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THE TWENTIETH
SERMON.
Richard Sibbes
I am my beloved's, and my
beloved is mine; he feedeth among the lilies.—
CANT. VI.
3.
The
church, you see here, though she stood out a while
against all Christ's invitation and knocking, yet at
length she is brought to yield herself up wholly unto
Christ, and to renounce herself, which course God takes
with most, yea, in a manner with all his people, ere they
go out of this world, to lay all high things low, beat
down every high thought and imagination which exalteth
itself against him, 2 Cor. x. 5, that they may give
themselves and all they have to Christ, Luke xiv. 26, if
he call for it. For he that doth not so is not worthy of
Christ. If we do not this, at least in preparation of
mind, let us not own the name of Christians, lest we own
that which shall further increase and aggravate our
condemnation, professing religion one way, and yet
alienating our minds to our lusts and pleasures of the
world another way. To have peculiar love-fits of our own,
distinct from Christ, how stands this with 'I am my
beloved's, and my beloved is mine'? How stands it with
the self-resignation that was spoken of before?
Now this follows upon
apprehension of Christ being ours. 'I am my beloved's,
because my beloved is mine first.' There are four reasons
why Christ must be given to us before we can give
ourselves to him by this self-resignation.
1. Because he is the
chief spring of all good affections, which he must
place in us; loving us, ere we can love him, 1 John iv.
10, 19.
2. Because love
descends. Though it be of a fiery nature, yet in this
it is contrary, for love descends, whereas fire ascends.
The superior, first loves the inferior. Christ must
descend in his love to us, eve we can ascend to him in
our affections.
3. Because our nature is
such that we cannot love but where we know ourselves to
be loved first. Therefore God is indulgent to us
herein; and that we may love him, he manifests his love
first to us.
4. Because naturally
ourselves, being conscious of guilt, are full of fears
from thence. So that if the soul be not
persuaded first of Christ's love, it runs away from him,
as Adam did from God, and as Peter from Christ, 'Depart
from me, for I am but a sinful man,' Luke v.8. So the
soul of every man would say, if first it were not
persuaded of God's love in Christ, 'Who amongst us shall
dwell with the everlasting burnings?' Isa. xxxiii. 14.
Therefore to prevent that disposition of soul which would
rise out of the sense of guilt and unworthiness, God
first speaks to us in Christ; at length saying unto our
souls, 'I am thy salvation,' whereupon the soul first
finding his love, loves him back again, of whom it finds
itself so much beloved; so that our love is but a
reflection of his, 'I am my beloved's, because my beloved
is mine.
It is with the Spirit of
God as with the spirits in the soul and body of a man,
there is a marriage betwixt the body and soul. The
spirits join both together, being of a middle nature; for
they have somewhat spiritual near the soul, and somewhat
bodily near the body. Therefore they come between the
body and the soul, and are the instruments thereof,
whereby it works. So it is with the Spirit of God. The
same Spirit that tells the soul that Christ is ours, the
same Spirit makes up the match on our part, and gives us
up to Christ again.
Let this then be the trial
that we are Christ's, by the spiritual echo that our
souls make to that report which Christ makes to our
souls, whether in promises or in instructions.
Use 1. See hence
likewise the nature of faith, for these are the words of
faith as well as of love. Faith hath two branches, it
doth give as well as take. Faith receives Christ, and
says, Christ is mine; and the same faith saith, I am
Christ's again. Indeed, our souls are empty; so that the
main work of faith is to be an empty hand, mendica
manus (as Luther calls it); a beggar's hand to
receive. But when it hath received it gives back again,
both ourselves and all that we can do. The churches of
Macedonia 'gave themselves,' and then 'they gave their
goods,' 2 Cor. viii. 5. Where faith is, there will be a
giving of ourselves and our goods; and, by a proportion,
our strength, wits, and all back again. This discovers a
great deal of empty false faith in the world; for
undoubtedly if it were true faith there would be a
yielding back again.
Use 2. And again,
these words discover the mutual coherence of
justification and sanctification, and the dependence one
upon another. 'I am my beloved's, and my beloved is
mine.' Christ is mine; his righteousness is mine for my
justification; I am clothed with Christ as it is, 'The
spouse there is clothed with the sun,' Rev. xii. 1, with
the beams of Christ. But is that all? No. 'l am my
beloved's;' I am Christ's. There is a return of faith in
sanctification. The same Spirit that witnesseth Christ is
ours, it sanctifies and alters our disposition, that we
can say, I am Christ's. It serves to instruct us
therefore in the necessary connection of these two,
justification and sanctification, against the idle
slander of papists, that sinfully traduce that doctrine,
as if we were Solifideans, as if we severed
justification from sanctification. No. We hold here that
whensoever Christ is ours, there is a spirit of
sanctification in us, to yield all to Christ, though this
resignation be not presentl perfect.
