Post by sean on Apr 20, 2007 16:37:18 GMT -5
This is an excerpt from Isaac Ambrose's book "Looking Unto Jesus"
On the subject of Looking unto Jesus he says:
Consider that your eyes on Jesus will preserve the vigor of all your graces. As the body is apt to be change into the temper of the air it breathes in, and the food it lives on; so will your spirits receive and alteration, according to the objects which they are exercised about. You that complain of deafness and dullness, that you cannot love Christ, nor rejoice in his loves, that you have no life in prayer, nor any other duty, and yet you never tried this quickening course, or at least you were careless and unconstant in it; what, are not you the cause of your own complaints? Say, "Is not your life hid with Christ in God?" O! Whither must you go but more in the sunshine? If you would have more of that grace which flows from Christ, why are you no more with Christ for it? For want of this recourse to Jesus Christ your souls are as candles that are not lighted, and your duties are as sacrifices which have no fire; fetch one coal daily from this altar, and see if your offerings will not burn; keep close to this reviving fire, and see if your affections will not warm. Surely, if there be any comfort of hope, if any flames of love, if any life of faith, if any vigor of dispositions, if any motions towards God, if any meltings of a softened heart, they flow from hence. Men are apt to bewail their want of desire and hope, and joy, and faith, and love to Jesus Christ, whilst this very duty would nourish all these.
Consider, it is but equal that your hearts should be on Christ, when the heart of Christ is so much on you. Christ is our friend, and in that respect he loves us, and bears us in his heart; and shall not he be in ours? Surely this is ill requital; this is a great contradiction to the law of friendship; but Christ is our Lord as well as friend; and if the Lord of glory can stoop as low as to set his heart on sinful dust, one would think we should easily be persuaded to set our hearts on Jesus Christ. Christians! do you not perceive that the heart of Christ is set upon you? and that he is still minding you with tender love, even when you forget both yourselves and him? Do you not find him following you with daily mercies, moving on your souls; providing for your bodies, and preserving both? Doth he not bear you continually in the arms of love, and promise that "all shall work together for your good"? Doth he not give his angels charge over you, and suit all his dealings to your greatest advantage? And can you find in your hearts to cast him by? Can you forget your Lord, who forgets not you? Fie upon this unkind ingratitude? when the Lord speaks of his thoughts and respects to us, he gives this language, "Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee. Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me," Isa. 49:15,16. But when he speaks of our thoughts to him, the case is otherwise; "Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forsaken me days without number," Jer 2:32. You would not forget the clothes on your backs, you would not forget your braveries, your ornaments, your attires, and are these more worth than Christ? Yet you can forget me day after day.
On the subject of Looking unto Jesus he says:
Consider that your eyes on Jesus will preserve the vigor of all your graces. As the body is apt to be change into the temper of the air it breathes in, and the food it lives on; so will your spirits receive and alteration, according to the objects which they are exercised about. You that complain of deafness and dullness, that you cannot love Christ, nor rejoice in his loves, that you have no life in prayer, nor any other duty, and yet you never tried this quickening course, or at least you were careless and unconstant in it; what, are not you the cause of your own complaints? Say, "Is not your life hid with Christ in God?" O! Whither must you go but more in the sunshine? If you would have more of that grace which flows from Christ, why are you no more with Christ for it? For want of this recourse to Jesus Christ your souls are as candles that are not lighted, and your duties are as sacrifices which have no fire; fetch one coal daily from this altar, and see if your offerings will not burn; keep close to this reviving fire, and see if your affections will not warm. Surely, if there be any comfort of hope, if any flames of love, if any life of faith, if any vigor of dispositions, if any motions towards God, if any meltings of a softened heart, they flow from hence. Men are apt to bewail their want of desire and hope, and joy, and faith, and love to Jesus Christ, whilst this very duty would nourish all these.
Consider, it is but equal that your hearts should be on Christ, when the heart of Christ is so much on you. Christ is our friend, and in that respect he loves us, and bears us in his heart; and shall not he be in ours? Surely this is ill requital; this is a great contradiction to the law of friendship; but Christ is our Lord as well as friend; and if the Lord of glory can stoop as low as to set his heart on sinful dust, one would think we should easily be persuaded to set our hearts on Jesus Christ. Christians! do you not perceive that the heart of Christ is set upon you? and that he is still minding you with tender love, even when you forget both yourselves and him? Do you not find him following you with daily mercies, moving on your souls; providing for your bodies, and preserving both? Doth he not bear you continually in the arms of love, and promise that "all shall work together for your good"? Doth he not give his angels charge over you, and suit all his dealings to your greatest advantage? And can you find in your hearts to cast him by? Can you forget your Lord, who forgets not you? Fie upon this unkind ingratitude? when the Lord speaks of his thoughts and respects to us, he gives this language, "Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee. Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me," Isa. 49:15,16. But when he speaks of our thoughts to him, the case is otherwise; "Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forsaken me days without number," Jer 2:32. You would not forget the clothes on your backs, you would not forget your braveries, your ornaments, your attires, and are these more worth than Christ? Yet you can forget me day after day.