Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Song of Solomon 8:7

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Song of Solomon 8:7. Many waters — Neither common nor uncommon adversities, even of the most ruinous nature, can destroy love when it is pure; and pure love is such that nothing can procure it. If it be not excited naturally, no money can purchase it, no property can procure it, no arts can persuade it. How vain is the thought of old rich men hoping to procure the affections of young women by loading them with presents and wealth! No woman can command her affections; they are not in her power. Where they do not rise spontaneously, they can never exist. "If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be utterly contemned." Let the old, as well as the gay and the giddy, think of this.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

At home with family and friends (8:5-14)

The final poem sees the lovers walking along the road on their way home (5a). As they approach the house, the girl is reminded that the place where they fell in love was the garden of the home where her lover was born (5b). She then praises the power of love that binds her to him. True love demands total possession of each by the other. It is indestructible and beyond value (6-7).
The girl recalls the words of her older brothers when she was only in her early teens. Her brothers had helped her develop that strength of character that enabled her to retain her purity when unworthy men approached her. If, like a wall, she resisted such men, her brothers would honour her. If, like a door, she tended to yield to them, her brothers would protect her (8-9). Now, as one who has resisted and who has retained her purity to the maturity of adulthood, she enjoys contentment with her one and only true love (10).
Solomon spent extravagantly maintaining his harem, an action likened here to the costly business of maintaining a vineyard by using hired workers. So far as the lover and his beloved are concerned, Solomon may keep his wealth and the hired workers may keep their wages. As for the small ‘vineyard’ (the girl), she is not for hire. She belongs solely to her lover (11-12). The man asks his beloved to speak, so that he and his friends may hear her voice (13). She does, by echoing her words of former years when she desired that he come quickly and take her to be his own (14; cf. 2:8-9).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THE SHEPHERD'S ACCOUNT OF HIS WOOING THE MAIDEN

"Under the apple-tree, I awakened thee; There thy mother was in travail with thee, There she was in travail that brought thee forth. Set me as a seal upon thy heart, As a seal upon thine arm: For love is strong as death; Jealousy is cruel as Sheol; The flashes thereof are flashes of fire, A very flame of Jehovah. Many waters cannot quench love, Neither can floods drown it: If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, He would utterly be contemned."

All of these short paragraphs in this chapter are dramatically separated in the American Standard Version; and there remains the possibility mentioned by Jordan that, "We have here a series of lyrical fragments."Peake's Bible Commentary, op. cit., p. 423.

The most acceptable interpretation which we have encountered for this short section is that, "It has in it the deepest and most comprehensive statements concerning true love that are found in the whole Song."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 585. These marvelous words about genuine love could not possibly have been uttered by a man like Solomon. These wonderful words about love would fit Solomon exactly like a diamond ring in a swine's snout. The divine jealousy concerning his Church's constancy ("Jehovah is a jealous God") appears here. The Divine love for the Church is beyond comparison. No human power can overcome it. The flood waters of death, Sheol, Satan, and all the allurements of the world and the flesh cannot dissipate the love of Christ for his Church. "And true love is not only unquenchable; it is also unpurchasable. Solomon had made every effort to buy the Shulamite's love with all the glittering luxuries of his court, but to no avail."Ibid.

"There thy mother was in travail with thee" This is a reference to the bride's home place, not merely to the apple-tree in the orchard.

Here the Shulamite pleads with her lover to set her as a seal in his very heart; she has seen through all the tinsel ugliness of Solomon's ostentatious court, and here renounces all of it for the genuine and eternal love of her shepherd.

What a beautiful picture of Christ's holy Church is this? She rejects all of the golden promises of a materialistic and sensual world for that "Love of God that passeth understanding."

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The bride says this as she clings to his arm and rests her head upon his bosom. Compare John 13:23; John 21:20. This brief dialogue corresponds to the longer one Song of Solomon 4:7-1, on the day of their espousals. Allegorical interpreters find a fulfillment of this in the close of the present dispensation, the restoration of Israel to the land of promise, and the manifestation of Messiah to His ancient people there, or His Second Advent to the Church. The Targum makes Song of Solomon 8:6 a prayer of Israel restored to the holy land that they may never again be carried into captivity, and Song of Solomon 8:7 the Lord’s answering assurance that Israel henceforth is safe. Compare Isaiah 65:24; Isaiah 62:3-4.

Song of Solomon 8:6

The key-note of the poem. It forms the Old Testament counterpart to Paul’s panegyric 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 under the New.

(a) Love is here regarded as an universal power, an elemental principle of all true being, alone able to cope with the two eternal foes of God and man, Death and his kingdom.

“For strong as death is love,

Tenacious as Sheol is jealousy.”

“Jealousy” is here another term for “love,” expressing the inexorable force and ardor of this affection, which can neither yield nor share possession of its object, and is identified in the mind of the sacred writer with divine or true life.

(b) He goes on to describe it as an all-pervading Fire, kindled by the Eternal One, and partaking of His essence:

“Its brands are brands of fire,

A lightning-flash from Jah.”

Compare Deuteronomy 4:24.

(c) This divine principle is next represented as overcoming in its might all opposing agencies whatsoever, symbolized by water.

(d) From all which it follows that love, even as a human affection, must be reverenced, and dealt with so as not to be bought by aught of different nature; the attempt to do this awakening only scorn.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 8

The bride continues her song.

O that thou wert as my brother, that nursed upon the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised. I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. His left hand should be under my head, his right hand should embrace me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please ( Song of Solomon 8:1-4 ).

And the bridegroom speaks.

Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee. Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is as cruel as hell: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which has a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love ( Song of Solomon 8:5-7 ),

Oh, speaking, of course, very picturesque and very powerful declaration of how strong love is. Like coals of fire, most vehement flame. And many waters cannot quench love.

neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all of his substance of his house for love, it would be utterly contemptible ( Song of Solomon 8:7 ).

