Of Christian Love, the Second Sermon, 1612
on the Song 2:10, “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come thy way”
The last is, to inflame our loves towards him, and to blow the coals thereof, that they may burn out more and more. The love of Christ (says Saint Paul) constrains us, 2 Cor. 5:14. And the Church does tell us, that Christ’s love was as a banner over her to draw her unto him, Cant. 2:4. Let it then work upon our souls, and move them to affect him. What? shall He love us, and shall not we love Him again? What? shall He prefer us before all the world: and shall we prefer the world before him? God forbid, as He does love us, so let us love him again. Doubtless, if some great man should offer his love to a poor woman of the country, and be well pleased to take her for his wife, we might well think her to be distracted of her wits, if she should refuse him, and not requite him again with the like love towards him. So after the same sort, may we think ourselves bereft of all our senses, if we love not the Lord Jesus, seeing he has loved us so dearly. Wherefore to end this point, let His love increase our love, and knit our hearts the faster unto him.
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