Use 3. This likewise
helps us, by way of direction, to understand the covenant
of grace, and the seals of the covenant, what they
enforce and comprise; not only what God will do to us,
but the duty we are to do to him again, though we do it
in his strength. A covenant holds not on one side, but on
both. Christ is mine, and I am Christ's again. 'I will be
their God,' but they must have grace 'to be my people,'
Lev. xxvi. 12; and then the covenant is made up. The
covenant of grace is so called, because God is so
gracious as to enable us to perform our own part.
And so in the seals of the
covenant in baptism. God doth not only bind himself to do
thus and thus to us, but binds us also to do back again
to him. So in the communion, we promise to lead a new
life, renewing our covenant; and therefore we must not
think that all is well (when we have received our Maker),
though we continue in a scandalous, fruitless course of
life. No. There is a promise in the sacrament (the seal
of the covenant of grace), to yield up ourselves to God,
to return to Christ again with our duty. Then we come as
we should do when we come thus disposed. This for
direction, 'My beloved is mine, and I am my
beloved's.'
Use 4. To proceed to
make an use of comfort to poor, doubting
Christians. 'I am my beloved's,' is the voice of the
whole church, that all ranks of Christians, if they be
true, may without presumption take up. I have not so much
faith, so much love, so much grace, so much patience as
another, saith a poor Christian; therefore I am none of
Christ's. But we must know that Christ hath in his church
of all ranks, and they are all his spouse, one as well as
another, there is no exception. There is a little spirit
of emulation, and a spice of envy, in Christians that are
weaker. If they have not all that great measure of grace
which they see in others, they fear they have none at
all; as if there were no babes in Christ's school as well
as men and grown persons.
Then again, we see here the
nature of faith in the whole church. It is the same that
is in every particular, and the same in every particular
as it is in the whole church. The whole church saith, 'I
am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine.' I appropriate
him. There is a spirit of appropriation in the whole, and
there is so in each particular. Every Christian may say
with Paul, 'I live by faith in the Son of God, that hath
loved me, and gave himself for me,' Gal. ii. 20; and with
Thomas, 'My God, and my Lord,' John xx. 28.
The ground hereof is,
because they are all one in Christ, and there is one and
the same Spirit in the whole church and every particular
Christian, as in pipes, though of different sounds, yet
there is the same breath in them. So Christians may have
different sounds, from the greater or lesser strength of
grace that is in the one and in the other, but all comes
from the same breath, the same Spirit. The Spirit in the
bride saith Come, Rev. xxii. 17, the whole church saith
it, and every particular Christian must say it; because,
as the body is acted by one spirit, and makes but one
natural body, though consisting of many parts weaker and
stronger, so should there be a harmony in this mystical
body acted by that one Spirit of Christ, who so regards
all, as if there were but one, and regards every one so,
as he doth not forget the whole. Sic omnibus attentus
ut non detentus, &c. Christ so attends to all,
that he is not detained from any particular, and he so
attends every particular, that he is not restrained from
all. There is the same love to all as to one, and to
every one, as if there were no other. He so loves each
one, that every Christian may say as well as the whole
church, Christ is mine, and I am Christ's.
In those things that we
call homogeneal, there is the same nature in each
quantity as in the whole, as there is the same nature in
one drop of water as in the whole ocean, all is water;
and the same respect of a spark, and of all the element
of fire. So Christ bears the same respect to the church
as to every particular, and to every particular as to the
church.
Use 5. To come to
make an use of direction, how to come to be able to
say this, 'I am my beloved's, and my beloved is
mine.' For answer hereto, take notice in the first place,
from the dependence. Christ must be first ours, before we
can give ourselves to him.
(1.) Therefore, we must
dwell on the consideration of Christ's love. This must
direct and lead our method in this thing. Would we have
our hearts to love Christ, to trust in him, and to
embrace him, why then think what he is to us. Begin
there; nay, and what we are: weak, and in our
apprehension, lost. Then go to consider his love, his
constant love to his church and children. 'Whom he loves,
he loves to the end,' John xiii. 1. We must warm our
souls with the consideration of the love of God in him to
us, and this will stir up our faith to him back again.