In other words, this kind of love cannot be bought. Men are always trying to buy love. And there is a certain kind of love that can be bought. But not true love. Not this kind of love. This is a true love of Christ for us. You can't purchase it. And an endeavor to purchase it only cheapens it. It's utterly contemptible for people to try to buy their way with God.

If you gave tonight hoping that you could sort of buy your way with God, please ask the ushers for your refund when you leave. It's contemptible to think that you can buy your way with the Lord. That you can buy His love. God's love for us is uncaused by us and it just comes flowing forth to us. You can't buy that kind of love. You can't quench that kind of love. God's love for us is unquenchable. And it just comes flowing out to us and it is just ours to accept and ours to receive.

Now the bride responds.

We have a little sister, who is not developed: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? ( Song of Solomon 8:8 )

And the bridegroom responds.

If she is discreet, we'll build upon her a palace of silver ( Song of Solomon 8:9 ):

We'll display her.

and if she be brash, [we'll build a wall around her] we'll enclose her in boards of cedar ( Song of Solomon 8:9 ).

We'll fence her up.

And then the bride speaks. And she answers.

I am a wall [or discreet], and my breasts are like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favor. Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; he let it out to the vineyard to the keepers; and every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver ( Song of Solomon 8:10-11 ).

Or he leased out the vineyards for a thousand pieces of silver.

My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred. Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it. Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices ( Song of Solomon 8:12-14 ).

"Make haste, my beloved." This takes us to the last of the book of Revelation when Jesus said unto John, "Behold, I come quickly." And John responded, "Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus" ( Revelation 22:20 ). And so the final word of the bride is significant, "Make haste, my beloved, to come." And our prayer today is, "O Lord, come. Come quickly that we might enter in to that fullness of Thy love in Thy kingdom. That you might bring us into Your banqueting house. Place your banner of love over us. That we will be there forever with Thee in Thy glorious kingdom. Make haste, come quickly, Lord Jesus."

Shall we pray.

Father, we thank You for that love that we have experienced through Jesus Christ. We thank You, Lord, that we know the beauty, the glory, and the blessing of Thy love. And now, Lord, let us go out to declare Thy love to a needy world and to share Thy love with others. Let our lives, O God, become a fit witness of Thy love. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Shall we stand.

Now you that are romanticists and true sort of mystics, you can take that Song of Solomon and you can find all kinds of exciting things in it. As I say, I'm not much of one to make allegories or to get involved in that because, again, you can read so many things. I think, though, that it is good. I think though that here is a bit of, in a sense, existentialism that you need to experience it personally. What does the Lord say to you in it? And I think it's good to give God an opportunity to speak to you in it. And because you are different in many ways from me, in temperaments or whatever, some of you will find all kinds of beautiful, exciting things in the Song of Solomon where God will just speak to you in just a very beautiful special way.

But I think that there is something that is very intimate and personal with love. And thus, as the expressions of love are here, I really don't think that they do stand well in a public expression, because it makes it sort of a general impersonal thing. In a public expression, I think that the deepest expression of it does come in your own personal devotions as you let God unravel the book to your own heart and make the applications of the love to you individually. And as you read it in your own personal kind of devotion, being open with the Spirit of God, He can make many beautiful applications of the song to your relationship with Him. And you'll find it exciting indeed as He declares His personal love for you. And as you are able to relate and express your love for Him. So don't just pass by the song of Solomon, go back and read it with an open heart that God might minister to you on an intimate, personal basis His deep, fervent, fiery love that cannot be quenched by many waters.

God bless you, watch over you this week. Give you just a blessed week as He keeps His hand upon your life to guide you according to His will. And may you walk in His love. And may you be enriched in His love and in all things in Christ Jesus. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

V. THE CONCLUSION 8:5-7

These verses summarize the theme of the book.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

She asked to be his most valued possession; she wanted him to be jealous over her in the proper sense (cf. Proverbs 6:34).

"The word ’seal’ (hotam) refers to an engraved stone used for authenticating a document or other possession. This could be suspended by a cord around the neck (over the heart) as in Genesis 38:18. The word hotam can also refer to a ’seal ring’ worn on the hand (in Song of Solomon 5:14 ’hand’ is used to mean ’arm’). The hotam was something highly precious to the owner and could be used symbolically for a person whom one valued [cf. Jeremiah 22:24; Haggai 2:23]. . . . The bride was asking Solomon that he treasure her, that he regard her as a prized seal." [Note: Tanner, "The Message . . .," p. 158.]

She next described the love they shared. It was as powerful as death, as controlling as the grave, as passionate as fire, as irresistible as a river, and priceless. Such love comes from God and is "the . . . flame of the Lord" (Song of Solomon 8:6).

"There are only two relationships described in the Bible where jealousy is a potentially appropriate reaction: the divine-human relationship and the marriage relationship. These are the only two relationships that are considered exclusive." [Note: Longman, p. 211.]

No one can purchase love. It is only available as a gift. This (Song of Solomon 8:6-7) is the only place in the book that reflects on the nature of love itself. [Note: M. Sadgrove, "The Song of Songs as Wisdom Literature," in Studia Biblica 1978, p. 245.]

"With this homily, the bride has delivered the great moral lesson of the book. . . .

"The affirmation that love is strong as death in Song of Solomon 8:6-7 is the climax of the poem and its raison d’être [reason for being]." [Note: Exum, Song of . . ., p. 245.]

