A75287:922
Media: the middle things, in reference to the first and last things: or, The…
Media: the middle things, in reference to the first and last things: or, The means, duties, ordinances, both secret, private and public, for continuance and increase of a godly life, once begun, till we come to Heaven. Wherein are discovered many blessed medium's or duties, in their right method, manner and proceedings; that so a Christian (the spirit of Christ assisting) may walk on in the holy path, which leads from his new birth to everlasting life. / Drawn, for the most part, out of the most eminently pious, and learned writings of our native practical divines: with additionals of his own, by Isaac Ambrose, minister of the Gospel at Preston in Amoundernes.Media: the middle things, in reference to the first and last things: or, The means, duties, ordinances, both secret, private and publike, for continuance and increase of a godly life, once begun, till we come to Heaven. Wherein are discovered many blessed medium's or duties, in their right method, manner and proceedings; that so a Christian (the spirit of Christ assisting) may walk on in the holy path, which leads from his new birth to everlasting life. / Drawn, for the most part, out of the most eminently pious, and learned writings of our native practical divines: with additionals of his own, by Isaac Ambrose, minister of the Gospel at Preston in Amoundernes.
London: printed by John Field for Nathanael Webb and William Grantham, 1649London: printed by John Field for Nathanaell Webb and William Grantham, 1649
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
4. Effects.
And what are the effects (O my soul) of this love? O this love hath many holy gracious effects, it will make the soul to rejoice in Christs presence, to grieve in his absence, to please Christ in all things, to desire union with Christ, though it never see good day, though it have no other wages; to bestow readily and freely any thing it hath on the Lord Jesus Christ, to deny it self, or any thing that may come in competition with Christ, to part with her Isaac's, her dearest things, To account all things as dung and loss, 1that she may win Christ, to be content with nothing, but love again from the party beloved, to be ever and anon thinking and musing on the Lord Jesus Christ, to be ordinarily and frequently speaking of Christ: Love is full of eloquence in the praises of her beloved, so is the souls love to the Lord Jesus Christ. O how that Spouse of Christ runs on in a description of his rarities and transcendencies, My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand (or as it is more elegantly in the Original,2 He is an ensign-bearer among ten thousand)—He is altogether lovely, or he is all-entire, he is all composed of loves: Betwixt those Verses [10. and 16.] there's a description of Christ, so stuffed with choicest delicacies of expression, that thou canst not match it (O my soul) out of any of those Poets which ⟨p. 145⟩have flown highest in amorous inventions; at last she concludes with a triumphant Epiphonema, This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem: Nay, love will make the soul not only speak, but do any thing for the Lord Jesus Christ: O then she cries, How may I please Christ better? what duty must I do? and what sins must I avoid? if there be any of the bedchamber of the Bridegroom, tell me I beseech you, how may I hear, and pray, and walk, and approve my heart to my Christ and King, that nothing may displease him. Lastly, love will make the soul suffer for Christ, and to rejoice in such sufferings;