For we are more safe in that he is ours, Gal. iv. 9,
Philip. iii. 12, than that we give ourselves to him. We
are more safe in his comprehending of us, than in our
clasping and holding of him. As we say of the mother and
the child, both hold, but the safety of the child is that
the mother holds him. If Christ once give himself to us,
he will make good his own part alway. Our safety is more
on his side than on ours. If ever we have felt the love
of Christ, we may comfort ourselves with the constancy
and perpetuity thereof. Though, perhaps, we find not our
affections warmed to him at all times, nor alike, yet the
strength of a Christian's comfort lies in this, that
first, 'Christ is mine,' and then, in the second place,
that 'I am his.' Now, I say, that we may be able to
maintain this blessed tradition of giving ourselves to
Christ,
(2.) Let us dwell on the
consideration of his love to us, and of the necessity
that we have of him; how miserable we are without him,
poor, beggarly, in bondage to the devil. Therefore we
must have him to recover us out of debt, and to enrich
us. For Christ's love carries him forth, not only to pay
all our debts for us, but to enrich us; and it is a
protecting, preserving love, till he brings us to heaven,
his own place, where we shall ever be with him. The
consideration of these things will warm our hearts, and
for this purpose serves the ministry
(3.) We should therefore,
in the next place, attend upon the word, for this very
end. Wherefore serves the ministry? Among many others,
this is one main end—'to lay open the unsearchable
riches of Christ.' Therein you have something of Christ
unfolded, of his natures, offices, and benefits we have
by him, —redemption, and freedom, and a right to all
things in him, the excellencies of another world.
Therefore attend upon the means of salvation, that we may
know what riches we have in him. This will keep our
affections close to Christ, so as to say, 'I am his.'
(4.) And labour we also
every day more and more to bring all our love to him. We
see in burning-glasses, where the beams of the sun meet
in one, how forcible they are, because there is an union
of the beams in a little point. Let it be our labour that
all the beams of our love may meet in Christ, that he may
be as the church saith, our beloved. 'My beloved is mine,
and I am my beloved's,' saith she, as if the church had
no love out of Christ. And is it love lost? No; but as
Christ is the church's beloved, so the church is Christ's
love again, as we see in this book oft, 'My love, my
dove.' As all streams meet in the great ocean, so let all
our loves meet in Christ. We may love other things, and
we should do so, but no otherwise than as they convey
love to us from Christ, and may be means of drawing up
our affections unto Christ. We may love our friends, and
we ought to do so, and other blessings of God; but how?
No otherwise than as tokens of his love to us. We love a
thing that our friends send to us. O, but it is as it
doth convey his affection to us. So must we love all
things, as they come from God's love to us in Christ.
And, indeed, whatsoever we
have is a love-token, even our very afflictions
themselves. 'Whom I love, I rebuke and chastise,' Heb.
xii. 6.
(5.) Again, that we may
inflame our hearts with the love of Christ, as we are
exhorted by Jude, 21, let us consider the vanity of all
things that entice us from Christ, and labour every day
more and more to draw our affections from them, as we are
exhorted—' Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and
incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy
father's house: so shall the King greatly desire thy
beauty,' Ps. xlv. 10. So, if we will have Christ to
delight in us, that we may say we are his, let us labour
to sequester our affections more and more from all
earthly things, that we may not have such hearts, as St
James speaketh of, adulterous hearts. 'O ye adulterers
and adulteresses! know ye not that the love of the world
is enmity with God?' James iv. 4.
Indeed there is reason for
this exhortation; for all earthly things, they are all
vain and empty things. There is an emptiness in
whatsoever is in the world, save Christ. Therefore we
should not set our affections too much upon them. A man
cannot be wise in loving anything but Christ, and what he
loves for Christ. Therefore let us follow that counsel,
to draw ourselves from our former company, acquaintance,
pleasures, delights, and vanities. We cannot bestow our
love and our affections better than upon Christ. It is a
happiness that we have such affections, as joy, delight,
and love, planted in us by God; and what a happiness is
it, that we should have such an excellent object to fill
those affections, yea, to transcend and more than satisfy
them! Therefore the apostle wisheth that they might know
all the dimensions of God's love in Christ. There is a
'height, breadth, length, and depth of the love of God,'
Eph. iii. 18.
And let us think of the
dimensions, the height, breadth, and depth of our misery
out of Christ. The more excellent our natures are, the
more miserable they are if not changed ; for look what
degree of excellency we have, if it be not advanced in
Christ, we have so much misery being out of him.
Therefore let us labour to see this, as to value our
being in him, so to be able, upon good grounds, to say,
'I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine.'