"She was prepared to be a loyal and faithful wife, but Solomon ultimately had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines (1 Kings 11:3). No wonder she, not he, delivers the moral lesson of the book. He was totally unqualified to speak on the issue of godly dedicated love. He knew the physical side of it, but apparently he did not know the love she cherished." [Note: Tanner, "The Message . . .," p. 159.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it,.... The love of the church to Christ, which is inextinguishable and insuperable, by the many waters and floods of wicked and ungodly men; neither by their flattery and fair promises; nor by their cruel edicts, force and persecution; by neither can they withdraw the love of the saints from Christ, nor tempt them to desert his interest: nor by all the afflictions God is pleased to bring upon them; rather their love is increased thereby, which they consider as effects of the love, wisdom, and faithfulness of God, as designed for their good: nor even by their sins and corruptions; for though, through the aboundings of these, their love may wax cold, yet it never becomes extinct; it may be left, but not lost; its fervency may be abated, but that itself remains: nor by Satan's temptations, who sometimes comes in like a flood, threatening to carry all before him; but the Spirit lifts up a standard against him, and maintains his own work of faith and love,

Isaiah 59:19; nor by the terrors of the law, and the apprehensions of divine wrath, they are sometimes pressed with, signified by waves and floods, Psalms 88:6; nor by all the hardships and difficulties, scoffs and reproaches, which attend believers in their Christian race; which are so far from alienating their affections from Christ, that they rather endear him the more unto them, and make heaven, and the enjoyment of him there, the more desirable;

if [a] man would give, all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned; it is true of the love of Christ to his people, as also what is said before; but is rather to be understood of the love of the church to Christ; which is a grace so valuable, as not to be purchased with money: if this, or any other grace, is to be bought, it is to be bought without money and without price; it is to be had freely of Christ; and, where possessed, will not be parted with for anything that may be offered; if a rich man's whole estate was offered for it, to a lover of Christ; yea, the riches of the Indies, or the vast treasures of the whole globe, on condition of his parting with him, and deserting his cause and interest, and dropping or neglecting his love to him, it would be treated by him with the, almost disdain and contempt; see Philippians 3:8. Now all this is used by the church as an argument to gain her request, "set me as a seal", c. Song of Solomon 8:6 since my soul is all in flames of love to thee, which cannot be quenched by all I suffer on thy account; nor will be parted with for all that the world can give me. This love of the church reaches to Christ, and to all that belong to him, even to a little sister, as in Song of Solomon 8:8.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.   6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.   7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

      Here, I. The spouse is much admired by those about her. It comes in in a parenthesis, but in it gospel-grace lies as plain, and as much above ground, as any where in this mystical song: Who is this that comes up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Some make these the words of the bridegroom, expressing himself well pleased with her reliance on him and resignation of herself to his guidance. They are rather the words of the daughters of Jerusalem, to whom she spoke (Song of Solomon 8:4; Song of Solomon 8:4); they see her, and bless her. The angels in heaven, and all her friends on earth, are the joyful spectators of her bliss. The Jewish church came up from the wilderness supported by the divine power and favour, Deuteronomy 32:10; Deuteronomy 32:11. The Christian church was raised up from a low and desolate condition by the grace of Christ relied on, Galatians 4:27. Particular believers are amiable, nay, admirable, and divine grace is to be admired in them, when by the power of that grace they are brought up from the wilderness, leaning with a holy confidence and complacency upon Jesus Christ their beloved. This bespeaks the beauty of a soul, and the wonders of divine grace, 1. In the conversion of sinners. A sinful state is a wilderness, remote from communion with God, barren and dry, and in which there is no true comfort; it is a wandering wanting state. Out of this wilderness we are concerned to come up, by true repentance, in the strength of the grace of Christ, supported by our beloved and carried in his arms. 2. In the consolation of saints. A soul convinced of sin, and truly humbled for it, is in a wilderness, quite at a loss; and there is no coming out of this wilderness but leaning on Christ as our beloved, by faith, and not leaning to our own understanding, nor trusting to any righteousness or strength of our own as sufficient for us, but going forth, and going on, in the strength of the Lord God, and making mention of his righteousness, even his only, who is the Lord our righteousness. 3. In the salvation of those that belong to Christ. We must go up from the wilderness of this world having our conversation in heaven; and, at death, we must remove thither, leaning upon Christ, must live and die by faith in him. To me to live is Christ, and it is he that is gain in death.

      II. She addresses herself to her beloved.

      1. She puts him in mind of the former experience which she and others had had of comfort and success in applying to him. (1.) For her own part: "I raised thee up under the apple tree, that is, I have many a time wrestled with thee by prayer and have prevailed. When I was alone in the acts of devotion, retired in the orchard, under the apple-tree" (which Christ himself was compared to, Song of Solomon 2:3; Song of Solomon 2:3), as Nathanael under the fig-tree (John 1:48), "meditating and praying, then I raised thee up, to help me and comfort me," as the disciples raised him up in the storm, saying, Master, carest thou not that we perish? (Mark 4:38), and the church (Psalms 44:23), Awake, why sleepest thou? Note, The experience we have had of Christ's readiness to yield to the importunities of our faith and prayer should encourage us to continue instant in our addresses to him, to strive more earnestly, and not to faint. I sought the Lord, and he heard me,Psalms 34:4. (2.) Others also had like experience of comfort in Christ, as it follows there (Psalms 34:5), They looked unto him, as well as I, and were lightened. There thy mother brought thee forth, the universal church, or believing souls, in whom Christ was formed, Galatians 4:15. They were in pain for the comfort of an interest in thee, and travailed in pain with great sorrow (so the word here signifies); but they brought thee forth; the pangs did not continue always; those that had travailed in convictions at last brought forth in consolations, and the pain was forgotten for joy of the Saviour's birth. By this very similitude our Saviour illustrates the joy which his disciples would have in his return to them, after a mournful separation for a time, John 16:21; John 16:22. After the bitter pangs of repentance many a one has had the blessed birth of comfort; why then may not I?

      2. She begs of him that her union with him might be confirmed, and her communion with him continued and made more intimate (Song of Solomon 8:6; Song of Solomon 8:6): Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm. (1.) "Let me have a place in thy heart, an interest in thy love." This is that which all those desire above any thing that know how much their happiness is bound up in the love of Christ. (2.) "Let me never lose the room I have in thy heart; let thy love to me be ensured, as that deed which is sealed up not to be robbed. Let nothing ever prevail either to separate me from thy love, or, by suspending the communications of it, to deprive me of the comfortable sense of it." (3.) "Let me be always near and dear to thee, as the signet on thy right hand, not to be parted with (Jeremiah 22:24), engraven upon the palms of thy hands (Isaiah 49:14), be loved with a peculiar love." (4.) "Be thou my high priest; let my name be written on thy breast-plate, nearer thy heart, as the names of all the tribes were engraven like the engravings of a signet in twelve precious stones on the breast-plate of Aaron, and also on two precious stones on the two shoulders or arms of the ephod," Exodus 28:11; Exodus 28:12; Exodus 28:21. (5.) "Let thy power be engaged for me, as an evidence of thy love to me; let me be not only a seal upon thy heart, but a seal upon thy arm; let me be ever borne up in thy arms, and know it to my comfort." Some make these to be the words of Christ to his spouse, commanding her to be ever mindful of him and of his love to her; however, if we desire and expect that Christ should set us as a seal on his heart, surely we cannot do less than set him as a seal on ours.

