Christ's Love Compared to Wine

    CHRIST'S LOVE COMPARED TO WINE

    "For his Love is better than Wine" Song 1:2.

    WHEREAS Christ's Love is preferred to Wine, it is to be understood synecdochically; so Ainsworth. Wine here is put for the most pleasant, joyful, refreshing, and cordial things; as bread by the same figure is frequently put for such things as strengthen, &c.

    METAPHOR

    I. WINE is the fruit of a good tree, a choice and precious plant, and it is the best of natural liquors.

    PARALLEL

    I. The Love of Christ is the fruit of the choicest plant that ever was planted. Men and angels are not to be compared to him. [See Vine.] And his Love is the best and choicest of Love. Wine is natural, but his Love is divine and supernatural. None ever Loved, as Christ Loved.

    METAPHOR

    II. Wine is pleasant, delectable, and sweet to the taste.

    PARALLEL

    II. There is nothing so pleasant and delectable to a believing soul, as the manifestation of Christ's Love; it excels all things for sweetness.

    METAPHOR

    III. Wine is to be had only in some particular countries; some people never taste of it as long as they live.

    PARALLEL

    III. Christ's Love is not known to many that live in the world; divers never tasted of it, do not know how good it is; die without any sight or assurance of Christ's Love.

    METAPHOR

    IV. Wine is highly esteemed and valued when the excellent virtue thereof is known.

    PARALLEL

    IV. Christ's Love is esteemed by all that know his worth; they value him above Wine, or gold or the best of earthly things.

    METAPHOR

    V. Men will not part with store of the best Wine for toys and trifles.

    PARALLEL

    V. Saints will not part with the Love of Christ for all the good things of this world; they are but trifles and vanity, in comparison of his Love. If a man would give all the goods of his House to a saint, so that he would part with Christ's Love, it would be contemned, Song 8:7.

    METAPHOR

    VI. Wine is of a singular use to revive and make glad the disconsolate spirit: "Give wine to him that is of a heavy heart."[1]

    [1] Vina parant animos. Ovid.

    PARALLEL

    VI. The Love of Christ is the most sovereign thing in the world, in the manifestation of it, to revive and comfort poor disconsolate souls. "Thou hast put more gladness in my heart, than in the time when their corn and Wine increased," Ps 4:7.

    METAPHOR

    VII. Wine causes a man, if he drink freely of it, to forget his sorrows.[2]

    [2] Cura fugit, diluiturque Merc. Ovid.

    PARALLEL

    VII. The evidence or manifestation of Christ's Love to a poor soul, doth cause it to forget all its former bitterness, terror of the law, and horror of conscience for sin, which possibly for a great while it lay under, Ro 7:10,15,18,24-25.

    METAPHOR

    VIII. Wine, naturalists tell us, repairs decayed nature. A man may faint by some sudden qualm, and need a cordial; and that which may revive the spirit, may not recover a man out of a consumption, or one brought by a languishing distemper almost to the grave.

    PARALLEL

    VIII. The grace and love of Christ will recover strength that hath been lost. A saint may faint, and need a cordial, by means of a temptation, when grace is not much decayed in him. A draught of Christ's Love, I mean, the manifestations of it, will recover, in a spiritual sense, a Christian that has been a great while consumptive, whose vitals are impaired, and he almost dead.

    METAPHOR

    IX. Wine was used in legal sacrifice in time of the law.

    PARALLEL

    IX. The grace of Love, the fruit of the Spirit, which flows from Christ, is the only ingredient to stir up our devotion. We can perform no services acceptably without Love: "Let all your works be done in charity." And when the soul hath sweet manifestations of Christ's love to it, how sweetly doth it go on in God's worship!

    METAPHOR

    X. Wine is good, as it may be used, to heal some sorts of wounds.

    PARALLEL

    X. The Love of Christ will heal a broken heart. There is no salve, both in the nature and effects thereof, to cure a wounded spirit, like assurance of Christ's love.

    METAPHOR

    XI. Wine is good to stir up courage in hostile encounters; it makes a man brisk and valiant.

    PARALLEL

    XI. The Love of Christ breaking in upon the soul, makes a Christian courageous, and very valiant in that spiritual warfare he is engaged in; he is hereby animated to endure all manner of hardness, and over all is more than a conqueror. "Nothing shall separate us from the Love of God, which is in Christ Jesus oar Lord."