(6.) Again, let us labour
to walk in the light of a sanctified knowledge to be
attained by the gospel, for as it is, 'the end of all our
preaching is to assure Christ to the soul,' 1 John v.18,
that we may be able to say without deceiving our own
souls, 'I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. All
preaching, I say, is for this end. The terror of the law
and the discovery of corruption is to drive us out of
ourselves to him; and then to provoke us to grow up into
him more and more. Therefore saith John, 'All our
preaching is that we may have fellowship with the Father
and the Son, and they with us,' 1 John i. 7. And what
doth he make an evidence of that fellowship? 'walking in
the light, as he is light,' or else we are liars. He is
bold in plain terms to give us the lie, to say we are
Christ's, and have communion with the Father and the Son,
when yet we walk in darkness. In sins against conscience,
in wilful ignorance, the darkness of an evil life, we
have no communion with Christ. Therefore if we will have
communion with him, let us walk in the light, and labour
to be lightsome in our understandings, to have a great
deal of knowledge, and then to walk answerable to that
light and revelation that we have. Those that live in
sins against conscience, and are friends to the darkness
of ignorance, of an evil life, Oh they never think of the
fellowship with Christ and with God! These things are
mere riddles to them; they have no hope of them, or if
any, their hope is in vain. They bar themselves of ever
having comfortable communion with Christ here; much less
shall they enjoy him hereafter in heaven.
Therefore labour every day
more and more to grow rich in knowledge, to get light,
and to walk in that light; to which end pray with the
holy apostle, 'That you may have the Spirit of
revelation,' Eph. i. 17, that excellent Spirit of God, to
reveal the things of God, that we may have the light
discovered to us.
What a world of comfort
hath a Christian that hath light in him and walks in that
light, above another man. Whether he live or die, the
light brings him into fellowship with the Father of
lights. He that hath this light knows his condition and
his way, and whither he goeth. When he dieth he knows in
what condition he dieth, and upon what grounds. The very
light of nature is comfortable, much more that of grace.
Therefore labour to grow daily more and more in the
knowledge and obedience of the light.
All professors of the
gospel are either such as are not Christ's, or such as
are his. For such as are not yet, that you may be
provoked to draw to fellowship with Christ, do but
consider you are as branches cut off, that will wither
and die, and be cast into the fire, unless you be grated
into the living stock, Christ. You are as naked persons
in a storm, not clothed with anything to stand against
the storm of God's wrath. Let this force you to get into
Christ.
Use 6. And next
for encouragement consider, Christ offereth himself to
all in the gospel; and that is the end of the
ministry, to bring Christ and our souls together, to make
a spiritual marriage, to lay open his riches and to draw
you to him, 1 John i. 9. If you confess your sins, he
will forgive them, and you shall have mercy, 'He relieves
those that are wearied and heavy laden,' Mat. xi. 28, and
bids those come to him that are thirsty, Isa. lv. 1.
Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost.
Christ offers himself in mercy to the worst soul.
Therefore if there be
any that have lived in evil courses, in former times,
consider that upon repentance all shall be forgotten, and
as a mist scattered away and cast into the bottom of the
sea. Christ offers himself to you. These are the times,
this is the hour of grace. Now the water is stirring for
you to enter; do but entertain Christ, and desire that he
may be yours to rule you and guide you, and all will be
well for the time to come.
Obj. Do not
object, I am a loathesome creature, full of
rebellions.
Ans. Christ doth not
match with you, because you are good, but to make you
good. Christ takes you not with any dowry. All that
he requires is to confess your beggary and to come with
emptiness. He takes us not because we are clean, but
because he will purge us. He takes us in our blood when
he first takes us, Ezek. xvi. 9. Let none despair either
for want of worth or of strength, Eph. v.27. Christ seeth
that for strength we are dead, and for worth we are
enemies; but he gives us both spiritual strength and
worth, takes us near to himself and enricheth us. Let
none therefore be discouraged. It is our office, thus to
lay open and offer the riches of Christ. If you will not
come in, but love your sinful courses more than Christ,
then you perish in your blood, and we free our hands, and
may free our souls from the guilt thereof. Therefore as
you love your own souls, come in at length and stand out
no longer.
And for those that have in
some measure given themselves up to Christ, and can say,
'He is mine and I am his,' let them go on with comfort,
and never be discouraged for the infirmities that hang
about them. For one part of Christ's office is to purge
his church by his Spirit more and more; not to cast her
away for her infirmities, 'but to wash and cleanse it
more and more till it be a glorious spouse like himself,'
Eph. v.27. For if the husband will, by the bond of
nature, bear with the infirmities of the wife, as the
weaker vessel, doth not Christ bind himself by that which
he accounts us bound? Is there more love and mercy, and
pity in us to those that we take near us, than there is
in Christ to us? What a most blasphemous thought were
this to conceive so! Only let us take heed of being in
league with sin; for we cannot give our souls to Christ,
and to sinful courses too. Christ will allow of no bigamy
or double marriage. Where he hath anything to do, we must
have single hearts, resolving, though I fall, yet I
purpose to please Christ, and to go on in a good
conversation; and if our hearts tell us so, daily
infirmities ought not to discourage us.