      3. To enforce this petition, she pleads the power of love, of her love to him, which constrained her to be thus pressing for the tokens of his love to her.

      (1.) Love is a violent vigorous passion. [1.] It is strong as death. The pains of a disappointed lover are like the pains of death; nay, the pains of death are slighted, and made nothing of, in pursuit of the beloved object. Christ's love to us was strong as death, for it broke through death itself. He loved us, and gave himself for us. The love of true believers to Christ is strong as death, for it makes them dead to every thing else; it even parts between soul and body, while the soul, upon the wings of devout affections, soars upward to heaven, an even forgets that it is yet clothed and clogged with flesh. Paul, in a rapture of this love, knew not whether he was in the body or out of the body. By it a believer is crucified to the world. [2.] Jealousy is cruel as the grave, which swallows up and devours all; those that truly love Christ are jealous of every thing that would draw them from him, and especially jealous of themselves, lest they should do any thing to provoke him to withdraw from them, and, rather than do so, would pluck out a right eye and cut off a right hand, than which what can be more cruel? Weak and trembling saints, who conceive a jealousy of Christ, doubting of his love to them, find that jealousy to prey upon them like the grave; nothing wastes the spirits more; but it is an evidence of the strength of their love to him. (3.) The coals thereof, its lamps, and flames, and beams, are very strong, and burn with incredible force, as the coals of fire that have a most vehement flame, a flame of the Lord (so some read it), a powerful piercing flame, as the lightning, Psalms 29:7. Holy love is a fire that begets a vehement heat in the soul, and consumes the dross and chaff that are in it, melts it down like wax into a new form, and carries it upwards as the sparks towards God and heaven.

      (2.) Love is a valiant victorious passion. Holy love is so; the reigning love of God in the soul is constant and firm, and will not be drawn off from him either by fair means or foul, by life or death,Romans 8:38. [1.] Death, and all its terrors, will not frighten a believer from loving Christ: Many waters, though they will quench fire, cannot quench this love, no, nor the floods drown it,Song of Solomon 8:7; Song of Solomon 8:7. The noise of these waters will strike no terror upon it; let them do their worst, Christ shall still be the best beloved. The overflowing of these waters will strike no damp upon it, but it will enable a man to rejoice in tribulation. Though he slay me, I will love him and trust in him. No waters could quench Christ's love to us, nor any floods drown it; he waded through the greatest difficulties, even seas of blood. Love sat king upon the floods; let nothing then abate our love to him. [2.] Life, and all its comforts, will not entice a believer from loving Christ: If a man could hire him with all the substance of his house, to take his love off from Christ and set it upon the world and the flesh again, he would reject the proposal with the utmost disdain; as Christ, when the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them were offered him, to buy him off from his undertaking, said, Get thee hence, Satan. It would utterly be contemned. Offer those things to those that know no better. Love will enable us to repel and triumph over temptations from the smiles of the world, as much as from its frowns. Some give this sense of it: If a man would give all the substance of his house to Christ, as an equivalent instead of love, to excuse it, it would be contemned. He seeks not ours, but us, the heart, not the wealth. If I give all my goods to feed the poor, and have not love, it is nothing,1 Corinthians 13:1. Thus believers stand affected to Christ: the gifts of his providence cannot satisfy them without the assurances of his love.

Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible

Unpurchasable Love

June 6, 1872 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892)

"If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be scorned." -- Song of Song of Solomon 8:7 .

That is a general truth, applying to all forms of real love; you cannot purchase love. If it is true love, it will not run on rails of gold. Many a marriage would have been a very happy one if there had been a tenth as much love as there was wealth. Sometimes, love will come in at the cottage door, and make the home bright and blest, when it refuses to recline on the downy pillows of the palace. Men may give all the substance of their house, and form a marriage bond- the bond may be there, but not that which will make it sweet to wear. "If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be scorned." Who, for instance, could purchase a mother's love? She loves her own child specially because it is her own; she watches over it with sedulous care, she denies her eyes the necessary sleep at night if her babe be sick, and she would be ready to part with her own life sooner than it should die. Bring her another person's child, and endow her with wealth to induce her to love it; and you shall find that it is not in her power to transfer her affection to the son or daughter of a stranger. Her own child is exceedingly precious to her, and another infant, that to an unprejudiced eye might be thought to be a far more lovely babe, shall receive tenderness from her, for the woman is compassionate; but it can never receive the love that belongs to her own offspring. Take, again, even the love of friends; I only instance that just to show how true our text is in relation to all forms of love. Damon loved Pythias; the two friends were so bound together that their names became household words, and their conduct towards one another grew into a proverb. Yet Damon never purchased the heart of Pythias neither did Pythias think to pay a yearly stipend for the love of Damon. The introduction of the question of cost would have spoiled it all; the very thought of anything mercenary, anything like payment on the one side or receipt upon the other, would have been a death-blow to their friendship. No; if a man should give all the substance of his house even for human love, for the common love that exists between man and man, it would utterly be scorned.

Rest assured that this is pre-eminently true when we get into higher regions, when we come to think of the love of Jesus, and when we think of that love which springs up in the human breast towards Jesus when the Spirit of God has renewed the heart, and shed abroad the love of God within the soul. Neither Christ's love to us nor our love to him can be purchased; neither of those could be bartered for gold, or rubies, or diamonds, or the most precious crystal. If a man should offer to give all the substance of his house for either of these forms of love, it would utterly be scorned.

