant is made capable thereof. It always acteth according to G.o.d; nor is there at any time the least shadow of swerving as to this.
Love in Christ requireth no taking beauteousness in the object to be beloved, as not being able to put forth itself without such attracting allurements (Eze 16:6-8). It can act of and from itself, without all such kind of dependencies. This is manifest to all who have the least true knowledge of what that object is in itself, on which the Lord Jesus has set his heart to love them.
Love in Christ decays not, nor can be tempted so to do by anything that happens, or that shall happen hereafter, in the object so beloved. But as this love at first acts by, and from itself, so it continueth to do until all things that are imperfections, are completely and everlastingly subdued. The reason is, because Christ loves to make us comely, not because we are so (Eze 16:9-14).
Object. But all along Christ compareth his love to ours; now, why doth he so, if they be so much alike?
Answer. Because we know not love but by the pa.s.sions of love that work in our hearts; wherefore he condescends to our capacities, and speaketh of His love to us, according as we find love to work in ourselves to others. Hence he sets forth his love to us, by borrowing from us instances of our love to wife and children (Eph 5:25). Yea, he sometimes sets forth his love to us, by calling to our mind how sometimes a man loves a woman that is a wh.o.r.e, "Go,"
(saith G.o.d to the prophet) "love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the word of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other G.o.ds, and love flagons of wine." (Hosea 3:1) But then, these things must not be understood with respect to the nature, but the dispensations and manifestations of love; no, nor with reference to these neither, any further than by making use of such suitable similitudes, thereby to commend his love to us, and thereby to beget in us affections to him for the love bestowed upon us. Wherefore Christ"s love must be considered both with respect to the essence, and also as to the divers workings of it. For the essence thereof, it is as I said, natural with himself, and as such, it is the root and ground of all those actions of his, whereby he hath shewed that himself is loving to sinful man. But now, though the love that is in him is essential to his nature, and can vary no more than G.o.d himself: yet we see not this love but by the fruits of it, nor can it otherwise be discerned. "Hereby perceive we the love of G.o.d, because he laid down his life for us" (1 John 3:16). We must then betake ourselves to the discoveries of this love, of which there are two sorts; [namely,] such as are the foundations, and such as are the consequences of those fundamental acts. Those which I call the foundations, are they upon which all other discoveries of his goodness depend, and they are two. 1. His dying for us. 2. His improving of his death for us at the right hand of G.o.d.
Third, And this leads me to the third particular, to wit, to shew you what the love of Christ is; namely, in the discovery of it.
And to know the love of Christ.
The love of Christ is made known unto us, as I said, First, By his dying for us. Second, By his improving of his dying for us.
1. His dying for us appears, (1.) To be wonderful in itself. (2.) In his preparations for that work.
(1.) It appears to be wonderful in itself, and that both with respect to the nature of that death, as also, with respect to the persons for whom he so died.
The love of Christ appears to be wonderful by the death he died: In that he died, in that he died such a death. "Twas strange love in Christ that moved him to die for us: strange, because not according to the custom of the world. Men do not use, in cool blood, deliberately to come upon the stage or ladder, to lay down their lives for others; but this did Jesus Christ, and that too for such, whose qualification, if it be duly considered, will make this act of his, far more amazing, He laid down his life for his enemies (Rom 5), and for those that could not abide him; yea, for those, even for those that brought him to the cross: not accidentally, or because it happened so, but knowingly, designedly, (Zech 12:10), he knew it was for those he died, and yet his love led him to lay down his life for them. I will add, That those very people for whom he laid down his life, though they by all sorts of carriages did what they could to provoke him to pray to G.o.d his Father, that he would send and cut them off by the flaming sword of angels (Matt 26:53), would not be provoked, but would lay down his life for them. Nor must I leave off here: We never read that Jesus Christ was more cheerful in all his life on earth, than when he was going to lay down his life for them, now he thanked G.o.d (Luke 22:19), now he sang (Matt 26:30).