We have helps enough for
these. First, Christ bids us ask forgiveness; and then we
have the mercy of Christ to bear with weaker vessels.
Then his advocation. He is now in heaven to plead for us.
If we were perfect, we needed not that office, 1 John ii.
2. Let none be discouraged therefore; but let us labour
more and more that we may be able to comprehend in some
measure the love of Christ, so will all duties come off
sweetly and easily; and then we shall be enabled to
suffer all things, not only willingly, but cheerfully,
and rejoice in them. Love is of the nature of fire, which
as it severeth and consumeth all that is opposite, all
dross and dregs, and dissolves coldness, so it quickens
and makes active and lively. It hath a kind of
constraining force, a sweet violence. As the apostle
saith, 'the love of Christ constraineth,' 2 Cor.
v.24.
Let a man that loves the
Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, be called to part with
his life, he will yield it as a sacrifice with comfort.
Come what will, all is welcome, when we are inflamed with
the love of Christ; and the more we suffer, the more we
find his love. For he reserves the manifestation of his
love most for times of suffering; and the more we find
the manifestation of his love, the more we love him back
again, and rejoice in suffering for him that we love so.
Whether they be duties of obedience, active or passive,
doing or suffering, all comes off with abundance of
cheerfulness and ease, where the love of Christ is, that
the soul can say, 'I am my beloved's, and my beloved is
mine.' Nothing in the world is able to make such a soul
miserable. It follows.
'He feedeth among the lilies. The church here
shews where Christ feeds. Ans. For answer,
he both feeds his church among the lilies, and delights
himself to be there. The one follows the other.
Especially it is meant of the church. Those that are his,
he feeds them among the lilies. How?
Lilies are such kind of
flowers as require a great deal of nourishment, and grow
best in valleys and fat ground. Therefore when she saith,
'He feeds among the lilies,' the meaning is, he feeds his
church and people in fat pastures, as sheep in such
grounds as are sweet and fruitful. Such are his holy word
and the communion of saints. These are especially the
pastures wherein he feeds his church. The holy truths of
God are the food of the soul, whereby it is cherished and
nourished up to life everlasting. This whole book is a
hind of pastoral (to understand the word a little
better), a ' song of a beloved' concerning a beloved.
Therefore Christ in many places of this book, he takes
upon him the term and carriage, as it were, of a loving
shepherd, who labours to find out for his sheep the
fattest, fruitfulest, best, and sweetest pastures, that
they may grow up as calves of the stall, as it is Malachi
iv. 2, that they may grow and be well liking.
You have, to give light to
this place, a phrase somewhat like this, where he follows
the point more at large, Cant. i. 7. The church there
prays to Christ, 'Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth,
where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flocks to rest
at noon.' Those that are coming up in the church desire
to know with whom they may join, and what truths they may
embrace. 'Tell me where thou feedest, and where thou
makest thy flock to rest at noon:' that is, in the
greatest heat and storm of persecution, as at noon-day
the sun is hottest. 'For why should I be as one that
turns aside by the flocks of thy companions?' that is, by
those that are not true friends, that are false
shepherds; why should I be drawn away by them? I desire
to feed where thou feedest among thy sheep. Why should I
be as one that turns aside by the flocks of those that
are emulators to thee? as antichrist is to Christ. Thus
the church puts forth to Christ, whereunto Christ
replies, verse 8. 'If thou know not, O thou fairest among
women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flocks,
and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents 'that is,
if thou know not, go thy way forth, get thee out of
thyself out of the world, out of thy former course, put
thyself forward, stay not complaining, go on, put thyself
to endeavour, go thy way forth. whither? ' In the
footsteps of the flocks.' See the steps of Christians in
the best times of the church in former times. Tread in
the steps of those that lived in the best ages of the
church. 'Feed thy kids,' thy Christians, 'beside the
shepherds' tents,' the best shepherds. Mark where the
apostles and prophets fed their sheep; there feed thou.
And mark the footsteps of the flock that have lived in
the best times; for of all times since the apostles and
prophets, we must follow those virgin best times. All
churches are so far true churches, as they have
consanguinity with the primitive apostolical and
prophetical churches.