I. We will begin at the highest manifestation of love, and commune together upon it. So let me say, first, that THE LOVE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IS ALTOGETHER UNPURCHASABLE.

This fact will be clear to us if we give it a moment's careful thought. Indeed, so clear is it that I scarcely like to multiply words upon it, and I do so only that you may dive the deeper into this glorious truth. It must be quite impossible to purchase the love of Christ, because 'it is inconceivable that he ever could be mercenary'. It would be profane, surely, it would amount to blasphemy, and a very high degree of it, to suppose that the love of his heart could be bought with gold, or silver, or earthly stores. No, if he loves, it must be all free, like his own royal self. If he condescends to cast his eyes so far downward as to view the creatures of an hour, and to set his love upon them so that his delights are with the sons of men, it is not possible that he could gain anything from them. No, were we angels, we could not think that he could love us because of some service we could render, or some price we could pay to him. The bare idea runs cross and counter to all we know of Jesus; it is a flat contradiction of all our beliefs and all our knowledge concerning him. He loves us because he pities us, but not because there is a fee when he comes to us as the great Physician. He instructs us because he grieves over our ignorance, and because he knows the sorrow of it, and would have us learn of him; but his instructions are not given in order that we may each one bring our school pence to him. He labors, it is true; but none shall say that he labors for hire; though if he asked all worlds for his hire, he might well claim them for such labors as those which he has performed.

The feats attributed to Hercules are nothing compared with the wonders wrought by Christ. He has cleansed stables far more filthy than the Augean, and slain monsters far more terrible than the hydra-headed demons of the ancient fables. True, "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied;" there was a joy that was set before him, for which he endured the cross, despising the shame; yet the love that lay at the bottom of it all was love 'unbought', and love 'unsought', and love in which not so much as a single atom of any thing like selfishness could ever be discovered. The pure stream of his love leaps like the crystal stream, and there is no sediment that can be found in it; it is altogether unmixed love to us. Besides, brethren, there is another point that renders this idea of purchasing Christ's love as impossible, as the first thought shows it to be incredible- 'for all things are already Christ's'. Therefore, what can be given to him with which his love could be purchased? If he were poor, we might enrich him; but all things are his. "He was rich," says the apostle; "he is rich," we also may reply. He could say to us, at this moment, if we were so foolish as to attempt to bribe him to win the love of his heart, "I will take no bullock out of your house, nor he-goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountain: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you: for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof." All things are Christ's, not only on this speck of a world, but throughout the universe. The things that are seen by us are as nothing compared with the things that we have not seen; yet all belong to Christ, and he has the power to create ten thousand times more than ever yet have been formed by him. There is nothing which he conceives in his infinite mind but he could at once fashion it by his almighty power; there is nothing he might desire but he could in an instant command it to appear before him. "Let it be," he might say, and it would be even as he had said. With what, then, could you bribe him, and where is the substance of your houses that you would give in exchange for his divine love? O you who dwell in houses of clay, where is the substance which you could bring to him who is Lord of heaven and earth? Our substance? It is but a shadow. Our wealth? It is a child's plaything in his sight; it is nothing compared with his boundless riches.

Let us also note that, if Christ's love could be won by us by something we could bring to him or do for him, it would suppose that there was something of ours that was of equal merit and of equal value with his love, or, at any rate, 'something which he was willing to accept as bearing some proportion to his love'. But, indeed, there is nothing of the sort. Gold and silver-- I scarcely like to mention them in the same connection with the love of Christ. I am sure our poet was right when he said--

"Jewels to you are gaudy toys And gold is sordid dust."

Think of the difference between gold and the love of Christ, in the hour of pain, in the hour of depression of spirit; what can the strong boxes of the merchant do for him then? But one drop of the love of Christ helps him to bear up, however fast the heart may palpitate, or however much the spirits may have been cast down. What is the use of earthly riches when one comes to die? One laid his money bags close to his heart, to see if they could make a plaster that would give him rest, but they were hard and cold. But the love of Jesus, like the touch of the king's hand in the old superstition, heals even the disease of death itself, and makes it no longer death to die.

There is nothing, then, by way of treasure that could be compared with the love of Christ. I will say it, and every believer here will agree with me, that there is no emotion we have ever felt in our most sanctified moments, there is no holy desire that has ever flashed through our soul in our most hallowed times, there is no seraphic longing that has ever been begotten in us when the Spirit of God has been most operative in our hearts, that we should dare to put side by side with the love of Christ, and say that it was at all fit to be reckoned as a fair price for it. Our best is not one-thousandth part as good as Christ's worst. Our gold is not equal to his clay. There is nothing that can be found in us, or that ever will be in us, that we should dare to say could for a moment stand in comparison with his love.

Well, then, since there is no coin of metal, or emotion of mental condition, or power of spiritual grace, that could be counted out or weighed as the purchase price of Christ's love, we will not dream of having anything of the kind; for there comes, at the back of this thought, the consciousness that, even if we do possess anything that is really valuable, if there is something about us now that is commendable, and pure, and acceptable, 'yet it all belongs to Christ already'. We have nothing with which we can buy anything of him, because all we have belongs to him. Under the righteous law of God, all the good of which we are capable is already due to our Creator. His command is, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." Very comprehensive, very sweeping, are the demands of the law of the Lord. You must not imagine that there is the slightest truth in the idea that man may come to do more for Christ than it is his duty to do; this cannot be, for all that is possible for us to do, is already Christ's. "You are not your own," and yet you talk about giving yourself to him. You belong to him now, you Christians, doubly so; and all men are under obligation to Christ even for the temporal favors he has bestowed upon them. You, believer, cannot say, "Now I am going to do for Christ something more than, I think, might absolutely be claimed by him." Why, if you are really what you claim to be, you are his already, body, soul, and spirit! All your time, all your money, all your faculties, all the possibilities that are in you, are all his now; and therefore, wherewithal shall you come to purchase his love? No, it cannot be purchased; that is certain for many other reasons besides these which I have given you. But what a blessing it is that 'we have the love of Christ, though we could not purchase it!' The Son of God has loved us; he has bestowed upon us what he never would have sold us; and he has given it to us freely, "without money and without price." And, beloved, this love is no new thing. He loved us long before we were born. When his foreknowledge sketched us in his mind's eye, he beheld us in love. He proved his love, too. It was not merely 'contemplative' love, but it was 'practical' love- for he died for us before we knew anything of him, or were even here to learn about him.