    METAPHOR

    XII. Wine is used at marriage-feasts, and in great banquets.

    PARALLEL

    XII. The love of Christ is more than a banquet of the greatest varieties to a gracious soul; it affords choice food. "A feast of fat things, of Wines upon the lees; of fat things full of marrow, of Wines upon the lees well refined," Isa 25:6.

    METAPHOR

    XIII. Wine may be taken to excess.

    PARALLEL

    XIII. But none can have too much of Christ's Love.

    METAPHOR

    XIV. Wine daily drunk, without fresh supplies, will not hold out long.

    PARALLEL

    XIV. Christ's Love is like a fountain of living water, or an inexhaustible treasure.

    METAPHOR

    XV. Wine will decay by long keeping; it will wax sour, and become nauseous and unsavoury.

    PARALLEL

    XV. Christ's Love, the longer we enjoy it, the sweeter it is; and sweetest of all it will be at the last.

    INFERENCES.

    BUT from whence is it that believers do thus prize and esteem Jesus Christ, and his Love?

    First, From the excellency of his person. [See Rose of Sharon, and Lily of the Valleys.] "He is fairer than the children of men."

    Secondly, From the sense of his great Love to them; "We Love him, because he first Loved us."

    Thirdly, From the consideration of those hard things he suffered for their sakes.

    Fourthly, Because of the savour of his good ointment. "He hath shed his Love abroad in their hearts, by the Holy Ghost," Ro 5:5.

    Fifthly, Saints value Christ's Love above Wine, because his Love is beyond all comparison, most sweet and consolatory.

    1. His Love was in him early, betimes, before ever the earth was formed, or the foundations thereof laid; his heart's desire and Love was first set upon us, Pr 8:31.

    2. His Love is of an attracting nature, (that the spouse knew well enough.) He is like the loadstone; he draws all hearts after him, that have a taste or touch of him, Jer 31:3; 1Jo 4:19.

    3. It is boundless; like the Nile, it overflows all banks and bounds; it knows no limits.

    4. It is a delighting Love: "His delight was with the sons of men," Pr 8:30. He takes complacency in the soul he Loves.

    5. It is a free Love, without foreseen merit or worth in the object. When man lay weltering in his blood, loathsome and filthy, Christ Loved him," Ho 14:4; Eze 16:3-6,9.

    6. Christ's Love is hot and fervent; much water cannot quench it: it hath a vehement flame, Song 8:6-7.

    7. It is a matchless Love, far beyond the Love of Jacob to Rachel, or Jonathan to David.

    8. It is an incomprehensible Love, it passeth knowledge. You may sooner find out the depth of the sea, the height of heaven, tell the stars, or count the sands of the sea-shore, than find out or measure the Love of Christ. It is a lasting, abiding, and eternal Love. "His Loving-kindness he will never take away." This makes the Church so much to desire the manifestations of the love of Christ, and in this is his love better than wine.

    But who are they that thus prize and esteem the love of Christ? Take some brief notes of them.

    1. Such cannot tell how to praise Christ, nor set forth his excellency, as they would; they cannot sufficiently exalt him. 2. Such are in a longing and languishing condition, till they see him. 3. Cannot be satisfied, till they get to some good and well-grounded assurance of an interest in him. 4. Christ runs much in their minds. 5. Such love Christ, what state soever they are in. 6. Such keep his word. 7. They Love Christ above husband, wife, children, &c., nay, more than life itself. 8. They Love to hear of him, and often from him. 9. They highly value every special token of his Love. 10. They rejoice in his presence. 11. They grieve and mourn at his absence. 12. If they have grieved him, cannot rest until they see his reconciled face again. 13. They love his image wherever they see it; Love all the godly, the poorest saint, as well as the richest. 14. They love to be like him in grace here, as well as in glory hereafter. 15. They are troubled when he is dishonoured. 16. They are greatly concerned for his name, kingdom, and interest in the world. 17. They often visit him in closet-duties. 18. Take great care to please him. 19. Will suffer for his sake, when called to it. 20. Long for his appearance.