Therefore, 'we are now to
go out by the footsteps of the flock.' Mark the footsteps
of former Christians, Abraham, Moses, and David; and in
Christ's time, of John, Peter, and the rest. Blessed
saints! walk as they walked, go their way, and 'feed
yourselves by the shepherds' tents.' Mark the shepherds
where they have their tents! So these words have
reference to the prophetical, especially to the
evangelical times, whereunto we must conform ourselves ;
for the latter times are apostate times. After a certain
season the church kept not her purity; which the
Scriptures foretold directly, that we should not take
scandal at it. The church did fall to a kind of
admiration of antichrist, and embraced doctrines of
devils, 1 Tim. iv. 1. Therefore now we must not follow
these companies that lead into by-paths, contrary to the
apostolical ways, but see wherein our church agrees with
the apostolical churches and truth, and embrace no truth
for the food of our souls, but that we find in the
gospel. For antichrist feeds his flocks with wind, and
with poison, and with empty things. For what hath been
the food in popery? Sweet and goodly titles; as if they,
poor souls, had the best pastors in the world, whenas
they administer to them nothing but that which will be
the bane of their souls, full of poison and fraud. This
is spoken to unfold that place which gives light to this,
spoken of the pastoral care of Christ, 'he feeds his
flock among the lilies,' plentifully and sweetly. From
hence may be briefly observed, first,
That Christ feeds as
well as breeds. And we have need of feeding as well
as breeding. Where dost thou feed? that is, build
up thy children, and go on with the work began in them.
We have need to be fed after we are bred; and Christ
(answerable to our exigence and necessity) he feeds as
well as breeds; and that word which is the seed to beget
us, is that which feeds too, 1 Peter i. 23. What is the
seed of the new birth? The word of God, the holy
promises, they are the seed, the Spirit mingling with
them, whereby a Christian is born, and being born, is
cherished and bred. Therefore, 'as new-born babes,' saith
the apostle, 'desire the sincere milk of the word, that
you may grow thereby,' 1 Peter ii. 1. So that the same
thing is both the seed of a Christian, and that which
breeds him; the blessed truth and promises of God.
Quest. If you
ask, why we must grow up and be fed still?
Ans. 1. Do but
ask your own souls, whether there be not a perpetual
renewing of corruption, which still breaks out into new
guilt every day. Therefore we have need to feed every day
anew upon the promises, upon old promises with new
affections. Somewhat breaks out ever and anon which
abaseth the soul of a Christian, that makes him go with a
sharp appetite to the blessed truths that feed his
soul.
Ans. 2. And then
again, we need a great deal of strength, which is
maintained by feeding. Besides the guilt of the soul,
there needs strength for duty, which must be fetched from
the blessed word of God, and the comforts thence, whereby
we are able to withstand and resist, to stand and do all
that we do.
Ans. 3. And then
we are set upon by variety of temptations within and
without, which require variety of wisdom and strength,
all which must be gotten by feeding; and therefore you
see a Christian for his subsistence and being, hath need
of a feeding, cherishing, and maintaining still, by the
sweet and blessed directions and promises out of the word
of God.
Therefore you may see what
kind of atheistical creatures those are, and how much
they are to be regarded, that turn off all with a
compendium in religion, Tush, if we know that we
must love God above all, and our neighbours as ourselves,
and that Christ died for all, we know enough, more than
we can practise. They think these compendiums will
serve the turn, as if there were not a necessity of
growing still further and further in distinct knowledge.
Alas! the soul needs to be fed continually. It will
stagger else, and be insufficient to stand against
temptation, or to perform duties.
A second general point
out of the text is this, that as Christ feedeth
still his flock and people, so he feeds them fully,
plentifully, and sweetly among the lilies. There are
saving truths enough. There is an all-sufficiency in the
book of God. What need we go out to man's inventions,
seeing there is a fulness and all-sufficiency of truth
there? Whatsoever is not in that is wind, or poison. In
the word is a full kind of feeding. In former times when
they had not the Scriptures, and the comforts of them to
feed on, what did the poor souls then? and what do those
remaining in popery feed on? Upon stones as it were.
There was a dream of an holy man in those times, divers
hundred years agone, that he saw one having a deal of
manchet (that is, 'white bread' - Ed.) to feed
on, and yet all the while the poor wretch he fed on
stones. What folly and misery is this, when there are
delicate things to feed on, to gnaw upon stones! And what
is all the school learning almost, (except one or two
that had better spirits than the rest) but a gnawing upon
stones, barren distinctions, empty things, that had no
substance in them? They had the Scriptures, though they
were locked up in Latin, an unknown tongue. They had the
sweet pastures of Christ to feed in; and yet all this
while they fed, as it were, on stones.
This should shew us,
likewise, our own blessedness that live in these
times, wherein the streams of the gospel run abundantly,
sweetly, and pleasantly. There is a fulness among us,
even in the spirits of the worst sort. There is a fulness
almost to loathing of that heavenly manna: but those
souls, who ever were acquainted with the necessity of it,
rather find a want than a fulness ; and still desire to
grow up to a further desire, that as they have plentiful
means, so they may have plentiful affections after, and
strength by those means. Let us know our own happiness in
these times. Is it not a comfort to know where to feed
and to have pastures to go to, without suspicion of
poison? that we may feed ourselves with comforts fully
without fear of bane, or noisome mingling of
coloqointida in the pot, which would disrelish all
the rest? to know that there are truths that we may feed
on safely? This the church in the former place, Cant. i.