His love is of such a wondrous kind that he always will love us. When heaven and earth have passed away, and like a scroll the universe shall be rolled up, or be put away like a worn-out vesture, he will still love us as he loved us at the first. The greatest wonder to me is that this unpurchasable love, this unending love is MINE; and you, my brethren and sisters, can always say, each one of you, if you have been regenerated, "This love is mine; the Lord Jesus Christ loves me with a love I never could have purchased."

Peradventure, someone is saying just now, "I wish I could say that." Do you really wish it? Then, let the text serve to guide you as to the way by which you may yet know Christ's love to you. Do not try to purchase it, abandon that idea at once. Perhaps you say, "I never thought of buying it with money." Possibly not, but the mass of mankind think of purchasing it in some way or other. They hear from their priests of certain ceremonies, and they attach great importance to them, and offer them as a bribe to Christ; but these things will never buy his love.

They then resort to prayers-- not prayers from the heart, but prayers said as a sort of punishment; and it is thought by many that surely these will procure his love, but they never will. We have even known some who have punished themselves, tortured themselves, thinking they would get Christ's love in that fashion. Now, if I knew anybody who tried to win my love by making himself miserable, I should say to him, "My good fellow, you will never make me love you in that way; be as happy as you can, that method is a great deal more likely to touch my heart than the other." I don't believe that penance and mortification afford any pleasure to God; I think he would be more likely to say, "Poor silly creatures; when I make gnats, I teach them to dance in the summer sunshine; when I make the fish of the sea, they leap up from the waves with intense delight; and when I make birds, I show them how to sing." God has no delight in the miseries of his creatures, and the flagellations that fools give to themselves they deserve for their folly, but they certainly bring no pleasure to the heart of God. It is vain to think of purchasing the love of Christ in such a way.

"But surely, surely, we may do something. We will give up this vice, we will renounce that bad habit, we will be strict in our religiousness, we will be attentive to all moral duties." So you should; but when you have done all that, do you do you think have done enough to win his love? Is the servant, who has only done what he ought to have done, entitled to the love of his master's heart because of that? You shall not win Christ's love this way. If you have his love shed abroad in your heart, you have infinitely more than you have ever earned.

Suppose any person here were to say, "I do feel so resolved to be saved that I will give all I have in this world to some good cause, and then I will give myself to go abroad into foreign lands, to some fever-stricken place, to die in the service of God." Ah! should you do all that, you would utterly be scorned if you did think thus to purchase the love of God. Will he be bartered with? Will he put up his heart to be sold in the market, he whose very temple was defiled by the presence of buyers and sellers? It cannot be. Go and bid, and barter with your fellow-men; even they will disdain you if you think that love is thus to be procured, but dream not that you are thus to deal with your God. I say again, it cannot be.

The text does not merely say that the price would be refused, but "it would utterly be scorned." Love would open her bright eyes, and look at the man, and then she would frown, and say, "How can you insult me so? Take back your gold, and begone;" and God's great love, even when his pity was in the ascendant, would but weep a tear, and then reply, "I pity you, for you know not what you are doing; and I despise the price you bring to me. How could you think that I was such an one as yourself, and that my love could be purchased with paltry pelf that you can bring?"

We cannot spare more time for that point, but it is one that you may think over for many a day, and your heart may be charmed with it until you love and bless your Savior with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength.

II. My second remark is, that, IN OUR CASE, NOTHING CAN EVER SERVE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR LOVE. If Christ has loved us, or if we are desirous of realizing that he has done so, 'the one thing needful and essential is that we have true love to him'. God's demand of each one who professes to be his child is, "My son, give me your heart." There are many who would like to be thought to be his sons, and therefore every morning they wickedly say, "Our Father which are in heaven," though God is not their Father. If they were to say, "Our father," to him who is their father, they would pray to the devil, for God is no father of theirs. Alas! there are many who want to be thought to be God's children and they will come and bring to him anything but love. Sad, sorrowful truth!

If God would but say to men, "I will accept unspiritual service," he might be the God of the whole earth at once; or rather, let me more truly say that he would be the demon of the whole earth, for men do not care what the religion is externally so long as it does not trouble their hearts. The last thing some people will do is to think. "Give you a guinea? Oh, certainly-Excellent is the charity for which you are pleading. A guinea for the hospital? Certainly. Five guineas for a new place of worship? Certainly. When I have money, I am always glad to give it; but don't you come and bother me with any of your doctrines, for I don't want to hear about them. You religious people are so divided into sects and parties, and you are always controverting and contradicting one another, so I do not want to think about these things."

That is a very poor excuse, is it not? Because this seems to be a matter which requires a great deal of thought, therefore this person will not give it any consideration at all; and because those who do think about it do not exactly agree on all points, therefore this man says, "I shall not think of it at all." Because all the charts of an intricate portion of the ocean may not happen to be exactly alike, therefore this man will not even study that part of the sea over which his own vessel must go, although there all the charts do agree! He makes an excuse upon some trivial matter to neglect altogether the steering of his vessel.

He will strike upon a rock one day, and he will have no one to blame for it but himself. "Oh!" says another person, "I don't mind saying prayers; or I will go to church and listen to the reading of prayers. I don't mind hearing sermons, but don't come and tell me that I have to repent of my sins. I cannot do it; I do not understand what you mean. I join in 'the General Confession' every Sunday; I say that I am a miserable sinner though I don't know that I am particularly miserable, and I don't know that I am particularly a sinner either; but still, I always say that, and I don't mind saying it. Yet if you come to me, saying, 'Repent,' I cannot do that."

