The true Christians love of the unseen Christ, or, A discourse chiefly tending to…

In general, He is the most amiable person and the most suitable Object for your Love. If you ask of the days which are past, which were before you, since the day that God created Man upon the Earth; if you seek from one side of Heaven unto the other; if you make enquiry into all the parts of the Earth, you will never find that either there ever was or is to be found any person so lovely, so beautiful and so every way deserving your Love, as the Lord Jesus Christ: there is a Matchless, Transcendent, and Incomparable Beauty and Excellency in him. How passionately are some Foolish Men in Love with the external beauty which they see in some Women: the exact Symmetry ⟨p. 59⟩of parts, and comely Proportion of the body; the Amiable Features and Lovely Mixtures of colours in the Face, the Beauty of the Eyes, in their Spirit their Quick and Graceful motions, and Amorous Glances; How doth this Ravish the Hearts of some fond Lovers! although the most Beautiful body in the World, is no better than painted clay, dirt and corruption, enclosed in a Fair Skin, which sickness will cause to look pale and Wan, Death will quite Mar and Spoil. But the Amiableness and Beauty of Christ is more Transcendent and Permanent, and therefore a more fit Object for your Love. Christ is Fairer than the Children of Men; he is all Fair without any Spot, altogether Lovely without any Blemish or Deformity. I have already spoken of the Glorious Beauty which is in Christ's Glorified Body, the most Lovely of any Visible creature which God hath made; and also of the Shining Excellencies which are in Christ's Glorified Soul, so nearly joined to the Divinity; could we suppose all the Loveliness that ever was seen, or found in the most lovely persons that ever lived, to meet in one person; how Lovely would that person be! yet such, though never so resplendent, ⟨p. 60⟩Beauty, would be but a dark Shadow, compared with the Brightness of Christ's most Beautiful Person. Can you Love the imperfect Beauty which you see in Creatures, and will you not Love the perfect Beauty which there is in Christ? can you Love a Fading Beauty which soon Withereth like the Flower, and will you not Love Christ, whose Beauty never Decays, but always doth abide more Fresh than Beauty in the Flower of Youth?

In generall, He is the most amiable person and the most sutable Object for your Love. If you ask of the dayes which are past, which were before you, since the day that God created Man upon the Earth; if you seek from one side of Heaven unto the other; if you make enquiry into all the parts of the Earth, you will never find that either there ever was or is to be found any person so lovely, so beautifull and so every way deserving your Love, as the Lord Jesus Christ: there is a Matchless, Transcendent, and Incomparable Beauty and Excellency in him. How passionately are some Foolish Men in Love with the externall beauty which they see in some Women: the exact Symetry