6, 7, accounted a great privilege, ' Oh, shew me where
thou feedest at noon.' In the greatest heat of
persecution, that I may feed among them. So then it is a
great privilege to know where to feed, and so to be
esteemed, that thereby we may be stirred up to be
thankful for our own good, and to improve these
privileges to our souls' comfort.
But the second branch that
must be touched a little is, that there is fulness
nowhere but in God's house; and that there, and there
only, is that which satisfieth the soul with fatness and
sweetness.
Nay, not only the
promises, but the very rebukes, of Scripture, are sweet.
The rebukes of a friend, they feed the soul. For we have
many corruptions which hinder our communion with God, so
that a Christian delights to have his corruptions
rebuked; for he knows, if he leave them, he shall grow
into further communion with Christ, wherein stands his
happiness in this world, and the fulness of his happiness
in the world to come.
If this be so, let us know
then that when we come to religion we lose not the
sweetness of our lives, but only translate them to a far
more excellent and better condition. Perhaps we fed
before upon vain authors, upon (as it were) gravel, vain
company; but now we have our delight (and perhaps find
more pleasure) in better things. Instead of that which
fed our idle fancy (vain treatises and the like), now we
have holy truths to delight our souls. Believe it, a
Christian never knows what comfort is to purpose till he
be downright and sincere in religion. Therefore Austin
saith of himself, 'Lord, I have wanted thy sweetness over
long. I see all my former life (that I thought had such
sweetness in it) was nothing at all but husks, empty
things. Now I know where sweetness is, it is in the word
and truth.' Therefore let us not misconceive of religion
as of a mopish and dull thing, wherein we must lose all
comfort. If we give our-selves over to the study thereof,
must we so? Must we lose our comfort? Nay, we have no
comfort till we be religious indeed. Christ feeds not his
among thorns and briers and stinking weeds, but among
lilies. Dost thou think he feeds thee among unsavoury,
harsh, fretting, galling things? No; 'he feeds among
lilies.' Therefore when thou comest to religion, think
that thou comest to comfort, to refresh thy soul. Let us
make use of this for our soul's comfort, to make us in
love more with the ways of Christ.
Now, to seal this further,
see what the Scripture saith in some parallel places.
'The Lord is my shepherd;' and what is the use that David
presently makes hereof? Why, 'I shall want nothing,' Ps.
xxiii. 1. He will feed me plentifully and abundantly. The
whole psalm is nothing but a commenting upon that word,
'the Lord is my shepherd.' How doth he perform the duty
of a shepherd? 'He makes me to lie down in green
pastures, and leads me by the still waters.' It is not
only meant of the body, hut of the soul chiefly, 'he
restoreth my soul;' that is, when my soul languisheth and
is ready to faint, he restores it, and gives me as it
were a new soul; he refresheth it. We see say, recreation
is the creating of a thing anew. So he restores my soul;
he gives me my soul anew, with fresh comforts. Thus the
blessed Shepherd doth, and how? Because 'he feeds among
the lilies,' the promises of the gospel. Then he doth not
only do good to the body and soul, but he guides all our
ways, all our goings out, 'he leads us in the paths of
righteousness.' And why? Because I deserve so much at his
hands? No; 'for his own name's sake,' because he hath a
love to me; because he hath purchased me with his blood,
and given his life for his sheep; hath bought me so dear,
though there be no worth in me. He goes on, 'Though I
walk through all temptations and troubles,' which are as
'the valley of the shadow of death,' that is, where there
is nothing but disconsolation and misery; 'yet I will
fear none ill; thou, with thy rod and staff, dost comfort
me.' If I, as a wandering sheep, venture to go out of the
way, thou, out of thy care, being a sweet and loving
shepherd, wilt pull me in with thy hook and staff again.
He hath not care only to feed us, but to govern us also.
What a sweet Shepherd and Saviour have we in covenant,
that deals thus with us! And so he proceeds, 'Thou wilt
prepare my table in the presence of mine enemies.' And
for the time to come he promiseth himself as much, that
God, as he hath been a Shepherd for the present, to
provide all things necessary for body and soul and
guidance, so surely the goodness of the Lord shall follow
me all the days of my life; for he is a perpetual
Shepherd. He will not leave us till he hath brought us to
heaven. Thus we see in this place the sweet care of
Christ.