Men will offer to God anything but that which has to do with the heart. You may call upon them to torment their bodies, as the priests of false religions have done; and they will not object to that. The fakir in Hindustan will pierce himself with knives, or lie upon a bed of spikes, or swing himself up by a hook in his back, and hang there by the hour together in all but mortal agony. A man will do almost anything except bow his heart before his God; he will not confess that Jehovah is Lord of all, and that he himself is a poor sinful creature who deserves to be punished; he will not obey a law that is spiritual, and demands the allegiance of the secret thoughts and intents of his heart; and he will not accept a faith which is so superlatively pure that it demands that sin be given up, and tells him that even when given up it must be washed out in the precious blood of Jesus, and that a man must exercise repentance towards God and faith in the Savior or he cannot be saved.

The most unpopular truth in the world is this sentence which fell from the lips of Christ, "You must be born again" and, consequently, there are all sorts of inventions to get the truth out of those words. "Oh, yes!" say some, "you must be born again, but that means the application of aqueous fluid to an infant's brow." As God is true, that teaching is a lie; there is no grain or shade of truth within it. "Except a man be born again" (from above), "he cannot see the kingdom of God." No operation that can be performed by man can ever regenerate the soul; it is the work alone of God the Holy Spirit, who creates us anew in Christ Jesus.

Men do not like that truth; the spiritual still displeases the natural man. They will profess to worship God in Jerusalem or at Gerizim, and fight about the place where he ought to be worshiped, to show how little good their religion has done them! They will not speak to each other, the Jew will have no dealings with the Samaritan, to prove how unlike he is to the God who makes his sun to shine both on the just and on the unjust! But when you utter this message, "God is a Spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth," they are offended, and turn away.

Still the truth holds good, whatever men think of it. If you give not to God your heart, you have given him nothing. If you give not to God your soul, if you love him not, if you serve him not because you love him, if you come not to him, and surrender to him your inner self, you may have been baptized-- immersed or sprinkled-- you may have come to the communion table, you may have bowed your knees until your knees have grown horny, you may have prayed until you are hoarse, and wept until the fountains of your eyes are dry, you may have given all your gold, and lacerated every member of your body with mortifications, and starved yourself to a skeleton, but you have truly done nothing towards obtaining love to Christ. The substance of your house is utterly scorned if you offer it to the Lord in the stead of the love of your heart.

Love he must have; this is his lawful demand. His people delight to render it; and if you do not, then you are none of his.

III. This takes us to a third truth, which is, that THE SAINTS' LOVE IS NOT PURCHASED BY CHRIST'S GIFTS. The love of saints to their Lord is not given to Christ because of his gifts to them; I must explain what I mean, lest at the very outset I am mistaken or misunderstood. We love our Lord, and we love him all the more because of the many gifts he bestows upon us; but 'his gifts do not win our love'. I will show you why. All that he has given me today, he gave me many years ago. The covenant of grace was always mine. I heard the preacher tell about it. He told how Christ had died for me; that he had loved me, and given himself for me. Truly, he had done so; he had poured out his blood for my redemption. I would not believe it to be so, or, believing it, I did not think it was of any consequence to me. Then the preacher spread out the rare gifts of Christ before me, and I saw that he had given these to such as believed in him; but I did not think them worth examining, and I turned away from them. I should never have loved him if he had not given me much more than the substance of his house. I needed his blessed Spirit to show me the value of the substance of his house, and above all, to show me that for which this day I love my Savior best of all, namely, himself, HIMSELF.

Oh, it is "Jesus Christ himself" who wins the love of our hearts! If he had not given us himself, we should never have given to him ourselves. All else that may be supposed to be of the substance of his house would not have won his people's hearts, until at last they learned this truth, and the Spirit of God made them feel the force of it, "He loved me, and gave himself for me."

"My Beloved is mine, and I am his," is now one of the sweetest stanzas in love's canticle. The spouse does not say, "His crown is mine, his throne is mine, his breastplate is mine, his crook is mine;" she delights in everything that Christ has as a King, and a Priest, and a Shepherd; but, above all else, that which wins and charms her heart is this, "He himself is mine, and I am his."

But I meant mainly to say, under this head, that 'there are some of Christ's gifts that do not win our hearts', that is to say, our hearts do not depend upon them. And they are, first, his temporal gifts. I am very thankful, and I trust that all God's people are also, for health and strength. I have lost these sometimes, but I did not love my Lord any the less then; neither do I love Christ this day because I am free from pain. If I were not free from pain, I would still love him. Christ has given to some of you a competence, you have all you want for this world; but is that why you love Christ? Oh, no, beloved! if he were to take all away, I know that you would love him in your poverty.

The devil was a liar when he said of Job, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have not you made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face." We do not love God altogether for what he gives us in this world; ours is not such poor cupboard-love as that. We love him because he first loved us, and we do not pretend to have climbed to that high state of disinterested love in which there is no gratitude mingled with it. We always must be grateful to him, and love him for that reason; but still, temporal things never win our heart's love to God.

There are numbers of you who have health, and wealth, and many other things that so many desire, but they never make you love God, and they never will. You love them, and make idols of them very readily, but they do not lead you to love the Lord; while the children of God, who love their dear Savior, can tell you that they do not love him because of what he gives them, for if he takes from them, they love him all the same. With Job, they say, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." They do not love him simply because he caresses them, for if he chastens them, they love him still, and kiss the rod with which he smites them.

I meant also to say that 'we do not love Christ because of his temporary indulgence of us in spiritual things'. You know, beloved, our Savior very frequently favors us with manifestations of his presence. We are overjoyed when he comes very near to us, and permits us to put our fingers into the prints of the nails. We have our high days and festivals when the Bridegroom is with us, emphatically with us. He takes all the clouds out of our sky, and gives us the bright shining of the sun; or he opens the lattices, and shows us himself in a way only second to that in which we shall see him when we behold him face to face. And oh, how we love him then!