The like place you
have— 'He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he
shall gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in
his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with
young,' Isa. xl. 11. So he leads them into the pastures,
and feeds them plentifully and sweetly, not only with
sweet things, but with a tender care, which is sweeter.
As a shepherd, he takes into his bosom the poor lambs
that cannot walk themselves, and the sheep that are heavy
with young. He cares for them; 'he gently leads them'
that are poor, weak Christians, that struggle and
conflict with many temptations and corruptions. Christ
hath a tender care of them. He carries them, as it were,
in his bosom and in his arms, and leads them gently; for
indeed all Christ's sheep are weak. Every one hath
somewhat to complain of. Therefore he hath a tender care;
he feeds them tenderly and sweetly, or else they might
perish.
Another place notable for
this purpose, see Ezek. xxxiv. 14, seq., wherein
you have the same metaphor from a loving shepherd; and it
is but a comment upon the text. Therefore, being parallel
places, they may help our memories: 'I will feed them in
good pastures upon the high mountains of Israel; there
shall their fold be; there shall they lie in a good fold,
and in a fat pasture. I will feed my flock, and cause
them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that
which is lost, and bring back that which was driven away;
I will bind up that which was broken, and strengthen that
which is sick, and destroy the fat and the strong, and
feed them with judgment.' Those that are Christ's true
sheep have somewhat to complain of. Either they are sick,
or broken, or driven away. Somewhat is amiss or other.
But Christ's care preventeth all the necessities of his
sheep. He hath a fit salve for all their sores. And, to
apply this to the business in hand, doth not Christ feed
us 'among the lilies?' Doth he not now feed us with his
own body and blood in the sacrament? Would you have
better food? 'My body is meat indeed, and my blood is
drink indeed,'—that is, it is the only meat, with an
emphasis; the only meat and drink that our souls could
feed upon. God gave his Son to death, to shed his blood
for my sins. What would become of the hunger-bitten,
thirsty soul, that is stung with Satan and his
temptations, were it not for the blood of Christ to
quench our thirst, and the body of Christ given by the
Father to death for sin? Were it not that the soul could
think upon this, where were the comfort of the soul? All
this is represented to us here in the sacrament. We feed
on the body and blood of Christ spiritually, and are
refreshed thereby, as verily as our bodies are refreshed
with the bread and wine. For God doth not feed us with
empty symbols and representations, but with things
themselves, that the soul which comes prepared by faith
is partaker of Christ crucified, and is knit to him,
though now in heaven. There is as sure an union and
communion between Christ and the Christian soul, as there
is between the food and the body, when it is once
digested.
Therefore let us come to
this blessed, to this sweet food of our souls with hungry
appetites and thankful hearts, that God bath given us the
best comforts of his word, and fed us with the sweet
comforts of the sacraments, as a seal of the word. We
should even spend our lives much in thankfulness for
this, that he will feed us so sweetly, that thinks
nothing is good enough for our food, but his own self,
with his own gracious word and truth. Thus we should be
very thankful unto God, and now at this time labour to
get hungry appetites fit for this blessed food to receive
it.
How shall we do
that?
1. Think seriously of
the former part of thy life, and this week past. For
Christ, the food of the soul, relisheth well with the
sour herbs of repentance. Let us stir up in our hearts
repentance for our sins, and sorrow in the consideration
of our own corrupt nature and life; and when we have felt
our corruptions and have the sense of our want, then
Christ will be sweet to us. The paschal lamb was to be
eaten with sour herbs; so Christ our passover must be
eaten with repentance.
2. Then withal there must
be purging. There are many things which clog the stomach.
Come not with worldly, wicked, malicious affections,
which puff up the soul, James i. 21 ; 'but lay aside,' as
the apostle wisheth, 'all guile, malice, and
superfluity,' 1 Pet. ii. 1. Empty the soul of all sin and
prepossessing (that is, 'pre-occupying - Ed.) thoughts or
affections.
3. And then consider the
necessity of spiritual strength, that we have need to
grow up more and more in Christianity, to be feeding
still. We have need of strong faith and strong assurance
that Christ is ours, and that we are his. Let us often
frequent this ordinance, and come prepared as we should,
and we shall find Christ making good his own ordinance,
in his own best time; so as we shall be able to say, in
truth of heart, experimentally and feelingly with the
church, 'My beloved is mine, and I am his. He feedeth
among the lilies.'
FINIS.
Author
Richard Sibbes (1577-1635)
was lecturer at Holy Trinity, Cambridge, 1610-1615,
preacher at Gray's Inn, London, from 1617, and Master of
St. Catherine's Hall, Cambridge, from 1626 until his
death. He was one of the most significant preachers of
the Puritan period.
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