But, thank God, when he draws the lattice back again, and hides his face, we do not leave off loving him because of that. Our love to our Lord does not depend upon the weather. True, our love is not manifested to him so sweetly when we are in the dark as when he cheers us with his smile, but still it is there all the while. We could not let him go. "Though he slay me," -though HE slay me-- he who loves me, though he turn to be my enemy, and slay me-- "yet will I trust in him."

We will hold to him still, and love him still, not because of the substance of his house, but because of what he himself is. There are times when we are half inclined to say with the elder brother, "These many years have I been with you, privileged to serve you, and yet you have not given me so much as a kid that I might make merry with my friends." Perhaps we have been long without the light of his countenance, and have had no love-tokens from him; but for all that we will remain in his service, and abide in his house; and even if our Father should answer us roughly, we will tell him that he is our Father still. We do not love him merely for the substance of his house, but for himself, and because his Spirit has made love to him to be an instinct of our new nature, and has put within us such a principle that we cannot help loving him. Even if we should be called to pass through terrible trials and adversities, and should have to walk a long time in clouds and darkness, yet still would we love him and rejoice in him.

IV. The last observation I shall have to make upon our text is this, THE LOVE OF SAINTS CANNOT BE BOUGHT OFF FROM CHRIST AT ANY PRICE.

The love of some people to religion is very cheaply bought, and very speedily sold. It is very lamentable to notice the great numbers of people who are quite content to go and worship God with Christian brethren, and to hear the gospel preached, while they are themselves poor, or in middling circumstances, but who find, as soon as they have accumulated a little wealth, that the world has a church of its own, and they must go there, "because, you see, everybody goes there; and if you are cut off from Society, where are you?"

I have been asked that question, sometimes, and I have replied, "Where are you? Why, where Christ would have you to be-- outside the camp, bearing his reproach.'" But that place of separation, "outside the camp," is a position which is not always taken up cheerfully by professedly Christian people. It is very sorrowful to see how, because God has entrusted them with wealth, they get drawn away from the gospel, and from the Church of God; and though they are troubled a little at first, they soon get rid of one scruple after another, and subside altogether into worldliness.

Well, now, I am not altogether sorry that there is this test in the world. Every good husbandman keeps a winnowing fan; of course, he that is foolish, when he sees a great heap lying on the barn door, says, "All this is my wheat that I have brought in." He does not want to have it diminished, for it is the result of his labor; -but if he is a wise husbandman, he says, "Though I have brought in a great heap, I know that there is chaff with it," and he is glad to have the winnowing fan used, and the corn tossed up that the fresh breeze may blow through it. If the mere professors go, let them go. "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us."

There are some who go away from Christ's people, and renounce religion and love to Christ, because of business. It will pay better in certain lines not to be religious; and therefore, as the main thing with them is to get money-- religiously, if they can, but irreligiously, if need be-- therefore, by-and-by they are offended, and they sell Christ Jesus. I am pained to see the numbers of people who go and live in the suburbs of London, and who make that an opportunity for selling their religion, such as it is. It is not long ago that I stood at a dying bed, and a part of what I heard there was, "O sir, ten years ago, we used to be members of such a church; we came to live out here, but there was no place of worship handy, so we have not been anywhere." That person was dying without hope, after selling Christ for love of a little country air. That was about all it was, and little more was to be gained by it.

"Oh, but!" asks someone, "do saints sell Christ like that?" No, not they; these are only the 'professors' who have mingled with the saints. These are like the 'mixed multitude' that came out of Egypt with the children of Israel; howbeit they are not all Israel that are of Israel.

The saints sell Christ? No, they are too much like their Master to do that. You recollect how Satan took their Master to the top of a high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said, "All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Wicked thief! It was not his to give; yet he tempted Christ in that way, but Jesus answered, "Get you hence, Satan: for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve."

If any of Christ's followers are tempted in the same fashion, let them give the same reply. All the substance of the devil's house could not win the love of that man who has set his affection on Jesus. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" The cruel Romanists have taken the martyrs into the lone dungeon of the Inquisition, and tormented them there in such a way that it pains us even to read or hear of what they suffered. But did they give up Christ? No, not they; they never would.

At other times, they have taken the Christians into a palace, and said, "We will clothe you in scarlet and fine linen; you shall fare sumptuously every day; but you must give up Christ." Yet they would not. All the substance of this world has been laid at the feet of holy men, and they have rejected the price with scorn. I know men today, and rejoice to know them, who have sacrificed honor and position among men, who have borne abuse and scorn, and have been glad to bear it, and counted it their privilege that they were not only permitted to have Christ as their Savior, but also that they were allowed to suffer for his sake. O brethren and sisters, may the Lord so clothe us with the whole armor of righteousness that no temptation may ever be able to wound our love to Jesus! Let us feel, "We can let all else go, but we can never let him go." "If on my face for his dear name, Shame and reproaches be," there let them be for his sake. Give me but a vision of the Crucified, let me see that thorn-crowned brow, let me but gaze into his dear languid eyes so full of love for me, and I will then say, "My Master, through floods or flames, if you shall lead, I'll follow where you go. When the many turn aside, I will still cling to you, and witness that you have the living Word, and that there is none upon earth that I desire beside you. I will give up the treasures of Egypt, for I have respect unto the recompense of the reward. I will let the ingots of gold go, every one of them, I will cast them into the sea without regret; but if you will abide in the vessel, my soul shall be content. Bind me to your altar, for I am but flesh and blood, and may start aside in the trial-hour. Cast the links of your love about me; chain me to yourself; ay, crucify me; nail me to your cross, and let me be dead to the world, for then the world will leave off tempting a corpse. Let me be dead with you, for then the world, that cast you out, may cast me out, too, and have done with me; and it were well then to be counted as the offscouring of all things for your dear sake, my Lord!" If a man should give all the substance of his house to bribe the saints to sell their Lord, it would utterly be scorned. By this test shall we prove you, O professors! By this trial shall it be known whether you can stand firm in the evil day. God grant that you may, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.